Discussion
I had a discussion with Rachel last night in which I tried to explain what I percieve to be a sense of 'Other' and differentiate it from what we commonly know as Empathy.
It came down to this: When one attunes their personality to the trials and tribulations of another, they can feel their pain, they can empathize.
When one abandons their own personality completely and becomes a void, and then fills that void with the personality, trials, and tribulations of another, then you don't feel their pain, you KNOW their pain. You have made it yours as well. This is a sense of 'Other'.
It is very, very difficult to do, and most people get it confused with empathy I think. The difference between feeling what they are and KNOWING what they are. It's a very fine, yet blurry and indistinct line. I used to be able to, I think, develop a strong sense of 'Other'. Now I mostly have memories and occassional moments of lucidity when I can abandon everything it means to be Daniel and assume another. It makes me sad that I only have brief moments of this.
It came down to this: When one attunes their personality to the trials and tribulations of another, they can feel their pain, they can empathize.
When one abandons their own personality completely and becomes a void, and then fills that void with the personality, trials, and tribulations of another, then you don't feel their pain, you KNOW their pain. You have made it yours as well. This is a sense of 'Other'.
It is very, very difficult to do, and most people get it confused with empathy I think. The difference between feeling what they are and KNOWING what they are. It's a very fine, yet blurry and indistinct line. I used to be able to, I think, develop a strong sense of 'Other'. Now I mostly have memories and occassional moments of lucidity when I can abandon everything it means to be Daniel and assume another. It makes me sad that I only have brief moments of this.