Empathy Anyone?

Empathy is a concept and nothing more. It is utterly impossible to know what it's like to be someone else - this isn't my opinion this is a straight fact. If empathy was possible every NT person would understand every ND person. But they don't. They appear to have empathy towards other NT people because they follow a similar set of principles to themselves and that allows them to apply rules for showing appropriate levels of sympathy.

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you! 

Yasmyn said:

when it comes to the individual feelings of people around me - I only care if it effects me?

Maybe bigger picture stuff going on here - it could be because it does not involve you that you cannot comprehend how it affects the other people. Do you truly not care? Or are you unable to help and so do not concern yourself with the issue?

I get told I am incapable of empathy all the time which really winds me up because nobody is capable of it, they only appear to be. I'm not cold-hearted I know how give sympathy and comfort my loved ones when they have problems. My understanding of other people's emotions is very minimal however - I can tell what emotion they are feeling but I have no idea how to gauge how deep that emotion is running in them. Therefore when compared to a NT person I do appear to have very little empathy but this is purely because I only understand emotion on a very basic scale.

Empathy is a concept and nothing more. It is utterly impossible to know what it's like to be someone else - this isn't my opinion this is a straight fact. If empathy was possible every NT person would understand every ND person. But they don't. They appear to have empathy towards other NT people because they follow a similar set of principles to themselves and that allows them to apply rules for showing appropriate levels of sympathy.

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you! 

Yasmyn said:

when it comes to the individual feelings of people around me - I only care if it effects me?

Maybe bigger picture stuff going on here - it could be because it does not involve you that you cannot comprehend how it affects the other people. Do you truly not care? Or are you unable to help and so do not concern yourself with the issue?

I get told I am incapable of empathy all the time which really winds me up because nobody is capable of it, they only appear to be. I'm not cold-hearted I know how give sympathy and comfort my loved ones when they have problems. My understanding of other people's emotions is very minimal however - I can tell what emotion they are feeling but I have no idea how to gauge how deep that emotion is running in them. Therefore when compared to a NT person I do appear to have very little empathy but this is purely because I only understand emotion on a very basic scale.

Thank you for your response. 

I agree with you that empathy is a concept. That makes sense. 

When you say 'do you truely not care?' I don't want anyone to be sad or upset. But also.... I can't control how they feel?

I mean, I can, in a sense, with my actions but that doesn't stop me from sometimes being selfish and doing things that I think are right which may make other people stressed or sad. 

I know I am not always right. But if it feels right for me then surely it is right? 

I stand by my statement that humans are strange.