“There is no more popular subject of conversation among humans than about what they think. Even when they appear to be talking about another person, what they are actually talking about is what they think about the other person.
(Ignoring for the moment the ever popular, but distinctly different category of talking about specifically identifiable physical maladies), people do not talk about how they feel –temperamentally wise. About the most an ordinary person will normally note in this regard is to perhaps, in response to the perfunctory, salutary inquiry: “Hey, how ya doin’? I feel lousy,” but the comment is not generally taken any more seriously than was the question itself, and certainly does not then become the subject of their conversation.
People do not talk about how they feel vis-a-vis their moods for the simple reason that they have no idea what to do about them. Unlike their native impression that they can change, do something, have some effect on what they think, humans have no similar sensation regarding how they feel. In fact if how-a-man-feels becomes a distinct problem, (he feels lousy constantly as opposed to periodically), he is told to seek Professional Help, (which, in all matters not involving things you can touch, means that no one really knows what to do about the situation).
Humans do not talk about how they feel because no one knows anything to do about it, so they talk instead about what they think, which is a total handmaiden to how they feel. (A core purpose served in men complaining about a physically diagnosed problem they have, and its debilitating effect on their psyche and overall enjoyment of life, is that it allows them to give some voice, albeit camouflaged, to the normally impossible-to-talk-about subject of: how-they-feel — mood-wise).”
J.
4187