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lar way?
Supposing I have not yet tried in this way. Supposing till
now I have always tried directly by the mind. I have not yet
tried to create in myself associations of another nature as well,
associations which are not only those of the thinking center. I
wish to try; maybe the result will be better. Maybe I shall un-
derstand more quickly about the possibility of something dif-
ferent.
I wish to remember at this moment I remember.
I remember by my mind. I ask myself: do I remember by
sensation as well? As a matter of fact I find that by sensation I
do not remember myself.
What is the difference between sensation and feeling?
Does everyone understand?
For example, here I sit. Owing to my unaccustomed posture
my muscles are unusually tensed. As a rule I have no sensation
of my muscles in my established customary posture. Like
everyone else I have a limited number of postures. But now I
have taken a new, unusual position. I have a sensation of my
body, if not the whole of it, at least of some parts of my body,
of warmth, of the circulation of the blood. As I sit I feel that
behind me there is a hot stove. Since it is warm behind and
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cold in front, there is a great difference in the air, so I never
cease to sense myself thanks to this external contrasting differ-
ence of the air.
Tonight I had rabbit for supper. Since the rabbit and the ha-
bur-chubur were very good I ate too much. I sense my stom-
ach and my breathing is unusually heavy. I sense the whole
time.
Just now I have been preparing a dish with A. and have put
it in the oven. While I was preparing it, I remembered how
my mother used to prepare this dish. I remembered my
mother and remembered certain moments connected with this.
These memories aroused feeling in me. I feel these moments
and my feeling does not leave me.
Now I look at this lamp. When there was as yet no lighting
in the Study House I thought that I needed precisely this kind
of light. At that time I made a plan of what was required to
obtain this kind of lighting. It was done, and this is the result.
When the light was switched on and I saw it, I had a feeling
of self-satisfaction; and the feeling, which was aroused then,
continues I feel this self-satisfaction.
A moment ago I was walking from the Turkish bath. It was
dark and, as I could not see in front of me, I hit a tree. I re-
membered by association how, on one occasion, I was walking
in similar darkness and collided with a man. I received the im-
pact of this collision in my chest, so I let fly and hit the un-
known man who had run into me. Later I found out that the
man was not to blame; yet I hit him so hard that he lost sev-
eral teeth. At the moment I had not thought that the man who
had run into me might be innocent, but when I had calmed
down, I understood. When later I saw this innocent man in
the street, with his disfigured face, I was so sorry for him that
when I remember him now I experience the same pang of
conscience I felt then. And now, when I hit the tree, this feel-
ing came to life in me again. I again saw before me the un-
happy, bruised face of this good man.
I have given you examples of six different inner states.
Three of them relate to the moving center and three to the
emotional center. In ordinary language all six are called feel-
ings. Yet in right classification those whose nature is connected
with the moving center should be called sensations, and those
whose nature is connected with emotional center, feelings.
There are thousands of different sensations which are usually
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called feelings. They are all different, their material is differ-
ent, their effects different and their causes different.
In examining them more closely we can establish their na-
ture and give them corresponding names. They are often so
different in their nature that they have nothing whatever in
common. Some originate in one place, others in another place.
In some people one place of origin (of a given kind of sensa-
tions) is absent, in others another place of origin may be lack-
ing. In yet other people, all may be present.
The time will come when we shall endeavor to shut off arti-
ficially one, or two, or several together, to learn their real
nature.
At present we must have an idea of two different experi-
ences, one of which we shall agree to call "feeling" and the
other "sensation." We shall call "feeling" the one whose place
of origin is what we call the emotional center; while "sensa-
tions" are those so-called feelings whose place of origin is in
what we call the moving center. Now, of course, each one
must understand and examine his sensations and feelings and
learn approximately the difference between them.
For primary exercises in self-remembering the participation
of all three centers is necessary, and we began to speak of the
difference between feelings and sensations because it is neces-
sary to have simultaneously both feeling and sensation.
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