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andrewduckerFollowing Erin's entry here on the wonders of emotion, I decided to write a piece on what I mean by "too much emotion". I then, of course, spent a week not feeling much like writing anything, and largely posting links and polls.
I'd like to start off by saying that I believe emotion is vital. The simplest way of stating my beliefs about the necessity of both emotion and reason is "Emotion tells you what you want. Reason tells you how to get it." Without emotion nothing would be preferable over anything else, and you'd be stuck staring into the middle distance. Without reason you'd not be able to work out the best way of getting to your goal.
When I met Alan Moore he talked about his initial involvement with magic. He had been worried that getting involved in magic would lead him headlong into a nervous breakdown (common amongst writers, pretty much universal amongst magicians). The problem being, how to tell if he was mad or not. Now, the problem here is that it's very hard to tell the difference between a drug-using author who worships a second century snake god and a madman.
The answer, he decided, was the level he was functioning at. If he was still being productive, still happy, still able to get on with the people around him, then he was fine. If he was a dribbling mess, painting the walls with his own faeces and unhappy then it was time to pull him back out.
The same thing, it occurs to me, is true of emotion. If you can't make decisions, nothing really attracts you and everything seems grey, then you don't have enough emotions (usually due to either drugs and/or depression). If, on the other hand, things can't go wrong without you collapsing in tears, the smallest slight has you screaming in anger and your happiness is so strong that you can't form coherent sentences, something is wrong.
Being uncomfortable meeting new people is a perfectly natural reaction. If the fear is so strong that you can't leave your house, that's too much emotion. Frustration at your plans going awry is ok, the rage causing you to lose control and punch holes in your walls (or worse, loved ones) is too much emotion. If a small slight from a friend has you sobbing that nobody has ever loved you or ever will, you have emotional problems.
It's not the feelings themselves - it's the proportionality of them to the cause. If your partner of 2 years leaves you, it's perfectly natural to spend a few weeks (or months) being overcome by emotion. Rage is a natural tool for dealing with people being complete bastards to you. But if it causes you to lose your grip on reality, or it causes you to become non-functional for long periods of time, then there's a problem.
I'd like to start off by saying that I believe emotion is vital. The simplest way of stating my beliefs about the necessity of both emotion and reason is "Emotion tells you what you want. Reason tells you how to get it." Without emotion nothing would be preferable over anything else, and you'd be stuck staring into the middle distance. Without reason you'd not be able to work out the best way of getting to your goal.
When I met Alan Moore he talked about his initial involvement with magic. He had been worried that getting involved in magic would lead him headlong into a nervous breakdown (common amongst writers, pretty much universal amongst magicians). The problem being, how to tell if he was mad or not. Now, the problem here is that it's very hard to tell the difference between a drug-using author who worships a second century snake god and a madman.
The answer, he decided, was the level he was functioning at. If he was still being productive, still happy, still able to get on with the people around him, then he was fine. If he was a dribbling mess, painting the walls with his own faeces and unhappy then it was time to pull him back out.
The same thing, it occurs to me, is true of emotion. If you can't make decisions, nothing really attracts you and everything seems grey, then you don't have enough emotions (usually due to either drugs and/or depression). If, on the other hand, things can't go wrong without you collapsing in tears, the smallest slight has you screaming in anger and your happiness is so strong that you can't form coherent sentences, something is wrong.
Being uncomfortable meeting new people is a perfectly natural reaction. If the fear is so strong that you can't leave your house, that's too much emotion. Frustration at your plans going awry is ok, the rage causing you to lose control and punch holes in your walls (or worse, loved ones) is too much emotion. If a small slight from a friend has you sobbing that nobody has ever loved you or ever will, you have emotional problems.
It's not the feelings themselves - it's the proportionality of them to the cause. If your partner of 2 years leaves you, it's perfectly natural to spend a few weeks (or months) being overcome by emotion. Rage is a natural tool for dealing with people being complete bastards to you. But if it causes you to lose your grip on reality, or it causes you to become non-functional for long periods of time, then there's a problem.
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 10:42 am (UTC)Isn't LJ weird.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 10:45 am (UTC)Well, not expect a barrell load, actually, because I realise that most people go "ooh, dense text" and then move on.
Bastards.
I generally agree but...
Date: 2003-07-23 11:02 am (UTC)"Emotion tells you what you want. Reason tells you how to get it."
I would say something more of the form, Desires tell you what you want, Reason tells you how to get it and Emotion is a mode that maps from Desires to Action via Reason. Emotion may affect desires in a feedback loop (making you not hungry because you're miserable or hunger making you angry) but it also affects your approach to reason, deciding how much time you give yourself to solve a problem as well as how you solve it (which are probably intertwined).
It's a bit fuzzy, but I haven't quite got it sorted in my head yet.
Mike
Re: I generally agree but...
Date: 2003-07-23 11:04 am (UTC)Desire says "get that"
Fear says "flee from that"
Anger says "attack that"
Then, when you have your goal, you work out how to get to it.
Re: I generally agree but...
Date: 2003-07-23 11:23 am (UTC)To be not hungry.
To be not in pain.
To be happy.
To have sex.
How to carry them out (by emotion):
Angrily.
Happily (yes I know I said to be happy was a desire, but it can be something you want and an emotion, with the same name and be associated, whilst not being the exact same thing).
Fearfully.
Sadly.
Thus you apply reason, via emotion, to get action from initial desire.
I am hungry, so I apply reason as to what to do. However, I am aggressive, so I will steal some food as that is easiest.
I want to become happier, so I decide what to do. However I am already quite happy, so I will be generally nice in my approach to achieving increased happiness.
I think it's all a question in differences of definitions as usual.
Mike
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 12:03 pm (UTC)1) The strength of ones emotions.
2) The ability to deal with them.
Being extremely angry does not force one to punch holes in the wall, and being extremely unhappy does not force one to sit around and mope. I'm not talking about repressing or denying them, simply about learning to deal with and channel them. I have fairly strong emotions and the people with stronger emotions that I are all considerably more creative than I am, and I suspect that this is no accident. The key to whether one is a basketcase or a functional human being has nothing to do with the strength of one's emotions and all about how one deals with them.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 12:34 pm (UTC)However, the stronger the emotions are, the harder they are to deal with.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 01:42 am (UTC)I totally agree, and always have, that just becasue you feel like doing something (even if you feel very very strongly) it doesn't mean that you have to or that you should. (unless it's "duck now or get brained!").
I get quite passionate about impersonal issues, theoretical discussions etc., but I'm way more level in dealing with day to day relationships with people. I think some folks find this confusing.