Empathy in the High Places

April 14, 2025

Casting down imaginations, 2nd Corinthians 10.5.

The high places of old that kings and Judah were reluctant to tear down, even the good kings,

were places that presented themselves well.

The groves were stately, the trees well spaced, the shrines impressive, the walkways manicured.

There was a sense of the numinous and holy, and a sense of hushed awe suffused the whole,

and surrounded all those who came to worship. But everything about it was detestable to Jehovah,

who promised to scatter the bones of the idolaters all around their altars and to cover the green

lawns with their bodies. Liars are most successful when they masquerade as Satan does, as an angel of

light. Rancid lies are more easily swallowed when they are coated in something that has the taste

of real virtue.

This is because, as Dylan put it, Satan comes as a man of peace.

To accept such lies not only enables one to quiet the murmuring of his own conscience,

it also allows him to feel morally superior to anyone who dares to disbelieve the lie.

That this kind of thing is going on can be seen when there's a radical juxtaposition between what is being claimed for the lie and what actually happens if the lie

is confronted. The coexist people start burning stuff again. One such lie, and one of the central

lies of our generation, is the lie of empathy. It is distinguished from actual sympathy and from real compassion by the

descriptive adjectives that we need to attach to it. We are talking here about toxic empathy.

It is untethered empathy. The thing that makes it such a destructive force is the fact that

it is untethered. But this leads to a very natural question. Untethered from what? The short answer is that empathy

is untethered from love. It is estranged from love and from the paths of love and from the

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