Still Stuck on Empathy

I keep mulling it over, trying to get the concept and phrasing as clear as possible.

Empathy and projection are nearly the same thing. Our ability to feel what another person feels is dependent on what we believe we would feel like in their shoes. This is especially true when we are considering people at  distance or in groups, and thus political empathy is always a red flag for projection. It is not a useless skill. "How would you like it if someone did that to you" is a technique we introduce in childhood, and remind each other of even as adults. But it can go horribly wrong, believing that we understand someone we do not.

I have written several times over the years that not taking the Lord's name in vain refers to not forging His signature under our ideas, rather than bad language. Projection is forging someone else's signature under our sentiments, and thus a sneaky way of convincing others (or ourselves) how compassionate we are. We pretend to fight their battles when they are merely our own.