Fed-Up Empath

[Sirius]

I would suggest a "personal autonomy firewall".   I'm not sure how else to say it.   It is likely that you need to parse the things that make it inside to you.   Otherwise, a person might tend toward always being reactive and affected by the perceptions thrust upon them.   

I have often wondered if that is why some people choose to be hermits.  

I try to focus on personal interactions and not allowing them to cause a reaction within me.   It took some practice.   Still very far from perfect, however I now have a better handle on allowing those things inside that I choose.   If someone is able to cause a reaction, they are in control.   I don't want that.   I don't want to control them either, but I want to push my own buttons.   There is only one person on this Earth that can truly hurt me, and she chooses not to.

That rose Aphrodite gave you sure is prickly, should have check for thorns, you receive a crown once again




There is a trick with synchronicity where you shower someone with unconditional kindness, love. They will come back to you usually with a message when you least expect it in a time of need. It's impossible to do this once aware of the reward and so you must do this constantly and learn the action like it is training for sport. Repeat it every day and dream at night until it becomes autonomous and you will think of it no more

[Sirius]

Not sure how anyone even conflates the two. It's very clear where one set of behavior begins and ends.

Not sure about that, seems easy to me

[Sirius]

Now this is an act of a vampire, the power to make ghouls scream

Vampires, deceitful.

Ghouls!
One can be created with the eyes of the vampire.
A fresh corpse is needed, drained of fluids.

[redacted]

The ash is to be placed in the vampires empty sockets.
Festering will be contained and migrated to the creatures back.

Eventually it will burst, short lived unfortunately.
They could be employed as plague vessels, more experiments is required.

Perhaps leaving the stomach in will make it bloat and it can be used to control the timing of an eruption.
Alchemy is ever a chore.

[UltraBudgie]

The two don't even meet halfway. They are diametrically opposed by definition.

The narcissist seeks to vampire energy from others,

The empath seeks to siphon their energy to others.

Beware the narcissist who tells you how loving and caring and tolerant and patient they are. They're just putting themselves in the spotlight any way they can. The truth is irrelevant to the narcissist, it's all just a means to an end and everyone is collateral.

Not sure how anyone even conflates the two. It's very clear where one set of behavior begins and ends.

I don't think they're diametrically opposed by definition.

I think the characteristics of each that one usually sees may provide that impression, but that's not the whole picture. For example, many narcissists are very empathic in how they work a crowd. You're confusing narcissism and sociopathy.

An empath is a person who is highly sensitive to the emotions and feelings of others. A narcissist is someone who shows extreme love and admiration for themselves. That's the approximate dictionary definitions. Extroverted narcissists quite often have well-developed empathy, after all that is how they feed their self-worth, by the evoked adulation of others.

My suspicion is that introverted narcissists can actually be more sociopathic in their "empathy". I think narcissism goes a little deeper than the dictionary definition, into worldview and what the narcissist perceives as real. For an introverted narcissist, the empathy they claim to find with others is more of a denied projection of their own emotions; other people are 'real' only insofar as they can find and validate their feelings in themselves. I think perhaps we've all seen shyly "empathic" people be completely oblivious or ununderstanding of emotions they don't consider 'valid' for themselves? Extroverted narcissists are a bit different, they acknowledge others as 'real', just not as important to them emotionally, except as it serves their own self-love. This can often be seen as sociopathic, but sociopaths lack any empathy at all, whereas narcissists require it.

Consider the words of Gul Dukat:

Gul Dukat: A true victory is to make your enemy see they were wrong to oppose you in the first place. To force them to acknowledge your greatness.

Weyoun: Then you kill them?

Gul Dukat: ...Only if it's necessary.

Narcissist. A pure sociopath wouldn't care.



PS: In my original post I said I don't think they're orthogonal traits, which was a misstatement. I meant I do think they're more orthogonal than opposed. I hope that was clear from context.

[AlroyFarms]

@UltraBudgie

Hold on none of this is making sense to me, let me get out my chart here...

[greymagick]

Wait a minute... this isn't a covert Satanic type of thing wherein it's okay to psychologically manipulate and essentially torture "empaths", because it will have some such desired effect, as in something "magical" or whatever.  Is it?  Because some people could interpret it that way! LOL jk jk

Thanks for the Carl Jung videos.  It is a very interesting subject I had never really heard of before.  It makes a lot of sense to me, actually.  But it reminds me a lot of concepts such as energy vampires, mind parasites and overall, demonic attachments, nonetheless...  It could just be your presentation! :D

[SurferSoul]

The opposite of an empath would be a psychopath, they lack empathy and remorse. 
A narcissist is simply self absorbed but can still feel empathy. 

Personally I think all the negative mental conditions can helped/healed. Most of us exhibit traits to some degree or other in periods of high stress etc.. they are like coping or survival mechanisms. Maybe?

[greymagick]

The opposite of an empath would be a psychopath, they lack empathy and remorse. 

That's an important insight - especially for this thread and what Carl Jung was mentioning about how empaths seem to attract people who are resentful of their attributes.  It's in one of the videos Sirius posted above.  I don't think he used the word psychopath - it may not have been a thing back in his day, I'm not sure.  Something to Google later.

But an empath/psychopath "Law of Attraction" type of thing (like a psycho-spiritual Yin and Yang concept), could be something that actually happens out there in our human world.  It's almost like an archetype that seems to be playing itself out in a larger historical context as well...

[SurferSoul]

 

Hmm I’ve never considered that Ying Yang aspect, they do say opposites attract, but do they actively seek each other out? Hard to imagine. I can easily picture psychopaths preying on empaths, taking advantage of their sympathy. 

I keep meaning to read Jungs red book, going to bump it up the list now.

[quintessentone]

For sure. I’m highly energy sensitive — often wish I could escape on the “Tinman” SNG. I tend to be the quiet observer. 

Have an acquaintance/friend who claims to be an empath — does card readings, etc. She’s very sweet — but never shuts up. 

I do question how someone can be empathetic and narcissistic.

I too question that connection and would need more explanation from the person that claims that to be a truth.

In the meantime, I will consider empaths' feelings/thoughts to be driven by the issue at hand, the person's distress levels, and what they feel they can do to assist in the matter. That's just being a considerate and helpful human being.

I'll bet you can feel or read a room when you walk in, am I right?

I'll bet you get vibes from people and instinctively know if you need to ask them "Are you okay?" Or, you know they are not okay.

I know empaths and it is as if they have another gifted (or not a gift, depending on the severity) sense at work.