This is actually happening.

There is an exercise which involves different emotions.  At a certain point, "He is I" and "I am he" are introduced.

The patriarchal terms have no value--these could easily be female terms.

It took me a bit of not actually thinking about the issue, but I think that I've gotten a good insight into those last two.  "He is I" is, to my eye, a phrase that is used in place of the term "empathy".  "I am he", on the other hand, is a substitution for "compassion".

But why the substitution?

I think it's something to do with language.  Empathy is a pretty well-known term and emotion, but it's somewhat abstract in that form.  "He is I", on the other hand, puts it into action.  "I know that feeling", "I feel your pain" and the lot--it's recognition of oneself in another, in the moment.

"I am he" could easily be the same, but I think it's more accurate to assume compassion.  It's the same idea--compassion in action through recognition--though it might be a little more subtle in execution.  The phrase "walk a mile in the other's shoes" comes to mind, though not in the empathic sense it means.  Maybe "lighten the other's load" is a little closer.  Either way, mercy plays a big part in this.  So, too, forgiveness.

This seems to lean back to the "blind spot" musing. . .