Thursday 22 May 2014

Feeling is being alive

I always found it intriguing that our display of emotions can cause someone to love us or hate us. While assessing the different levels of EQs having a high score is not necessarily a good sign. People believe that what makes us humans is our ability to feel. However, when someone shows that they do not feel why do people get a negative perception of that person? Is it because we think they do not care or is it our subconscious feeling distant from the human side of the person. I personally do not know, but I believe our subconscious does not feel a human tie to the person causing us to believe they are odd or even inhuman.
Albert Camus's most famous piece of literature The Stranger explores the life of Mr.Meursault a character who simply can not feel. His mother's death does not seem to cause any sort of sadness it appears as more of an annoyance since it disturbs his routine. Mr.Meursault does not feel the indifference in getting married or not, he is numb. As the novel progresses the reader gradually feels as if the protagonist is inhuman, because of his ability to not display any emotions. However, why do we see it in a very abnormal way. The ability to not let emotions effect your ability to reason can be viewed as a positive thing. A person uses their ability to reason to potentially make wise decisions that could be considered rational, rather than acting according to anger, or jealousy.
Some people are involved in situations because they describe the emotion derived from the activity makes them feel alive. What we call as adrenaline junkies seek to go sky diving, drive very fast, jump off mountains, to link the satisfaction of the emotion they feel to drugs. Another example is people who self mutilate themselves to feel pain. As a result of depression the pain they experience is a way to cope with all the emotions they have been dealing with. It shows us how far people can go to derive emotions as a way to heal other emotions, as an ability to feel alive, and get satisfaction.

1 comment:

  1. From Lauren Hazel: "I agree with you for the most part on the use of physical activities reflecting what emotions you crave. In addition to self-mutilation, it is a subject on which I have done much research; a lot of the time the people who do cause themselves harm do it because it gives a sense of control. Many of the people I have spoken to or read about who perform self harm feel so targeted by the rest of the world that the only pain they can control is the pain they inflict on themselves, and this control brings them momentary peace. It might not make much sense, but that is, what I have found to be the most common reason. Another common logic behind self-inflicted pain is the feeling of invincibility. The person harms themselves just until the breaking point of pain tolerance and the mentality is that if they can get through this level of pain, then nothing anyone else does can harm them emotionally. What do you think of this connection between emotional and physical pain?"

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