RE: Emotions are intrinsically good and bad
October 8, 2017 at 6:57 pm
(This post was last modified: October 8, 2017 at 6:58 pm by Transcended Dimensions.)
(October 8, 2017 at 6:52 pm)bennyboy Wrote:(October 8, 2017 at 6:43 pm)Transcended Dimensions Wrote: But in order for one's life to truly be good without positive emotions, then that would require the inner light to take on another form. In other words, it would require a different type of positive state of mind. There must be an actual quality of that positive state there. As I said before, there is a big difference between definitions and qualities. Just because you define a positive state of mind to be there doesn't mean that it is really there.
You are too mired in the very many arbitrary definitions of "good," of "emotion," of "positive state." What's the difference, for example, between an emotion and "a different type of positive state of mind"? If you feel that this state of mind is positive, then you are having an emotional reaction to it. If you do not feel that it is positive, then on what basis do you say it is positive?
Really, this all boils down to a whole lot of nothing-- way too many words for way to simple an idea, when a few idioms would suffice. How about "Always look at the bright side of your life"?
Now, let me say that I fully endorse your search for happiness and value. Certainly, I'd say doing that is better than not doing it. And if you want to make big walls of text about it, that's okay, too. But if you present self-help-type ideas in a philosophical forum, expect them to get picked clean.
You could certainly have the mindset of your life being beautiful and good, but as long as there is no positive emotion there, then your life can only be empty. If a different type of positive state is the very definition of a different type of positive emotion, then having no real quality of this positive emotion could only render your life empty regardless of what you were to believe otherwise. Without both types of positive emotions, then your life could only be empty.