I get there are different degrees of empathy in people that isn’t being disputed. I am also not saying all of them are attention seekers. When I talk like I do I am speaking generally, which means there are exceptions to that rule. I am talking about the general topic of why people claim to be empaths. The same as someone would claim to be a shaman, or magician. Not everyone is a shaman, not everyone is a practicing magician, not everyone is a doctor, not everyone is a chef… yet every single person has empathy and are in fact empathic.
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As I said, stupid people giving themselves stupid labels. That’s all it is. I’m a true chaote, and when people ask why I don’t act ‘like a chaote’ I have to explain to them how most of the people who call themselves chaotes are in fact just particularly stupid eclectics who don’t actually follow the true ideology behind chaos-style practice.
For every group, there will be those who believe themselves to be in it when they really are just fluffy bunnies that know not what they pretend to be.
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Maybe I missed it, and need to further explore the search function; but I am interested in seeing a piece from you about how you see what it means to become a living god @asbjorntorvol. That would be very interesting indeed!
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I can do that 
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Being an empath means you’re not a complete narcissists. Congratulations. The world is so overrun with narcissists at the moment that people who are still capable of empathy end up thinking they’re special because of it, which is ironic.
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To be honest, in my experience so many people claim to be what they are not. I really don’t mind. Usually, people get hooked and everyone reacts in a different way. Some stay in a state of self-delusion, some get angry and turn to the opposite side.
In my whole life, only once I’ve met a really clairvoyant lady. Only one! 25 years of experience.
She was able to perform magic with no magic at all and was very a modest and lived a quiet life.
She gave her best to live a “normal” life, staying away from people mostly. I literally felt on her doorstep, but she accepted me right away. Great experience and a great person.
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I should probably contribute to this since I like what many people are saying here (Asbjörn and others).
I have noticed that the majority of people who claim for themselves the title of “empath” like a crown are usually simply highly emotional and they don’t take the actual meaning into account. In all honesty, I think most people have empathy, but not all people can sense it on a spiritual level. Empathy is a part of everyone’s psychology, but not everyone’s spirituality. A true empath can interpret both the psychological and spiritual aspects of emotion, and is sensitive to the spiritual to the point where they will sense the emotions on others nearly all the time.
Sometimes I’ll say I’m a little empathetic. Usually what I mean is that I can feel emotional energy that others might have trouble sensing. I’m not always good at this, however, and so I’m not really a true empath in the sense the word usually applies. I can tell what emotion a person wants to express, but I’m not always good at what feeling the emotion fully, and if the person is good at psychologically tricking others, I might just feel confusion (not their real feelings). I think most people can feel emotions to some degree via micro-expressions and “gut feelings”. When I try to talk about spiritual emotions, people tend to become confused. Not everyone understands that emotion can be felt as well as perceived (and those usually tend to be the bland-heart type of people where they don’t understand emotion therefore never truely express any subtle emotion like calm and don’t like strong emotions such as love or anger; the apaths, so to speak).
I don’t mind the label of “empath” being used, I just think that people who want to be special try too hard to find their niche sometimes and “being an empath” is something that others like to grab off the shelves for that purpose without stopping to think what that actually means. The truth is we’re all not special in everything because nobody would be if everyone had extraordinary senses in everything. If everyone could accept that we might have some luck getting to know the truely amazing talents most people have but never exercise because they’re caught up with a carnival show they don’t entirely understand. Most humans have empathy, just not always spiritual empathy and certainly not the kind where the emotion is fully experienced. Very few people that I’ve met actually understand empathy, and most who thought they were extraordinary empaths usually are highly emotional people who know mostly apathetic people.
And, like Asbjörn said, I don’t want to change anyone’s minds on the matter nor am I saying my opinion is gospel. This is just my perception on the matter. Multiple people have good points here and this is something refreshing on the topic. You can support me, ignore me or ridicule me, that’s fine. I don’t really care because I don’t want to become empathetic to this topic, only perceptive.
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First we need make a distinction between sympathy and empathy. Not everyone understands the difference.I believe most mentally healthy people can feel SYMPATHY which is understanding what someone is going through. How they must feel. You can remember a time when you went through something similar.
Empathy is an evolution of sympathy where you feel what they are feeling.
Then there’s something else about that. I’ve never heard a spirit use the term “empath” instead i’ve been told there’s a level above “sympathetic magic”. If you study anthropology sympathetic magic is what shamans would use for healing. The shaman understands how the sick person feels then literally feels what they feel. Then something greater happens where they take on the persons feelings upon themselves so they can take on their sickness within thier own body.
