It’s nearly a hundred years since Jung discovered that there were Four Functions. Jung’s work is important because it helps us lay the foundations for the inclusion of the Feminine in everyday life. There has to be words and concepts before there can be understanding. The Feeling Function is important because it orders relationship and so has a key part to play in the expression of love and care and how this works out in the world. Feeling types and the function make sure that the gentle needs of water and feeling are managed in a skilful way.
According to Jung’s theory, each person has a superior function and each function equates with an element. They are: Feeling (water), Sensation (earth), Intuition (fire) and Thinking (air). Feeling and Thinking are rational functions, because they order.
The work of Masaru Emoto on water* and how the structure of water crystals are affected by the emotional and feeling environment is one of the many indications of how important it is to understand the element, on as many levels as possible. Our bodies are mostly water, so, to follow through from Emoto’s findings, our molecular structure must be being affected by other people’s emotions and their attitudes towards us, all the time.
An understanding of Feeling as a function and its conscious inclusion in schools, universities and into the general language, would change the experience of people and other living creatures for the better. It would also change their molecular structure for the better! Feeling in a Jungian context, has nothing to do with emotion, for any type can be emotional. Emotion is a reaction: feeling is an aspect of the core experience of the soul, the living being inside the body. The Feeling Function orders life to include this reality and its needs.
* Masaru Emoto. The Hidden Messages in Water. Atria Books.