Can You Hear Me Now?

The ability to hear and understand other people is essential to healthy
relationships. It does not take a Doctorate in Counseling for bright people to figure that out but it did take a Doctorate for me to see how important understanding is to good family life, successful businesses and effective teaching. It is, of course, also core to good therapy.

The ability of one person to truly understand another is called, EMPATHY.

The story of Jesus and the man born blind reveals why some people cannot understand. Here is a man who received his eyesight and could see objects for the first time in his life. Just imagine how exciting and thrilling that would be for the man and his family to say nothing about his friends and neighbors in that small village. They all knew him and saw him and talked with him. They had known him from the day of his birth. They had debated why he was born blind. They asked, "Was it because his parents had sinned?" Or, "Was it his hidden sins" that brought such a terrible disability into his life?

If this miracle occurred in the life of one of your family members how would you feel? Would you feel joy, awe, fear, relief or jealousy that he was blessed and you weren't? Would you be able to tune into his feelings and be EMPATHIC with his feelings and thoughts? Or would your own inner reaction be so strong that it would filter out an appropriate response to him?

Review the story and make a list of those who had EMPATHY for the man that was healed and a list of those who did not seem to be able to tune into his situation.

Who did not EMPATHIZE with the man?

What did they do?
What did not not do?

Who did EMPATHIZE with the man?

Why do you think they did or did not show EMPATHY to the man?