andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>I actually think that the actual exercise of our
>capacity for empathy is among the hardest things any
>of us can do, in part because people are far more
>complicated and intricate than just about anything
>else, quantum mechanics is child's play in comparison;
>but more deeply because it requires that we come out
>of ourselves and pay attention to other people.
>
Empathy is hard because it requires that we imagine/share another's
suffering.
We have no problem vicariously sharing another's success, but when it
comes to suffering, we have better things to do.
It takes a long time to figure out that living life with the sole aim of increasing personal pleasure and avoiding difficulty is the shortest way to creating a very unhappy life. If that were the case, all we'd really need to do is find and take good drugs.
Joanna