You Know That I Don't Believe That

The Way Of Being With Another Person Which Is Termed Empathic...means Temporarily Living In Their Life, Moving Abut In It Delicately Without Making Judgment... To Be With Another In This Way Means That For The Time Being You Lay Aside The Views And Values You Hold For Yourself In Order To Enter The Other's World Without Prejudice...a Complex, Demanding, Strong Yet Subtle And Gentle Way Of Being.

Over The Years, However, The Research Evidence Keeps Piling Up, And It Points Strongly To The Conclusion That A High Degree Of Empathy In A Relationship Is Possibly The Most Potent And Certainly One Of The Most Potent Factors In Bringing About Change And Learning.

If The Time Comes When Our Culture Tires Of The Endless Homicidal Feuds, Despairs Of The Use Of Force And War As A Means Of Bringing Peace, Becomes Discontent With The Half-lives That Its Members Are Living - Only Then Will Our Culture Seriously Look For Alternatives.

The Elements In A Relationship Which Seem Impossible To Share, The Secretly Disturbing, Dissatisfying Elements, Are The Most Rewarding To Share. This Is A Hard, Risky, Frightening Thing To Learn, And It Needs To Be Re-learned Over And Over.

I Have Come To Think That One Of The Most Satisfying Experiences I Know — And Also One Of The Most Growth-promoting Experiences For The Other Person — Is Just Fully To Appreciate This Individual In The Same Way That I Appreciate A Sunset.