Emotions..

[Vibez]

Hi everyone,
This might seem as an unusual question to alot of people, but since I as of late have been working my way out of apathy and disconnectedness from my self (and others for that matter), I'm trying to learn how to deal with emotions in a healthy way - which seems to be a problem for most people in our culture. What my relationship with them should be, how real they are. Perhaps there is a distinction between feelings, love, emotions etc.?

What are emotions really? A chemist might say that they are merely chemicals in the brain and so forth. Abraham-hicks may say that they are a reaction to a "want" or a "not-want". Eckart Tolle - if I recall correctly preaches something along the lines of that they are a part of the ego and thus not real or does that only go for negative emotions? Alot of what I hear is that emotions are a "reaction to thoughts" or "based on thought reactions". But others seem to imply that they emerge based on what happens to your "Self"(soul) and how your Self is affected by a given event or other.

Do we have emotions in the afterlife?
I have this idea that emotions are what it means to be alive, and to be human in this life - but if they are just reactions to conditioned thought patterns or to how your personality and ego are affected, how should they be regarded?

Bottom line is; Where do emotions come from? Are they to be transcended or are they directly related to the soul? Perhaps they really are just aspects of the ego, and true living is loving and being?
What do you guys think? What are your experiences? I would appreciate anyone's answers/ thoughts on this, especially since they tend to be so helpful and deep. :)

[CFTraveler]

Well, I have a few thoughts on this, some may be rambling and illogical, but that's ok.
I think emotions are what make us human, even though they are indeed chemical reactions that our physical bodies produce-after all, if all that exists is a projection of the Mind, so are our bodies.
I do think that we have some sort of emotion in the afterlife, but not the same as when we are alive, simply because we don't have bodies to produce the chemicals that make us feel this or that as a reaction.
I don't think that emotions should be transcended at all- that they are there for us to investigate and experience, and used as a learning tool- maybe transcending is the right word, as long as it isn't an exclusionary mechanism.
ps. Just because something is an aspect of the ego it means that it is to be avoided or shunned- after all the Mind caused the ego, and it must have been for a reason. Now, some here believe the whole thing was a 'mistake'. If you agree, then you will probably want to suppress or bypass it. I see it differently.

[Timotheus]

:D

[Vibez]

my two cents on emotions.

e=energy

e-motion = energy in motion, from the atoms to the molecular to the cellular to the body as a whole. this body as a corporation of several energy centers.

one might liken energy in motion, or emotion, as water. or more aptly put an ocean, or body of water.

above, on the surface, is tension, this tension is not unlike the surface of the ocean with is calm to wild activity.

underneath is mostly stillness, yet in it are currents of underlying activity, acitivity that the surface oriented individual may not be cosciously aware of. currents of old, perhaps from child formative years, perhaps yeasterday as well, and perhaps brought from before birth.

underneath that relative stillness is a bed of our own making, the veritable sea bed if you will. it too is active, just the sea floor is active. beneath it are the primal movements with which modern man is ill aquainted, having thought himself free of his animalia physical origins.

plates of indifference collide and infintesimally roll over one another. shifts of unmeasurable proportion erupt within the unresolved/unresolvable movements of beingness.

what one sees is what they are. in each is the earth, is the galctic equation of life, is the entirety of the universe, is the infinite expasion of unknowing as it seeks to become known to it's self.

this we are, and it is unescapable. we are it and it is us. this is life, the unspeakable and undefinable what is, with it's majority of mysteries unsolvable, for when you can see it then thoughts arise to explain it, and they (thoughts) cloud it's unseeable nature from what is of it, is it.

just like seeing yourself is damn near impossible without the aid of a trusted loveed one to give reflective irrefutable evidence. yet, we are creatures consumed with fear. what we do not understand, or see, we fear, even our very selves. for what is unseen in one's self is expressed as fear in not knowing what pray tell is another.

f e a r, or false evidence appearing real. imagine that 99.999999 percent of what is real is absolutely unseen by the naked eye. this is why we are aske to dis-clothe ourselves and trample our clothing under our feet as children in their undeniable innocense.

it is as paul says in Romans, to know cannot help you, yet, through christ their is promise of life.

faith is what is real. beyond that faith, what is real no longer preplexes the faithful, for the truth is placed back in the hands of where it belongs...GOD.
Very beautiful Timotheus. I agree and it's a helpful perspective indeed, thank you. What is life without that sense of mystery?

