what are emotions?
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Peace be upon you Sawtooth,
I think it is better to acknowledge the emotion as it is the natural reaction to a situation bt then decide how to REACT to it.
Whats natural about it? Please reflect on the following, everyone does not react the same way to the same TRIGGER. Therefore, we cant say natural. The natural response to all triggers is PEACE (Peace be upon you), then you are to REASON the correct emotion to follow. Solomon teaches us how to use the emotions as servants.
Its all about how you have CONDITIONED yourself (or been coditioned by others) to RESPOND to a certain situations. if you take time to study yourself, you will realize that you go over certain scenarios in your head everyday regarding how you would respond if certain things happen. This is how you program your responses. So when it happens, these same thoughts and images come to your sphere of awareness as a reaction/auto reflex.
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Peace be upon you Tay,
Using your example of a man catching his wife in bed with another man, I would say that one does have time to think before they act, if they are well versed in thinking before acting. I do agree that years of conditioning certainly have their influence, but this can easily be transcended with intention.
Yes you are right, but I was speaking of most people who do not cultivate the SEPERATION between the "I" and the thoughts and images that come to you. We CERTAINLY have time to think, but most people act on the thouts and images that come as an automatic reflex. Instead of ignoring those thoughts/emotions and calming down in order to reason properly, the animal attacks.
Thanks for poiting out the clarification.
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Peace be upon yuo Elke,
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Animals only fulfil their just needs and live peacefullyI live surrounded by animals and can tell u that they also have emotions like jealousy, to cite only that one, normally attributed to humans...
I agree, animals are the perfect examples of emotions. Emotion and Animation are similar. Emotions are what animates being. This is why the human is always compared to an animal in "Koran". We are being shown our emotional/animal nature that must be used properly.
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Peace be upon you,
Peace is the opposite polarity of emotion. Peace is stillness, emotion is animation/movement.
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Ask the battered woman who stays with her husband because of "love".
This is nothing to do with cultivating LOVE and COMPASSION within yourself for yourself and for others.
You have to come up with a better argument Kyle! D
The object is to REPROGRAM the thought response, therefore it is not emotion. It is difficult indeed except for the humble.
No, object is to come to terms with negative emotions. Accept them as normal but cultivate and nurture those positive emotions of LOVE and COMPASSION instead of destructive ones.
Regards,
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Peace be upon you Lote Tree,
Let me take you back a step, because you might be getting off track
idolfree1 wrote
The bottom line is that we do not deny emotions, we only prevent them from LEADING US, they are only to be servants.Lote Tree
Whats wrong being led by LOVE and COMPASSION? If we all are led by LOVE and COMPASSION the world would be such a nice place...IF1
Ask the battered woman who stays with her husband because of "love".So, the question you asked was "whats wrong with BEING LED by Love and compassion", my answer is a clear example of what can be wrong with it. Do you agree?
Or how about one who "loves" smoking crack, should they be led by that emotion?
And there are many more examples that show what is wrong with being led b the lower part of man rather than the higher.
IF1
The object is to REPROGRAM the thought response, therefore it is not emotion. It is difficult indeed except for the humble.Lote Tree
No, object is to come to terms with negative emotions. Accept them as normal but cultivate and nurture those positive emotions of LOVE and COMPASSION instead of destructive ones.E-Motion is movement, Peace is stillness. Our respose to all things should be peace, THEN movement must be commanded. Peace is what is natural, emotions are that which is already DOING SOOMETHING, already pushing or pulling us to a certaint end/goal. Who decided that goal?
If you are standing STILL at a crossraod trying to decide if you are going left or right, and then someone(emotion) comes and pushed you left, did you decide?
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Peace be upon you Sawtooth,
I think it is better to acknowledge the emotion as it is the natural reaction to a situation bt then decide how to REACT to it.
Whats natural about it? Please reflect on the following, everyone does not react the same way to the same TRIGGER. Therefore, we cant say natural. The natural response to all triggers is PEACE (Peace be upon you), then you are to REASON the correct emotion to follow. Solomon teaches us how to use the emotions as servants.
Its all about how you have CONDITIONED yourself (or been coditioned by others) to RESPOND to a certain situations. if you take time to study yourself, you will realize that you go over certain scenarios in your head everyday regarding how you would respond if certain things happen. This is how you program your responses. So when it happens, these same thoughts and images come to your sphere of awareness as a reaction/auto reflex.
