"To empathize does not mean to join in suffering, for that is what you must refuse to understand. ²That is the ego’s interpretation of empathy, and is always used to form a special relationship in which the suffering is shared. ³The capacity to empathize is very useful to the Holy Spirit, provided you let Him use it in His way. ⁴His way is very different. ⁵He does not understand suffering, and would have you teach it is not understandable. ⁶When He relates through you, He does not relate through your ego to another ego. ⁷He does not join in pain, understanding that healing pain is not accomplished by delusional attempts to enter into it, and lighten it by sharing the delusion." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/202#