Emotions and their many follow on effects

Emotions.  Are they real?  Can you trust the way you feel?

All questions that relate directly to recovery from a traumatic event.   I woke up this morning, at 2am (normal hours are a little difficult to maintain at times) and discovered I was 'Happy'.  I am ill, have pus running down my cheeks from my eyes and coughing uncontrollably; however, thankfully the tonsillitis is resolving!  However, this morning I woke up in a mood that can only be described as 'Happy'. 

These emotions don't last.  You can simulate emotion by using medication, stimulating endorphin release through exercise, however, most people believe that emotion is directly related to events occuring in ones life.

Should one be concerned when the emotions one feels, the emotions that feel real to you, have no relation to events in ones life?  It becomes especially concerning when you are prepared to do anything to make an emotion stop, such as request to be put to sleep, go through all your medications and look for the one you missed that morning or even go so far as to try to make it stop by making everything go away.   The only thing that stops you is the fact that you know that the emotion isn't real.  Eventually it will stop and you won't know what made you feel that way in the first place. 

It really does beg the question, to what degree do peoples emotions relate to the events in their lives?  For example, we know hormones play a large role in women's emotions surrounding their menstrual cycles.  We know that legal drugs, for example alcohol can change a persons personality.

It leads one to think that perhaps there is little point in enduring negative emotion.  We have psychologists and hypnotists, who teach positive thinking and believe you can change the way you feel through positive thinking.  Making a concious effort not to feel negative emotions, for example anger or guilt and concentrate on positive or constructive emotions, for example empathy or even controlling emotion to allow 'fact finding' missions.  What if no one needed to feel these emotions at all.  What if we could vaccinate against anger, or medicate against agression in the main water supply.  Where is the line between control of a malliable populace and manipulation of emotions to make life for everyone, including society, more pleasant. 

Perhaps we will evolve above simple emotions.  With any luck that doesn't mean we'd evolve above sensory perception.  Imagine a life without orgasms (inward shudder) or massages or holding someone close and smelling a comforting smell. 

The point this morning is I am happy.  Happy is not good.  Happy is never good.  Happy means there is something after happy.  Usually by time I shower and dress and get ready to go and do something productive, the mood is gone.  I could use the time for housework, but my body won't hold up.  I could use it to exercise, but the pool doesn't open until 8am and the likelyhood of it lasting that long is minimal.  All I can do, is hope that this is the last time and that it ends soon. 

All we want is for our children to be happy.  It is so easy to give them this.  Invoke the right emotion and the 'right' behaviours will follow.  Isn't that a more predictable and reasonable way to invoke the behaviours we admire than social conditioning?  Little room for error and availiable to everyone regardless of race or creed.

Perhaps, I have a unique view on emotion, as instead of studying it I can feel the oddities within my own conciousness.  Anacdotal evidence can be useful, empirical evidence can be useful; but we life under the misapprehension that we have control over how we feel and behave. 

I don't believe we do have control.  A human body is nothing more than a slightly flawed machine, fix the flaws in the machine and there may be the potential to end a number of unpleasant events.

Something to ponder.

Rose  xxx