Our physical respnse is not condition, just individual, it is our REACTION that becomes conditioned and also becomes the hardest "habbit" to break. Some people become conditioned to react to anger or frustration with physical violence because of their upbringing. Feeling something is not a choice, it just happens, but you DO CHOOSE how you react to that feeling.
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Hello Kyle,
So, the question you asked was "whats wrong with BEING LED by Love and compassion", my answer is a clear example of what can be wrong with it. Do you agree?
No. I dissagree. I can't see how cultivating love and compassion within yourself for yourself and those that have you around leads to being a battered women or man! Nor can I see how being led by feelings of LOVE and COMPASSION for yourself and others leads to being a battered women or man!
You are confusing human abuse that has nothing do with the concept of LOVE and COMPASSION. Compassion is being able to feel the suffering of others. You don't have to be in a relationship with another individual to have the feeling of compassion for yourself and your fellow human beings.
The battered women is an example of abuse and abuse is always about the power-play between the Weak and the Strong in a relationship.
There is no HATE in LOVE itself there is no ANGER in compassion. We can all cultivate love and compassion individually for ourselves and for others. All we have to do is look beyond "I LOVE YOU" understanding of LOVE and COMPASSION and see LOVE and COMPASSION for what it is LOVE and COMPASSION allows us to connect with other human beings.
Or how about one who "loves" smoking crack, should they be led by that emotion?
Please don't equate substance abuse with the concept of LOVE and COMPASSION.
And there are many more examples that show what is wrong with being led b the lower part of man rather than the higher.
LOVE and COMPASSION is the HIGHER part of man. Without LOVE and COMPASSION for your fellow man and yourself you will not able to attain "PEACE", the peace you so desperately seek.
E-Motion is movement, Peace is stillness.
No. PEACE is not Stillness. PEACE is HARMONY within yourself.
Our respose to all things should be peace, THEN movement must be commanded.
Our responses to all things must be natural. So you should feel ANGER when you see injustice. You should feel JOY when you see beauty. You should feel FEAR when you are confronted with the danger.
Peace is what is natural, emotions are that which is already DOING SOOMETHING, already pushing or pulling us to a certaint end/goal. Who decided that goal?
EMOTIONS are natural. Some emotions are DESTRUCTIVE like HATE and ANGER. Some emotions are positive like LOVE and COMPASSION. You come to terms with the NEGATIVE EMOTIONS through understanding but you don't deny or REPROGRAM your emotions. You accept them as natural but you cultivate and nurture the POSITIVE emotions within yourself to minimise the destructive effects of the negative...
Regards,
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Peace Kyle,
You stated
Thanks for pointing out the clarification
You're welcome, bro. We're all here to refine each other and ourselves wink Which brings me to your comment to Lote Tree
how about one who "loves" smoking crack, should they be led by that emotion?
I disagee with this qualification in that using the term "love" in a sentence does not equate to the emotion of love that is being discussed. One can say they "love" to get high, but that is just an expression of what that person perceives as enjoyment.
In short, "I love my wife" is not equal to "I love crack". These are 2 completely different uses of the term.
Further, you used the example of a battered wife who stays with her husband because she's in love. I don't think this is possible. One cannot love a person and then accept belittlement and abuse from that person. The people that stick around are handicapped by insecurity and zero self-respect. Their feelings have nothing to do with love.
Peace,
Tay -
Paz
I understand the idolfree's approach, taking emotion as an agitation/movement of the spirit, starting intensely and then appeasing till dissapearing, in comparisson to peace taken as tranquility, stability, stillness.
Another approach I understand is the similarity among emotions, feelings and passions, none of them based on intellectuality but inclination. That we have to direct them with our reason I think we all agree on this.
I think you Lote Tree are speaking about those emotions, love and compassion once they have been controlled by our reason, once they are already organised.
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Peace be upon you Sawtooth,
Our physical respnse is not condition, just individual, it is our REACTION that becomes conditioned and also becomes the hardest "habbit" to break.
I am not sure I understand what you are saying, please give an example for me or elaborate just a bit more. My thought was to ask you about when the doctor hits your knee with a mallet and your leg pops up, but I am not sure I understood what you said.
Some people become conditioned to react to anger or frustration with physical violence because of their upbringing.
Correct, that is what I am saying
Feeling something is not a choice, it just happens, but you DO CHOOSE how you react to that feeling.
I disagree. There was a time when I could smell pork bacon frying and the FEELING would come to me that I really wanted to eat that bacon. Maybe crumble it up in some cheese eggs. Today, I do not get that feeling at all.
