I have often wished i could become a completely logical creature...like a vulcan or something.

I really hate having all these pesky emotions!

I think strong emotions are good sometimes, but overall i think they cause more trouble in the world than they are worth.

ESPECIALLy the emotion of anger.

emotions are what let us communicate well. without them, the world would be a better place. you just have to deal with the good and bad sides of each one.
where would we be without love?

love ends up hurting a lot of people.

People love their relatives even when they hurt them over and over.
People love their love interests even though sometimes it hurts them to.

Love is good, but it causes problems too and makes people behave illogically.

One of my favorite emotions is human kindness. I think it is so beautiful when one person goes out of their way to help another person out. That would be something that would be lacking in a world goverened by logic.

This is something we talked about in philosophy this year, so many of you might recognize it.

You have no control over your emotions. You simply have control over how you react to them.

So you end up having a nice balance of feelings and logic. I rather like it, myself.

You do have some control over your emotions, like jealosy. When Harmonie (yeah, another Harmonie reference ) started dating Chris I was mondo jealous but eventually I was able to rid myself of those feelings before they drove me insane (or more insane than I already am ). Sometimes you have to go nuts before logic kicks in (well, at least I do). I'll be like, "EEEAAHH! EEEAAH! EEEAAH!" and then a few hours later be able to think clearly and get to the source of why I feel that way (without going into what my friends call "Congo Mode" )

Apathy is baaaaad.

That's sort of proving my point though. The jealously was the initial response. It just happened. But then you thought about it, and chose to react to it in an intelligent way. Sometimes the reaction is killing the initial emotion. The point is that you have no control over when or why it appears, but you can choose how you react to it so it doesn't end up governing your actions later.

That's what I do too. Whenever I'm especially sad or angry or another one of those strong negative emotions. I wait until I'm home alone, and then I scream a bit. It usually works too . Except, it only takes me about 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how strongly I'm feeling the emotion.

my problem is i have too much emotion. I can be crazy in love, blazing with anger, or terribly jealous. I have difficulty controlling any emotion I face.

Oh yes! Screaming is very cathartic. In my dream house, I'm going to have a small, padded room in the basement that is totally sound proof. This will be my scream room. It's really hard to let out a loud, murderous scream where I live now because someone will always call the police. Not fun...

I can't say i ever feel like screaming. I mostly feel like going jogging when i am angry about something. Running (or any aerobic exercise) takes the fire out of a person like nothing else can.

At my college there are sound proof booths in the fine arts building that music students use. When I get especially upset or angry, I run in there and rip out a song, usually from Mudvayne. It helps get out the destructive anger, but not necessarily the depression that takes time. I once was so angry that I ripped up two Mudvayne songs ("Nothing to Gein" and "Severed") and eventually fell to the floor in tears. It helped but didn't get rid of my problem. That takes thought and logic.

This is getting debate-ish real fast. Moving... continue on, I was never here.

Oh. And an opinion for the road...

My counselor once told me that no object, no person, and no situation can ever make you feel anything - instead, you have to let yourself feel a certain way about it.

Does that statement have any merit? I don't know. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes not.

The statement is true, but the things you allow can build up and create something you need. That is when you become vulnerable. That's when a lot of little things make a big thing.

Hatred is my way of channeling stress, and it works really well. Scarily well, actually. I pick a target and hate that person endlessly for a few days, and rant a bitch, and then my stress evaporates. Whee! Strong emotions rock!

I think it's good to have emotions.. but they must be under control.
people who are unable to control any of their emotions, whether it be anger, happiness, sadness, or the like, are just not socially acceptable... or at least I don't accept them... so damn moody and annoying...

anywhoo without emotions we would be too insensitive... and more obvious and crappy points.
I think it'd be far better to have no emotions and be ruled by logic than to have no logic and be ruled by emotions (not that you could survive for very long that way), but it's important to have a ballance [especially in art (all forms)]

If I didn't have emotion, then I wouldn't feel hurt for....

*looks at watch*

1 and a half years now

cool.

Humans aren't perfect, so of course, emotions really really suck.

But not always.

The anger thing, yeah, I have that down pat, unfortunately. And the screaming thing.../shame/...yes, I could benefit from inversting in a sound proofing of my bedroom...but if you didn't feel any anger or jealousy or couldn't feel any of the niceness like joy and love. Even though love hurts like fecking hell...like, this boy I cared for very much, and still do care for, and I were really good friends and now we've drifted really far apart. It kills me, but it's worth it I think, because whenever I'm sad he doesn't come round anymore or angry that he got himself a pretty little girlfriend, I remember that I used to be really really happy with him and it's just like *sigh* "Oh well".

Strong emotions go into writing well too for me. And sleeping. Love the sleeping...

