Hi Nancy,
LOL.... yeah, sometimes it's hard to believe someone else's view could possibly hold any merit, especially when we feel very strongly we are right
I'm really okay with the idea that we each have our own personal truth, and it may not align with someone else's version of the truth.
Like for me, it has not been my experience that the majority of people are "deranged, evil, worthless, scum." I actually find that the majority of people are loving, and compassionate beneath any seemingly crunchy exterior.
I believe that only those who are in a great deal of pain themselves could possibly hurt another. So I don't think it's as much to do with empathy as it is feeling limited and isolated and misunderstood. Yeah, I do understand there are a small number of people who seem to have not a trace of empathy, but this us usually linked to pretty severe abuse, or abandonment and withholding of love, while that person is a newborn, or infant.
This is why the power of our choice is our greatest super-power. We choose how we perceive the world, at every level. If we believe in a friendly world, we'll experience a friendly world. If we believe in a chaotic, hateful world, then that will be our experience.
That's why two people who attend the same event can come away with two experiences - one may have enjoyed it, while the other hated it.
There is something that I like to remind myself when I start feeling that the world is out to get me:
Your life is governed by the truth, whether you believe it or not.
However, your experience of life is governed by your beliefs, whether they are true or not.
Thank the gods we have the power to change our perceptions, right