Good thinking, John. I am always encourage by more thoughtfulness around these issues. As the "technology" of understanding the brain and nervous system improves, I think there are improvements in how to see the relationships of emotions and thoughts. My articles on Feelings are primarily written as a guide to those who have not yet learned to integrate the structures of feelings into their understanding of thinking and living. I like your points about interpretation. My general beliefs are that we perceive things (sensory input) and super-quickly interpret those sensations in an effort to make "sense" of them. Then we react to those intepretations. A fun way to look at it is that 95% of what we react to is in our heads - our interpretations. Happens very fast, but it seems true. I also believe that most of our interpretations unconscious and frequently stuff we are unaware of. Makes for lots of confusion. The point for me of Words/Symbols => Feelings => Thought Processes, etc. is to elevate the awareness of Feelings into the cycle of life. I do tend to believe that Feelings come first but the cycles seem so quick in the brain that it may not be important which comes first. Love the Mindful Brain by Daniel Siegel. Thanks for the sharing. Al