The Empathetic Spirit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A great deal has been written about empathy from a psychological point of view, particularly in the effort to distinguish it from sympathy.\u00a0 Far less has\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Empathetic Spirit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A great deal has been written about empathy from a psychological point of view, particularly in the effort to distinguish it from sympathy.\u00a0 Far less has\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-21T18:24:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/files\/2012\/10\/Empathy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/\",\"name\":\"The Empathetic Spirit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-21T18:24:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-21T18:24:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"A great deal has been written about empathy from a psychological point of view, particularly in the effort to distinguish it from sympathy.\u00a0 Far less has\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Empathetic Spirit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\",\"name\":\"What God Wants for Your Life\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\",\"name\":\"Frederick Schmidt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Frederick Schmidt\"},\"description\":\"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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{"id":940,"date":"2012-10-21T12:24:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-21T18:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=940"},"modified":"2012-10-21T12:24:41","modified_gmt":"2012-10-21T18:24:41","slug":"the-empathetic-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/10\/the-empathetic-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Empathetic Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>A great deal has been written about empathy from a psychological point of view, particularly in the effort to distinguish it from sympathy.\u00a0 Far less has been written about its spiritual dimension.<\/p>\n

On that score, arguably the etymology of the word remains an important clue to its spiritual significance.\u00a0 From the Greek preposition en <\/em>or \u201cin\u201d and the noun, pathos <\/em>or passion, empathy refers to the capacity to \u201cfeel into\u201d or even \u201csuffer into\u201d the experience of another.<\/p>\n

It becomes instantly clear that to have an empathetic spirit is to enter into the same spirit that animates the Incarnation of Christ.\u00a0 In fact, the empathetic human being could be said to extend the benefits of the Incarnation by becoming the hands and feet of Christ.<\/p>\n

The example of Christ also serves as a means of testing whether we are being genuinely empathetic.\u00a0 Certain behaviors obviously fail that test.<\/p>\n

When we are self-referential and parade our efforts to be empathetic, we obviously fail the test.\u00a0 When we wax long and eloquently about the way in which the pain we inflict on others saddens us, we obviously fail the test.\u00a0 When the focus is on the feelings we experience in the act of being empathetic, or when we limit our care for others to the expression of sorrow for someone else, we also fail.<\/p>\n

In other words, the deeply spiritual and empathetic human being enters into the pain of someone else \u2014 often completely unseen and unrecognized.\u00a0 And they do it at an expense to themselves. \u00a0It is not a performance. \u00a0It is a way of living.<\/p>\n

Even the person for whom we care in that deeply sacrificial fashion may not be able to identify the gift that they have been given.\u00a0 But embraced by the One who enters fully into our struggles, we deepen our acquaintance with God and bless one another.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"