Knowledge Feeling Gap

These lines are all equal; but which one looks the biggest?

What our minds tell us and what we feel are often in conflict with each other.

Knowing and feeling are two concepts that are often conflated as feeding one another by most of us.  The idea that knowing something is the same as, or can change feeling or behavior, merely by being aware is erroneous.  Knowledge and feelings are two separate processes that feed our souls. Knowledge is the shield we use to protect our feelings.

A car needs gas, air, oil and electricity to run.  Our souls work much the same way.  In Psalm 130 it says, “From the depths of my soul I call to you”.  Notice that it is not depth in the singular but in the plural.  This is to illustrate that our soul, like the car, is dynamic, and not a static container waiting to be filled.

 We keep our soul running by giving it a myriad of different resources it needs to run.  These resources include: Knowledge, community and companionship, feelings, imagination, wonder, and creativity.  Two of the most misunderstood impactors of our souls are knowledge and feelings. 

Many of us might think of knowledge and feelings as two different sources of nutrition.  One is perhaps food, the other drink.  In fact it is probably more apt to think of one as food and the other as our metabolism.  Both contribute to who we are and how we see the world, but both serve very different functions for the soul.

The cartoon GI Joe used to have PSA’s at the end of each episode.  At the end of each episode they would say, “And knowing is half the battle”.  Knowing is not half the battle.  Knowing is a part of us, the same as feeling.  They work at the same time but serve two different functions for us.  Here is an article that discusses our false notion that knowing is connected to changing how we feel or what we do.

For further reading go to: https://www.edge.org/print/response-detail/25436