A Guide to Your Mind [Part 2]

Sorry it's been so long! I had stuff to deal with (as always) and needed time to handle it. It has been handled and I have worked up the courage to write a part 2! So here we go, emotions.

Emotions are a result of attachment to a particular state. In short, emotions are used to justify action. They represent the essence of a situation as seen in the context of human life. Oftentimes the ego will fixate on a certain emotion so it can justify its energy mode. By energy mode, I literally mean "way of handling energy".

Think about it. The brain is the control center of the body. A control center considers costs and benefits to find a course of action. Everything we do is about energy, whether we know it or not. The ego will learn to utilize energy, calories, in ways that keep the body alive and that reduce energy expenditure. That's why theft is so appealing: It doesn't take much to sneak past defenses and take something valuable, even if the risk is high. Once a reward is acquired, the ego will justify the means by feeling "good".

As for PMO, the object is biological in nature. Meeting instinctual goals has never been easier. Short-circuiting this reward doesn't actually result in any meaningful change; however, it is our propensity for self-delusion that allows us to place value in the feelings themselves rather than use the feelings to appreciate reality. That's the whole thing. The reason we feel so icky afterward probably has to do with social norms and seeing our bleak nature for the first time. Fear not! All are valuable and worthy.

The truth is that no matter what we do we are always trying to shape reality to match our emotions. Sometimes we hide from certain emotions in favor of clinging to stability. That's fine in some scenarios, but it gets easier to stay stable while expressing emotions if one does so regularly, in whatever way they choose. Once one has felt an emotion enough, they will understand the space of it, and hopefully they have developed a good enough model from it to move on. Sometimes the answers are hidden by our attachments, and it is through honesty and bravery that those answers are revealed. It's not always fair, but sometimes it is us that need to change.

Emotions can be pretty complex! Even so, they are fairly common in our daily lives, especially when we are strongly attached to something. Letting go of attachments can allow us to work through our emotions in a constructive way, or at least make them easier to experience. That said, I have only touched on attachments here! I think I will talk about them in the next chapter along with the ego and values. Stay safe and loving!