feeling fully

Paramhansa Yogananda talked a great deal about the importance of all-sided education - developing ourselves not only intellectually but also physically and psychologically. Swami Kriyanada has translated this into the four "Tools of Maturity" - body, feeling, will and intellect. In American culture we value body, will and intellect to varying degrees but it seems there is very little attention paid to how to positively develop the feeling aspect of ourselves. We're left thinking that there is something inherently wrong with feelings, that they're not to be trusted. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

"Only by calm inner feeling can a person know definitely the right course to take in any action. Those who direct their lives from this deeper level of feeling achieve levels of success that are never reached by people who limit their quest for answers to the exercise of reason. Reason, indeed, if unsupported by feeling, may point in hundreds of plausible directions without offering certainty as to the rightness of any of them." - Education for Life 

Certainly emotions (as opposed to feeling) can be turbulent and an obstacle to deeper understanding. We are experiencing this now in reactions to current events, whether the pandemic or police brutality. People are following their reason, supported by emotion rather than calm, intuitive feeling, and finding themselves at odds with each other because they all seem to be pointing in "hundreds of plausible directions." 

Some may think that in order to get clear and find our way forward we should step back, look at things objectively. Usually we think of feelings as anything but objective, but again, this is the difference between emotions and feeling. Developing our feeling nature is not about becoming more emotional or even about expressing particular emotions. Instead by learning to calm those emotions and channel that energy we strengthen our intuition and inner awareness. Using calm feeling we can discern from within what is right in any given situation. This is the space from which true solutions can arise. 

Our current circumstance where there seems to be so much division and confusion is calling for integration and wholeness. We need our feeling nature, working together with all aspects of our being, to help us find our way forward with integrity.