Addendum

What are feelings?

To tell you the truth, I don't know.

But I can tell you a couple of things I have learned on the way. First, they are not easy to define.

Researchers have found that our brain can be divided in 3 well defined sections, the core section regulates the basic vital functions, like breath or hunger, the section surrounding it deals with basic controls and behaviors, like the instincts and hormones, and the outer section, that wraps it all up is the one in charge of the most complicated processes we as humans perform, from everyday life tasks like choosing today's clothes, to composing a symphony or a PhD thesis in philosophy.

Especially the 3rd part, the one in charge of the abstract and rational thoughts, is what we have believed to make us human, to set us apart from the animal kingdom. But that does not mean we can simply get rid of the other two parts and be called humans. What creature can walk on Earth bragging it has no instincts, or even more, no system regulating its basic functions.

The brain has been growing from its core since the beginning, building more and better structures, evolving. However, it has not completely gotten rid of the previous versions; it has built itself upon them. They are actually older than the third section, by several million years. They hold a wisdom hard to understand by reason, if ever, that was acquired at early stages of evolution, and they helped us survive for ages. They have brought us this far.

So yes, instincts, hormones and feelings are handled by the second section of our brains. And yes, they may be seen as a memory of our previous lives, of the times when we were hunters-gatherers organized in tribes, as nomads threatened everyday by predators. But there is more to it than that.

If we study human children behavior, and behavior of several animals that we say are smart, we can find a couple of interesting similarities. Evidence shows most animals have feelings: the simplest example is when we consider a mammal mother defending its babies. How about monkeys? They show a pretty wide variety of feelings, from the simple ones like rage or joy, to more complicated ones like envy or friendship. Chimpanzees are famous for developing an intelligence level comparable to a 5 year old human. Apparently they also have similar capabilities for feelings. The point is that humans can develop much more intelligence in later stages of life, just the same as with feelings. There is no clear evidence of any animal showing the most complicated feelings that humans develop in adulthood, like jealousy, untrustworthy, and so on.

Moreover, unfortunate events have left people without the part of the brain that controls feelings, and science has taken that chance to study them. One of the findings is that they are completely capable of solving rational thinking problems, but they cannot make simple decisions concerned with what they want, say, choosing one option out of two.

They may seem primitive sometimes, but present societies and human behavior itself cannot be understood if we take feelings away. They are a keystone in what it means to be human. As far as I understand, science has not completely explained what feelings are, nor how to control them. But well… sometimes I think… maybe there are things we better ignore.

So, as a conclusion, if you just bump into me walking down the street and ask me: 'Hey you!, what are feelings?' My answer will be:

I don't know.