The Power of Empathy and How to Avoid the Dark Side

In light of recent events this week, today’s post will focus on empathy. Several years ago, I presented at the North Carolina’s Governor’s School [in 2018 and 2019] about the importance of empathy and how it can be strengthened through reading science fiction.

            I am a cyberpunk/noir author. For those not familiar with cyberpunk, the sub-genre focuses on high technology, low life, and how they affect what it means to be human.

            Empathy and humanity go together. The lack of empathy and compassion are labeled psychopathy.  According to the National Institute of Health [NIH] is defined as “Psychopathy is a neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls.” It’s literally right there in the definition. When people are incapable of empathy, that is a mental disorder. Full stop.

            As a secondary English/language arts school teacher for over 18+ years, I can tell you that reading helps cultivate empathy. While reading about the conflict, struggle, relationships, and problem-solving of the protagonists and those around them, teach and model how humans work together and how people grow. It also teaches how a community, whether it is a family, a found-family, a school, a group of some kind, help illustrate various personalities and how that diversity strengthens the protagonist and aids in the resolution of the problem.  

Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.

–Mohsin Hamid

            In our current climate, there’s a great deal of fear mongering and racial and homophobic dog whistles. There’s no greater analogy of what’s happening in the U.S. then Star Wars. Fear essentially dismantles empathy. As human beings, we often fear what we do not understand. That’s part of our instincts to remain safe, alive.

            The irony here, is that in our recent development, we live in cities, around other people, building communities. Essentially, people need each other. When we neglect or ignore empathy, we allow our fear to take over, which leads to evil. Yoda warned us of the dangers of fear.

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the Dark side.

–Yoda

            When we don’t engage empathy, we roll full force into the Dark side, evilness. Remember Anakin’s eliminated all the younglings, children. His ability to empathize or have compassion, even for kids which knew him and he had relationships with, was eroded by his fear of losing Padma and not being able to be with his love. His focus remained on what he cared about, at the elimination of others and their needs, including their desire to live.

            Empathy is not a weakness.

It is a super power.

            To be able to think outside yourself, your experience, your bubble, requires an ability to support and care, without there being a reward or benefit for you. It’s the foundation of Jesus’s message to love your neighbors. You must have some compassion and empathy to love those not related by blood to you. To love them, regardless of what they look like, who they love, and where they’re from.

            Reading, widely, diversely will help develop and strengthen empathy in kids, teens, and adults too! I recommend reading non-white, non-male and non-western authors to gain a more global aspect of the world, because in 2025, the world is much more global than it was in 1980 or 1950.

            I and other Shenanigators write science fiction stories from a variety of protagonists. We’re hardly the only ones.

            Happy Reading.