Empath Empowerment In The Age Of Narcissism

By Anthon St. Maarten

How will highly sensitive people survive the new Age of Narcissism? How will empaths hold on to their sanity, well-being and inner peace, while they brave a growing toxic storm of psychic pollution in today's society. An epidemic of sociopathic attitudes, values and morals is slowly spreading like a virus through our global village. Narcissism, self-entitlement and a lack of empathy are fast becoming the toxic hallmarks of the digital age. And caught in the midst of this global whirlpool of poisonous psychic energy, is the empath, the intuitive, the highly sensitive person, who is finding it increasingly difficult to stay afloat. 

Despite the vast collection of empath resources available to us these days, including online coaches, therapies, books, websites, courses, workshops and podcasts , all aimed at educating and empowering the highly sensitive person and emotionally intuitive empath, our plight remains an ongoing struggle. Many of the customary strategies and guidelines are not really working for us. Empaths everywhere are increasingly finding it difficult to cope. Our predicament is real, and it’s serious. And I believe we mostly have only ourselves to blame.

To explain my unconventional view on this subject, I need to start off with the following disclaimer: if you are reading this article in the hopes of finding further confirmation bias for all those lame empath stereotypes, you will be very disappointed.

In this essay you will not find the customary self-indulgent ideas and self-righteous beliefs about what it means to be an empath, which is so fervently advocated by some members of our community. So, please be forewarned. This blog post is definitely not intended to lament our empath wounds, celebrate our shared ‘victimhood,' or throw another highly sensitive ‘pity-party.’ Ain’t nobody got time for that! This blog post instead aims to truly empower and give sanction to awakened, conscious empaths to fulfill their true destiny. 

Why is rising narcissism the foremost threat to the empath community? It’s simple really: narcissists are the polar opposite of empaths. One of the primary defining traits of pathological narcissism is a complete lack of empathy. Narcissists are devoid of compassion, and generally incapable of truly caring about anyone or anything except themselves... and those things that serve their own agenda.  In stark contrast, empaths tend to be the exact opposite, sometimes to their own tragic detriment. Ask any empath who has survived an abusive relationship with a gaslighting narcissist…they will know what I am talking about. While narcissists cultivate chaos and destruction, empaths tend to care more about the well-being of others than their own. The question is: why are empaths wired this way?

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