Plato’s Cave
Differentiating Thoughts, Sensations, Emotions and Felt Sense
Plato talks about a group of people chained in a cave, forced to look at the back of the cave wall where shadows are cast from a fire. The shadows are the people’s reality; they are aware of nothing else. Psychiatrist Dr. Tim Read, explains “The chains that hold them in place prevent their direct experience of the multi-dimensional primary reality outside the cave. Those chains symbolize those attachments that hold us back from growth. They represent the anxieties, the insecurities, the addictions, the greed, the rigidity, the unkindness, to name just a few. The chains include mind chatter, those purposeless repetitive patterns of thought that swirl around our outer consciousness, but these are chains are metaphorical and they can be shed”. Dr. Read purports that mindfulness is an effective way to begin to draw our attention away from the back of the cave wall towards the opening, the sun.
Being able to differentiate our internal experiences from one another, a method of mindfulness, can be a powerful first step in moving away from the back of the cave where we are preoccupied with and tangled in our inner states. These states are generally comprised of four different components: thoughts, sensations, emotions, and our felt sense.
Thoughts can be experienced as stories, words, images, and memories. Most of our days are spent with our minds visiting past events, running scenarios, solving problems (or creating imaginary problems!), reporting about mundane daily experiences, speculating on or planning for the future, etc. It most often feels like a general sense of “blah, blah, blah . . . this and that” going on in our heads in the background. Thoughts are often the shadows on the cave wall that dominate our awareness, especially in our Western culture, where cognition is often valued over other ways of knowing.
Sensations are actual physical phenomenon you can feel in the body. Examples of sensations can be “fluttery feeling in my stomach”, “tightness in a band over my chest”, “warm and tingly in my fingers”, “hard knot in the center of my gut”, “buzzy in my head”, “achy in my leg muscles”, “heaviness around my heart”, etc.
Emotions are clusters of sensation that fall into categories of fear, anger, sadness, joy, and disgust.
Felt sense is a connection between the mind and the body that is difficult to verbalize. Peter Levine, PhD., noted authority in the field of trauma psychology, defines it as a vague awareness or intuition based on thoughts, sensations, our past experiences and present external stimuli. He gives these examples as a way of conceptualizing felt sense: The way you feel when “looking at a mountain peak bathed in an alpine glow, seeing a blue summer sky dotted with soft while clouds, going to a ball game and dripping mustard on your shirt, touching an open rose or a blade of grass topped with a drop of morning dew, listening to a Brahms concerto, walking along a country road, enjoying conversation with a friend”. He adds, “You can imagine going through a day without emotion, but to live in the absence of the felt sense is not just unthinkable; it is impossible. To live without felt sense violates the most basic experience of being alive”.
To practice untangling these internal experiences, sit in a quiet space. Notice what arises in your mind and body without judgement. “I notice I’m having the thought that _______”. “I notice I am having the sensation of _________”. “I notice I am having the emotion of ______”. When you have the awareness of a felt sense, see if you can find where in your body you sense it. Let thoughts, sensations and emotions come and go, neither holding on to them (fusing) or pushing them away (blocking). Resist the urge to judge or analyze what is coming up, instead, just notice those thoughts as well. With practice, this skill can bring awareness as you go throughout the day, resulting in a slow turning towards the front of the cave.
Levine, Peter. 2008. Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body. Boulder, Sounds True Publications.
Read, Tim. 2014. Walking Shadows: Archetype and Psyche in Crisis and Growth. London, Muswell Hill Press.
