A viewer asks: “There are multiple words surrounding empathy, sympathy, compassion, etc. People often confuse or simply don’t know the differences in these concepts. Before we endeavor to do a deeper dive, can Creator give us a broad divine introduction to these words, the meaning behind them, and the important differences between them, if any?”

As aspects of love, they are representing aspects among a million frequencies. Love is vast. Love is deep and wide, has many colors, and many expressions—some quite unique, some quite universal. The words you are concerned with here are understood well by your culture for what they are trying to convey is understood by humans. The idea of empathy is when one has a personal resonance with the plight of another and feels it within themselves almost as if they are the sufferer and, in extreme cases, can become a sufferer as well and incorporate the same struggle and have the same emotional consequences. In a sense, this is caring for another to an extreme but it shows a high degree of sensitivity and caring that is truly divine, at least in intention. It can end up harming the empath but it shows the person is open to the flow of love energy and has a good divine perspective in seeing when there is a lack of love in a situation and then feels distressed. That is a reflection of the depth of the empath and their ability to care about others. Sympathy is a milder expression of concern where it is more thought about than felt, in many cases, and lacks the intensity and personal experiencing of the empath who truly feel much like the sufferer in question and take on the burden energetically and feel it deeply in their emotional reactions. Sympathy is a concern that is once removed. There is a clear boundary and separation between the sufferer and the observer. So while the observer may care deeply about the sufferer, they will not feel it to the same degree and personalize it to the extent they will be dragged down in some way. In many respects, it is a much safer perch to observe the world and this has survival value as well. There must always be people who keep a clear head and do not allow their emotions to take over. That can be debilitating and can be a limitation if it undermines a person and they are unable to take action or are sidelined, simply suffering on the part of another, but needlessly, and neglect their own life and obligations. So there is nothing inherently wrong with expressing sympathy in lieu of empathy. It is a personal choice based on soul characteristics, the makeup and personality of the individual, the circumstances, the closeness of the tie between the participants in the interaction, and so on. Compassion is the overarching expression of love for others from a deep inner place of knowing that all are interconnected, all are important, all are brethren as members of the human family. This can extend to all living things as well because it is the highest of love vibrations and therefore truly expressing a divine perspective which holds a reverence for all things. That is why compassion is a demonstration of divinity, it is the ability to recognize the importance and the sacred value of life wherever it exists and knowing there is something special on display and if there is a problem, this will elicit great concern and deep feeling—that is to be expected of the divine human when in alignment and able to connect to feelings.