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To: koan who wrote (251469)	5/29/2014 3:11:48 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 542147

re..... Compassion and empathy (or forms of it) are in our genes. Agree........................ youtube.com ............................................. God who in his simple substance, is all ....everywhere equally, nevertheless, in efficacy, is in rational creatures in another way than irrational, and in good rational creatures in another way than in bad. He is in irrational creatures in such a way as not to be comprehended by them; by all rational ones, however, he can be comprehended through knowledge; but only by the good is he to be comprehended also through love. St Bernard....... from..Aldous Huxley's.. The Perennial Philosophy

To: koan who wrote (251469)	5/30/2014 12:07:13 PM
From: Katelew	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542147

I would agree that compassion and empathy are in our genes but perhaps there are markedly different levels among people. Psychologists claim that the distinguishing characteristic of the sociopathic personality is an absence of empathy. Large studies suggest that genes play a substantial role in the creation of the sociopathic personality. A NEAR absence of empathy is considered one of the distinguishing characteristics of a narcsissistic personality disorder. This in turn might suggest that among the remainder of society, those considered as having normal or benign personality development, empathy levels might naturally vary quite a bit from one person to the next. Think of the audience at the end of a heartwrenching drama. Some are sobbing, some are stony-faced, some actually fell asleep..lol. FWIW, I read an interesting book recently on sociopathy and learned that sociopaths are deeply unhappy people and frequently seek out therapists. Their common complaint is an extreme level of boredom, of all things, and many become thrill seekers, often to dangerous levels, in an effort to relieve these miserable levels of boredom. If you think about it life would indeed be very boring if one felt no emotional connection to other people. With most of us our richest memories are those of activities done with other people. Even loners who read voraciously want books that stir them emotionally. As for empathy levels, it appears that empathy resides in a particular area of the brain and can be somewhat measured with scans. I'm going to search for the link and get back to you.