Emotions are meant to impede rationality and therefore, must be controlled.
Many of us live in a society where immediate danger is rare and often times, a rush of emotion such as anger or anxiety, only causes us to get thrown out of a sporting event or stutter when talking in front of people. The job of emotion is to override higher level thinking and cause us to simply act on "feeling". When we give into our emotions, they are literally drowning out rational thinking. Here are the emotions that I believe we should be most conscientious of so that when our body and mind is consumed by them, they can be handled in a beneficial way.
Fear
The more time we have to deal with a situation the more rational we should be with how we approach it. Therefore, if a dangerous animal or person starts to chase us, it's best to give into our emotions and fight or run rather than spending time deciding how to best handle the situation. But, because most of us do not encounter such situations on a regular basis, its safe to say that usually, when we feel fear, it only hinders our better judgment. It causes anxiety which in turn can make us shake, throw up, or simply overthink and begin to truly take into account Murphy's Law. Click here to see how powerful (and hilarious) fear can be.
Anger
I believe most of us had wished we were born without anger above all other emotions. We've each had a moment where it has caused us to say or do something we regret, often times, almost immediately. When we're angry, our main drive is to make someone else hurt, and sometimes, when we feel we have no power to do so, it leads to us hurting the thing we do have power over, ourselves. Even worse, if someone does have a lot of power and they become irrationally angry without control, it can cause mass damage especially if they convince other people to be angry with them.
Romantic Love
Though personally, I entirely hope to find it one day, we only strive for love because we are predisposed to do so. Romantic love has similar effects on the brain to addiction. Now imagine the power an addiction has over an individual and what people have done to maintain their addiction.
I'm not saying don't fall in love, but be conscious that when we love someone, they have a control over us which we may not realize until it's been used against us. Love the traits of a person, but prevent yourself from associating the feeling with that person and what they do. This can lead to blindly staying with and following someone who acts with more than just the traits you fell in love with. This is for all types of love, whether familial, platonic, or romantic.
For the time being, let's identify romantic love as the drive to want to reproduce with another person (Homosexuality causes the same drive). We only love certain people because our minds develop interests in traits (usually physical fitness or wealth) that will produce the longest surviving offspring. We have come to believe that child birth is a product of love when it is entirely the other way around; Love came out of the need to have children.
If an artificial being wanted to reproduce it could figuratively 'stick its usb in any other computer’s port' and the deed would be done. Though it is basically just as easy for humans, we feel the need to give our lives entirely away to another, almost completely revoking the independence we have striven to achieve since birth, simply because of the emotion we have biologically come to express, love.
Food for thought:
If this emotion is solely for evolutionary attraction in a world of arguably guaranteed reproduction and survival, is it necessary? Just as well, if we were able to reproduce without sex, such as by creating an artificial being, do we even need love anymore?
Pride and hubris are described as the 'hero's weakness' or tragic flaw in mythology and, as well, tend to be the downfall of many villains due to excessive confidence and 'tunnel vision'.
Happiness makes us feel good, but serves no real purpose. Excessive happiness can lead to love or addiction.
Most other emotions speak for themselves, but if you have one which you believe is entirely necessary and beneficial, please feel free to comment below. My next article on emotion will discuss the benefits of Stoicism, controlling our emotions and the ways they are elicited (like facial expressions), and re-wiring our emotions. Thanks for reading and don't forget to share and subscribe below to stay updated on new posts!
Sources:
Why Do We Have Emotions?
Murphy's Law:
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Grown Man Seriously Freaks Out About Touching A Teddy Bear!
Romantic Love Affects Your Brain Like a Drug
Hero's Weakness
Tragic Flaw
Destructive Emotions:
Flanagan, Owen. “Destructive emotions.” Consciousness & Emotion, vol. 1, 9 Feb. 2015, pp. 259–281. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233522303.
