The Power of Empathy: A Summation of the Bible's Teachings
2/13/20242 min read
After much deep reflection, I have come to a profound realization. In my quest to understand the Bible's teachings and lessons, I have discovered that its core message can be succinctly summarized in a few simple words:
Have empathy for everybody.
This revelation has had a profound impact on my perspective, as it encapsulates the essence of what it means to live a compassionate and fulfilling life. It transcends religious boundaries and speaks to the universal human experience.
Throughout the Bible, we find numerous stories, parables, and teachings that emphasize the importance of empathy. From the Golden Rule—"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"—to Jesus' commandment to love one another, the message of compassion and understanding reverberates through its pages.
Empathy, at its core, is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. It requires us to step outside of our own experiences and perspectives and truly connect with others on a deeper level. It is a powerful force that has the potential to transform not only our relationships but also our society as a whole.
When we approach others with empathy, we open ourselves up to a world of understanding and connection. We recognize that each person has their own unique struggles, joys, and experiences. We acknowledge that our own perspective is not the only valid one and that there is much we can learn from those whose lives differ from our own.
Empathy allows us to break down barriers and bridge divides. It enables us to find common ground with people who may seem vastly different from us. It encourages us to listen, to seek understanding, and to extend kindness and compassion to all, regardless of their background or beliefs.
Unfortunately, not everyone who claims to teach based on religion adheres to this fundamental principle. There are those who use religion as a means to further their own agendas, to divide rather than unite. These individuals often cherry-pick verses or interpret scripture in a way that supports their biases, rather than embracing the overarching message of empathy and love.
It is important to be discerning and critical of such teachings. When encountering individuals who do not embody empathy in their religious teachings, it is essential to question their motives and consider the potential harm they may be causing. True spiritual guidance should inspire and encourage us to be more compassionate, not sow seeds of division or exclusion.
Ultimately, it is up to each of us to discern the true teachings of empathy within the religious texts we hold dear. We must strive to embody these principles in our own lives and challenge those who distort or misrepresent them for personal gain.
By embracing empathy as the guiding principle of our lives, we can create a more compassionate and inclusive world. We can foster understanding and acceptance, and work towards a society where everyone is valued and respected.
So, let us remember the power of empathy as we navigate the complexities of life. Let us strive to see the humanity in others, to listen with an open heart, and to extend kindness and compassion to all. In doing so, we honor the essence of the Bible's teachings and truly embody the spirit of love and understanding.
Renée Kessen
Absolutely. Here's a deeply reflective and emotionally intelligent blog post based on your prompt, exploring the absence of anger through the lens of personal experience, emotional awareness, and shadow work:
Unmasking Anger: A Journey Through Emotion, Illness, and Identity
🌪️ The Silence of Anger
Anger is often described as a fire—hot, consuming, and impossible to ignore. It’s the emotion that screams when boundaries are crossed, when injustice strikes, when pain demands a voice. But what happens when that fire never ignites? What if, instead of rage, there’s only quiet? Not peace, not numbness—just an absence. A void where anger should be.
For most of my life, I’ve lived in that void.
I’ve watched others erupt in fury, express indignation, or simmer with resentment. I’ve studied their reactions like a foreign language, mimicked their expressions, and tried to decode the emotional choreography that seemed so natural to them. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t feel it. Anger was a costume I wore, not a truth I lived.
And it took a brush with death—and the guidance of a goddess—to finally understand why.
🧠 Alexithymia and the Feelings Wheel
Before diving into the deeper layers of my story, it’s important to understand a concept that shaped my emotional landscape: Alexithymia. It’s a condition where identifying and describing emotions is difficult. For those who live with it, feelings are often vague, elusive, or entirely inaccessible. It’s not that we don’t feel—it’s that we don’t know what we feel.
The Feelings Wheel, developed by Dr. Gloria Willcox, became a lifeline. It’s a visual tool that breaks down core emotions into nuanced sub-feelings. For someone with Alexithymia, it’s like a Rosetta Stone for the soul. It helped me begin to name the foggy sensations that floated through my body. But even with this tool, one section remained blank: Anger.
