what are emotions?
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Peace be upon you Tay,
Kyle, your 5 step chain reaction is excellent.
I cannot take credit for that, this is taken from the teachings of Ra Un Nefer Amen, whom I often refer other to.
In either case, our decision in how we interpret the external stimuli affects only our own self.
Most times we dont even have time to interpret, our response is already conditioned as an AUTOMATIC reflex. Thats the point the author want to drive home. You walk in your house and find your wife in bed with another man. So you go downstairs, make some tea, sit down and say "hmmm, well i could go upstairs and kill them, or I could act like I never saw them, or hmmm let me see.."
No! D right then and there you snatch someone up by thier neck, because our being is conditioned with automatic responses. We have seen the same things being done on TV and so on that we are WELL CONDITIONED to respond a certain way.
so you find yourself saying to the judge, "next thing I remember I was covered in thier blood".
Emotions are a trance state, thats why two people who are arguing with each other cant understand each other, but we always have the answers to other peoples problems. D
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Peace be upon you Sawtooth,
You are misunderstanding what I am saying. I will elaborate further.
If you study your being, you will realize that there is a part of you that WILLS and a part that carries things out. Hasn there been something in your life where you said "i'm not doing that anymore!" but you kept right on doing it?
Anyway, what is being said is when an emotion comes to you, it should be ignored first, then we shoudl use REASON to decide if this "thing is correct or not, if it is correct THEN we ALLOW emotions to follow. For example, the emotions tell yuo to eat ice cream every night before going to bed even though you are 100 pounds overweight. You IGNORE that emotion and reason if eating ice cream is thr right thing to do, since it is not, you continue to ignore the emotion.
If you ever had any type of addiction, you will know that yuo must IGNORE the thoughts calling you to it, then they slowly lose power over you until one day you no longer have the craving. (a good movie to watch is A BEUATIFUL MIND)
What most of us dont understand what CHOOSING and DESIRING. Desires involve emotions, choosing is when there is no emotion involoved. If you are at a crossraod and trying to CHOOS if you are going left or right, then someone comes and PUSHES you to the left, you did not choose. Well thats the same with EMOTIONS, you might THINK you chose it, but it was emotions that DROVE you to do it.
The bottom line is that we do not deny emotions, we only prevent them from LEADING US, they are only to be servants.
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Emotion is a misguided reaction; Emotion is anti-islamic that disturbs peace or salamath.
You mean LOVE and COMPASSION is anti-Islamic?
lotetree,
Yes, love and compassion is not life but fear for Allah is.
So in the Name of God most Compassionate - is a load of nonsense?
Again, fear for allah is not emotion but a dear need of man if he has to evolve, correct himself and march ahead in the straight path.
Are you REALLY SERIOUS?
Fear is an EMOTION. It is a primitive survival instinct.Regards,
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Peace all,
nothing against emotions, on the contrary! But for sure part of our work down here is to direct these emotions in the right manner.
lkYes we all need to cultivate POSITIVE emotions like LOVE and COMPASSION and come to terms with negative emotions like HATE and ANGER. Experiencing intense emotions is also beneficial becaused it can lead to catharsis. See link
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis
Natural emotions should never be SURPRESSED because suppressed emotions will always express itself in most deviant forms.
Regards,
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The bottom line is that we do not deny emotions, we only prevent them from LEADING US, they are only to be servants.
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...
Regards,
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Peace be upon you Sawtooth,
You are misunderstanding what I am saying. I will elaborate further.
If you study your being, you will realize that there is a part of you that WILLS and a part that carries things out. Hasn there been something in your life where you said "i'm not doing that anymore!" but you kept right on doing it?
Anyway, what is being said is when an emotion comes to you, it should be ignored first, then we shoudl use REASON to decide if this "thing is correct or not, if it is correct THEN we ALLOW emotions to follow. For example, the emotions tell yuo to eat ice cream every night before going to bed even though you are 100 pounds overweight. You IGNORE that emotion and reason if eating ice cream is thr right thing to do, since it is not, you continue to ignore the emotion.
If you ever had any type of addiction, you will know that yuo must IGNORE the thoughts calling you to it, then they slowly lose power over you until one day you no longer have the craving. (a good movie to watch is A BEUATIFUL MIND)
What most of us dont understand what CHOOSING and DESIRING. Desires involve emotions, choosing is when there is no emotion involoved. If you are at a crossraod and trying to CHOOS if you are going left or right, then someone comes and PUSHES you to the left, you did not choose. Well thats the same with EMOTIONS, you might THINK you chose it, but it was emotions that DROVE you to do it.
The bottom line is that we do not deny emotions, we only prevent them from LEADING US, they are only to be servants.
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.
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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...
Peace LoteTree,
I would like to ask you a question, an answer in not necesseraly required Would you change your testimony for a crime in favor of someone you love, to spare him/her being punished, while you are sure of his culpability?
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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...