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Hi all,
peace all. Just thinking today,is an emotion an unprocessed idea? (ie a thought you have not yet 'rationalised'). Any comments?
Emotions are the resultant of our thoughts.
As long as we keep our thoughts honest to our soul and also keep a check on them using our brain, the resultant emotions that come of such thoughts would be peaceful and productive.
All emotions are meant to be positive and are meant to have a constructive purpose to them.
Peace!
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Our physical respnse is not condition, just individual, it is our REACTION that becomes conditioned and also becomes the hardest "habbit" to break.
What I mean here is that although our bodies react differently to say "embarrassment" (some sweat some turn red) they are not "conditioned" responses they are natural. BUT how we REACT to those emotions might be conditioned (IE shying into a corner when embarrassed, or standing up and taking a bow for it)
Some people become conditioned to react to anger or frustration with physical violence because of their upbringing.
Correct, that is what I am saying
BUT that is how they are CHOOSING to reeact to anger. The initial rise in blood pressure and such that can often be an imediate UNCOTROLABLE physical reaction is natural, the choice to react with violence is what is conditioned.
Feeling something is not a choice, it just happens, but you DO CHOOSE how you react to that feeling.
I disagree. There was a time when I could smell pork bacon frying and the FEELING would come to me that I really wanted to eat that bacon. Maybe crumble it up in some cheese eggs. Today, I do not get that feeling at all.
yes but that feeling is not really emotion. I believe that is a bad example.
Let's say someone usually hugs others when they are happy. they can stop HUGGING as a reaction to that happiness, but that does not mean they no longer feel HAPPINESS. AS well the triggers for emotions may change, but i still don't think that makes it "conditioned". I think just as it is natural for us to grow and mature with age, and just as our bodies may react differently to various things as we age, so do our emotions. I used to be able to play on a "slip-n-slide" as a kid and loved it. Now it is just a world of pain. -
Peace be upon you Lote Tree,
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So, the question you asked was "whats wrong with BEING LED by Love and compassion", my answer is a clear example of what can be wrong with it. Do you agree?No. I dissagree. I can't see how cultivating love and compassion within yourself for yourself and those that have you around leads to being a battered women or man! Nor can I see how being led by feelings of LOVE and COMPASSION for yourself and others leads to being a battered women or man!
I guess if you continue to change your question you wont see it. Your question was, AGAIN, "whats wrong with being led by love?". Your question was NOT anything about cultivating love within yourself, this is what you changed it to. When someone FOLLOWS this concept of "Love", then they are subject to go wherever tha EMOTION takes them. A battered woman is BLINDED by "love" and stays in a situation that is unhealthy (as one example).
You are confusing human abuse that has nothing do with the concept of LOVE and COMPASSION. Compassion is being able to feel the suffering of others. You don't have to be in a relationship with another individual to have the feeling of compassion for yourself and your fellow human beings.
The battered women is an example of abuse and abuse is always about the power-play between the Weak and the Strong in a relationship.
The confusion is coming from your change of the question. But let me ask you what is the response of a battered woman when asked why she stays with the abuser?
There is no HATE in LOVE itself there is no ANGER in compassion. We can all cultivate love and compassion individually for ourselves and for others. All we have to do is look beyond "I LOVE YOU" understanding of LOVE and COMPASSION and see LOVE and COMPASSION for what it is LOVE and COMPASSION allows us to connect with other human beings.
I dont disagree with that. My point is that WHATEVER the Emotion, it is to FOLLOW not Lead.
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Or how about one who "loves" smoking crack, should they be led by that emotion?Please don't equate substance abuse with the concept of LOVE and COMPASSION.
The point is emotions must FOLLOW reasoning.
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And there are many more examples that show what is wrong with being led b the lower part of man rather than the higher.LOVE and COMPASSION is the HIGHER part of man. Without LOVE and COMPASSION for your fellow man and yourself you will not able to attain "PEACE", the peace you so desperately seek.
Absolutely correct, when properly understood. But both you and I know that mankind is "attracted" to that which is not good for him/her, and this is what is being called "love" by most of mankind and this is the topic being dealt with. Do you agree or disagree.
Further, why are we sibling out "love" , what about "joy"? Is is wise to be led by Joy?
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E-Motion is movement, Peace is stillness.No. PEACE is not Stillness. PEACE is HARMONY within yourself.
