QotD

[brynndragon]

"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)

Comments

[water-childe.livejournal.com]

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.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

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.

[water-childe.livejournal.com]

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.

[the-xtina.livejournal.com]

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.

[water-childe.livejournal.com]

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 disgust myself sometimes.

[the-xtina.livejournal.com]

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!