brynndragon

Current Mood: amused

QotD

"Logic is the opiate of those who are afraid of their feelings."

*dons asbestos suit*

EDIT: We have competition for QotD: "Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Give him ramen noodles, and you don’t have to teach him anything." (from Momofuku Ando's obituary)

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It's taken me a while and sometimes I forget this, but I've realized that being illogical is not the same as being wrong, or being morally inferior. It simply means that you can't bring someone else along the chain of reasoning that led to the current state because there is no such chain. It's much harder to communicate accurately and precisely than logic (especially amongst geeks who tend to use logic nigh exclusively in their model of reality), but you can be far more effective at getting a point across (once you've figured out what that point might be ;P) *unless* the other person has decided that non-logic mean non-informational.

I'm tempted to say that the power of emotional understanding is precisely why people who rely on logic feel the need to denegrade it - it makes them feel like they've evened the playing field against a force that is literally invisible but astoundingly effective.

Which is exactly the argument the fundies use - this is why Newage (pronounced sewage) is the handmaiden of the Xtian right.

You come in to my journal, take a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek quote and turn it into propagandistic bullshit, and insult my intelligence and my compassion. I'm feeling generous, so I'm giving you a third chance (the second chance was the reply to my initial reply to you). Here's a quarter, buy a sense of humor or a ticket outta here, it's entirely up to you.

My comments were more caustic and severe and insulting than they sounded in my head, especially since to a stranger. I took "dons asbestos suit" to mean you were open to strong disagreement, but my reaction lacked civility and context.

You expand upon the one-liner into a longer philosophical argument for the positive side.

I've had the opposite experience - aphorisms about feelings or faith used to excuse inexcusable behavior, political or personal. The violence I've encountered has been justified with feelings.

As others point out, logic can help direct feeling. For example, this post had a strong negative connotations for me and my tone got nasty. Had I applied some logic, I would have used explanations instead of insults.

But, emotion and logic CAN work very well together, and even SHOULD work together in most instances.
Emotions often don't make much logical sense. That just is.
Logic can help make better sense of confusing or powerful emotional states, provides respect is payed to the nature of what what emotion is, as previously stated.
At least I find logic enormously helpful in grounding myself and not letting myself so caught up in whatever it is that I'm feeling that I lose sight of myself, other people, or the bigger picture. Instead of freaking out because I'm really sad, for no easily explainable reason, I can acknowledge yes, I'm sad, and then calm myself down somewhat by 'running a diagnosic'. Did I get enough sleep, is it near that time of my month, is it just an off day? Even if I can't find a reason, I can defocus further by attempting to stablize or fix things. What do I need so I don't slip down into a more depressed state? Food? Snuggles? A nap? Some alone time? A good book? Some excercise? This helps me feel more in balance. Yes, I'm not feeling so great, but I have possible clues as to why, and at the very least a plan to make things a little bit better. Thinking like this used to be very hard for me. I would become easily confused and even panic stricken by my emotions, because of how strongly they seemed to come on.
In regards to other, this line of thinking has helped me because I can often help them calm down or at least help them feel more okay about the fact that they are emotional.
Emotions tempered by logic make me feel more secure in myself and more forgiving of others.

That makes me think that emotions and logic, like science and spirituality, can be an amazing force for good and happiness when they work together rather than being at each other's throats. I've felt too much as of late that people who spend the vast majority of their existance at the logic/science end of things can't respect the emotional/spiritual end (with

the_xtina as a notable exception) and have reacted by getting massively defensive about the value of emotions and spirituality. But it should be a cooperative dynamic balance rather than a battle between the two. Hmm, I'll have to ponder this further.

Not to sound all woo woo, but the more I live and breathe the more I see how most, if not all things have a balancing point. Kind of like a knife blade when it's tempered, forged, and honed just so.
I like the phrase 'cooperative dynamic balance'. :)
I more then concur with the analogy you've made between emotions vs logic & science vs spirituality!
Darkness and light are just two little points, when there is an infinity of shades of grey in the spaces in between.

Entertainingly, I come at it from the other angle - I run those diagnostics automatically, and often dismissively, and am in the process of learning how to just let the emotions freakin' happen, sometimes.

I cry a little bit more easily, as a result, but I feel less like I need a brain enema every year, so I suppose that's a good thing.

Hey whatevah works for you! :)
Letting the emotions just happen is good too.
See, I've always cried a bit too easily for my comfort level.
And tears do not always mean sadness for me. I can cry, angry, happy, overtired . . . .I leak. By and large this is okay. But, tears can be seen as 'manipulative'. Thus I tried to learn some headspace tweaks and overrides. Getting teary, regardless of the reason can also be amazingly vulnerable. 'Emotionally naked', I say.

I cry a little bit more easily, as a result, but I feel less like I need a brain enema every year, so I suppose that's a good thing.

What a revolting mental image!

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QotD

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Feelings burned the witches, feelings fuels the mobs

Re: Feelings burned the witches, feelings fuels the mobs

I apologize

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I disgust myself sometimes.