iWood
Things I like:
This website. It has a list of 40 web designer's online portfolios. I love the amount of creativity that is possible on the internet – it's almost magical.
The iWood. Actually, I mostly like the photo and the concept – the descriptions are a bit snarky.
MIT's OpenCourseWare. You can literally take an MIT class for free; they've filmed lectures and uploaded tests and answers. (Well, it's more like an audit than a class because you don't get course credit.) I'm currently doing one of the classes and I've found it amusing and highly informative. Also, my brain has stopped atrophying.
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Small Talk Question
Is it ever wrong to have a feeling? "Bad" feelings: anger, jealousy, lust, pride. Or what about "good" feelings at inappropriate times: happiness, sadness, excitement, etc.
Are we responsible for controlling our minds to the degree that we can actually prevent "wrong" feelings? Or are we only responsible for what we do with those feelings (ie. dwell on them, act on them). Are we simply supposed to acknowledge them (not as good or bad, just as existing), get to the heart of the issue, and then move on?
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I think the scariest possibility of old age is not losing vision or hearing, but mental acuity. There have been times when I've felt like my mind had to work really hard to grasp something and I felt like my brain was dysfunctionally slogging through thick mud. (Being introduced to higher math/physics concepts. Reaching what appears to be a limit of certain philosophical concepts. Having a conversation in the early morning/while exhausted.)
The idea of my cognitive abilities slowing down to this rate for everyday ideas and activities is frightening. Maybe I'm not properly acknowledging resilience.
8 comments:
While I believe we are unable to control the feelings we get anymore then we are able to control the external world around us, I do believe we can (to a limited degree) control the amount exposure we receive to emotional stimuli. An easy example of this would be me deciding, “If I don’t want to feel lust full I should probably stay out of the strip club…” Other than that I believe we are responsible for what we do with those feelings.
And as for the last part, I think acknowledging feelings as neither good nor bad is kind of like acting as if there is no good or bad or right or wrong. That is a much broader topic, and for the sake of argument I am just going to say that feelings are either good or bad and we should acknowledge them as such. Nice Blog Siobahn :)Its James Kaiser BTW.
hmmm controlling ones emotion is considered virtuous right? so i'm thinking we basically have to deal with any given situation to the best of our ability. if you were feeling good at an inappropriate time, chances are you are justified in that. eg, you see the glass half full instead of half empty. or you could be slightly twisted, and be happy about something tragic, which would make you weird.
Hi James! I think we have much more control than just external stimuli.
For example: If I notice that I get jealous of my friend every time she gets something, I could think it through, figure out where it's coming from, and logically remove it and prevent minimize future instances.
And you can shut an emotion down/ignore it so quickly every time you feel it that it's like it doesn't exist. (I think people do this with sadness a lot)
Also, I don't necessarily think it follows that saying feelings are neutral is saying that everything is (ie. no good or evil.) You're right though, much broader topic...
Johnn
I think "controlling one's emotion"(at least in your comment) generally means controlling the way one acts on that emotion. ie. "controlling my anger" means not punching someone.
But what about controlling emotion to the extent that you don't feel it?
and schadenfreude – happiness at someone else's misfortune. I think it's pretty common.
Your best friend doesn't get a job promotion. Sure you feel bad and empathize, but part of you feels a twinge of satisfaction – you haven't gotten a promotion in years, so it would've been unfair for him/her to have. (yani, it varies depending on how secure/content you are and your relationship, and the circumstance (don't think most people would be happy that someone broke a leg))
that is so not a small talk question!!!!! ahaha. it's more like a deep thought conversation in the middle of the night question!
haha – image of waking you up in the middle of the night to ask you...
yeah i know, i'm trying to revolutionize small talk:P
It’s this Idea of prevention that bothers me. I grant that you can train yourself to limit your emotional response to something, but I don’t think you can prevent yourself from receiving an emotion. No matter how well you train yourself you are still going to feel every emotion in the spectrum at some point. Can anyone really say that they never feel Sad, jealous or angry? Not being able to control our emotions is what makes us human.
For further insight to this discussion might I suggest you watch every episode of Star Trek involving Spok and Kirk.
James
hmmm, well played with the star trek. kirk's a hottie.
I don't think that any kind of emotion should be squashed to the point of not feeling it anymore. We are designed to experience that full range. It's part of the human experience. I am also inclined to think that by inhibiting the capacity for a certain wrong "feeling," you may be limiting your capacity to experience the full depth of the "good" feelings. That being said, I don't think there are any "wrong" feelings. All give color to the way we experience life.
On the other hand, emotions should not be directing your beliefs and actions. They're emotions. They're subject to change at any moment, so don't put more stock into them than what they are due.
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