I have a superpower. I cannot fly, I am not bulletproof, I do not have iron fists. I don't shoot webs out of my wrists, or swing from building to building. I don't fight crime, I don't save children from burning buildings, and I most certainly do not know how to wield a weapon. But I have a superpower that is perhaps the greatest gift of them all. It guides me when I am lost, reminds me how to come back to love when I have tilted way too far towards fear, and it connects me to all I meet, all I love, and all there is. I am not the only one with this power. In fact, we all have it and we all struggle to understand it. It can weigh us down like a ton of bricks, but it can also connect us to the Big Love that we spend our lifetimes cultivating. It is the secret to understanding relationships, friendships, enemies, misunderstandings, and accidents. It is the antidote to loss, grief, suffering, injustice, and evil. It is a golden gift to us humans, the source - and reflection - of such harrowing pain. It is empathy. It is superhuman.
If you've ever watched or read a superhero story, you know that there is often great suffering and challenge as both the birthplace and collateral of such amazing superhuman abilities. There is usually some level of personal difficulty that paves way for the abilities to emerge, or to encourage the individual to indulge in such strange and mysterious powers. Aside from profound suffering and a lifetime of struggle, this hero is made just that through endurance, pure will power, and most importantly, the responsibility that comes with their superpower.
The responsibility. "With great power comes great responsibility" was once said by the very person that inspired Spider-man's journey to become the humble hero and vibrant vigilante of the streets of NYC. Those words were life-changing for Peter Parker and they hold such weight and value when it comes to empathy, too. Empathy is a great power. It also comes with such great responsibility. There is not one without the other, just ask Spider-Man.
You may be wondering why empathy is considered a superpower in my world. Well, my friends, it gives you the precious and golden ability to place yourself in another's shoes. To feel WITH another, to be WITH another, on levels that transcend the physical and ego. You aren't just feeling bad for someone, you are feeling bad with someone. That connects you on levels that you cannot even see, and that will change the world. We are not meant to do this alone. The struggle, the challenge, the conflict, the hurt. We are not meant to bear it alone, to hold it in silence as it rips through our insides. We are not meant to die in sadness or despair, to feel lost and unloved. We are not meant to do this alone. The darkness is no match for the dimly lit light of a hundred hearts that burn in passion for your pain. Life is a circle, everything always comes back to the beginning. To the fact that we are not meant to be alone in this world. We need each other.
Empathy is a gift that we all contain. A magical, wonderful thing that allows us to feel connected, seen, and understood by others. This gives us the ability to know love and to know comfort in such a dark world that finds us all afraid from time to time. This is bigger than all of the wealth in the world. Something this big, something this powerful, comes with an equal amount of responsibility. Empathy gives us the gift of connecting to the joy, love, and even the pain within others. While that puts us in a place where we are not alone, where we can feel understood and cared for as well as provide that for others, it also sets up the cruelest of mirrors, directly in front of our innocent eyes. This mirror shows us the pain, the hurt, and the wounds that lie within us. That is why I believe so many people pass up the gift of empathy. They bury it so deep, they sometimes can't even remember where they hid it. Years will go by and the feeling of being understood and loved for all you are is a distant memory. The person that needed empathy the most has given up their power to use it; because the responsibility was too much. The pain was too much. Feeling it all was too much. The power that was going to save them, well, it scared them. It was too much. I'll tell you why, and then I'll tell you why it's not.
Some people walk this earth holding an unfair, monstrous amount of pain. Most of us have buried experiences, feelings, and even traumas just to function in this life. We did it to survive. Our instincts to survive coarse through our body like an invisible part of our DNA, ingrained in our being. These instincts to survive come forth, even when we are impervious to it. It could be years - or even decades - later before we realize we buried something deep within, just to keep moving forward. This is who we are as humans, but it isn't who we are as souls. As a soul, as a spirit, as a celestial being, we hold onto everything that is not recognized and integrated. If you haven't processed something, it is not because you do not need to, but rather because your human instincts have buried it deep within your psyche, deep within your soul, in a box that is labeled, Pandora. But this box still lives within you. It will follow you until it is opened and all its contents are released. Until it is recognized for what it is, what it gave you, what it took from you, and how it left you. Until all of that is integrated into the person that was meant to grow from the contents of that box. To heal, to learn, to love themselves deeper than ever before.
