In other's shoes

In moment of silence, sometime wonder “who we are”, “where we come from”, “what we do”, “what we believe” ? I told one of my colleague some days back, "These days I am interested to understand more about ethics”. Immediately, he suggested, “what about writing on ethics?” I thought for a while and finally, I said “Yes, why not!!” Instead, I am here with a short write up on empathy, since ethics is a bit weighty discourse about moral philosophy

 So, “What is empathy?”

The word EMPATHY simply means, “The feeling that you understand and share another person’s experience and emotions”. In short, “it is the ability to understand someone else’s feelings.”

Now, let us ask ourselves even further, “Are we empathic towards other beings in our daily lives?”

I am asking this question to oneself because being empathic to others is the key to compassionate and ethical behavior in us. Now let us dissect this word “empathy” a bit more.  There are three main kinds of “empathy”, each involving distinct sets of our brain circuits.

Cognitive empathy: This is about understanding how other people see the world and how they think about it, and understanding their perspectives and mental models. This helps us in figuring out what would be the best ways to understand other fellow beings. E.g.  This fits well in a diverse environment with people from different background.

Emotional empathy: This is a brain-to-brain linkage that allows "chemistry" in our connections with other’s inner experience and emotion. E.g. when we see an old lady struggling to walk up the stair, we like to help her.

Empathic concern: Unlike the first and second kinds of empathy, this third variety of empathy is based on the ancient mammalian instinct for caring and for parenting. This naturally leads to and demand empathic action. E.g. Now there is an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, international communities are helping those countries in the ground to deal with this serious public health problem.

In summary – we can make this world a better place through empathic action, which is the key for compassionate and ethical behavior in and around community. I know, this is what we do, but we can do more and share happiness magnifying our cognitive and emotional empathy through our education now.