Yin and Yang. You can't have the bad without the good, or the good without the bad. Strong emotions are the reason for some other stuff i've discussed in a different post. If you haven't read it, well i'm not going to repeat you don't have to know and I don't want to moan. But other strong emotions, like happiness, love *looks at david* we couldn't live without.

im really bad with emotion. i never have really a balance. im either uber ecstatic (which happens once in every 34095843 lifetimes) or chronically depressed (as always). there is a term for what i am. its like...there is this line that is neutral emotion. manic depressives go up and down, over and under the line. what i am is constantly below the line, i can never rise above. most people who have what i have are just below the line, but i am far far below it.

plus i have a hard time dealing with people. sociallizing was never my forte. which really sucks becayse i am a very social creature who longs for human contact as much as possible. the problem there is that nobody wants to be around me. which sucks. a lot.

so yeah, constantly i am alone and all that. nobody around here likes me--at all. and what few friends i manage to make over the internet i always lose. it is only a matter of time before you all end up hating me. if you dont think so, just wait. its already begun. someone--not to be named--just broke a friendship with me this morning. gah, cant we all just get this over with? stand in line, slap me with a fish! i dont f--king care anymore.

i await the day when i can leave this forum--and indeed this world--guilt free.

if we didn't have the annoying emotion of anger,how would we realise how great the emotions of forgiveness and love are?without anything to compare to,how can somethings greatness be truely appreciated?





*yeah,that was my intellligent comment for the week*

I made a reference to it in a way on another thread. But, we are human beings and we can't possibly be happy happy 100% of the time.

As a matter of fact we can't be ANY ONE THING 100% of the time.

It is not normal to be of ONE single emotion all the time.

But sometimes where the problem is to whom and how we express emotions.

Society expects you to not upset and bother your neighbor in any way.

So, we hide and repress our emotions. But, then as time goes by , they grow stronger and come out a little strong than most people would exepect. And, at some point , we can't handle them anymore and the emotion runs our life. If something upsets us, we are REALLY UPSET. Same with Anger and anxiety , etc.

So, most times we don't have STRONG emotions to start with, they happen over time. But when this happens people and society shun you. Again, repressing your feelings back inside you. Then. You snap.

lol DAMN good point

Emotionalism is the tool of the Devil. Decisions should only be made on the basis of reason and rationality, never on emotion. Your emotions don't know sh*t. The worst tyrranies in the history of the world have come about by people listening to their emotions rather than to reason.

What a horrible life it would be without emotion. We wouldn't be alive, we would be...rocks.

Plus emotion does have practical purpose, fear is necessary for survival, we need fear to keep us from going down the dark alley...

But emotions are based upon rational, evolutionary reasons. Generally they will not be applicable in the modern world, but they are not completely invalid.

Wrong, we need emotions to live human, and humane lives.

I do not say we should not have emotions, only that we should not base our decisions on them.

And it's reasonable not to go down a dark alley if there's another way to go.

You want to go back to marriage based on logic, how cold.

I assume you have just gone through something unfortunate, because you should always chrish your emotions. Where would charity be without them.

Of course marriage should be based on logic. If you love someone, and are happy being with them, then it is logical to want to marry them.

And once again and for the last time, I do cherish my emotions. I cherish my books, too, but I don't base decisions on them.

So in the choice of love or money, you choose...

You can call everything a logical decision under your thinking, since emotions are logically caused by chemical reactions that result from certain stimuli. Yet when you make a decision, which is the bigger stimulus, logic or emotion?

Uh, I think he already answered that question...

'Tis rhetorical

'Tis badly phrased.

To answer your question, Sir, how could it be entirely one or the other? You can't tell me logic isn't part of emotion, or that emotions aren't logical. You feel what you feel, whatever that may be, and it's instinctive. No one can tell you how to react to something besides yourself. I don't think asking Commie whether he would pick love or money is necessarily an answer either. Is it logical to want money? Perhaps if you're in debt, or would like the extra cash.

But does money *really* matter? One you're dead and rotting, as foreign and cold as death sounds, that money isn't going to do you any good. I'd like to say emotions are great, but they've gotten me into trouble in the past. Feeling something extreme, such as love or hatred... That can mess with you like nothing else... But is love logical? To a certain extent, I guess. You like what you like, you dislike what you dislike. Fine. But does everything have to be 100%?

Emotions are purely what we make of them. We're told to smile in a picture because it makes us look happy, like we're having a great time, even if we're completely miserable inside. Crying has now become an expression of sadness, that heart-wrenching pain which tears open disappointment in yourself often enough, and others. Emotions are purely communication, a form of understanding one another. How you react to your instinct, or emotion for that matter, is up to you. I wonder often enough what it would be like for a child to be raised being told that smiling is the complete opposite of happiness, and crying the opposite of sadness. What would happen to them? Would they be shunned from humanity? I don't know. It's just... a random thought...

Infants smile without knowing it is happy, they cry when they are in pain, and eventually when they are sad. This is not social conditioning, it is natural reaction built into human nature.

Sometimes I hate emotion, usually when I'm in pain, but most of the time I realize how great it is to have emotions such as love, compassion, friendship, and happiness. If there were no such emotions, I would most likely kill myself because of the lack of anything to live for.

