Several years ago during the Saturday session of a Stake Conference the Area Authority of the Church who was speaking to us asked if there were any questions. I had a question and it was, "How do you know the difference between inspiration and emotions?" His answer: "It's a process."
It took me some time to understand this answer but over the next year I started to see how it truly applies to life. Gaining understanding of spiritual things is a process. It takes time and experiences to learn the basic principles of the gospel, including discerning what is inspiration (personal revelation from the Holy Ghost) and what is personal emotions.
In The Doctrine and Covenants the Lord tells us how to know what comes from Him:
"Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
"Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation..." (D&C 8:2-3).
One of the ways I've learned to discern answers to prayers is to ask myself three questions:
- Does it make sense to my mind?
- Does it feel right in my heart?
- Is it in line with keeping God's commandments?
Inspiration often doesn't come in the way or time frame that we expect. Elder Robert D. Hales said:
"Revelation comes on the Lord’s timetable, which often means we must move forward in faith, even though we haven’t received all the answers we desire" ("Personal Revelation: The Teachings and Examples of the Prophets," Ensign, Nov 2007, 86–89).
Through time and personal experiences I have more fully been able to discern what thoughts and feelings are inspiration, and what are only emotions.
Learn 10 ways to prepare for personal revelation or how you can know that something is true or not.
You posed an interesting question.
I first heard this same question almost sixty years ago, when a sister asked in general discussion, “Is it the Spirit, or is it emotion?”
I have often considered this over the years, and have been forced to the conclusion that, ideally, it is a mixture of both.
“Did not our hearts burn within us as we talked with him by the way?” asked Cleopas who, with his companion, had enjoyed the company and teaching of the Resurrected Jesus.
The Holy Spirit certainly acts on our minds to reveal what was not previously known to us, or to establish that the course we have opted to take after we have weighed our options, studied them through, and then considered what the natural or logical consequences of each course is most likely to be, and then choosing that which seemeth good, take our decision to Heavenly Father and ask him whether you have chosen correctly – or not. [D&C 9]
What is the burning in the bosom or other method of affirmation or direction but a non-volitional emotional experience that comes upon us when the the Holy Ghost is speaking to us, in answer to our pleadings.
It is, I suppose, possible for the Spirit to inspire us without touching our emotional systems, but I would miss the thrill of knowing that God is speaking through his most often used medium, the Holy Ghost or Spirit.
I am informed that robots [Computer Electronics Virtual Intelligence] and Vulcans [Ahem! Star Trek] have no emotional equipment. If we were either Vulcanic or robotic, then we would be useful in situations requiring total obedience [robotics] or logical thought without regard to how anyone feels about it [Spockics], but the faculty of knowing good from the evil, sweet from the bitter, etc, is God-given and it enables us to develop as we should to fulfil our divine destinies.
The AA was correct, in that distinguishing what is merely emotional from what is inspirational with a concomitant emotional affect, is honed, purified, and defined by experience.
Best wishes,
Ronnie