Considering the impact of diet on physical, mental, and aesthetic well-being, the author sought to create a comprehensive picture of Dietetics - the art of living - through four books. However, as he wrote, it became clear that something important w...
What we are exploring: How does Western culture relate to the expression of feelings and emotions and to what extent is this correct?
What's new: What is the difference between feelings and emotions and how important is it to express them?
What we will learn: What principle lies in the interaction of all body systems, and how is this related to the expression of feelings and emotions?
1. The suppression of spontaneous* feelings – and therefore of genuine individuality – begins very early, from the beginning of a child's upbringing (Fromm E. 2021) [1].
2. Nowadays, the ideal is to live and think without emotions. "Emotionality" has become synonymous with imbalance or mental illness. By accepting this standard, the individual has weakened himself greatly: his thinking has become poor and flat (ibid.).
* Spontaneity (Latin sponte – free will) is a person's freedom to be himself, which in reality means the free expression of his feelings and emotions in response to the influences of the internal and external environment.
3. An unhealthy attitude towards feelings and emotions. The famous social psychologist Erich Fromm illustrated the modern view of Western culture on human feelings and emotions (see epigraphs 1 and 2). People are often denied the fundamental right to be themselves from an early age. They are not allowed to freely express their feelings and emotions if they do not meet the established norms of upbringing. As adults, they find themselves in a society where the expression of emotions is seen as a sign of imbalance or mental illness. Consequently, the connection between the sensory-emotional sphere and thinking weakens, which hinders their ability to think due to a limited perception of both their inner and outer world. This situation can be imagined as if a person lost touch with the sensations perceived through the skin (tactile system). This would lead to the person not perceiving touch, texture, pressure, temperature, vibration, and even pain. In this situation, a person is exposed to serious problems - burns and frostbite (thermal insensitivity), and an increased risk of injury (pain insensitivity). Therefore, we need to consider issues related to our feelings and emotions. However, first, we need to understand the differences between feelings and emotions.
* Erich Fromm (1900-1980) - German social psychologist, philosopher, psychoanalyst, representative of the Frankfurt School, one of the founders of neo-Freudianism and Freudo-Marxism. Fromm's works enjoy wide popularity worldwide - even during his lifetime, his main works, devoted to the ethical and socio-psychological issues of human nature, withstood dozens of reprints in millions of copies.
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4. The difference between feelings and emotions. Let's do a little experiment. Using your imagination, mentally recreate the image of a lemon. Now mentally cut off a slice of lemon and mentally begin to chew it thoroughly. Most likely, you will feel a sour taste in your mouth. Do the same with hot chili pepper - you will feel a strong burning sensation with a bitter taste in your mouth. Do this with a watermelon, and then with salt - you will feel a sweet and salty taste. But when you eat all this, not hiding your spontaneous feelings, then depending on your individuality, the feelings of taste will be reflected in some way. These feelings will manifest themselves on your face, in words, body gestures, and tone, or maybe all together. This is the expression of emotions - your attitude to these products. This experiment helped us separate the concept of feelings from emotions, as well as your individual attitude to different tastes with the help of your feelings. The sensations in your mouth are the result of feelings that are reflected inside your psyche, and how they are expressed externally in your behavior is the result of emotions [2]. How pleasant or unpleasant these feelings were, strong or weak, long-lasting or short-lived, superficial or deep, and also how they were expressed in a human's behavior (emotionality) speak about his temperament [3, 4]. However, the manifestation of a human's feelings and emotions is not limited to his attitude to taste. Feelings and emotions are closely connected with knowledge, memory, thinking, values, beliefs, moral judgments, and attitudes of a human. Consequently, there is no area in a human's life where feelings and emotions are not involved [5, 6, 7].