Harmony is harmony, peace is stillness. We go from Stillness to motion . Just like the line used on an EKG machine that goes to a still flat line at death. All comes from the subjective realm, where energy/matter us at rest and unformed, to the objective realm where all things vibrate and atain form. Just like the word Nirvana which means Not Moving.
Please give your evidence.
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Our respose to all things should be peace, THEN movement must be commanded.Our responses to all things must be natural.
Same thing Peace is our essence.
So you should feel ANGER when you see injustice.
Why must you lose your health in order to respond properly to injustice?
You should feel JOY when you see beauty.
When you see beauty, allowing Joy to follow does not cause any problem, so sure, let joy FOLLOW.
You should feel FEAR when you are confronted with the danger.
Why? Martial arts master will tell you that if you become emotional you will die. Peace is the foundation.
Do you understand the reality behind the statement "stress leads to illness"? The verifyable facts are that when you get emotional, even extreme pleasure, blood leaves the vital organs , therefore causing STARVATION of the organs. Emotional states are not meant to be indulged in. If a car is coming, yes, the response of fear for fight or flight so you can jump out the way without even thinking is necessary, but if someone is coming to fight you or another situation where you have time to THINK/REASON, then one should be at peace, which send blood to the brain so you can respond intelligently.
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Peace is what is natural, emotions are that which is already DOING SOOMETHING, already pushing or pulling us to a certaint end/goal. Who decided that goal?EMOTIONS are natural.
Emotions are part of being, yes, but our foundation is PEACE. Let me state it that way.
Some emotions are DESTRUCTIVE like HATE and ANGER. Some emotions are positive like LOVE and COMPASSION. You come to terms with the NEGATIVE EMOTIONS through understanding but you don't deny or REPROGRAM your emotions.
I've already done it, as have MANY other people. It only takes a few minutes of reflection on your life to realize this. Lets take one who is addicted to cigarettes. The EMOTIONS push this person to smoke, right?
But when one IGNORES this emotion for a period of time, the PUSH of the emotions weakens, then finally you are no longer addicted. Now , when you smell cigarettes you get sick to your stomach. So what happenned to the emotions that pushed you to smoke?
You accept them as natural but you cultivate and nurture the POSITIVE emotions within yourself to minimise the destructive effects of the negative...
Okay, I see the problem here. Let me clarify. Emotions are a natural part of being, yes, but to RESPOND to an event with emotions is NOT NATURAL, it is conditioned. To starve your vital organs is not natural.
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Peace be upon you Tay,
Which brings me to your comment to Lote Tree
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how about one who "loves" smoking crack, should they be led by that emotion?I disagee with this qualification in that using the term "love" in a sentence does not equate to the emotion of love that is being discussed. One can say they "love" to get high, but that is just an expression of what that person perceives as enjoyment.
I agree, but I am speaking in terms of how the word is used by the majority of mankind, which is why I put it in quotes. True Love is giving seeking nothing in return.
In short, "I love my wife" is not equal to "I love crack". These are 2 completely different uses of the term.
I would not be so quick to say that. Both are your expression towards an external object. many people say they "love" thier spouse, but they curse at them, cheat on them, abuse them, etc.
Further, you used the example of a battered wife who stays with her husband because she's in love.
Yes, because that is the response given over and over and over again by the abused.
I don't think this is possible. One cannot love a person and then accept belittlement and abuse from that person.
I disagree. The abused can still love the abuser by getting them help and leaving the relationship. But that can only come about when they are at PEACE, therefore not blinded by emotion (whatever we want to name it, all emotion is energy) so they can reason the proper response. So the ENERGY (emotion) follows the reasoning.
The people that stick around are handicapped by insecurity and zero self-respect. Their feelings have nothing to do with love.
I agree. From this point I will no longer use a name for the emotions, I will just say ENERGY, cause thats all it is anyway. The names are making this simple concept very confusing, which is why the abused will say they love the abuser. Whats hapening is that they are blinded by the ENERGY, and they are not really chosing anymore.
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Peace be upon you Taj,
Kyle wrote
E-Motion is movement, Peace is stillness.Movement is life. Peace is not stillness. Stillness is equal to nothing.
Is there such a thing as a still atom!? Imagine that!No, but thats what happens when your focus is on the ILLUSION of this world, the material world. The PEACE/STILLNESS I am referring to is the opposite polarity of this world, from which we come and will be returned to.
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Peace be upon you Elena,
I think you Lote Tree are speaking about those emotions, love and compassion once they have been controlled by our reason, once they are already organised.
Well said sister! D