
26/10/2024
“Big Body, I Feel No Pain”
Feelings
Definition:
Feelings are subjective experiences that arise from emotions but are processed through a layer of personal perception and thought. They are internalized, reflective states that we recognize consciously and connect with individual meanings—joy, sadness, hope, etc. Unlike emotions, which tend to be more immediate and physiological, feelings are the personal, cognitive associations we create around these emotional experiences.
Etymology:
The word “feeling” traces back to Old English fēlan, which meant “to touch or perceive by touch.” This root reflects an original association with physical sensation, gradually expanding in meaning to describe inner, psychological sensations or personal perceptions. By the Middle Ages, “feeling” took on its modern sense of conscious experience of emotion, moving beyond tactile sense to encompass inner subjective experiences.
Emotions
Definition:
Emotions are complex psychological and physiological responses to specific stimuli, such as an event, thought, or memory. Emotions are typically more immediate, involuntary, and intense than feelings, with a strong influence on physical reactions (like increased heart rate with fear or joy). Emotions are often short-lived, powerful, and primal—acting as evolutionary responses that help us react to our environment.
Etymology:
The term “emotion” is derived from the French word émotion, which came from the Latin emovere, where e- means “out” and movere means “to move.” This origin implies an action, as emotions often spur us to move or react. In early modern English (16th century), the term began to signify a disturbance or movement within the mind, before taking on the specific sense of mental or psychological reactions to stimuli as we use it today.