Creative writing and artful observations

[Syne]

Narcissism, including solipsistic narcissism, stems from an inability to bond and lack of empathy, leading to severe, pathological behaviors that are more than simple arrogance or selfishness.

So how does my ability to bond with and empathize with someone's speaking during a conversation even imply that? And what severe pathological behaviors will that lead to?

Most normal people only think about empathy in terms of relating to other people... not their words in isolation. This suggests, as previously noted, that your conception of empathy is cognitive and not emotional.

Solipsistic narcissism can lead to severe behaviors such as aggression, interpersonal exploitation, and emotional volatility, along with an increased risk of substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and self-harm. This form of narcissism is characterized by a deep sense of entitlement and a belief that the world revolves around the individual, which can result in volatile interactions and difficulties with intimacy.
- Google AI

I couldn't have even predicted that last bit was related.

[Magical Realist]

Most normal people only think about empathy in terms of relating to other people... not their words in isolation. This suggests, as previously noted, that your conception of empathy is cognitive and not emotional.

The words are not in isolation. They are being spoken by the person speaking. That I can empathize with their meaning is not a bad thing nor even suggestive of excluding empathy with people. I am quite capable of both. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[Syne]

Most people do not have that kind of disconnect, where they are two different thinks.

People who think separately about cognitive and emotional empathy often study or experience conditions like psychopathy, where there is high cognitive empathy but low emotional empathy, or autism, which can involve impaired cognitive empathy but intact emotional empathy. This distinction is also relevant to how people with narcissistic personality disorder may use their cognitive empathy for manipulation without emotional resonance.
- Google AI

[Magical Realist]

Most people do not have that kind of disconnect, where they are two different thinks.

Actually most people do have the ability to empathize both with people and their speaking. So you trying to twist this into some kind of disorder only speaks to your own inabilities, not mine or anyone else's.

[Syne]

Most people do not have that kind of disconnect, where they are two different thinks.

Actually most people do have the ability to empathize both with people and their speaking. So you trying to twist this into some kind of disorder only speaks to your own inabilities, not mine or anyone else's.

But you were talking about their words, forgetting that you were listening to an actual person... not "both."

When a person with solipsistic and narcissistic tendencies is identified as such, they will rarely acknowledge the feedback and instead react with a pattern of denial, defensiveness, blame-shifting, and projection. Their core belief that only their own mind is certain to exist means they view external feedback as a personal attack on their fabricated reality.
- Google AI

[Magical Realist]

But you were talking about their words, forgetting that you were listening to an actual person... not "both."

I switch between identifying with their words to empathizing with their feelings. It's all part of relating to others.

[Syne]

Argumentum ad hoc. You've already switched between claiming your were empathizing to claiming you weren't, and back again.

This is what people do when they don't have personal experience of something to draw on.

[Magical Realist]

You've already switched between claiming your were empathizing to claiming you weren't, and back again.

Nope..I said I empathized with what they were saying and at other times empathized with what they are feeling. Like I can read a book and not read a book. Empathy is versatile and can take many forms.

[Syne]

You've already switched between claiming your were empathizing to claiming you weren't, and back again.

Nope..I said I empathized with what they were saying and at other times empathized with what they are feeling. Like I can read a book and not read a book. Empathy is versatile and can take many forms.

Ahem:

You said, "we forget we are talking to and listening to another person." That doesn't seem to imply any kind of empathy.

It's not. We're not empathizing with the person speaking at all. We are solely into imagining what is being said, just as we are when watching a movie or reading a book. If you weren't so fixated on trying to trip me up on something all the time you would've grasped this in the thought this was used as an example of.

Most people don't empathize with the words of someone speaking to them without empathizing with the speaker too.
You'd know this... if you could.

[Magical Realist]

Most people don't empathize with the words of someone speaking to them without empathizing with the speaker too.

Sure they do. They are totally into the ideas and images of their speaking with no thought of the person speaking it. Like reading a book and not regarding the author who wrote. Or watching a movie without regarding the director who made it. Happens all the time.