Zestism distinguishes between knowing about an event and experiencing it. Knowing that fire is hot is not the same as feeling its heat. Understanding an emotion in the abstract is not the same as living through it.
What feels real
Arin experiences ordinary human life as immediate and compelling. Elan can question and interpret an experience, though questioning does not always bring answers. Aelin is described as knowing beyond the limits of ordinary human perspective.
The same remembered event may appear trivial, troubling or profound depending on the person through which it is considered. Memory of another state, however, is not the same as inhabiting that state.
Every life is an experience
Wealth and poverty, fame and obscurity, confidence and uncertainty all create different circumstances. No life can be reduced to one measure of difficulty. Within Zestism, experience itself is central to the challenge of existence.
And although a person may recognise these distinctions, Zestism does not promise that they can choose which of the three persons to inhabit.