Can all people be empathic?

Doing some more research on the topic of empathy, I was wonder if all persons can actually be empathic. The following anecdote might not be wholly related to the topic, but let me start this post with it.

Have you ever heard about tea ceremony in Japan? Tea ceremony is a very solemn act between a host and her/his guests when serving tea, and it is been part of the Japanese culture (an other Asian cultures) for centuries [link]. Well, I have couple of friends who have been practicing tea ceremony for quite a long time. From their comments and my own experience, I think tea ceremony is a whole art which can be very difficult to master ... you might be thinking, what can be so difficult of serving a tea, well believe me, it is hard! The practice of serving tea needs a lot of concentration, and (through my own lenses) a lot of inner piece, anyhow, I was told that there are some professional hosts who receive the same guests often, these hosts choose their kimono and theme of the tea room according to the season and the weather. After a while the host and guest get to know each other more and establish a very close relationship, which I would define as empathic. Then, it is when the guest can easily guess the chosen theme by his host on an specific day without previous notice, so that the guest can also choose his vestments according to his guessing.

It is written that:

"The pleasure of tea relies on the charm of a host conveying his or her deepest feeling to the guests" [ref] , amazing isn't t?

While conversing with some friends, one of them said ..."come one! that is impossible I cannot do it! " ... I myself think I am incapable of such learning, so my question is:

Can we truly get to know, to feel other person's feelings and convey ours? Can all we learn to be more empathic persons?

Well guess what, doing some research I found a nice video of the book of Jeremy Rifkin called "empathic civilization" [video].

According to Rifkin, scientist have discovered that we humans are soft-wired with something called Mirror Neurons. They say that when a person "A" is observing another person "B" (his/her anger, joy, frustration), it happens that the same neurons lighting on person "B" will light on "A". Thus, person "A" actually will be able to feel exactly what person "B" is feeling.



Moreover, Rifkin tells us that we are soft wired for sociability, attachment, affection, compassion, belonging and not for violence, self interest, etc., (which reminds me Maslow's theory that all human beings are decent underneath). And therefore there is a way for the World to build an empathic civilization, because we, humans, are built to be empathic. He tells us:

"Empathy is the ability of human being to show solidarity not only with each other but with other living creatures in the planet"


Picture from blog.telegraph.co.uk

After I spend some time thinking about, it crossed my mind that an empathic civilization is almost impossible to build, a dream-like World. Rifkin said thinking of and empathic civilization is not utopia, is the opposite of utopia. This is because when one feels other person's struggle, it is then when we show solidarity with our compassion. Moreover, there is no empathy in utopia because there is no suffering. Therefore, an empathic civilization is not utopia.

"It is possible to extend our empathy to the entire human race and to our fellow creatures and to the biosphere" Jeremy Rifkin.

"To empathize is to civilize, to civilize is to empathize" Jeremy Rifkin.