A Treatise on Emotion

Antonio J. Dowling

"At what point do emotions become the prerogative of whomever possesses them?
Buddhism seems to prescribe them so strictly, though that seems dehumanizing. To
what extent is it beneficial to allow emotion, and how does one prevent beneficial
emotions from quickly transforming into desirous and harmful ones?" --Matthew Hinea

I would like to thank you for this question. I thoroughly enjoyed pondering it.

To start, I would like to say that this is only from my perspective. It is system that I
have used for many years, and one that may or may not apply to others as it does to be.
You have been warned. :P :)

I appreciate Buddhist teachings, without a doubt, but I am not a Buddhist. I am

attached to no religion (whether because I havenʼt found one that suits me, or my
religion belongs only to me), but I feel a very strong connection to a power. This would
put me under the broad generalization of agnosticism. Now that that is established, let
us dive into this illusive (but ever present) creature called emotion.

Emotions, in their fundamental state, are owned by their creator. Being that no
two people can feel the same exact emotion (it may seem like they can, but there are
simply not enough words to describe each one, so they get lumped together), we are all
the proud owners of our feelings. Looking deeper into this, we are creators. We can
make something out of nothing, and further, crop, amend, or otherwise modify our new
“something.” We can, as it seems, play God in our mind, alluding to our complete
control over it.

My personal goal is complete spontaneity. To take whatever emotion I have and
run with it. This, much like Marxism, will work incredibly well in theory. Flawlessly, in
fact. It does, however, pose two problems outside of an antigravity vacuum...with no
people in it.

1) What if the emotion that I feel at this second is not a “good” one?
2) If I disregard question one, what do I do if there are negative consequences to my
spontaneous action?

Now, how does one sort a good creation from a sub-standard (or even “bad”)
one? When the emotion comes to you, you no longer have the choice of deeming it
good or bad. It is what it is. Therefore, the most effective way of ensuring good emotion
is to fall deeply into the habit of shunning negativity. If you do not allow negativity into
your life, it will not appear in your original thoughts, and, subsequently, your emotions
up to bat. On the topic of good emotion going overboard, I donʼt think thatʼs possible for
the reasonable person. I understand that is a subjective term, but I think that if you canʼt
feel something intensely, you shouldnʼt need to feel it at all.
 Inevitably, though, there will be times when your intentions and actions were
right, but the product is wrong (called a negative consequence). I deal with these as
follows:

1) Remind yourself of your purpose and intent.
2) Do not allow the opinions of others to hinder that which you know is true.
3) Do deal with the problem, do not sweep it under the rug.
4) Remind yourself that everything happens for a reason. Everything.

[You do not have to understand the reasoning of the universe. We cannot

understand the reasoning of the universe.]

The mantra of “Everything happens for a reason” seems rather apathetic, doesnʼt
it? Like, “Things are going to happen and theyʼre meant to be, so itʼs okay.” Exactly. This
is the connection that I feel with my power source, and I do believe it is correct. I am not
afraid of what will happen, because it will happen. Love, death, new life,...very difficult
musical passages...etc. We cannot be afraid of any of these, or they will hinder our
“now,” as well as the future.

Where some might think the test in life is to make as many things happen as
possible, I think the true test is dealing with the things that are already set to happen.
Doesnʼt that sound more like a test? Would an instructor give you a blank sheet of
paper and ask you to write your own questions and answers? Or give you a set of
questions that will test the knowledge (or in this case, character) that the instructor (our
power source) thinks relevant?

So what I am trying to say is that we do not own what will happen. Itʼs going to
happen; but we own our feelings towards those preset events (whether set a moment
before they happen, or millennia in advance), and we own our reactions (or the enacting
of our emotions, as it were).

Sometimes, when things seem amiss, or in a fog, it is all we can do to remember

that something can come from nothing (contrary to the axiomatic principle of cause and
effect), but positive cannot come from negative. And as mentioned before, negativity is
an undesired topping that can be sprinkled on any emotion.

Antonioʼs 30-minute quote of the day:

If we learn to see beauty in everything, weʼll be okay. If we take that beauty and
appreciate it, weʼll be okay. And if we appreciate that beauty so much that all we can
exude is beauty, weʼll be okay.