Abstract
Empathy is described in a variety of ways in the literature, depending on the perspective of the author. Common meanings associated with empathy include walking in another person's footsteps, or moccasins (a rather psychobiological derivation), sympathy or like feeling (emotional), projecting one's feelings into another (psychological), or into a work of art (aesthetic), taking the role of another (psychological/sociological), accurate understanding and consideration of the other's viewpoint (psychological), needs (emotional), rights (sociological, political, moral), and feelings (emotional), or taking the perspective of another (psychological). This article makes a case for a unifying description of empathy, developed by Stein, that incorporates all of the variety of meanings listed, and highlights one aspect of empathy, the "crossing over stage," that is transcendent in nature. Because of this property of transcendence, empathy then is portrayed as a vehicle for the development of the spiritual quadrant of function and meaning in practitioners and in-patients.
EMPATHY is a word that is commonly used in the language of health care, but it carries a variety of meanings, a fact that seems rather insignificant to some. When we use the term empathy, we might mean something that is rooted in psychology, biology, philosophy, or even aesthetics. For example, common meanings associated with empathy include walking in another person's footsteps, or moccasins (a rather psychobiological derivation), sympathy or like feeling (emotional), projecting one's feelings into another (psychological), or into a work of art (aesthetics), taking the role of another (psychological/intellectual), accurate understanding and consideration of the other's viewpoints (psychological), needs (emotional), rights (sociological, moral), and feelings (emotional), or taking the perspective of the other (psychological/intellectual). I hold with those who believe that not only is empathy important, it is central to quality, moral health care. But what do we mean by empathy?
When we are careless about what we mean when we describe empathy, I maintain that we dilute a very potent process that has transcendent qualities that are capable of assisting all of us personally in making connection with the essence of ourselves. In addition, I believe that recognizing a unified experience of empathy serves to develop our professional practice into the highest quality, for others.
In this article I will present a common view of holistic health, or caring for the whole person with physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and social needs and functions, and I will concentrate on the most neglected aspect, the spiritual. What is the spiritual quadrant of need and function in a person, how does it serve to help us get our needs met and improve our quality of life? Why has it been so ignored and what is behind the rather recent upsurge of interest in funding research on the spiritual aspects of healing? From there I will consider the concept of the transcendent in our lives and how we interact or make connection with the transcendent. Then I will present a description of the experience of empathy that includes an aspect of transcendence, and argue that this holistic or unified description of empathy is the most eloquent, the most valid, the most relevant to the consideration of true caring in health care, caring that goes beyond the moral admonition of beneficence. I will expand my description of empathy with others to empathy with self, and argue that this process provides a clearer path to developing the spiritual quadrant of need and function in all of us. I will conclude with examples of the importance of the transcendent aspects of empathy as a way of connecting with our essential self, or the higher self, the aspect of us that seems to be more generous, more forgiving, and nonjudgmental than ego and personality alone.