Do we really appreciate empathy or are we just drawn to the idea of empathy

Empathy is attractive. It signals safety and suggests being seen without judgement. But are we really ready to embrace empathy in its raw form? Cause actual empathy means someone sees through you and makes you see yourself, bringing every single form of you to be acknowledged by your own self -be it beautiful or ugly. It will rip all masks you've crafted so that you have no masks left to hide behind. It will make you see who you are at core just like a mirror and such mirrors may destabilize your equilibrium sometimes.

So do you romanticise empathy because it sounds like depth and intensity or can you actually tolerate being seen without collapsing or armouring up ?