As human beings, we are complex. There are different sides to who we are. We are emotional beings. We are sexual. We are intellectual. We are spiritual. We are physical.
But something confuses me, and perhaps you can help me find clarity. Even though we are complex and multi-faceted, there are really only two verbs (that I can think of) that we use to express our deepest parts.
"I think..."
and
"I feel..."
The first is intellectual, the second is emotional. What about the sexual, the spiritual, and the physical (not to mention the other sides I couldn't think of)?
This bothered me growing up Pentecostal, because whenever we talked about spiritual things we would talk about our feelings. "I could feel the Spirit of God in this place." And then later in more conservative Christian circles we talked more about our thoughts. "I think God wants me to take this job."
Why do we only think and feel? Is there no other way to express those other sides of our humanity? Or are those two the only ways we truly experience life and everything filters through them?
What are you thoughts? Or feelings?
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7 comments:
Yup I have the same questions about thinking and feeling. I keep wondering if maybe English isn't deep enough to have the words we need to describe what we mean? But I don't know the other languages so... can't back it up.
I enjoyed this post. I have been thinking about thinking and feeling for a while, but on a slightly different note. Personally, I find it really interested what situation people use each specific word for.
Possibly this is because there is (or we think) only two ways to process information. I my be spiritual and physical, but I only know that because I can feel or think about it. This is probably from something assumed though, like the Greek dichotomy of physical and spiritual.
I'd be interested to see where you take this.
I find the topic of human sexuality to be especially interesting one in a Christian context. I think it can be a very taboo subject to talk about. Or think about. Or feel. It seems like a lot of people, especially in more conservative circles, refuse to acknowledge than humans are sexual beings...at least not before they are married. I understand and respect wanting to wait for marriage to have sex but also think it can be problematic for a lot of people, especially those who wish to marry later in life. It really is hard to deny a part of yourself that is so engrained from the time you hit puberty and I don't think many Christians know how to deal with that and end up feeling shame and guilt and they think that sexuality somehow damages your spiritual side. Obviously this is a generalization, but I think it happens often enough to be a concern.
Thanks for the comments everyone! Gives me more to think about.
Anonymous, interesting discussion you raise. Unfortunately that wasn't what I was getting at in this post. I was referring to language and its limitations. You are referring to what it means to be sexual. Maybe that's another post I should write on.
I have a question for you. Are sexual acts the only expression of our sexual side? In other words, do I cease to be a sexual being if I am not sexually active?
"...do I cease to be a sexual being if I am not sexually active?"
Absolutely not. Not being sexually active doesn't make sexual thoughts and feelings go away. And I don't think there's anything wrong at all with not being sexually active. If a person feels, for religous reasons or otherwise, to abstain then I respect that. However, it's just been an observation of mine over the years that there are a certain segment of people who think that any and all sexual expression outside of a heterosexual marriage relationship is sinful or wrong, somehow. I think that goes overboard. It goes beyond simply not having sex, to thinking that you have to turn that part of yourself off completely. I see this being especially true for young women. There's this whole notion of "sexual purity" that sits rather uncomfortably with me, especially given our extremely oversexualized pop culture. I think it can give girls extremely mixed messages about their own bodies and such. I thinhk there's got to be some kind of healthy middle ground that can be reached. I tend not to see the world in black and white, and I find both extremes to be damaging.
I hope this all makes sense...and I apologize for taking the conversation off track.
Btw, I know it's kind of weird when anonymous people leave comments on your writing so I just thought I'd say that I'm not a stalker or anything. I just happened to click on a link to your blog while searching something on google and decided to comment.
I read some older posts too and think it's a shame that you say you're losing your motivation to blog. You have some really great, interesting thoughts here. You should keep it up! :)
Interesting to read your thoughts, Anonymous. I think the need to express themselves sexually is why many Christians marry so young. I'm not saying early marriages are wrong, of course, but when the choice is strongly sexually driven as opposed to being based on compatibility, it will likely be a very rough marriage.
I think people cannot help but express their sexuality in much of what they do, how they interact with others, and so on. Think of how you would communicate with an attractive stranger who struck up a conversation with you as you are waiting at a bus stop. And then think of how you would communicate if the stranger was of the same sex (depending on your preference), or really old or just unattractive. And think of how men, especially of previous generations, still hold doors open for women. Are those "roles" or expressions of our own sexuality?
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