Do you think there is a "spiritual" difference between emotion and "feeling"?

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Blessings... There are almost the same but not quite. \ .. Different people define emotions in different ways. Some make a distinction between emotions and feelings saying that a feeling is the response part of the emotion and that an emotion includes the situation or experience, the interpretation, the perception, and the response or feeling related to the experience of a particular situation.Emotions control your thinking, behavior and actions. Emotions affect your physical bodies as much as your body affects your feelings and thinking. People who ignore, dismiss, repress or just ventilate their emotions, are setting themselves up for physical illness. Emotions that are not felt and released but buried within the body or in the aura can cause serious illness, including cancer, arthritis, and many types of chronic illnesses. Negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, negativity, frustration and depression cause chemical reactions in your body that are very different from the chemicals released when you feel positive emotions such as happy, content, loved, accepted. Underlying much of our behavior is what is called a belief system. This system within us filters what we see and hear, affecting how we behave in our daily lives. There are many other elements that affect our lives, including past lives and the core issues we come into this life for resolution, but our belief systems in this life have a major effect on what we think and do.

Your belief system affects your perceptions or how you interpret what you see, hear and feel. For example, a person raised by an angry man or woman will view people in the future with beliefs that anger is bad or that it is something to fear. Another example would be someone who is quite intelligent but who has never been encouraged or honored for their intelligence, this person might believe they are stupid. Men raised in conservative societies might have the belief that women who work outside of the home are not as good as those who do not work outside of the home.

It takes a lot of work to look at yourself and identify the beliefs that are affecting your life in a negative manner. However, knowing your beliefs will give you a sound basis for emotional freedom. I do believe that it’s wise to deal with the belief systems before dealing with the identification and release of emotions. First things first!
Other People, Places, and Things Cannot Change How You Feel
The only person who can change what you feel is you. A new relationship, a new house, a new car, a new job, these things can momentarily distract you from your feelings, but no other person, no material possession, no activity can remove, release, or change how you feel.

How often do you hear people say things like “when I have enough money, I won’t be afraid anymore”, only to find there never seems to be enough money to stop being afraid. Or “when I’m in a secure relationship I won’t feel lonely any more”, and finding they are still lonely regardless of their relationship. We need to understand that we take our feelings with us wherever we go. A new dress, a new house, a new job, none of these things change how we feel. Our feelings remain within us until we release them....Show more

Unfortunately, most people do not understand that, functionally, there is no difference. The common term, emotion, often is seen as something distinct from the technical term, affect. Even experts, such as Ekman and Tompkins have made unnecessary distinctions, complicating the picture. Emotion, or affect, is a person's energetic (non-verbal) response ( or "reading") of the interaction with their environment. Emotion gives us information about, and the energy to carry out physical tasks, appropriate to the circumstances (such as survival). Because it is non-verbal, it is considered to be below the threshold of conscious awareness, thus the word "subconscious" used for this experience/feeling. Tompkins did have one thing correct: affect is primary. Because it develops before conscious, verbal-based cognition, it has a greater influence over behavior than thinking. Most politicians and advertising execs can attest to this. However, this energetic input is not a command, it is merely an influence. Because body influences mind and mind influences body, we can re-ignite memories that can recall emotional responses. The origin is from environmental interactions, not from thinking. But we can call up specific feelings without interaction in the moment. We simply draw on experience. Although oversimplified, W.B. Cannon was right....Show more

First Thessalonians 5:23 makes it very clear:

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”

The word “soul” is defined by some as the mind, will, and emotions. While that’s certainly true, it’s incomplete. The “conscience” should also be included in that definition. The soul is really what most people call the “personality.”

You can feel both your body and your soul and are receiving information from them all the time. For example, if I put my hand on your shoulder, you would know that I touched you. I could also make you feel happy or sad, or even hurt you without any physically contact, simply by the words I speak. Those words are processed by your mind, and the result of their effect is often expressed in your emotions.

It’s easy to know how your body feels, what’s going on in your mind, and what emotions you’re experiencing. However, your spirit is much different. It cannot be accessed in any natural way.

If you want to know what your spirit is like, you must find out from the Word, not rely on emotions or other perceptions. God’s Word is spirit and life! When you look at your face in a mirror, you aren’t really seeing yourself; you’re viewing a reflection. Even though it’s only a reflection, you have learned to trust it and act on what you see. God’s Word is just like that mirror: it reflects perfectly who you are in the spirit.


Add: I just received this email from some one. I though it is relevant to your question. I will post here for every one to read.

"Your mind, as a mental faculty, entertains thought from two sources, the senses (including memories), or the spirit. Spirit knowledge comes from within, while your senses only relate to your external environment. Our thoughts feed our feelings. Perception makes the difference. Spirit knowledge is realised through resonance and faith. Faith is to your spirit what your senses are to your body. Faith perceives reality beyond the horizon of the senses. The Greek word, to understand, sunieimi, means a joint-knowledge; a flowing together as of two streams. The word for conscience, suneido from sun + eido, to see together. Because man is the God-kind, we are in essence faith compatible. God would be wasting His words if this was not true. “The seeing eye and the hearing ear, the Lord has made them both.″

Francois du Toit...Show more

If feelings are used in the emotional aptitude arena then they become as one. When feeling you way by sense of touch becomes completely different while it is the nerve connection into the brain that tells us that the surface may be hot, rough or smooth. While these aspirations kindle the brain into emotional pathways. The brain is using a complete different analysis to determine if it is safe to touch or not....Show more

Emotion is a brief sensation that overwhelms us in the spur of the moment, like a bird in a rush flight across our heart -- sudden, strong, and palpable. It is generated from an outside force,.. coming in to us, causing us to react.

Feeling is deep set. It etches a smile, pinches to attention, or leaves a wound. A best example is -- Love. It begins from inside, and climbs outward to something or someone. It seeks fulfillment in the receiver. And it lasts longer... Or at times,.. finds no end....Show more