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is that thinking, by its very nature, is a divisive process. Abstract thought

splits things right down the middle. Before you can start to think or talk
or write about any concept, you necessarily have to cut it in two because,

like the computer that mimics it, human logic works on the binary
system. We need to choose one or the other, either the yin or the yang

of the inherent dualities, so that it can then be realised by appropriate
action and this choice implies uncertainty. And that’s where all our
problems start.

The feeling function, on the other hand, is value-based - an empathetic,
heart-felt, rather than head-level, way of looking at things. It’s
completely different to thinking; a purely emotional way of interpreting

the world, mediating what's going on in the so-called ‘real’ world
according to very basic subjective assessments of pain versus pleasure,

safety versus danger, fear as opposed to excitement, and so on. Feelings
can be so strong that you see the world through a thick fog of subjective

emotions; when you're in high spirits, the world seems full of sunshine
and when you're low, reality appears gloomy and grey. The truth is, you

don't see the world as it is; you see it as you feel. The psychodynamic and
humanistic approaches consider feeling as being more powerful than
thinking insofar as feeling as the vehicle for our basic and instinctive

human drives – which, as we all know, are far from reasonable! In the
modern Western world, we’re taught to rationalise, to rely heavily on

the thinking part of our world experience. We’re trained to master our
feelings, but the truth is, you can't bury your feelings, nor should you

attempt to. They are an essential key for you to unlock a deeper
understanding of what's really going on. You can't hide away from the

world - you're an integral part of it, not separated from it. There's
actually no need to resist it, to fight it or to try to change it. You can only
hope to truly know yourself by embracing and accepting all of the ways

in which you experience the world, and accepting yourself as being a part
of it.

And then there's the function we call perception. Perception is the