We often associate emotions with love. When cultural messaging turns its focus on
emotions, it is often regarding romance or other loving relations. The prime example is popular music; love is
the number one topic. But, of course, there
are many emotions ranging from the more blasé to the most dramatic. Emotions can be so strong that we can’t seem
to see anything other than what is stirring them. Recently, we have experienced the product –
the behavior – that extreme emotions can produce. There was the killing of a young singer
beginning her career, the extraordinary events in Orlando, Florida, and the assassination
of a British Member of Parliament. Of
course, the past years have witnessed many such events, perpetrated by highly
charged individuals. With the recent
record, one can easily be led to believe that emotions are the enemy; that we
need to saddle our emotions and shroud their expressions. We need to be more rational, objectifying our
surroundings, calculating the pluses and minuses those surroundings offer, and
arrive at cold conclusions. I believe all
that is a fool’s errand, an impossible aim.
Emotions are an integral part of our decision-making and we need to
understand them as much as possible, not be bent on suppressing them.
David Brooks[1] shares
with us a certain number of attributes that emotions have. To begin, reason is ensconced in
emotions. Reason depends on
emotions. When we reason, we consider
factual information. Some of that
information, to begin with, is about emotions – we “measure” those with whom we
deal and by doing so, we formulate opinions or conclusions about their emotions
– “where they are coming from.” But beyond
that, our motivation to engage with others is initiated by emotions. As a matter of fact, all behaviors are
initiated by emotions; we want before we act.
It is emotions that attribute value to things and people. Those emotions can range from positive ones
to negative ones and at extreme levels in both directions, sometimes at the
same time. Brooks states, “The human
mind can be pragmatic because deep down it is romantic.”[2]
How should we see this relationship between emotions and
reason; how do they function in the mind?
Brooks indicates that the best way to imagine this cauldron of mental
forces is to see it as a complex array of pressures, reactions,
sensations. These, in turn, at any given
point are vying for influential power in whatever is being considered both at
the conscious or subconscious levels – actually more is going on at the
subconscious levels due to the enormous amounts of information the subconscious
deals with, while the conscious is relatively small in its ability to process
information. The mind is best seen as a
conflicted arena, not a town square where reasoned discussion takes place. The “we” or “me” in this reality, Brooks
points out, is best seen as a wanderer traveling through this mayhem.
The “me” travels as a pilgrim across this landscape. We observe the goings-on and make valuations. In doing so, we gather information, make
judgements, form priorities, and the like.
Through an unmeasurable number of judgements, our mind comes to certain
conclusions. These include a series of
goals, ambitions, desires, and what we consider prudent as in the best way to
do things. All of this, upon reflection,
makes us amazed that our minds can produce such results. It is also done in remarkable time; mostly
done in moments. There are, of course,
those times when the stakes are perceived as high and the process takes
longer. We wish, at times, that a
decision could be avoided or passed on to others. Our wandering solicits inadequate information
or an insufficient amount of information.
It turns out that we don’t know a lot.
Or more to the point, our mind cannot settle on what we want – what our
emotions are – and given the nature of what is happening mentally, it is a
wonder that this is not the case more often.
And all of this happens in a maturing mind; it “grows” in terms of
information or more sophisticated emotions.
It is not as if we are born with an unchanging set of emotional vistas –
to carry on with the wanderer analogy – that eventually becomes familiar. It is said that self-discovery is one of the
most challenging journeys anyone takes.
Well, given the image presented above, we can see why.
