Emotional Damage

What are emotions? Why do they have so much power over a human?

I think the brain is fickle, yes it has helped us achieved marvellous things, but it is fickle. Why? Try suffering from anxiety disorder, it will change your life and show you the actual power of the brain. Some chemical reactions happen and now you are not able to participate in normal life. Wow. What self preservation.

You think that you are in control, but you are not. Anxiety will do that to you, you know that elevator is safe, yet your heart races. You know the fuel tank would not become empty before you reach home, yet you worry. You know you don't need to poop as you have already done the deed at home, but you worry about it when you go out. Some symptom, eh? Anxiety attaches itself to the most simple things. Though it is just a chemical reaction. You might have heard about Agoraphobia, if not you can read about it. Dastardly thing, you see. You might be physically healthy but your brain will tell you otherwise.

Confidence is just as irrational as anxiety, but we celebrate one and medicate the other. Society tolerates delusions that produce action. I feel confidence and anxiety are cousins. :P One has to be careful with both of them. But confidence never hurts, overconfidence does. I will always choose confidence though. Everyone will I guess. Cannot go into a fight anxious. You have to be delusional at times.

Anyway, emotions have a hold on us. We are slaves to our emotions. How do I know? I once had a friend who wanted to travel the world, but then he met a girl, and his life changed, now he works as a door to door salesman because that girl took everything from him. He never objected though, turns out he was head over heels in love. So he made some irrational decisions. I don't think he regrets it. He followed his heart and what happened, happened.

But can we really call his decisions irrational? I think he maximised love and he was okay with it.

Like I said, our emotions, our drive, is how we make decisions. Bill Clinton bombed Serbia because Hillary asked him to. Emotions, you see.

Humans will forego happiness for meaning. A meaningful and a useless objective is far more important than happiness, some would prefer to be useful even after death.

Why does anyone want to climb Mt. Everest? Adrenaline, and ambition. Empires were built because of ambition and some sort of cruelty. Why does the human wants to go to Mars? Ambition. We want to move forward. There is no rational reason to climb Mt. Everest, why would you? Is there a treasure at the peak? Nope. You climb it because it gives you status, an achievement, it boosts your ego when you go to your school reunion and say "Well, I was on top of the world". Not a bad thing per se, but one should be honest about why they do things.

Why are emotions important? They make us human. Otherwise if we are rational about everything, then are we better than an algorithm? Or a robot? Humans need emotions. We need to feel fear, suspicion just to survive. A happy optimist never survives the war. Well, sometimes he does, because luck. But most paranoid men survive wars. Why? Because they suspect everyone and everything, that makes their lives not worth living, but they are alive, at the end. One cannot live a full life if they are pessimistic all the time. Life is supposed to be fun, not fearful.

There are so many events where emotions have led to destruction. Like one time I bought a beyblade and somehow it didn't work, I felt shattered, so I took the beyblade and threw it into a lake. Was that rational? I could have just returned it. But no, children are children. I wanted that beyblade to work.

When the greed/anger overtakes your sense of responsibility over the world, it makes you do bad things.

Obsession is not healthy, as people say. But without obsession will there be scientific breakthroughs? I don't think so. One needs to be obsessed with perfection to make something beautiful, I feel we are trying to normalise imperfection as beauty, it isn't. We shouldn't be so hard on ourselves, but we need obsession to succeed. At some point you have to obsess about something, care about something enough to bleed for it.

You must have heard of the Six enemies of the mind? Arishadvarga

Lust or desire for sensual pleasure – काम (Kama)
Anger – क्रोध (Krodha)
Greed – लोभ (Lobha)
Want/desire – मोह (Moha)
Ego – मद (Mada)
Envy or Jealousy – मत्सर्य (Matsarya)

All these emotions are mentioned in all religious texts, man has spent eternity fighting internal battles. But one doesn't seem to get rid of them. Cannot imagine what life will be without them.

These emotions also make life fun at times. What is a life without Wrath? What if injustice happened to a close one? You will respond to it by going to the garden and meditate? No, you will become an angry ball of fire, which will destroy the world. Without anger, what is peace? Co existence of emotions is how the world survives, or balances itself.

If someone gave you a pill that would get rid of all the negative emotions, will you take it? It is an interesting premise. Will you still care?