Remember the last novel you read? Remember it engulfing you completely? It felt like you were transported inside the story, bonding with the characters and getting to know them on a deep level. You probably wish you had them on your speed dial.
So what does this have to do with empathy?
Empathy comes from grasping another person’s thoughts — Why people do what they do and why they think what they think.
Growing up, our access to people’s thoughts are very limited. We don’t start developing deep friendships or opening up to others until our late teens. So our entire repository of perceived thoughts is from our own mind. And sometimes we don’t understand our own thoughts and end up ignoring them.
Fiction changes that. Fiction consumed with written words changes that. Fiction teaches you that it’s okay to have the thoughts you’re having and it’s okay for others to have similar thoughts.
Because fiction novels are a portal to another person’s mind. Unlike in the movies, we don’t just see what’s happening — we get to witness the thoughts behind the action. We learn to empathize with the characters because we end up understanding their emotions. We’re taken on a journey of thoughts materializing into actions resulting in consequences.
Literature exists cause you don’t meet enough people in a lifetime
Dialogues are just a minor chunk of most novels. Rest are thoughts leading up to those dialogues. We get a peek into why people do what they do and why they think what they think — Empathy!
