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About emotions: I hope you can see what I mean here... that I explain myself usefully.
Once again, let's start at the beginning. If we are using evolution as a fairly reliable theory. I personally do not find evolution to be at odds with the story of Creation in the Bible, or with any other earlier mystical stories, but your mileage may vary.
Let's just start with one-celled life forms and plants. These were probably the earliest forms of life. I would like to posit that these forms of life probably do not really have a will, intellect, or emotions as we know them. I think, in a way, that they are almost as we are when sleeping. Then, with the advent of animals, I think it is clear that multi-cellular animals are much more complex creatures, more highly evolved. I think that emotions are part of our animal selves. As humans we have evolved intellect and will as well. We may even continue to evolve higher faculties-- something I think our current unsustainable culture may push us toward (of course that is speculation on my part, and wishful speculation at that). The emotions remain as warning signs, or signposts toward action. They also have a primitive beauty of their own that can be appreciated. But I think it is abundantly clear that it is our task as one of the most evolved life forms, as well as the earth's most powerful predators and carbon consumers, to not act from a solely emotional place. I wouldn't call emotions dross, but it is what we do with them that matters. Emotions should first go through a filter of will and intellect, that is a good start. But I do personally believe that even then our task is not done. I think humans have a higher faculty yet, one which is in an evolutionary stage of infancy.
If you're still reading I appreciate you hanging in with me. This is a complicated thing to try to explain usefully.
This higher faculty, I'm not talking about clairvoyance or anything like that. I think we are capable of seeing a much bigger picture than even our wills and intellects. This big picture, I believe, is made up of uncertainty. It is an awareness that nothing is ever finished. That we are not in control but must go with the flow. Think about driving on the freeway. Going with the flow of the cars. We can't all make up our own rules on the freeway. That would be to our great evolutionary disadvantage-- we would die! We go with the flow, follow the inviolable laws. We are in a state of heightened awareness because we know that being unaware would be dangerous. I think that is closer to how we should be living our lives. Right now, we mostly tend to haphazardly use things up left and right, emitting poisonous outputs, with mostly no regard for the consequences of our actions. This is because the earth is so big that we cannot see the consequences right away. But if we looked at every action the way we do when driving on the freeway, with the same awareness and thoughtfulness, I think we might be on a better path, and once we got used to it I think it would even offer a measure of great relief. Uncertainty is our home. Uncertainty is the big picture. Life is suffering, but we embrace it without reservations. Even we as people are unfinished, and we can love ourselves anyway. There will never be a utopia, there will never be a perfect person, or at least probably not. We love our lives anyway. They are dear to us. Be gentle with ourselves. Nothing is ever all-or-nothing. Embrace mystery and uncertainty. Never disregard your reason, emotions, or will, but temper them with the awareness that we do not, and cannot ever, know everything.
This big picture, in evolutionary terms, will allow us to remain flexible in the face of great changes in our physical and cultural environment. If we can embrace uncertainty, even for 20 minutes a day, we will not be so brittle breakable and unhappy. Start with 20 minutes a day and then go from there if you like how it works for you.
Once again I come back to truly loving life. All life. Carbon-based life is a tremendously unique proposition in the cosmos. We're it. And human beings are at the uppermost tippy-top of that food pyramid. We are in a tremendously fortunate place, as long as we can understand that the closed circuit supports us, and the linear path of wastefulness (which is just a form of entropy or disorder) does not.
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