CFT: Yeah I understand what you're saying here. Yes transcending is the right word :) I'm not looking to block emotions as I have come to realize that blocking or avoiding any aspect of yourself (thoughts, emotions) will go over and do the same for your life and progress, stop the flow if you will.

It was at a young age I started fleeing into a "rational" thinking state, when I wanted to avoid/ was afraid of being hurt, and it later went on to become a more or less permanent state (which is an rather dull, obscure and depressive way to go about life).
I think subconsciously I have come to believe that having emotions and expressing them is a weak and uncaring way to live - This is because of a childhood with a dad having dominating(I see now) psychotic traits while being overly emotionally sensitive - which would be taken out on me , and since I inherited that emotional sensitivity, I had to set up that defense mechanism (retreating to my mind) in order to deal with the pain which I believe could have been somewhat damaging..
Me asking these questions is probably at some level, my mind trying to control everything :?

Anyway, to overcome these blocks I've started to work with affirmations that I hope will help on both a spiritual and subconscious level.

[CFTraveler]

Vibez, a lot of us use this to overcome some sort of emotionally disturbing feeling- Many times when I have been upset I've retreated into scientific articles and it was the only thing that would soothe my pain- I believe it's a 'right brain-left brain' defense mechanism. I don't think it's unhealthy, as long as you're aware of it and can continue to try to balance both traits.
Or so I think. :)

[Neil Templar]

I have this idea that emotions are what it means to be alive, and to be human in this life - but if they are just reactions to conditioned thought patterns or to how your personality and ego are affected, how should they be regarded?

Bottom line is; Where do emotions come from? Are they to be transcended or are they directly related to the soul? Perhaps they really are just aspects of the ego, and true living is loving and being?
What do you guys think? What are your experiences? I would appreciate anyone's answers/ thoughts on this, especially since they tend to be so helpful and deep. :)

here's what i've come to feel -
after reading Tolle, i learned to stop behaving reactively to my emotions, for example, when i was younger, if i was feeling down, i'd make a show of it so that someone would ask "what's wrong?" then i could massage my ego with the "poor me" victim of life story.
it didn't make me feel any better, it only prolonged the "down" feeling, by enabling it and bringing it into someone else's day. they didn't ask for that, and usually they have enough on their plate without having to try to help you through your sh*t, even though as a friend they probably wouldn't mind.

when i learned to just notice, or be aware of how i was feeling, it became a stronger experience of feeling, but i could allow it to happen, then like water, wash over me and be gone.
emotions only exist in the moment, and once they've been noticed, can be let go of...
reacting on them rarely seemed to allow me to actually understand exactly what had caused them in the first place anyway.

lately i've been listening to Abraham-Hicks, and what they have to say makes alot of sense.
we humans love to separate things into many tiny compartments, and so we have a plethora of names for all the various emotions we feel, but in the end, each emotion either makes you feel good, or it makes you feel bad, whatever it is we've decided to call it.
so emotions can be used as "signposts".
good = safe to continue in that direction/with that train of though.
bad = stop that thought/action, and do/think something that brings a good feeling into your experience.

i think both the ego and the soul use emotions, or perceived emotions (ego) as tools.
the trick is to notice first, then decide what to do with them, if anything at all.
that goes for "good" emotions too, rashly blundering forward just because something makes you feel good, doesn't always result in the desired experience.
IMO. :wink:

[Timotheus]

:D

[CFTraveler]

another thing i have noticed about human nature is that having stepped in dog poop one may only then wipe off their shoes, for the time for looking for dog poop so ya dont step in it has passed.

humor is the best medicine and forgiveness is the best platform from which to take yet another step into the comical stupidity of our human nature.

emotional instability is essentially the irrationality of expectant emotional stability.

laugh it up peoples...its all good

tim
That one's a keeper.