A Pandemic of Lost Empathy

Is there a strange proliferation of empathic disconnection? Why does it seem like the sheep side has lost all ‘normal’ empathy? Does this always come with this sort of division, or is this something unusual? In very deep rifts between cultures, such as during war, or other extreme violence, it is very common to have a hate so strong for “the other side” that normal empathy is lost. But this situation should not bring that about…not getting vaccinated, or holding the loyalty to a certain government entity, is not violent nor does it represent deep assault, yet the unvaccinated are treated as if they are the most destructive force in the universe. Of course the propaganda has supported that, but the propaganda against the unvaccinated certainly has not reached the heights of Hitler’s campaign against the integrity of the Jews.

I am a psychotherapist, and I see many people in my practice who have experienced this lack of empathy, even in every day activities such as driving, or shopping, or carrying out a normal life. People don’t seem to care much about one another anymore—certainly less than they used to. There are of course exceptions. Some people actually seem to be nicer to each other, but from my observations, these people feel very much part of a clan of like-minded folks and make people in their clan the only ones to extend an empathic connection. I see this on either side of the sheep/shrew fence as well.  

I am “vaccine free” (a new term trying to go viral to replace the “less than” connotation of “unvaccinated”). I think, because of that fact, I may be more sensitive to this empathy disconnect amongst people I mingle with than others. But most people don’t know that I am vaccine free, and I still get the cold shoulder. Maybe I am just oversensitive in general, who knows?

I also notice that the vaccine free “cult” members are not as mean to the sheep cult members as the sheep are to us. There are also noticeable exceptions to this, but on the average it seems to be true. I have found recently that shrews are mean to other shrews. This one I have the hardest time with, but this anomaly seems to be increasing in frequency.

Did the vaccine suck the empathy out of us? Did 5G do it? Or is it just an ordinary response to being continually stressed out due to all the garbage we have had to take in during the last 3 years (or the last 100 years depending on how aware you are of the intentional assault on reality). As I said, I see a lot of psychotherapy patients. The Covid “situation” has had observable impact on sheep and shrew. Sheep tend to not have a clue as to what is causing them to feel so lethargic, depressed, anxious, and void of a meaningful existence. Of course I had many patients like this before Covid, but it does seem to be more prevalent than before. Before the vaccine rollout I chalked up this basic patient despair to the lockdowns, social distancing, masks, working from home, lack of gatherings and all sorts of entertainments. Now I am not so sure what continues to trouble them. Most of them think life has gone back, more or less, to normal. Is it the vaccine now that is affecting them?

I have to admit shrews are more affected by all this than sheep. They clearly see the monster under the bed, so they for the most part sit in fear of it deciding to come out and wreak havoc on their lives. Sheep are only affected by what their senses tell them, i.e., when they can’t travel, can’t go to church or the ball game, or to their favorite restaurant. Once most of those restrictions were lifted, the stressors were eliminated and they could go back to “the way it was”—they were no longer affected by Covid.

Or is that entirely true?

I don’t think it is. Just like we have a built in clock (circadian rhythm) we also have built in sensors that tell us when things are not as they should be (I am sure other people have thought of this, but I cannot cite any right now…except maybe Rupert Sheldrake and his belief that people have a built in sensor that tells them when someone is staring at them). These sensors do not have to be physical either, but they communicate with the physical mind and body to convey their “Danger, danger, Will Robinson” message. They also may largely be metaphysical and spiritual, signaling a danger to the soul, to the very humanness of being human.

If this is true, these alarms have been ringing incessantly, practically since the dawn of civilization. We have drifted away from nature, away from a natural pattern of living for quite some time. We have “heard and felt” these warnings and over the millennia have paid dearly for ignoring them. Right now, the ringing has gotten to be mind numbing.

I believe people, particularly sheep (shrews are conscious of what is happening to a large extent) are responding to this warning, “something is off, my friend, and you have to wake up.” When they don’t wake up, then the prodding just annoys them, it is like a piece of fiberglass (does that even exist anymore?) that gets stuck under your shirt and silently scrapes your stomach until you are about to pull your skin off. Since the victims of this prodding are not aware of what the prodding is for, the prodding thus manifests as depression and anxiety…and then as a response to those two irritants, a lack of empathy erupts.

I believe what we will all suffer the most from during these interesting times is largely psychological as well as spiritual. Typically any spiritual affect is ignored by most—considering “most” have little regard for the metaphysical reality of our experience. There is a little more attention given to psychological effects because psychology is a more or less accepted part of being a human being. However, both of these parts of our human experience are relegated far below our physical experience—very far below. Therefore we really don’t see them as all that important. Few people these days are concerned about the erosion of the human soul. Although it is then ironic that most of the assault we see swirling around us as a result of this nefarious agenda is aimed precisely at that very thing—our soul.