Quote:
Originally Posted by PumpkinPieHead
Welcome to the community, Journey-Man. Thanks for sharing.
You're in good company, lots of us have experienced sibling on sibling abuse (I get irked when people believe that siblings are a built-in group of besties  )
The thing that stuck out to me most about your post is how you, from a neuro-psychological (Is that even a word?) can "feel" what is happening to other people. I, too experience this and always wondered if I'm just a fine-tuned empath, overly-sensitive, or if it is just normal.
It's a blessing and a curse. Feeling others' pain (In addition to my own) is a burden, but it allows me to have a finesse with people that is pretty unique. |
Thanks for your response PumpkinPieHead, enjoying being a part of this community.
The word I used was "neurophysiological" which refers to the various structures of the brain and their interrelationship to create the functions of our cognitions, behavior, mood, etc. For me it almost seemed to be that the place in which I processed personal emotional experiences, was extended to other people as well (this is normally processed in a different part of the brain). Where I imagined myself all at once in the shoes of those suffering, experiencing the gruesomeness and concreteness of their suffering rather than in an abstract way as if it was just information.
I remember when I was struggling with my convictions about god, I had been thinking about the massive earthquake in Lisbon in 1755. People had been worshipping in their churches on All Saints Day when a massive earthquake struck and destroyed a majority of the buildings, sending tens of thousands running for protection. The problem was, the earthquake had also triggered a tsunami which engulfed those from the downtown and harbor areas, running from the destruction. I just imagined myself being there and witnessing the destruction, and praying out to god for deliverance and rushing to safety only to be obliterated by a wall of water.
I know it happened a long time ago, but when I was a Christian it really registered with me and disturbed me greatly. I had a lot of other experiences like it, but that "in their shoes" emotional reaction was definitely a powerful and indeed disturbing experience.
I'm grateful for it in some ways, as I am very socially aware now of suffering in the world and the edifices that cause these things. I'm an INFJ who is passionate about politics and wants to have an impact on the world, and my mental problems have in many ways fed that innate emotional proclivity (for good or ill). I guess I'm now in the process of learning wisdom about how to manage these emotions and proclivities in a way that promotes health and well-being so that I can actually be of help to anyone but myself. But I'm taking the advice to start with the man in the mirror.
