Can I forgive without empathizing with the one who hurt me? I am afraid to empathize because I do not want to get too emotionally close to that person.
If the other cannot be trusted, then your keeping your distance, both physically and emotionally, is reasonable. When you empathize with another person, you try to get a sense of that person’s inner world. You can do that and still conclude that the person is a danger to you (if this is true and not a stereotype) and so your knowledge of the person’s inner world is not an invitation to sympathize (feel sorry for the person to such an extent that you might forget the current dangers posed by the continuing unjust behavior). Seeing the other’s inner wounds does not mean automatic reconciliation.
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