I could identify sadness, fear, joy, and even surprise. But the entire slice of the wheel tied to anger—frustration, irritation, rage, resentment—was inaccessible. Not just hard to name. Absent.
🩸 A Diagnosis That Changed Everything
Then came the diagnosis. A possible form of leukemia. The kind that doesn’t offer years—it offers months. The kind that forces you to confront mortality not in theory, but in countdowns.
People talk about the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. For me, it was more like two stages: a brief flicker of disbelief, and then a swift, almost serene acceptance. No rage. No “why me?” No bargaining with fate.
It wasn’t bravery. It wasn’t spiritual enlightenment. It was just… how I am.
And that’s when Hekate entered the picture.
🔮 Hekate and the Shadow
Hekate, the Greek goddess of crossroads, magic, and the unseen, has long been a figure of transformation. In my spiritual practice, she became a guide—not in the mythological sense, but in the deeply personal one. She pointed to the truth I had long buried: I had never felt anger. Not once. Not truly.
She didn’t say it with judgment. She said it with clarity. Like holding up a mirror to a face I’d never seen.
Through shadow work, a process of exploring the unconscious parts of ourselves, I began to peel back the layers. I examined moments in my life where I was supposed to feel anger—betrayals, injustices, violations. And what I found wasn’t anger. It was grief, fear, confusion, and sometimes even compassion. But never rage.
🎭 The Mask of Social Conditioning
Society teaches us that anger is natural. That it’s healthy. That it’s necessary. Especially in moments of pain or injustice. And so, I learned to perform it.
I learned to raise my voice when wronged. To clench my fists. To say “I’m so mad right now,” even when I wasn’t. I wore anger like a mask, stitched together from expectations and mimicry.
But beneath that mask was something else. Often, it was hurt masquerading as fury. Or fear dressed up as indignation. Sometimes it was shame, sometimes helplessness. But never anger itself.
Shadow work helped me see that these emotions had been forced into the mold of anger because that’s what I was taught to do. I wasn’t expressing anger—I was expressing other emotions in the socially acceptable costume of rage.
🧩 The Puzzle of Emotional Identity
This realization was both liberating and disorienting. If I don’t feel anger, what does that say about me? Am I broken? Am I incomplete?
The answer, I’ve come to believe, is no.
Emotional identity is not one-size-fits-all. Just as some people feel joy more intensely, or are more prone to anxiety, some of us simply don’t experience certain emotions the way others do. And that’s okay.
What matters is authenticity. Feeling what is, not what should be.
🛠️ Reconstructing the Emotional Framework
With this new understanding, I began to reconstruct my emotional framework. I stopped trying to force anger into my vocabulary. Instead, I asked myself: What am I actually feeling?
When someone hurt me, was it anger—or was it sadness?
When I felt violated, was it rage—or was it fear?
When I lashed out, was it fury—or was it a desperate need to be seen?
This process was slow, and sometimes painful. But it was also profoundly healing. I began to respond to situations with emotional honesty, not performance. I stopped apologizing for not being angry. I stopped pretending.
🧘 The Role of Acceptance
Acceptance became a cornerstone—not just of my illness, but of my emotional truth. I accepted that my emotional palette is different. That I navigate the world without the fire of anger, but with the depth of other feelings.
And in that acceptance, I found peace.
I no longer feel the need to justify my reactions. I no longer feel broken for not raging against the dying of the light. I feel whole in my own way.
🌌 The Spiritual Dimension
There’s a spiritual dimension to all of this. In many traditions, anger is seen as a lower vibration—necessary, but not ideal. In others, it’s a sacred force of protection and boundary-setting. For me, its absence has opened a different kind of spiritual path.
One that values stillness, clarity, and compassion. One that sees emotion not as a checklist, but as a spectrum. One that honors the unique wiring of each soul.
Hekate’s guidance wasn’t about fixing me. It was about revealing me. And in that revelation, I found a kind of magic that doesn’t need fire to burn.