When we look into each other's hearts, with loving and caring eyes, we are searching for innocence and humility. We are looking to feel the parts of one another that leave us feeling connected, understood, and loved. We are looking to cure the feeling of solitude and the loneliness that comes with the complexity of our emotional body and the experiences that splatter it with darkness. We are looking to feel safe. To feel loved. But what we often find, is the inevitable pain in others that remind us of the box we buried within our own, long, long ago. We don't want to think of this box. We don't want to see it, we don't want to remember that it exists. It is challenging to even remind yourself of the events that built you by first tearing you down, especially if the rebuilding has been nonexistent or persistently challenging. We are afraid to look into each other's eyes because we are afraid of what might be reflected back to us.
When I look into your eyes, my sweet friends, I see the pain. The pain that has yet to be held gently, cradled with love and reverence, healed and released from the box. Turned into love for yourself and for life. I feel the pain that has been ignored, kept hidden, chained away from the light of reality. This only reminds me of the pain that has been hidden within myself. The pain that I fear, on the deepest levels of my being, will tear me down indefinitely. The mirror that is your eyes reflect a world of secret pain. It lives in my body and it wreaks havoc on my soul. It is connected to all of the beliefs that have somehow made this journey with me, softly whispering in my ear, "you will not make it any further".
You see, this great responsibility that comes with empathy is really just a reflection into your own being. A unique and painful view of the parts of you that hurt and cry, like a scared little child. When I see your child, screaming and crying for love, for release from the pain that they have endured, I feel my inner child respond. The part of me that is innocent and just wants to feel loved. And when she does respond to the call of pain, I feel weak and unreliable. I feel unsteady and unsure. I feel confused and chaotic. But you know what your child told me when I saw them so vulnerable and wounded? They told me that I am not alone. They told me that there is pain deep within them that needs love and the same thing exists within me. They said that, together, we can face what makes us ache deep into our soul. That we can shine our light on it, reveal it, and heal it. We can love it until it stops throbbing, and love ourselves until the bleeding stops.
These wounds we have hidden, the pain we have stored in our little, tiny box within will be addressed at some point. That is the inevitable part of existence. The sooner it is opened and seen for all it is, the sooner you will find yourself and the innate joy that shines out from within you. The sooner you will feel the full extent of love that you most certainly are meant to experience. Take my words as you will, but know that this is always easier, better, and a whole lot more beautiful with empathy. With connection. With somebody who understands.
We are all these magnificent creatures, walking around with the weight of our world resting heavily on our sweet and innocent shoulders. Empathy may be difficult and challenging, it may reveal the bugs in you that have found solace in the darkness, away from your conscious eye. But it is far more extraordinary and freeing to see these critters and the darkness they inhabit for what they are. To integrate the things they are meant to teach you and then let them out into the world as truth and as love. But most importantly, to release the pain that keeps you from feeling more love and joy in this life.
As a superhero, you will see the parts of life - and yourself - that are far harder to hold than you know. But as a superhero, you will get to swing to such great heights with the most amazing of views and swing through the world that brings awe to your entire body. Empathy is your superpower. It may not be your only ability, but it is perhaps your most precious and sacred one. It is a great power and with great power comes great responsibility. The responsibility of seeing what truly lies within, of facing the darkness that is easily buried. The responsibility of feeling that same darkness exist and torment others, those you love and care about deeply. The responsibility of knowing your own pain so that you may sit with those you love and their pain.
In the end, however, that responsibility is actually a gift in itself. Although it makes your world heavy and uncomfortable at times, know that the ability to feel ever so deeply, the pain and the pleasures of life, is a priceless gem. Don't take my word for it though, discover your superpower and know that you, my loves, are never alone. Not even in the dark.
No comments:
Post a Comment