Empathy vs Sympathy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw#t=45

I ran across this and wanted to share.
Of course, thoughts and ideas are more than welcome.

So true.

Ditto, I think the video is pretty dead on. Feeling With versus Feeling For. It is something I think all Jedi certainly strive for. Many of us have been in those holes and us can connect with a plethora of experiences. Not only that, certainly we seek understanding. So even when not something we have been through, we can sit, listen, without judgment, and think - how would I feel in this position.

I think when many people say Jedi are Compassionate what they really mean is Jedi are Empathetic. Compassion being defined as sympathy. Where Jedi seeking Empathy. They connect rather than feel sorry for. They understand the situation,t hey understand what the person is going through. It isn't about feeling sorry for them. It is about saying, "Hey, I have been there. It is rough. But you have a friend right here."

I feel sympathy is an emotional drive. Where Empathy is Emotional Understanding. Overall though. Good stuff. Thanks for sharing the video.

FYI a little fun fact, they are synonyms for each other in my Franklin dictionary. (not that definitions are important anyway) As long as your feeling for others both are good in my book. It's the ones that don't feel anything that are a problem.

That is a great video.

I think its very harsh on sympathy. I'd have thought sympathy is the same as empathy except that perhaps sympathy misses the capacity to share the emotions. There is fake empathy just as much as fake sympathy, so I didnt enjoy how they made out that sympathy was fake empathty. Perhaps some people are not in touch enough with their own emotions to empathize, but instead share the concern and try to understand by sympathizing. It takes all types to make this world go around so I try to judge people on their intentions more then anything.

Adder, I felt the same way when I first watched it.
As an apprentice I did a lesson on the topic of empathy vs sympathy..
I always thought of sympathy is feeling for someone as best you could without the experience behind the emotion, as empathy would have. Not so much that sympathy isn't as real, just inexperienced.

For example, if someone told me their house burned down.. I would be genuinely sad for them and be able to imagine and relate with the idea of mine burning down, but never having had my house burn down would call it "sympathy".

I don’t think you have to suffer the same thing to be able to understand the loss and fear that comes with not only losing everything you own but having it destroyed. The uncertainty of not knowing where you will live or how you will be able to pick up the pieces. (we have all had experiences in our lives that have taught us the negative emotions)

I think that the real difference between the two is that one “feels sorry for” the other in an attempt to relate the emotion to themselves, and the other uses similar experiences to draw that emotion up and “empathies” or connect with the other person.

As harsh as this may sound... we don’t need someone to feel sorry for us. What we do need is for someone to understand.

Just my opinion… for what it’s worth.

Hmm yes but I often wonder if that is not going to be perceived as fake empathy, almost akin to saying I know what your feeling.... which can sometimes be as bad for the other person if it does not make sense or they perceive that is reducing the nature of their anguish. I think it comes down to intention and how genuine the person is.... and empathy is the specific situation where the other person is actually able to empathize. In this way I view empathy not so much as a skill but rather a shared connection - available to anyone put in that circumstance of having experienced the same emotion - but not inventing it. Some people might have a greater natural emotional range and therefore they are more often able to find themselves empathizing, but if its not actually the same emotion then I think it runs the risk of being seen as fake, in which case it might have been more prudent to be genuine in sympathy instead!??

I've learned that empathy is the ability to truly understand what a person is feeling on an emotional level and sympathy is more of an intellectual understanding rather than emotional. As in, understanding what the person is going through, but not necessarily feeling what they feel. I don't think sympathy is the same as pity, though... sympathy is understanding... pity is feeling sorry for.