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The Feeling Dictionary
Painting by Christopher Lindstrom
The human feeling-system is a finely tuned neuro-chemical instrument for perceiving all sorts of complex situations. Sadly this system can be manipulated by abuse, both our own, accidentally and on purpose by belief-systems that command us "how we should feel" in response to social and political situations i.e. we are told that it is "unamerican not to be patriotic" even if/when we are grossly manipulated and abused by political leaders.
These (mostly interest-serving) "axioms" of how we are supposed to feel in any given situation can be implemented on a large scale and masquerade as "culture"... see secrecy
The belief, that you can think yourself healthy or unhealthy, often skips an important link -- the one that needs us to take some relevant action to change the feeling-producing situation (for the better or for the worse). It does me no good if my finger is stuck in a door-jam, to "affirm" that I'm OK as I am or think that I should feel differently than I do. ... first I got to get the finger free and heal the damage. After that I need to mobilize conscious understanding as to what situations I place myself in... Same thing with the soul. If I feel unhappy it is not that my feeling is wrong -- it is very likely an accurate response to the situation and the beliefs I'm stuck in. Feeling "Unhappy" is likely to mean that I'm in a inner or outer conflict-situation that wants resolving. If I do not acknowledge my unhappiness I will not receive the message that I am in a conflict requiring resolution. Bad feelings are a sign that there is a need to take action, to uncover, understand and work to break out of old traps and dead-end thinking. This work always starts with understanding how and what we feel. See how it started
During decades of experiencing feelings in different cultures, this web site was created to also point at a well hidden, poorly understood mechanism. It proposes that the prime "interpreters" of human feelings have been authorities with means and interest to shape culture, primarily to be useful to their interest by proclaiming correct or preferred reactions to various situations. In the infancy of printing it was the leaders of the catholic church who could afford to proclaim what the correct beliefs and feelings were -- today it is the leaders of finance and industry that have the resources to create and/or use media empires and convince (or brain-wash) the public. Proclaiming how we should feel is a prime way of manipulating opinion whether through politics, religion, law making or so called 'public' media. See politics