My thoughts on emotion depend on how I act them out. I much prefer to pound an 8-track player to the ground with a golf club then pounding a stoopid unsuspecting jackass to the ground with my fists.

Everybody handles their emotions differently. For some people strong emotions are bad, others they are good, and some people could care less.

My 9 month old sister started to get scared when I showed her an old ski hat of mine. It was one of those spiky hats with green spikes and a black base. She freaked out. That's not conditioning, that's a natural response. We don't control our emotions, and it is hard to control our reactions. Often times it is impossible. Without them we wouldn't be human. Commie, if we didn't base decisions on emotions, we would be extinct.

And don't say "we would use logical reasoning to determine 'if this makes me feel scared I won't go near it' ", because that is a subconsious decision, and it is based on emotion. There is no irrational action in your line of thinking, because every single response can be logically explained.

Then let me give you a hypothetical yet likely scenario. I have suffered complete and total liver failure. If I do not check myself into hospital immediately, I will die. However, I am afraid of hospitals and doctors. Emotions say stay out of hospital. Reason says go into hospital.

Another example, this time from history. Nazism and the concepts surrounding it break down utterly under rational scrunity and the natural light of reason. So why did Hitler have the huge popular support he did? Because Nazism was emotionally appealing. Nobody really trusted or liked the Jews - not for rational reasons, but simple prejudice at an emotional level. Talk of Aryan superiority and the age-old struggle of the races made no sense rationally, but it sounded very inspiring and convincing emotionally. Emotions are dangerous.

Actually, emotions can be very used for building knee-jerk responses to certain situations - social conditioning you might say. For instance, many people's knee-jerk response to hunting, to bloodshed, to the consumption of common household pets or insects, and to eating in an untidy fashion is one of disgust or dislike - an emotional response. We should encourage the instillment of basic, necessary emotional responses in children - like an abhorrence of violence, an inclination to question, and so on. Of course, this is open to abuse, and has been abused continually over the centuries to instill negative moral and societal values - such as racism, intolerance, blind faith and violence.

Ooh! Just realised it was here.

Actually, it is possible to govern your life according to rational principles not based upon emotion. The moral Golden Rule* is entirely rational and based upon a logical assumption about human nature and emotions.



*Do as you would be done by, for those of you who had momentarily forgotten.

Sir Maxerpopple, can you please point out WHERE Sean said that emotions do not matter and should not be taken into account? An emotion is usually your first response to something - and is not necessarily correct. He's just reasoning, and is quite right in doing so, that during certain decisions, your emotions should be held at bay as they may be incorrect.

But yes, I like my emotions. I also like to think, that in serious topics (nothing like when Sean taunts me about Axl Rose being a girl and a homophobe...which he ISN'T) I keep my emotions out. I hardly ever get angry. It takes a lot to annoy me. I get happy quite easily, but I also get pretty depressed easily. When I am depressed I don't scream and shout...I curl up in a little ball and listen to music...and write. Even though, its one thing about humanity that is wholly pure, and for that I love it.

Aysha xxx

Say, Commie. Have you seen the movie Equilibrium by any chance? It's sort of the rape-child of 1984 and the Matrix. Basic background: WWIII recently ended. To prevent another war, a drug has been created to completely supress all human emotion, and it's use is mandatory.

Anyway, it raises a few interesting questions, although they've probably crossed your mind already. It's not of the best quality (acting, script etc) but it's something everyone should watch.

Commie has envoked Godwin's law.

Polocrunch and I agree on something for a drastic change.

Commie wants logic to champion emotion, therefore in the long run quashing it. Even Vulcans have emotion, and look what happens when they have an emotional release. Living life according to logic and not answering the call of emotion would eventually lead to a tremendous outburst. this si the logical progression of logic over emotion.

Actually, I agree with Commie in the examples he has given. I suspect that you have misrepresented... I mean misinterpreted his position.

That's what I agree with you on Polo, whether you like it or not

Youa dmit to being horribly intolerant, and while you aren't killing anyone over it (yet) you still have the problem. How delightfully ironic

What? Where? Huh? Can you read?

No! My debating skills are useless in the face of Usenet slang! No, really, once you've done that there's absolutely no need to, you know, TRY AND ACTUALLY REFUTE MY ARGUMENT, hell no.



No, please, stop. First you use Usenet slang against me, then you cite Star Trek as a source. You are clearly a master debater. I cower in the face of your superior tactics.


And now, I shall slay your foul demons. Allow me to restate my position SO THAT YOU CANNOT MISREPRESENT IT LIKE YOU KEEP DOING REGARDLESS OF MY RISING ANGER LEVELS. I do not, repeat do not, repeat do not want an end to emotion. I LIKE emotion. Emotion is great. Love and happiness and shit, it's great. I wallow in it.

However. How-ev-er. I feel that decisions, unless of course they are in themselves purely emotional decisions, should not be made on the basis of emotion but on the basis of reason. Come back when you actually have any reasons why this should not be so apart from some vague warning that this will turn us into soulless androids who kill babies.