"True empathy requires listening with the whole being. The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind.
Empathy with others occurs only when we have successfully shed all preconceived ideas and judgments about them.”
"It demands of you a reaction that cannot be prepared beforehand. It demands nothing of what is past. It demands presence, responsibility; it demands you." Martin Buber
Simone Weil "The capacity to give attention to one who suffers is a very weird and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all those who think they have the capacity do not possess it. "
"Instead of offering empathy, we tend to instead give advice or reassurance and to explain our own position or feeling. Empathy, on the other hand requires us to focus for attention on the other person's message." P 92