Or priests or priestesses where a god was angry and the god was so offended they wouldnt speak. What was the point of telling the pathetic humans when they wouldnt understand.Only that “holy person” had the ability to tap into the gods energy current/personality/feelings to truly understand the god and appease them.
Maybe the spiritual empaths need to take back the word empath.Like those who have taken back the word “witch” or the word “demon”.
Or someone should write a book and come up with a new word entirely.
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Truer words have not been spoken on this thread
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People who claim to be empaths annoy the heck out of me.
I kind of agree but I will say REAL empaths do exist and are damn near psychic! A lot of people are clinging unto the name for self-esteem. They have let emotions handicap them from functioning and won’t let go of people who are dragging them down. Refusing to set healthy boundaries because most “empaths” are simply people with no boundaries. Very unhealthy. Then there is the assumption that empaths are better than narcissists when in fact most of them are co-dependent shriveling wimps who need the narcissist to be the pilot. The narcissist often being as numb to other’s feelings as it gets but witches were in last decade so a lot of narcissists started claiming to be empaths to seem like they have a soul when in fact they are merely feening sympathy!
People who hug heir social and relational handicaps under the guise of “being an empath* make me want to vomit too. Don’t make me sick. If you really can’t tell your emotions from others though, that’s not a sign of spiritual enlightenment, it’s a sign you need some.
One day I will coin an occult snowflake title for being an asshole. Because I want to feel special too. And maybe it will catch on and an entire internet subculture will form around this new identity that I completely pulled from my backside.
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This is a rather spergy and uncharitable take on what people mean when they refer to empaths in an occult context.
While the co-opting of psychology jargon bothers me, when people call themselves empaths in an occult context what they’re claiming is a specific type of clairsentience respective to the emotions of others, not merely the empathetic capacity to feel what they feel but the ability to do so unprompted by emotional display, or perhaps even remotely from the presence of the person felt, i.e. a kind of heart-reading rather than mind-reading.
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Which very likely is a thing, but likely doesn’t apply to as many people as take the label.
Its kind of a holdover from the time when magic was just seen as a kind of psychology. It’s easy to view things through that lens until you get manhandled by something you can’t see. Which is why the op and I are seldom on the same page
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No need. There already is one.
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Guess I’m late to the party so I will go back to work on my latest invention. I’m thinking of calling it a wheel.
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There’s regular empathy (being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes) and then there’s the higher ability to literally feel other people’s feelings to a supernatural degree (ex. like feeling like an emotional wreck around someone who seems perfectly fine, seemingly for no reason, only to later find out that the person is mourning the recent loss of a loved one and is suppressing their grief.)
Empathy as an ability is a real thing, but a lot of people who have regular empathy claim to have the psychic ability of Empathy, just to make themselves seem more special or psychic, magical, etc.
I think everyone can develop true Empathy, but I wouldn’t say it’s an ability until it is strong enough to be a problem in your life, a burden you have to learn from and control/ keep in check. My 2 cents…
Edit: and yes, most people who label themselves as an empath do not have the psychic ability of feeling other people’s emotional states as their own. People are constantly searching for reasons to feel more special, to be unique, that is why these days everybody is an empath, everybody is a crystal healer, everybody is a Starseed etc. etc.
these things can be valid but most people misuse and label themselves as these things for their image.
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I wasn’t sure whether to join this conversation or return to the homepage. Decided I would offer a seemingly unpopular opinion. I do believe in real empaths. Not everyone is a fake. The posers make it hard on the genuine ones which is unfortunate. I would suggest not ruling out the possibility of their existence totally. Granted, there are many who feel the need to be distinct from everyone else. Which leads to them adopting the title. But this phenomenon truly exists and it just so happens that not everyone is looking for attention. I feel like perhaps genuine empaths feel the stigma often resulting in them not going around wearing the title like a badge. But it would be nice to see them reclaim that word like others have done with the words ‘witch’ and ‘demon’, like someone above me mentioned. Ehh just my thoughts
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A lot of pagans claim that, not that I see it as a bad thing just a kind of annoying thing like “okay?” Lol but it gives them a “purpose” in some ways so why not.
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I am reminded of when LaVey commented that most “gifted sensitives” are about as sensitive as a toilet seat.