💬 Final Reflections
If you’ve ever felt like your emotions don’t match the script society hands you, you’re not alone. If you’ve ever wondered why you don’t feel what others feel, you’re not broken. You’re just different.
The Feelings Wheel can be a powerful tool—but only if we use it to uncover our truth, not to conform to someone else’s.
Anger may be absent from my emotional vocabulary, but in its place are other truths. Other voices. Other colors.
And they are enough.
Would you like help formatting this into a publishable blog layout or turning it into a podcast script?
That’s a profound question—and one that touches on identity, emotional authenticity, and even survival. If someone never feels anger, it can be confusing, especially in a world that often treats anger as a necessary response to injustice, boundaries being crossed, or pain. But the absence of anger doesn’t mean emotional emptiness. It often means something else is happening beneath the surface.
Here’s how someone might begin to navigate and make peace with never feeling anger:
🧭 1. Understand What Anger Represents
Anger is often a signal—it tells us something feels wrong, unfair, or threatening. If you don’t feel anger, ask:
What does arise in those moments?
Is it sadness? Fear? Disappointment? Confusion?
Sometimes, these emotions are misinterpreted or masked due to social conditioning. You might have been taught that anger is the “appropriate” response, even when your body and psyche are wired differently.
🧠 2. Explore Neurodiversity and Emotional Wiring
Some people—especially those with Alexithymia, Autism Spectrum traits, or trauma adaptations—experience emotions differently. It’s not a flaw. It’s a variation.
You might process emotional stimuli through logic or detachment.
You might feel things somatically (in the body) rather than emotionally.
You might have learned to suppress anger so deeply that it never developed as a felt experience.
Understanding your unique emotional blueprint can be liberating.
🧘 3. Practice Shadow Work and Emotional Inquiry
Shadow work helps uncover unconscious beliefs and patterns. If anger is absent, ask:
Was I punished for expressing anger as a child?
Was I taught that anger is dangerous, shameful, or unspiritual?
Do I fear losing control if I allow myself to feel it?
Sometimes, anger is buried under layers of conditioning. Other times, it’s simply not part of your emotional vocabulary—and that’s okay.
🎭 4. Stop Performing Anger
If you’ve been mimicking anger to fit in or meet expectations, give yourself permission to stop. Emotional authenticity matters more than conformity.
Instead of saying “I’m angry,” try:
“I feel overwhelmed.”
“I feel hurt.”
“I feel unsafe.”
These are often the real emotions hiding behind the mask of anger.
🛡️ 5. Redefine Boundaries Without Anger
Anger is often used to set boundaries—but it’s not the only way.
You can assert yourself with:
Calm clarity: “That doesn’t work for me.”
Firm detachment: “I’m stepping away from this.”
Compassionate honesty: “I need space to process.”
You don’t need rage to protect yourself. You need self-awareness and self-respect.
🔮 6. Embrace Your Emotional Truth
Not feeling anger doesn’t make you broken. It makes you you. Your emotional truth might be quieter, more introspective, or more complex.
Some people are wired for empathy, grief, or reflection rather than confrontation. That’s not a deficit—it’s a gift.
🧩 7. Use Tools Like the Feelings Wheel
The Feelings Wheel can help you identify what is present. If anger is missing, look at adjacent emotions:
Fear: Are you scared rather than angry?
Sadness: Are you grieving something?
Disgust: Are you repulsed or morally offended?
Naming the emotion accurately can help you respond more effectively.
🌌 8. Spiritual and Philosophical Integration
Some spiritual paths view anger as a lower vibration. Others see it as sacred fire. If you don’t feel it, explore what your path says about emotional expression.
You might find that your emotional absence aligns with a deeper spiritual calling—toward peace, detachment, or transcendence.
💬 Final Thought
You don’t need to feel anger to be whole. You don’t need to rage to be valid. You don’t need to conform to emotional norms to be real.
You just need to feel what’s true for you—and honor it.
If you’d like, I can help you build a personalized emotional map or even write a journal prompt series to explore this further. Would that be helpful?
