Mike Campbell's Blog

Word of the day: Protopathy

We, as emotional beings, have broken down and classified the different supportive feelings we can have for each other, each with their own meaning and connotation.

They're important because they solidify the emotion, packaging it as something that can be captured and expressed.

Sympathy means to feel for someone from your own, separate perspective. I, as a man, feel sympathy for mothers, but can't truly understand what it's like to be one, but I do my best to love and support them from where I stand in my experiences. I'm sympathetic towards mothers, because I can't truly understand their lives.

Empathy means to feel for someone from a shared or experienced perspective. I feel empathy for people with spinal fusions, because I had one myself, and it's a daily part of my life. I feel an deep connection and pain for people who have undergone spinal surgeries.

I want to add another word, a further definition of supportive emotions: Protopathy (I pronounce it as PROTO-pathy).

Proto, meaning "precursory" or "before", and -pathy, meaning "to feel for", means "to feel for someone who is in a place where you will soon find yourself".

I think it's a valid, and under-recognized emotion, as we experience constantly throughout our life. How much more pain and longing and support are we capable of feeling for someone who's path we share, but not the same position in time?

I'm protopathetic to people who have lost their parents. Both of my parents are, fortunately, still alive, but I know that one day they will die. I can't say "I understand" at the funerals of my friend's parent, but I can stand there in the knowledge that life is short, and I will have to say goodbye to my parents one day, too, and I share at least that with my friend.

What do you think? What words would you add to the list of "feeling for" family of words?

(Disclosure: I know that Protopathy technically means "disease of the retina which results in impairment or loss of vision", but it can be a homonym.)

#etymology #philosophy