empathy versus psychic ability

When is the line crossed between an empathic experience, wherein you can feel what the other person is feeling, and a psychic one, wherein you sense information beyond just their emotions? These experiences are linked.

i am convinced you can develop both empathic skills as well as psychic skills like many other skills that need practice. the question is who are the best teachers? are you one of the best teachers for yourself? and then more importantly, most important, what are the intentions behind the practice? Who are you serving? your own interests, and your own pursuits? service to the higher good?  these are tricky areas because we might have hidden motivations we are not aware of, that are to be discovered after certain actions are taken. 

we are born with gifts, inherent in our human nature. these gifts take time and effort to cultivate but some of us are born into levels of awareness that appear more advanced than others. we struggle with the desire to compete with each other in order to build identities based upon what we feel will give us the most glory and satisfy the egotistical need to be recognized for what we can do - this need is not necessarily a negative one and can clearly be a part of us that serves to motivate and create- which can lead to highly productive and useful entities, actions, endeavors, etc. When motivations go unexamined that is when the results end up being often quite disturbing.