Inspiration, Impression, Feeling and Emotion

          In this essay, I  discuss INSPIRATION, IMPRESSION, FEELING and EMOTION and how they relate to receiving Revelation and Information.  

          Inspiration-- I  define as truthful information directly from God and/or through the Holy Ghost.   The Holy Ghost is another name or title given to the part of our soul/spirit that was present in the pre-existence, the one that has no veil,  the one that knows our Father and Mother in Heaven and our brother, Jesus Christ and all the other things that transpired there.

          The Holy Spirit (which is often used interchangeably with Holy Ghost) is the Mind of the Father and the Son. "And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words." (Hel. 5: 45.) …It is the "Holy Spirit" which causes the effect. The effect upon them is called the "Holy Ghost" by Christ (See 3 Ne. 9: 20)."  Volumes could and have been written on this subject.

          Inspiration is the Divine giving you a message.  You want to come from Inspiration.  The key is to determine what is Inspiration and what is Memory. Memories are old programs replaying, which can bring up Emotions of all sorts. Which brings us to Impression.  Impressions are also information.  Impressions can  be Inspiration coming from God, but they may also be information coming from another source, including Memories or directly from the adversary.   

          We may hear someone say, " I had the Impression that such and such was true or that I should do this or that."  They may also equate that with Feeling which is something else again.  Impressions may come in many ways.  We may "hear" a voice in our heads.  We may have a Thought come full blown into our minds and then we seek to verbalize it.  We may see an image or vision.  Again, these Impressions  come from various sources.  They may or may not be accompanied by Feelings  and/or Emotions.

          Feelings may or may not be accompanied by Impressions or Emotions.  An example of a Feeling alone is an adrenaline rush. Once I wondered what a bull felt like when a rider got on his back. I wondered why a bull rider would risk his life. 

I was given an intense Feeling of an adrenaline rush.  In this case, my "question" was answered with a Feeling, which gave me information.  Another example of a Feeling is what many call a "gut feeling". It may manifest as a "sick" or nauseous feeling .  Along with this Feeling  may be Impressions.  An example is:  "I had a gut feeling that this guy was up to no good."  In that example, the feeling was accompanied by an impression/information.  It may also even be Inspiration.  However, gut feelings may also come from other sources.  Another example of Feeling is the little "flutter" in the solar plexus when we think of or anticipate something pleasant or exciting happening.

          Which brings us to Emotion.  Emotions and Feelings are often lumped into the same category and many people have trouble differentiating.  Some examples of Emotion are:  Anger, Joy, Shame, Love, Fear, Sadness, Confusion, Jealousy, Depression, Nostalgia, Pride and on and on.  Tears are usually the expression of an Emotion.  If we cry at a horse race, an athletic event, a funeral, a musical performance, or because we are upset at something, then--- what is it?  It's not the Holy Ghost for sure. Beauty has the ability to evoke Emotion--the beauty of a race…the music. What if we cry at someone's inspirational story or testimony?  Is that the Holy Ghost?  Care is to be taken about the source of the Emotion. It may be the Holy Ghost giving us Inspiration or truthful information and then we express the Emotion based on that. We may get the Impression which expresses itself as "This is true" or "This is important."  It may all happen so fast that we have a difficult time sorting it out.

          Inspiration coming from God will call us to repentance and lead us to seek and emulate Christ.  It will call us to Love, Service, Gratitude and Forgiveness and show us our true calling.  Usually, when I receive Inspiration, it comes as Impressions, but I am given these at least THREE times, perhaps in slightly different ways.  Many times I am asked a question back, giving me more things to ponder or given a scripture, words to a song, or even "guided" to a talk or blog.

          Impressions coming from other sources will tell us "All is Well.  Eat, drink and be merry".  "You're not enough."  "You can never be forgiven."  "Follow that man, not God."  "There is no God…if there was, He wouldn't let that happen."

          It is surely a challenge to discern.