Myself? I tend to mistrust logic. Perhaps rightfully so. For me, it is not enough for an argument or a project to be logical; it must feel right as well. If it does not feel right, I will reject it or chafe against it. The phrase ‘follow my heart’ could have been coined by me, because it describes exactly my attitude to life.
The power to feel is a more direct, more immediate, method of knowing than thinking is. Thinking is indirect. Thinking about a thing never touches the thing itself. Feeling is a faculty that touches directly the thing or issue in the question. I actually experience it. Emotional feeling is almost like another sense which human possess, a physic sense. Since the realities I come in contact with during my lifetime are often painful and even destructive, it is not surprising that I choose to erect barriers, a shell, to protect my vulnerable, sensitive nature. To me, this is only a common sense.
If I am in the presence of people they do not know, or find themselves in a hostile environment, up goes the shell and they feel protected. Other people often complain about this, but one must question these other people’s motives. Why does this shell disturb them? Is it perhaps because they would like to sting, and feel frustrated that they cannot? If your intentions are honourable and you are patient, have no fear. The shell will open up and you will be accepted as part of my circle of family and friends.
Thought-processes are generally analytic and dissociating. In order to think clearly we must make distinctions, comparison and the like. But the feeling is unifying and integrative. To think clearly about something you have to distance yourself from it. To feel something you must get close to it. Once I have accepted you as a friend, he or she will hang on. You have to be really bad to lose the friendship of me. If you are related to me, I will never let you go no matter what you do. I will always try to maintain some kind of connection even in the most extreme circumstances.
