Is the ability to feel empathy a burden or a blessing?

Question

And why?

Wow, at this point I'm wishing I could give best answer to everybody!

Answer 1

Well, here a line from the Beattitudes:
"Blessed are those who mourn
For they will be comforted"

Also in Luke chapter 6 it mentions:
Woe to you who laugh now
For you will mourn and weep

So, we should look at empathy as a blessing, to motivate us to care for our other Siblings-In-Christ regardless of who they are. It forces us to gain the ability and learn how to put our differences aside with people we don't like, and we never know when we will need someone who's personality we don't like. It gives us more reasons and inspirations to be more prayerful. It can feel like a burden when the person don't want to help themselves or the problem is self-made, or the person seems to feel sorry for themselves and expect all the focus at times when the focus does not truly have to be all on them.
But I think there's a way to balance empathy and feeling bad for others and still feel sunny ourselves.
It all falls in how you approach the empathy.
And empathy gives us a perfect reason to change a negative to a positive. Like, here's one example: Someone putting a red ribbon on the antennae on their automobile because they know what it feels like to lose someone to drunk driving. Or another thing is someone who donates food during the hildays because they know what it's like to be without food one holiday. Or a person opening a shelter because they feel so bad for the homeless people. People using "burdens" to change it into a "blessing".

Excellent question! (((((ECTERBOB))))).

Answer 2

This is a great question! :-)

In my opinion, empathy is BOTH a burden and a blessing. It is a gift to be able to put ourselves in someone else's shoes and feel part of what they are feeling. When we can do that, we are then able to see the person's situation and get a pretty good idea of what is the best way to help them.
Empathy is also a burden in the way that feeling other people's pain can cause you turmoil if you think about it all the time.

I imagine that God has shed many tears in the name of empathy.

Answer 3

It's a little of both, I'd say. Empathy as the foundation for morality is a blessing. Empathy as a cause for restraining ones actions may be a burden to the one acting. But burden or blessing depends on your point of view, so it's not inherently either. It is what it is.

Answer 4

I think it is a bit of both....my heart breaks for the way children, old people and animals and women in some countries, are treated in this world..It can cause pain if you think on it too much. In that way it is a burden.

There are a lot of bullies in this world who love to pick on those who are helpless and can't help themselves,,,,so it can be a burden but it is a blessing in that, it causes people to band together and fight against the evil that is going on....thank God for those who act on their feelings and don't just let things happen and hope someone else will take care of it.

Answer 5

As a healer I have very strong empathy, and that can be difficult in certain situations, Being Empathic to strong degrees can take time to learn to control if it is not controlled it can quickly become overwhelming.
For me it is a wonderful thing to feel what others are feeling, or sense what they are feeling is perhaps more accurate. It is a very good guide on your road, like having extra sign posts to navigate by, but depending on how strongly that sense is working it could need to be honed and balanced.
Most folks I meet do not realize empathy can be a real sense like sight or hearing, when it is developed it can be very helpful.
So burden until its honed and blessing once you have control over it would be my answer.

Answer 6

Empathy is a blessing never a burden to me. Sympathy would be the burden. Empathy allows me to feel compassionately, and so I can be supportive without becoming drawn into the drama.

Answer 7

Having a perception or understanding of someone's suffering is a burden. because you actually "feel" the pain they are going through. But, it can be a blessing also, as stated in Galatians 6:2 - "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." And, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Answer 8

I like carole's answer.
It depends on what is going on in your life. Sometimes you feel the pain of people who are related to you, and it can interfere with some of your goals in progress because you can't figure out where the feelings are coming from. That usually means you have to slow down and see if someone needs you to pray for them or go visit them or write to them. I once went through a really bad depression and then found out later a relative was going through a divorce, but I didn't know at the time. My depression coincided almost exactly with the stress he was going through for a while, only I hadn't known why. Another time I woke up in the middle of the night sobbing the night after my cousin's husband's funeral, and I realized it was a direct tie-in to her feelings, as I had not lost anyone that close to me.

Answer 9

It is a blessing to all mankind because everyone needs understanding- It is a burden to the one with empathy because you feel everyone's pain and feel helpless to fix everything...
But it's a good thing to have:)

Answer 10

It's a blessing. No one person will experience all life experiences (good and bad) in their lifetime. It's one of the many limitations to being human. However, we are given this amazing gift to be able to UNDERSTAND another person's joy or pain even if we've never felt that pain ourselves. I've never lost a child, but I can empathize with a person who has. I've never been homeless or a drug addict, but because of this miracle gift that we are given as human beings, I can can put myself in another person's shoes - experience an emotion that helps me understand the other person's situation.

This can feel burdensome at times, but so can everything we experience in life - even joy because it's tainted with the knowledge that it won't last forever. If we are unable to empathize with another human being, then we will likely never feel a social responsibility toward them either.

Empathy provides us the grace we sometimes lack in the most trying experiences of our lives.