I introduced a new mental framework in the previous article (this article). It allows us to understand how to treat emotions from a broader perspective. Today, I will talk about it.
How to deal with our emotions
Sometimes, we want to control our emotions. Intense negative emotions and uncontrollable ones often bother us.
However, we sometimes don’t know the meaning of emotions. What is the purpose of them?
For example, when people are babies, they don’t have emotions, such as anger and sadness. They only laugh and cry according to the strength of their stresses. Laughter and crying are not emotions but physical reactions.
In other words, we have developed emotions during our growth. They are acquired, not innate.
Today, I will introduce how our emotions are born. The big picture shows us that cultivating rational philosophy can solve our mental complex.
How our emotions are born
Although we cannot interfere with emotional generation, we can change how we feel about each emotion.
In extreme terms, we can recognize even suffering as joy, although it looks clearly harmful.
To explain it, let’s look at how our emotions are born.
Stress on the body
Emotions are one form of conditional reflex. They allow us to respond quickly.
When in babyhood, we don’t have emotions, as said above. We only laugh and cry to relieve physical stress.
It means that joy and sorrow are the same stress from the perspective of the body.
For example, assume that we find a chocolate cake before us. The new information stresses us. The circumstances changed. We have to deal with it. From the perspective of the body, it is stress.
The body demands judgment on how to deal with them. Its ultimate goal is to relieve stress.
Physical reactions by decisions
We think and make decisions in light of the situation.
If we determine it to be beneficial, we are excited. We can eat it! We will prepare the body to eat the chocolate cake.
However, if we remember that it is another person’s cake and we cannot eat it, we are discouraged. It means we decided to relax the tension in the mind. The body loses its vitality. If our body is too excited, we cry and shed tears to relieve the stress quickly.
They are the necessary systems to protect the body from stress.
The birth of emotions
However, there are similar situations. We experience them many times as we grow up. It is inefficient to consider what to do in similar circumstances every time. Thinking is hard work and consumes energy.
The brain uses emotions to make decisions more quickly. It generates specific emotions if it is a clearly similar case.
For example, if the brain judges we have to fight against an enemy, it generates an energizing emotion, such as anger, excitement, and joy. If the brain decides we don’t have to worry, it produces a calming emotion, such as a feeling of depression, discouragement, and relaxation.
It means there is no universal emotion. People named the strong excitement anger and the intense calming discouragement.
That is why it can be said that emotions are one form of conditional reflex.
Changing the meaning of emotions
That mental system tells us we can freely decide our emotions. From the body’s perspective, every stimulus is stress, and emotions are conditional reflexes.
If we continue to judge something as beneficial consciously, we can turn anything into joy, although it is harmful.
A typical example is sadism and masochism. Sadists love torturing others. Masochists feel joy in being denied and bullied. Despite its anomaly, it is a natural phenomenon from the perspective of emotions. They consciously decided each stress was good for them.
Our mental complex is the same. It makes us prefer only one aspect of values. A prime example is a social evaluation that pleases our parents. Our continuous conscious decisions formed it as a conditional reflex.
Resolving mental complexes logically
This mental work tells us a way to resolve our mental complex: cultivating a philosophy.
We defined our emotions in the wrong direction. If we continue to make conscious judgments, we can direct our excitement and preferences in a direction that suits us.
I tried that, and it worked. In my case, I realized that I have a habit of searching for anxieties about the future every time I relax. That had prevented me from relaxing deeply.
Then, I intentionally tried to feed up immediately the moment I realized I was doing such a habit. I persuaded myself logically, “I have already had enough of that. I did it for decades. No more!”
It worked. The time I unconsciously sought anxiety has surely decreased. Although it is still a short-term evaluation, it stabilized my mind.
Logical approach to resolve
In other words, that calmed my empathy. I didn’t use imagination; it is a logical approach.
By the way, it is the same way as brainwashing. A continuous, rational persuasion can change our emotional recognition.
Cultivating a philosophy can change how we feel about each emotion. Although it is the same principle as brainwashing, it gives us balance. It tells us that not everything needs to be a pleasure. We cannot tell which side is better in our duality. We know that excluding one aspect of values afflicts us, even if choosing only the pleasure side.
That is why a philosophy based on rationality can solve our mental complex in moderation.
There are many other things I would like to explain, but I will talk about them in later articles.
Conclusion
That is how our emotions are born.
Although we cannot interfere with emotional generation, we can change how we feel about each emotion.
The big picture shows us that cultivating rational philosophy can solve our mental complex.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
