20 – MORE THAN FEELINGS?

December 27, 2024

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with

senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.

Galileo Galilei

Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina

1615, Essay

Through these last several posts the focus has been on the meaning – contradictory meanings – of various words and terms, and you may have noticed that I seem – shall we say? – somewhat obsessed with such things.  I confess that I am something of a word-nerd.

And that brings me to the word that hold the position of most-disliked word that I must endure: feel.

You will note that this is the first post in which the word “feel” – or any of its derivatives: feeling, felt – appears (see the Galileo quote above).  There are four reasons that “feel” holds this place of “honour” (sarcasm alert!!) for me: 

As to point #2, here are some of the meanings commonly attached to “feel” as people use it:

The first definition/use is fine.  However, the rest of the list – which by no means exhausts the various uses of “feel” – is sufficient to show how detrimental the word is clear communication. 

Furthermore, “feel” often clouds important distinctions between emotions and being/doing (see b) and c), in particular).  For example: feeling guilty (having guilt feelings) is not the same as being guilty.  In fact, people often feel guilty without having done anything wrong – and vice versa. 

With regard to actual guilt without guilt feelings, think of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, who brutally murdered two teenage girls. Neither Bernardo, nor Homolka, has ever shown any remorse for their crimes or the guilt feelings that would be associated with that.

As the years pass, we are seeing increasing evidence in our culture of a trend to rest the law on emotions. This is seen in a growing belief that some actions which break the letter of the law - rioting, killing, immigration - ought not to be prosecuted where people "feel" strongly that circumstances exist which justify the act. I am among those who see this as evidence of the seriousness of the cultural rot which infects The West.

Therefore, “feel” is a word to avoid, whenever possible.  I would also encourage you – if you are not in the habit of doing so – to pay attention to the frequency with which “feel” is used.

The sloppy use of “feel” parallels the normalizing of contradiction and goes back a long ways.  The opening quote would seem to suggest that “feel” had fallen into sloppy usage as long ago as 17th century Italy; however, I blame the translator!  Galileo wrote in Italian and I am skeptical that the word “feel” which appears in the quote is the literal translation from the Italian (or perhaps Latin, which was the common academic language of that time).

Much more recently, C.S. Lewis addressed the problem with feelings 80+ years ago in The Abolition of Man (1943).  There he critiqued The Green Book which had been introduced in the British school system to replace classical instruction, and which undermined the teaching of natural law and objective standards of truth, beauty and ethics.  If you have not read this short classic, I heartily commend it to you, both as an explanation of Biblical principles and as a prophesy pointing to the times in which we now live.***

For a more recent and in-depth consideration of many things related to this issue, you should also tackle Carl Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution (2020).

On a lighter – and punny NOTE – on my personal Hit Parade of pop songs, the second-worst song of all time is Feelings (Morris Albert, 1975)!!  At #1 is John Lennon’s Imagine.

Next time: The Original Contradiction