No, not in any psychic sense, at least. People who call themselves "empaths" really are just relying on the natural human ability to detect emotion in others via subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) visual and verbal cues. In addition, it's very easy through the power of suggestion to internally create emotions on the fly, and then attribute them to some supposed ability to sense emotions in others. And emotions, being one of the of the most human characteristics there is, tends to be more predictable than one might expect. Add to that some confirmation bias and you've got a potent recipe for self-deception.
The definition from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary for empathy is:
"em·pa·thy
Pronunciation: \ˈem-pə-thē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathēs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion — more at pathos
Date: 1850
1: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner ; also : the capacity for this."
You may have heard the phrase,"I can empathize with that" or "I feel for you." These are, most times, phrases people will say very casually in a conversation with a friend or colleague when talking about a hard day or some sort of family trouble.
The very basic, no nonsense answer to your question is, "NO. Empaths do not read minds. They cannot tell verbatim what you are thinking in your head." A longer explanation would be to say that a good empath can get a general feel of your emotional state (ie. happy, sad, hurt, confused, etc.) whether they are looking at you for visual clues or not. If they are really good, they have learned how to combine all the tools at their disposal. They have listened to what you have said, what you haven't said, visual clues (body language), and what they feel off of you.
Yes, there is a bit of both. Picking up on the thoughts of those closest to me comes naturally, but it is not intentional most of the time. It is not someting I try to do with strangers, however there are some people that I would call loud thinkers that you cant really help but pick up on their thoughts. I have other abilities aside from being an empath, so as some others have stated, picking up on thoughts may not be entirely due to my being an empath.
You would be very surprised what we can do if we're in certain situations or fine tuned, weather, disasters even the mindset or intensions of someone we've never seen online. We know our own mind, body and spirit now tell us what we feel? or meet an Empath and see for yourself.
No, empaths read emotions. Of course there are people who are more in tune to empathy than others, however, as pack animals, humans have a natural ability to pick up on each others emotions. Its not a psychic ability, its more just being sensitive to signs that others are giving off.
People who call themselves "empaths" are just more observant of these signs.
In general, an empath does not read a person's mind. They sense vibrations, feelings, etc. If they also have other psi talents, then perhaps they can read a persons mind.
Of all of the skills a talent has, reading minds must be one of the most difficult. It is sort of like a deaf person lip reading. I was taught in college that the average lip reading comprehension is 33% correct of the total conversation. It appears that a few great mind readers exist, but the rest are reading body language and other data.
I believe that empathy has more to do with emotions/feelings than thoughts. If by sensing/reading a persons emotions you are able to ascertain what is in their mind I think that is just intuitive 'guessing'.
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Verified answer
No, not in any psychic sense, at least. People who call themselves "empaths" really are just relying on the natural human ability to detect emotion in others via subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) visual and verbal cues. In addition, it's very easy through the power of suggestion to internally create emotions on the fly, and then attribute them to some supposed ability to sense emotions in others. And emotions, being one of the of the most human characteristics there is, tends to be more predictable than one might expect. Add to that some confirmation bias and you've got a potent recipe for self-deception.
1
The definition from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary for empathy is:
"em·pa·thy
Pronunciation: \ˈem-pə-thē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathēs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion — more at pathos
Date: 1850
1: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner ; also : the capacity for this."
You may have heard the phrase,"I can empathize with that" or "I feel for you." These are, most times, phrases people will say very casually in a conversation with a friend or colleague when talking about a hard day or some sort of family trouble.
The very basic, no nonsense answer to your question is, "NO. Empaths do not read minds. They cannot tell verbatim what you are thinking in your head." A longer explanation would be to say that a good empath can get a general feel of your emotional state (ie. happy, sad, hurt, confused, etc.) whether they are looking at you for visual clues or not. If they are really good, they have learned how to combine all the tools at their disposal. They have listened to what you have said, what you haven't said, visual clues (body language), and what they feel off of you.
Yes, there is a bit of both. Picking up on the thoughts of those closest to me comes naturally, but it is not intentional most of the time. It is not someting I try to do with strangers, however there are some people that I would call loud thinkers that you cant really help but pick up on their thoughts. I have other abilities aside from being an empath, so as some others have stated, picking up on thoughts may not be entirely due to my being an empath.
You would be very surprised what we can do if we're in certain situations or fine tuned, weather, disasters even the mindset or intensions of someone we've never seen online. We know our own mind, body and spirit now tell us what we feel? or meet an Empath and see for yourself.
No, empaths read emotions. Of course there are people who are more in tune to empathy than others, however, as pack animals, humans have a natural ability to pick up on each others emotions. Its not a psychic ability, its more just being sensitive to signs that others are giving off.
People who call themselves "empaths" are just more observant of these signs.
In general, an empath does not read a person's mind. They sense vibrations, feelings, etc. If they also have other psi talents, then perhaps they can read a persons mind.
Of all of the skills a talent has, reading minds must be one of the most difficult. It is sort of like a deaf person lip reading. I was taught in college that the average lip reading comprehension is 33% correct of the total conversation. It appears that a few great mind readers exist, but the rest are reading body language and other data.
I believe that empathy has more to do with emotions/feelings than thoughts. If by sensing/reading a persons emotions you are able to ascertain what is in their mind I think that is just intuitive 'guessing'.
Hope that helped.
No, empaths "read" people's emotions.
I'd defy anyone to read my wife's mind. It's a mystery at the best of times.