Peace LoteTree,
I would like to ask you a question, an answer in not necesseraly required ) Would you change your testimony for a crime in favor of someone you love, to spare him/her being punished, while you are sure of his culpability?
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Crime and Punishment is about rules of society you live by.
LOVE and COMPASSION is something that you cultivate within yourself as an individual for yourself and others that you have around you. Love and compassion connects you with your fellow human beings...
Regards,
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Peace Kyle,
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.
Peace,
Tay -
But without emotion there is no desire. It is desire that causes us to want peace. Without emotion there is no empathy. it is empathy that allows us to stop from hurting our fellow man or to understand where they are seeing things from. Without emotion we become robotic, able to rely only on instinct. there would be no reason to comunicate, no difference between us and the animals. I think you are missing the big picture entirely and only looking at some utopian outcome if man had no emotion or ignored them completely. there is a movie with Sandra Bullock and Sly Stalone where they are living in a future society where happy is the only emotion expressed. the outcome is NOT what one would hope it could be. Emotion and thumbs are what make us human.
Desire sparks emotion; desires can be dispensed with, for, desire has an inherent quality of selfishness. Our only need is patience towards realizing our god send needs. In order that we preserve peace at any cost patience shall prevail over desires. Patience is peace. Patience is anti emotion;neither peace is an emotion.
Animals only fulfil their just needs and live peacefully, unlike man who pursuits desires beyond his just needs.
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So in the Name of God most Compassionate - is a load of nonsense?
Compassion if in our language is called desire, elevate it to the level of "wish and will" for as you call it, desire or emotion is a primitive survival instinct. We humans live not by instinct but by intution, the timely help and guidance from god. Emotions can be greatly contained by patience. Patience is a gift from the most compassionate.
Are you REALLY SERIOUS?
Fear is an EMOTION. It is a primitive survival instinct. -
Peace sultana
u wroteAnimals only fulfil their just needs and live peacefully
I live surrounded by animals and can tell u that they also have emotions like jealousy, to cite only that one, normally attributed to humans...
lk
totally agree with that. got a dog who is playful and also got scared...
Desire sparks emotion; desires can be dispensed with, for, desire has an inherent quality of selfishness. Our only need is patience towards realizing our god send needs. In order that we preserve peace at any cost patience shall prevail over desires. Patience is peace. Patience is anti emotion;neither peace is an emotion. Animals only fulfil their just needs and live peacefully, unlike man who pursuits desires beyond his just needs.
Peace Sultana,
But I do think peace is also a type of emotion. Serenity/peace is a by-product of concentration and bliss, which we all love inherently; yet i do not believe that ALL patience is peace. A Master Thief's patience in waiting for a theft plan to unroll is not peaceful in the end for the owner... (
Desire for having a good spiritual life and close bond to God sparks does indeed induce emotion; sometimes it feels unworthy of; sometimes it feel like it was three mountains afar; sometimes we think we have it but we not; but it was noble goal and i do think there was nothing wrong with that particular desire (passion) -
Compassion if in our language is called desire, elevate it to the level of "wish and will" for as you call it, desire or emotion is a primitive survival instinct.
A definition of compassion
a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering
There is nothing desireable in above.
We humans live not by instinct but by intution, the timely help and guidance from god. Emotions can be greatly contained by patience. Patience is a gift from the most compassionate.
Erm...Intuition is instintive knowledge... -)
Definitions of intuition
instinctive knowing (without the use of rational processes)Regards,
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But without emotion there is no desire. It is desire that causes us to want peace. Without emotion there is no empathy. it is empathy that allows us to stop from hurting our fellow man or to understand where they are seeing things from. Without emotion we become robotic, able to rely only on instinct. there would be no reason to comunicate, no difference between us and the animals. I think you are missing the big picture entirely and only looking at some utopian outcome if man had no emotion or ignored them completely. there is a movie with Sandra Bullock and Sly Stalone where they are living in a future society where happy is the only emotion expressed. the outcome is NOT what one would hope it could be. Emotion and thumbs are what make us human.
Desire sparks emotion; desires can be dispensed with, for, desire has an inherent quality of selfishness. Our only need is patience towards realizing our god send needs. In order that we preserve peace at any cost patience shall prevail over desires. Patience is peace. Patience is anti emotion;neither peace is an emotion.
Animals only fulfil their just needs and live peacefully, unlike man who pursuits desires beyond his just needs.
Well I would rather end up in a firey hell for eternity than live without passion for what I believe in, love for my child, anger at the wrongs of teh world, frustration with my own shortcoming etc. A life that denies emotion is a life that denies growth
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Peace be upon you Lote Tree,
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.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...
Ask the battered woman who stays with her husband because of "love".
Natural emotions should never be SURPRESSED because suppressed emotions will always express itself in most deviant forms.
Yes, we should not suppress emotions. Suppressing emotions means that even though you have not acted on the emotion, you are still NOURTURING the thoughts in your head of manifesting it. The object is to REPROGRAM the thought response, therefore it is not emotion. It is difficult indeed except for the humble.
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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.