Read the Entire Series – Journey To Knowing
Exercising That Empathy Muscle
Many of us do it, whether we are consciously on the inner journey or not. As one of the many aspects of compassion, it is instilled in us from an early age, as well as many past lives, where we either employed it intelligently and saw its benefits, or failed to, and realized too late how we’d short changed ourselves and others by its glaring lack.
Sometimes I feel that we are in its employ, much as consciousness uses us as its explorers in the deeper reaches of matter, and that the more we open ourselves to its energies the more our heart (chakra) expands to include greater and greater swathes of humanity, and giving us, in the process, a subtler and subtler understanding of how we are all one, despite our cultural and belief system differences.
It often seems that the empathy muscle and the heart chakra are so close that they might be one and the same, and I wonder if I am splitting hairs to make any difference.
Let me try this: the heart chakra is a nest out of which the empathy muscle flies on its various missions. And when it returns to rest it brings with it the vibrations it has used in its efforts, increasing the heart’s store of knowing, knowing what happens when you act unconditionally. And, on our journey of knowing, as we have termed it, this would seem to be exactly what we were put here for.
On OBE projections where we aim to retrieve and/or rescue those trapped by confusion or just plain lost, the exercise of empathy not only eases their transition to a happier state but also magnifies the rescuer’s abilities in a number of ways they do not even suspect, one being the higher vibration of the unconditional love energy for which empathy is the vehicle, which in turn facilitates more wide ranging explorations into higher realms, such as the causal and buddhic, revealing more and more of the mysteries that seemed unresolvable at the astral and mental level. Beginning projectors, caught up in the excitement of discovery, often do not realize the value of such selfless action.
Of course, discernment comes into play, as it must do if our efforts are to be useful and not merely indulgent. The astral glamour of service-to-humanity must be balanced with the psychological reality of ignorance-illuminated-with-knowledge. Empathy is more than just ‘feeling sorry for’. A kind of tough love must be used when the ‘victim’ is seen to be caught up in self-pity or self-hatred. Leaving them be to stew in their own juice for a while can be quite useful if you have planted a couple of seeds beforehand. Such lack of action may not immediately be recognized as empathetic, but correctly applied it is.
Certainly we can exercise that empathy muscle in many more mundane ways. Everyday kindness and forgiveness being the obvious examples. And the results are much the same as anything subtle or esoteric: the heart balloons, hopefully not with the hot air of self-congratulation, but the warmth of sharing for the sake of sharing. Giving without expectation of return and knowing that the giving comes from an infinite source.
