Hypocrite. That's just silly man talk. Emotion is part of life. Men often fail because they want to dismiss emotion as unimportant. It can't be done, if you want to be facing the truth. In this case, he mentions "suddenly", so perhaps there is context. But emotion has to be accepted, it is a main motivator and to try to imply otherwise is a complete denial of reality. Without emotion, who would fight for anything? What would be the point... As to "Independent of material existence"...aye right. We are material. Living in the world. Ignoring that is ignoring reality. I'll stop at that...
Emotion is merely the result of chemicals and electricity in the brain reacting to conditioned perception. People often fail because they put far too much stock into emotion. Our emotions only have as much power as we grant them. Accepted yes... that's exactly right. You have to accept whatever you are feeling, but how you react to that emotion is what counts. This is a really confusing way of saying that there is no self. True enough that we live in a material world, but nothing exist as it seems.
What isn't? Everything is, including decision making and objectivity. Emotions can't be dismissed in any analysis, no matter how much men prefer not to consider them they are still an huge factor in the outcome of any situation, from a basic as getting a job because someone just "liked" you, to winning a war/election because people chose a leader they "trusted". You can objectively analyse all day, but one guy enters the room with a passion and overturns all your objectivity with one comment. Tell me a leader who can't motivate his people via impassioned speech? Wars have been won by such motivation and still are. When the chips are down, if people are not emotionally connected to the cause for which they are fighting, they may walk away. Emotional connections affect everything. People react to emotion. They don't react much to anything else. You can try to live in a world where you deliberately alter your own perception of reality for airy fairy reasons, or you can just get on with it and live in this world. Either way, you're in this world, so you might as well recognise reality and get on with it. If you're in airy fairy lala land which you have constructed in your own head and which bears no resemblance, you're on your own and someone/thing is quite likely to come along and knock you on your ass and bring you summarily back into this world. Unless you're religious of course, in which case you are team handed in living in lala land and surrounded by religious facilitators who will agree that the world is whatever you want it to be today. Of course you may say this type of philosophy is just a way of helping people understand how the real world works and how they can better function within it to find inner peace. Personal experience sometimes indicates it takes people out of the real world and prevents them from experiencing anything at all in a real way. What is this? Graduatism? There's nothing wrong with graduating, graduates are people too. I've not studied this subject anyway, I'm contributing as a layman(woman). Now you started it. So don't blame us if you started a thread with a philosophical/intellectual bent and now don't wish to step up to the plate.
It was the sleep deprivation speaking. I read so much, I feel like I deserve a PHd. -I mean, it's not what you know, it's what you think you know, that's important. Zen said so !
I agree that emotion is important. Emotion is something which gives us the ability to feel human, solidly existant, the perception that "we" exist(since emotion is felt by something)... and also gives us the ability to recognize the same qualities in others. On the other hand though, it's important to realize what emotions actually are. It's easy to get swept up into the illusion of everything and find yourself in a place you never intended to be, simply because you paid your emotions too much homage. I do it all the time In other words, it's good realize that in reality, you're being guided by flashes of electricity and neurochemicals. This creates a process of actions and reactions (one and the same ) we become conditioned to feel, think and react. Sure, and many brilliant orators have also inspired their followers to the point of madness. That process relies heavily on manipulating emotions. Part of the problem though is that much of reality is subjective, and depending on the individuals conditioned mind, individuals stand to perceive the world much differently. Every person on this planet experiences reality in a different manner to some extent. The reason is because the physical world of matter and energy simply is what it is, but it's not until we perceive it that it becomes something different... and of course everyone sees a bit differently. But this doesn't exclude the reality of cause and effect. So we're all forced to make an attempt at mindfulness, and try to live skillfully... that or experience dissatisfaction and instability in life. That's a good way to put it. Sure, any view taken to the ultimate extreme can prevent you from functioning in this world.
