Why Do Empaths Think In Global, Mythic Terms?
Even as children, empaths think globally. This is because we are born with an awareness that life has meaning. We’re also born knowing that we have an essential role to play in a grand, divine, magical theater that spans the universe.
When I was in the fourth grade, our teacher had us do a project where we predicted what the world would be like in 2020. Because of that, 2020 has always stood out in my mind as a signifiant milestone. While our childhood predictions didn’t come true (society has not become Star Trek), many of the problems I felt keenly aware of back then are still with us today.
A song from that era has been playing in my mind lately. One Tin Soldier by Coven (Bell Records, 1971) affected me deeply as a child, and I’m now returning to its theme:
Listen children to a story
That was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley folk below
On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath a stone
And the valley people swore
They'd have it for their very own
The people on the mountain, closer to god, with longer vistas, are the ones who have the treasure. In the song, they offer to share it, but the valley people aren’t content with that. They want to take it.
Wealth and Power
Most of the people around us think that having “stuff” is “being rich,” and this is not just due to “social conditioning” or any other psychobabble. It’s due to a fundamental disconnect with the cosmic drama. Rather than realizing that we’re playing on a stage, the valley people think that we are trapped in a dungeon, with a zero-sum battle going on. They must fight, they must take, they must dominate or they will be losers, impoverished, and subjugated.
The mountain people are empaths and enlightened souls who see way, way past this. They understand the true nature of riches. I like the way Eric Fromm, in The Art of Loving (Harper & Row, 1956), explains it:
In the sphere of material things, giving means being rich… The hoarder who is anxiously worried about losing something is, psychologically speaking, the poor, impoverished person, regardless of how much they have. Whoever is capable of giving, is rich.
Empaths have this understanding from childhood. (Many of my patients have financial difficulties related to it.) True wealth is attained through giving. We don’t live in a dungeon. We play upon a stage. We don’t see a future of hoarding. We see a future of generosity. We know humanity is capable of this. We know we can help. So empaths end up behaving in radically different ways (we wear our masks!) because we live according to a radically different reality.
Violence and Power
The real world often goes in the opposite direction. 1971 was a grim year, and the 1970s were violent, transformative times in the United States. The story in the song goes on:
Now the valley cried with anger
Mount your horses
Draw your swords
And they killed the mountain people
So they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
“Peace on Earth” was all it said.
Truth is the treasure, and it will prevail no matter what. But we’re all worried about the path we might take to get there.
What we need to realize is that the empath’s power is stronger than any other force coursing through humanity. Our energy does not lead to obedience, as does the evil version. Our energy leads to self-love and empowerment. Evil magic shrivels in violent death, while empathic magic blossoms to widespread enlightenment.
The Empath’s Global Perspective
You understand all of this intuitively, and this is what makes you an empath, and this is what anchors all of your thoughts in global, mythic, cosmic terms. You were born with this awareness, and even if you tried to repress it because of your situation, you can feel in your heart that the pure perception you had as a child is more accurate and elegant.
For us, the essence of authenticity is being in touch with that core self when you were young. We play these roles in life, but they’re not truly authentic. Go back to that time when a hug meant more than anything on the planet. Remember those times when everything you have connected with all that is. Experience again that level of awareness, and identify with that, because that’s who you truly are. Your roles don’t need to change; you can be an empath from anywhere in society. What changes is the way you feel about yourself.
With that change comes your greatest impact on the world. That’s the power you know you can access to help steer society towards it potential rather than its destruction. We hold the true treasure, and by being true to our nature, we encourage others to find it.
Photo by Juan Encalada on Unsplash
