Persona in greek means: the sound that resonates behind the mask.
-Alan Watts
Can Empathizing feel like you are wearing a mask? Though I have outlined some ways an Empathizer may act or think, it would be a mistake for one to purely associate themselves with an Empathizer. By labeling ourself as an empathizer, we fail to convey the vital essence behind our true being. At Empa-Tea we see any labels as restrictive and we realize that often labels don’t help us to feel better and thrive as humans. If those who practice Empath*ology begin to think “I’m an empathizer” even when they aren’t actively empathizing, I can see how this thought process could lead to self denial and self sacrificing behavior. Even during the practice of empath*ology, the “EMPATHIZER” has the power to break role and remove their mask to show the utter humanness behind their persona. We all err and the client and empathizer both possess the same fundamental human needs that they must meet in order to be truly present for another person. By showing our fundamental humanness to those we intend to help, we can still practice Emapth*ology while remaining our autonomous human selves.
I will leave you with this poem about labels by Ruth Bebermeyer
I’ve never seen a lazy man;
I’ve seen a man who never ran
While I watched him,and I’ve seen a man who sometimes slept between lunch and dinner,
and who’d stay at home upon a rainy day,
but he was not a lazy man.
Before you call me crazy,
Think, was he a lazy man or
Did he just do things we label “lazy”?I’ve never seen a stupid kid;
I’ve seen a kid who sometimes did
Things I didn’t understand
Or things in ways I hadn’t planned;
I’ve seen a kid who hadn’t seen
The same places where I had been,
But he was not a stupid kid.
Before you call him stupid,
Think, was he a stupid kid or did he
Just know different things than you did?I’ve looked as hard as I can look
But I’ve never ever seen a cook;
I saw a person who combined
Ingredients on which we dined,
A person who turned on the heat
And watched the stove that cooked the meat- I saw those things but not a cook.
Tell me, when you’re looking,
Is it a cook you see or is it someone
Doing things that we call cooking?What some of us call lazy
Some call tired or easy-going,
What some of us call stupid
Some just call a different knowing,
So I’ve come to the conclusion,
It will save us all confusion
If we don’t mix up what we can see
With what is our opinion.
Because you may, I want to say also;
I know that’s only my opinion.