We feel because we are ALIVE. Numbness is not a good thing. Emotions make life complicated - but isn't that half of the irony of life? The most rewarding things in life - marriage, children, love, success, wealth - can also bring us the greatest pain. So it is with emotion. Without emotions, we are cut-off from life itself.
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
Originally Posted by dramasnot6
Rats feel tooRats?Interesting, drama!
But still different from us, I guess? They feel only by instinct, and we have consciousness, and free will.
I guess the answer to the question "Why must we feel?" is so easy that we had to bring rats into the mix, huh?
"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people and then they take themselves out of the slums. Christ changes men, who then changes their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." ~ Ezra Taft Benson
We feel by instinct as well, fear and excitement and the like. But with the handy little thing called higher order thinking, we do have more control over our emotions and they are more complex. Rats dont exactly realize they feel, humans do. Well,most of them....Interesting, drama!
But still different from us, I guess? They feel only by instinct, and we have consciousness, and free will.
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Reason prevents us from doing everything outside of ourselves; emotion prevents us from doing nothing outside of ourselves
…perhaps
Why not feel? Most people already exist like characters in Brave New World/ 1984, the lack of true emotion and feeling in the general population never fails to amaze me. Feeling is a sign thinking, of living truthfully. So I say be differant - feel something !
World would be rather boring and sterilized without feelings..something like the inside of a drugstore. There is a nice movie you can watch which copes with this subject. It is called "Equilibrum" starring Christian Bale (i think) and it describes a future society where people take medicine in order to supress their feelings. In order to do so more effectively they destroy all the books ever created and paintings and other works of art. Check it out!
That sounds a bit like Brave New World manolia.
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
For those who know data from star trek...in one movie he took out his emotion chip so that he could do the job he needed to do..it was the fear he was feeling and holding him back...which i thought was an interesting twist...he so wanted to be human in every way....i hope that my emotions evolve [in my sane and rational moments] as i become older and have more experiences...instead of always reacting off the cuff to every drama...i can sometimes think rational and move beyond my basic emotions...and therein lifes my progress as a human being...in a nutshell...don't sweat the small stuff
Yep, what he/she said.
"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people and then they take themselves out of the slums. Christ changes men, who then changes their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." ~ Ezra Taft Benson
I have not seen this one. I've checked on imdb. You are refering to a 1998 film made for tv. "Equilibrum" is a nice film.
Nicely put.
What you said is so true ....... we would be nothing without our emotions, they are part of our identity..Reason prevents us from doing everything outside of ourselves; emotion prevents us from doing nothing outside of ourselves
…perhaps
There is a book written by a French contemporary author Michel Houllebeque, it is called Perhaps an island ...... I strongly recommend it, it is so beautifully written even if pretty sad. It is a parallel between life as we know it with people acting on instinct and emotions and life of our possible clones in the future, emotionless, leading a life without life ……
the whole concept of "feeling" implies the concept of "not feeling". its putting "feeling" into the realm of a concept that makes us think we could do without it. but feeling isnt a concept, its a feeling. feels can't be described, only felt.
i think ,without feelings or emotions we would merely react and are our lives would be run by instincts.feelings and emotions make us question, they are our judgements or assessments and choices. as humans we have evolved to feel so that we can survive. it grew out of necessity, it allows us to make correct decisions, and bad ones. humans are dominant because every step we took throughout history has made us the most effective at surviving.we have survived because we grew to feel and have emotions that sustain us.
Hm, good points...
But I have a related questions - why do we feel such large amount of pain? To an extent it is very neccesary, but what would be the point of feeling pain to such an extent where we can't move, or think properly?
Wouldn't it be healthier for us as a species to have a point where the pain would not get any worse? Because pain is, after all, not a tangible thing but a sensory response...
"...thought is the arrow of time, memory never fades."
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