Emotions

Listen or download PERSSON Good news for free on Prostopleer                          
                               
                                 "  There are as many nights as days,
            and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. 
             Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of  darkness, 
     and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” 


                                                                                                                                      - Carl Jung


What are Emotions?



A Scientist would define it as: feeling states with physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components.

An Artist calls it the essence of life.

While a Stoic says blah!

This begs the question whose definition do we adhere to?

The main two emotions affecting us are pain and pleasure.

If we go by a stoic's view - who treats both with the same impassiveness - we loose our humane, we become robots - "What is there to feel than Feel itself".

Or we descend into Hedonism- maximize pleasure and enjoy life - but this makes us vulnerable, weak. In today's world, pain is an integral factor. We have to face it at every turn..so why run away from it?

Sure nobody likes to stub their foot against the chair or be at the receiving end of insults but these are real life situations.

We face them everyday so rather than running away from them we should face them.

What we need is balance, grief and happiness are both equally need. We need the sting sometimes too. It prepares us for life, its challenges and its meanders. What we need is rationality and a clear thought process. Don't let emotions take control but don't run away from them.

But our rather human self is too weak for balance and it swings like a pendulum. Equilibrium is not achieved. Science is the proof!

What to do then?

Most people respond negatively to grief - they take it out in form of alcoholism, drugs and violence- which is not only harmful for the individual but also society.

What we should do is not brood over grief or get too drunk with happiness rather remain neutral in an unfavorable situation and assesses good ones rationally with a slice of life. It a question of discipline - mind over body. As how unreal it may seem both pass away.

Sure, there are random occurrences that strongly stimulate our emotions. Then again entropy is the spice of life.

So one must be logical, be rational, be real and take it as it comes, one day at a time.




A wonderful piece by Khalil Gibran:http://www.katsandogz.com/onjoy.html