‘Every one will readily allow, that there is a considerable difference between the perceptions of the mind, when a man feels the pain of excessive heat, or the pleasure of moderate warmth, and when he afterwards recalls to his memory this sensation, or anticipates it by his imagination. These faculties may mimic or copy the perceptions of the senses; but they never can entirely reach the force and vivacity of the original sentiment… The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation.’
I think his point is very clear here: feeling something is infinitely more powerful than just thinking about it. With that said, I think I agree with him point. He uses the example of heat and warmth, but if you think about a time when you've been in pain - the time when you actually felt the pain and it was inflicting your life right then will be more significant and more powerful a sensation that recalling it later or telling someone, "I had the worst calf cramp last night," because you're not feeling it anymore. The physical sensation combined with our emotional reaction exerts so much more energy than mentally recalling said event. The same can be applied to something pleasurable. How many times is the phrase, "I can't even describe to you..." used when saying how you felt in a wonderful situation? The reason we can't describe it or use words to portray what it meant to us at the time is because it's no longer that moment, in that situation, and we're no longer having that wonderful feeling.
I think it makes perfect sense. If I didn't do a good job of explaining it, let me know, because I know I have problems with that, but I think this is a really good point of him to bring up, because even if we see it to be true when it's explained, I don't think it's something we necessarily think about and think about why it happens.
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This is a reasonable interpretation, Kelly -- though I don't know that I'd say that 'feeling something is INFINITELY more powerful than just thinking about it' -- but I'm curious as to why he's making such a claim? What's his larger point here? Where is he going with this?
ReplyDeleteI think its cool that you related this to everyday life. People do find it hard to express how they felt at certain times and are aware that their message will be somewhat misunderstood because of the limitation of thought in regards to generating and experiencing feeling. And don't worry about not expressing yourself perfectly, silly! You do just fine Kellina.
ReplyDeleteI like the relation to how people describe pain or situations and I know we all hear people do that everyday. We can manipulate the feelings in a way while recalling them. And also as humans we like to think things at their best or worst. Most of the time if someone finds a situation worthy to recall its "the best" or "the worst" or the superlative and not often "I had a cramp but you know it was not that bad." It all makes for conversation I guess.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! I said the same thing about the physical aspect being lost once the incident is over. Recalling information from a particular experience is much different than actually feeling it. Yes, yes. And I agree with Gabe. Stop thinking you are bad at expressing your arguements. You and your writing put me to shame!
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