Thought vs Feeling
Between the two words, thought and feeling there are differences. These two words are often confused due to the appeared similarity in their meanings. Strictly speaking there is some difference between their meanings. The word ‘thought’ refers to a ‘mental process’ that occurs in the mind, and it is continuous in nature. For an example imagine the case of an earlier conversation that you had with a friend, it was different than usual. This leads you to engage in a thought process of the conversation. A feeling is quite different to a thought. The word ‘feeling’ refers to ‘sentiment’ that occurs in the heart of a person regarding something that is seen or read. Imagine you watch a movie. At the end of the movie, you are overwhelmed by emotion. This is a feeling. This is the main difference between the two words thought and feeling. Through this article let us examine the difference between a thought and feeling while comprehending the meaning of each word.
What is a Thought?
The word ‘thought’ is used in the sense of a mental impression that comes and goes often. It is a mental process. Imagine a case where you read an interesting book, which makes you ponder about your life or a particular person in your life. You engage in a stream of thoughts. Thoughts are not always in a specific order. While you are thinking of one thing all of a sudden, your mind can be occupied by a new thought about something totally unrelated to what you were thinking of earlier. This is only natural. Thoughts can be triggered due to many sources. It can be due to our surrounding environment, books, newspapers, conversations that we have with people, and sometimes they can arise from out of the blues. Now let us pay attention to a sentence that contains the word thought.
Thoughts of her and our past flooded my mind.
In this sentence, the word ‘thoughts’ refers to the series of mental impressions that come and go about a person. The word ‘thought’ is often followed by the prepositions ‘of’ and ‘about’. Now let us concentrate on the word feeling.
What is a Feeling?
The word ‘feeling’ refers to ‘the sentiment’ that occurs in one’s heart after seeing a picture, a scene or reading a book and the like. In our day today lives, we experience feelings all the time. They can be feelings of sadness, happiness, surprise, anger, etc. depending on the context. Observe the two sentences.
- After reading the novel, my heart was gripped by the feeling of pathos.
- A feeling of surprise arose in my mind when I saw her.
In the first sentence, the word ‘feeling’ indicates the sentiment of pathos that occurred in a person’s heart after reading a novel. In the second sentence, the word ‘feeling’ refers to the sentiment of ‘wonder’ or ‘surprise’ that occurred in the mind of the person when he saw her. This is the main difference between thought and feeling. It is interesting to note that the word ‘feeling’ is often followed by the prepositions ‘of’ and ‘about’. These are the differences between the two words ‘thought’ and ‘feeling’.
What is the Difference Between a Thought and Feeling?
- Thought refers to a ‘mental process’ that occurs in the mind, and it is continuous in nature. On the other hand feeling refers to ‘sentiment’ that occurs in the heart of a person regarding something that is seen or read.
- The word ‘thought’ is used in the sense of a mental impression that comes and goes often whereas ‘feeling’ refers to ‘the sentiment’ that occurs in one’s heart after seeing a picture, a scene or reading a book and the like.
- The word ‘feeling’ is often followed by the prepositions ‘of’ and ‘about’. On the other hand the word ‘thought’ is often followed by the prepositions ‘of’ and ‘about’.
Image Courtesy:
1.”Almeida Júnior – Moça com Livro” by José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons
2. St Catherine Reading a Book by Carlo Dolci [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
