Would we be better of without EMOTIONS?

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Originally Posted by Bii

These quotes are at odds, and I entirely disagree with the second point. Emotions are necessary for survival, particularly those nasty negative ones like fear, mistrust, suspicion.

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The second was in the context of Trees and bacteria and other lifeforms that have no emotions.

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So we're still back to the question of whether we'd be better off without emotion. I still feel that we wouldn't be. I'll accept sadness if I can have joy and, lets face it, most of the time we are neither one thing or the other, most of the time we are just being and this being is punctuated by periods of something else, happiness, sadness, anger, desire, you name it. It'd be no fun without it.

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But imagine - there would not be any jealousy, hate, anger etc...we will be free from chaos of emotions :-)

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Originally Posted by Lote-Tree

But imagine - there would not be any jealousy, hate, anger etc...we will be free from chaos of emotions :-)

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Yes, and how boring it would be ;)

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Originally Posted by Bii

Yes, and how boring it would be ;)

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Will there be a concept of boredom without emotions?

Do trees get bored? :-)

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Originally Posted by Lote-Tree

Will there be a concept of boredom without emotions?

Do trees get bored? :-)

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Probably not, but perhaps that's the point. Without emotion it would just be existence, not life (before you shoot me down, I mean that figuratively!).

As for the trees, you'd have to ask one. Let me know what you find out.

Do you have a particular love of trees Lote? You refer to them alot!

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Originally Posted by Bii

Do you have a particular love of trees Lote? You refer to them alot!

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LOL :-)

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O profound,
Silent tree, by restraining valour
With patience, you revealed creative
Power in its peaceful form.
Thus we come
To your shade to learn the art of peace,
To hear the word of silence; weighed down
With anxiety, we come to rest
In you tranquil blue-green shade, to take
Into our souls life rich, life ever
Juvenescent, life true to earth, life
Omni-victorious. I am certain
My thoughts have borne me to your essence-
Where the same fire as the sun’s ritual
Fire of creation quietly assumes
In your cool green form.
O sun-drinker,
The fire with which - by milking hundreds
Of centuries of days sunlight –
You have filled your core, man has received
As your gift, making him world-mighty,
Greatly honoured, rival to the gods:
His shining strength, kindled by your flame,
Is the wonder of the universe
As it cuts through daunting obstacles.
Man, whose life is in you, who is soothed
By your cool shade, strengthened by your power.
Adorned by your garland –
O tree, friend
Of man, dazed by your leafy flutesong
I speak today for him as I make
This verse-homage,
As I dedicate this offering
To you.
-Rabindranath Tagore

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Originally Posted by Lote-Tree

Will there be a concept of boredom without emotions?

Do trees get bored? :-)

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But again, trees aren't sentient...as far as we know. So it is not quite the same thing to speculate whether a non-sentient creature would be bored since boredom by necessity must be a function of higher brain functioning. Trees don't have brains, last I heard. Boredom is an emotion yes, so if all people knew was a state of being without emotion than quite probably the concept of "boredom" would not exist.

But once again, I am still considering the idea that emotions, even negative ones...serve some unknown purpose that we aren't aware of yet. Psychology tries to understand human thought and behavior, but it is a relatively new field of study and there is a lot about the human brain that is still unknown.

Anyone who thinks we would be "better off" without emotions: Tell me what you think of or if you have seen the film..."Equilibrium" with Christian Bale and Taye Diggs. This is the subject of this film. quasimodo1

To Lote-Tree: Did you know that trees emit feramones? They do, they are subtle but sufficient chemical markers that a tree exhales, usually through the leaves (but sometimes the sap); these feramones let the tree "communicate" with other trees for purposes imparting signals that inform other trees that it is being attacked by a bug, insect, parasite or even negative growing conditions local to that tree. Interesting? quasimodo1

Speaking of pheromones: This morning on NPR, Zorba Paster was talking about a study that was being done on pheromones and homosexuality. The objective is to find out whether homosexuality is a learned behaviour or if there is a biological basis for it. They studied males and females responses to male and female pheromones using MRIs

no conclusive results on that one yet.

Very Interesting. I think it is learned behavior but that is fifteen years of catholic school speaking. Pheramones...thanks. When you pass fifty, do you still put those things out. I think not. Like the song; experienced it performed by amateurs in saloons and bars. eh? quasimodo1

Another thing I would like to put out there:

Are humans essentially social creatures?

Do social bonds help or hinder survival?

How are social bonds created without emotion? Not necessarily from a modern perspective, but consider how early humans would have bonded together without emotion. It seems likely within this context that emotions such as love, like, dislike would have been necessary to create bonds. What would have been the motivating factor for primitive people to care for their children, if there was no emotion such as love? And please don't use an example such as animals who abandon their young shortly after being born, or never see them after laying some eggs. We are talking about infant humans who are helpless and dependent.

Social bonds definitely help survival it provides a safety net in times of trouble.

I think that if there was no love parents would still look after their children. Mainly as a sort of preservation instinct so that their own genes would be passed on and to ensure the survival of the species.

I think life would be better without emotions. Feeling pain or sadness is usually shunned by society. There should be no emotions, so nobody suffered.

So we would still have physical pain but just no emotional pain?

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Originally Posted by Bakiryu

I think life would be better without emotions. Feeling pain or sadness is usually shunned by society. There should be no emotions, so nobody suffered.

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But without pain, and the wonderful opposite that is JOY would life be worth living?

IT WAS NECESSARY TO SHOUT JOY!

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Originally Posted by TheFifthElement

But without pain, and the wonderful opposite that is JOY would life be worth living?

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Many live an joyless existence. So it is possible to live like this...