The Importance of Empathy

Understanding Empathy is to understand the way people interact with one another.

Empathy is a situational understanding of purpose, ideals, morals, and thoughts that humans share with one another.

Being able to grasp this concept will not only enlighten our knowledge of others, but also allow us to experience more intimate relationships with one another.

I will be the first to admit that empathy is not my strongest trait, and at times there is not a shred of it to be found.

Empathy has always seemed like something for people much smarter than myself to discuss, when in reality it is something that everyone employes on a regular basis. Sensing that a loved one is down or upset, feeling the need to help someone that is struggling, the smile that comes when seeing a child open a present; these are all situations in which empathy is enacted. It is the emotional understanding and feeling we experience when watching or hearing about and experience of another.

Although these feelings are empathetic in nature, the true measure of empathy comes with the actions of the individual effected.

Empathy brings a hammer to the walls of the human relationship, enabling people to understand one another in a much more intimate sense. Empathy is a universal concept that should be utilized in every situation; it is “the moral glue that holds civil society together.” (C. Calloway-Thomas) Not everyone is as inept as others in the art of empathy; this is why it is important for a greater understanding of the concept to be unveiled. Empathy can and should be learned.

Is empathy the fix all? Can it bring broken people back together? There is not a clear answer to these questions. However the world would be a much better place if people would allow an understanding of each other to take place, if there was empathy for one another, maybe the world would not be the broken place that it is today.

Because of the culture of today, especially within the US, there is a great deal of importance found in who is considered "right" in any given situation. While I agree that some concepts and thoughts are meant to be held and not compromised, I would argue that for the majority of situations the essence of individual is pushed aside and disregarded for the idol of the theology or idea presented. That is to say that many people to hold to a concept of, "My ideology is more important than you."

But maybe there doesn’t always need to be an answer if there is understanding.

Is it possible that the differences we fight over are moot in the light of who we are?

The key emphasis of empathy is purely relational and is revealed through everyday interaction with other individuals. The big situations as well as the small must be examined through a sense of empathy in order for human relationships to expand and to be fulfilling.

The concept of empathy is a very difficult one for me to unpack. There is the tendency for me to fall into my political ideology which a lines itself with the Libertarian party. Using this ideology it is easy for me to think that everyone should care for themselves and that it is not my responsibility to care or pay for the faulty actions of others. However I must still remind myself that being a Christian means that it is my responsibility to care for the hurting people in this world. Empathy assists me in walking this line between the two seemingly conflicting ideologies.

In this struggle I have been pushed towards a simple ideology presented in Genesis 2:15:

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

It is inherently man's (both male and female) job to care for creation.
We must care for each other, and this begins with Empathy.

Tabernacle Representation: A Brief Study on Exodus 31

Exodus 31 contains 2 main sections than with a quick glance seem to be very unrelated. My first time studying this section I found it very strange how the first half discussed on how the Tabernacle would be set up, and details about what would be inside of the Tabernacle. The second section of Exodus 31 discusses the Sabbath.

Exodus 31 (New International Version)

Bezalel and Oholiab

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. 6 Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you: 7the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony with the atonement cover on it, and all the other furnishings of the tent- 8 the table and its articles, the pure gold lampstand and all its accessories, the altar of incense, 9 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, the basin with its stand- 10 and also the woven garments, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests, 11 and the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them just as I commanded you."

The Sabbath

12 Then the LORD said to Moses, 13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. [a]
14 " 'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. 15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.' "
18 When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

It seems as if these two sections are in no way related to one another, that maybe the author of this book was just making a sort of list to tell people what they needed to know. In reality there is much more to this passage than simply listing off some important information. Reading Genesis 1-2:2, it seems to parallel Exodus 31.

Genesis 1-2 (New International Version)

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. 

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. 

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 

20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. 

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,[b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. 

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [c] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Exodus 31 was written as a reminder of the creation account, and since the Tabernacle is the focus of the "creation" in Exodus 31 this can hold implications for the meaning of the Tabernacle. I would argue that this comparative of Genesis 1 and Exodus 31 would suggest that the purpose of the Tabernacle was to in a way to give the Israelites the ability to step back into the Garden of Eden. The Tabernacle was a way of God retrieving the lost relationship that he longed to have with his creation prior to the fall of man.