Is feeling something the same as thinking it?

I think that the answer is no.  Some people think it is.  My view: it is perfectly consistent to say that you feel a certain way but KNOW that it is not true.  For example, someone can feel overweight while rationally knowing that they aren’t.  I don’t see the inconsistency.  I can feel that God isn’t there when i know He is.  Just because you know it doesn’t mean you feel it.  Just because you don’t feel it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Having said that, feelings are something, I believe, that generally “happen” to us… we feel them passively, unless you’re one of those super-EQ people who are able to control how you feel.  How you *think*, however, is different – we are creatures with the capacity to reason and rationalize what we know is true.  To say that you feel something is one thing.  To state the reason you feel that way as a fact is another.  It’s tantamount to saying, “I don’t feel that God is there, therefore He must not be.  And I know this because that is how I feel.”  No.  It doesn’t work that way.  You feel things – that is the emotional aspect of you and has little to do with rhyme or reason.  We cannot pool it with the rational.  (Excuse all the theological examples.) 

So, to sum it up, just because we feel something does not mean that we are valid.  I think it would be most prudent in such situations to seek answers for why we feel the way we do.  Only in finding out the actual cause can we address the problem.  With this influx of new information though, we may be required to change our views… and not stick to them like a child to candy.

I wonder if i’ve made any sense at all…. it all seems very abstract…