12.a Empathy Mechanism

Empathy mechanisms are what I call things we see that create, reaffirm, or expand empathy. They're the turns of phrase, the social structures, the small observations, the rituals, all the things that create in us a feeling of "we" rather than "you."

I think of them as a sort of "vehicle" for empathy, as "media" the same way that the fluid in a covid test is media. They surround and hold their contents, and by interacting with them they become a part of us.

I don't necessarily think that this is a spiritual force (though it probably is? jury's still out) but I do think that it's almost a form of energy, the sort of thing that scientists spend a lot of time trying to explain before I sort of just accept that they know more than me.

Crossings