For me it’s mostly weapons-grade empathy. In passive mode (which I am basically unable to turn off), considering an action that might harm someone else will cause me to feel a significant fraction of the amount of pain I expect them to feel. In active mode, when I am purposefully considering repercussions, I feel about as much pain as I expect the other person to feel.
This mostly applies to emotional pain, as I’ve not seriously considered violence for several years. Not that that makes much of a difference; empathy can literally disable me with pain, especially when I realize that I’ve harmed someone in hindsight. I’ve had to break up with a romantic partner on two occasions, for very good reasons, and both times I was a complete wreck for about a week.
So basically I’m not awful because if I am it hurts.
For me it’s mostly weapons-grade empathy. In passive mode (which I am basically unable to turn off), considering an action that might harm someone else will cause me to feel a significant fraction of the amount of pain I expect them to feel. In active mode, when I am purposefully considering repercussions, I feel about as much pain as I expect the other person to feel.
This mostly applies to emotional pain, as I’ve not seriously considered violence for several years. Not that that makes much of a difference; empathy can literally disable me with pain, especially when I realize that I’ve harmed someone in hindsight. I’ve had to break up with a romantic partner on two occasions, for very good reasons, and both times I was a complete wreck for about a week.
So basically I’m not awful because if I am it hurts.