This post really hit on several things of importance.

Emotions as signals and cues tell us either something is wrong with our perception of reality that needs to be corrected, or something is wrong with the human reality we have created that needs to be corrected.

We briefly talked on another of your posts about the internal dialogue, and how many ancient systems warn of allowing it to roam undisciplined. In some of the psychology texts I studied when I was young, the one thing I found truthful (not a big fan of most psychology) was I before E, intellect before emotion. In order for there to be the emotion, a thought must give birth to it. This is a powerful thing to understand and is crucial for those who wish any degree of discipline.

Take the intuitive, non-reflective subconscious "feeling" from the dark unconscious, unable to really know what it is, and dig into it with the reflective light of logic and reason to become consciously aware of what is actually wrong.

When I was a teen, they made me take an IQ test and I was more shocked than anyone when it came back at genius level. I had always felt stupid because I was disinterested in school and never fit in with the false energy I felt in groups. As I grew older, I realized what was giving this false impression of intelligence was my ability to connect with my intuition and have the strength to embrace what it showed me, no matter how poorly of a light it shed on me or unfortunately, others.

It is a difficult task to see oneself stripped of the illusions of justifications for wrong actions. I remember back when I was blindly accepting Christianity I had begun to wonder if the truth wasn't that we needed God to forgive us, but we needed to learn to forgive ourselves.

This post could so easily be applied to the classic tale found in the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna in tears as he sees everyone he loves on the battlefield ready to do battle with him. He ponders the value of warring with everyone he holds dear to do what he feels is right. All of us are Arjuna on that battlefield, that battlefield one we step back onto every day.

then we can abdicate and remove support from creating the current path in order to reduce its power and influence in our lives.

Sadly, having taken this route most of my life I have found that even those who should be closest to us will ostracize you and consider you a black sheep to be wary of for not hooking your energy to the agreements they try to force on you.

Thank you for another well thought out post from the heart. I look forward to your posts as they always touch upon connections, not momentary distractions as many prefer.