Emotions are Not the Same as Feelings

How paying attention to the difference can promote mental growth.

Language is one of humankind’s most valuable intellectual assets. It developed in parallel with our thinking.

As a mathematician, I am trained for precision — precision of language and precision of thought. All mathematical work begins with precise definitions — which is relatively easy when you design a language as you need it. Therefore, mathematical texts can be understood by every mathematician on this planet, no matter what colloquial language they use.

After I quit my career and began exploring humans and human behavior, I had to use the English language for my research — and quickly got into trouble. The definitions that I found for terms denoting human phenomena such as ‘consciousness’ or ‘emotions’ were circular or referred to other, similarly unsatisfactorily defined terms. Vague definitions are not useful because they leave too much room for interpretation. No wonder so many human phenomena remain mysterious! And no wonder that people usually misunderstand each other, which is often the basis for problems — private, professional, scientific, political, etc.

I simply ignore the vague terminology and explore the phenomena as such. After all, it’s about phenomena, not words.

Only then do I search for the appropriate words — and my experience is that in most cases the original meanings of the words are exactly right. Join me in exploring what feelings and emotions actually are — that is, what phenomena are aptly described by these two terms. This will not only give you a new perspective on feelings and emotions…

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