Do we actually 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'll rip all the masks you've crafted so well & make sure you have no masks left to hide behind. It makes one see who one is at core just like a mirror and such mirrors may destabilize one's equilibrium sometimes.

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