In the novel "Where Reasons End" by Yiyun Li a dead son says to his mother, a writer: "I always imagine writing is for people who don't want to feel or don't know how to."
The author, always happy to indulge in self-criticism, might suspect that the source of writing is a lack, one writes to compensate. I suggest that it is fairly common that we need an intermediary (art, religion) in order to feel. We feel by proxy, in order not to go down under the weight of our own feelings.