Lexicon
Note: The only real moods and emotions I think can exist are the ones defined in this lexicon. Therefore, when I talk about emotions giving our lives real value in this packet, then I will be solely referring to the ones defined in this lexicon. I do not think our rational value judgments themselves can be any real mood and emotion in our lives as I will explain later on. Also, I explain some things in this lexicon as well. Please read these explanations since they are also important. One last thing here.
Psychologists often divide emotions into two categories: intrinsically positive and intrinsically negative (i.e. feeling good and feeling bad). I have every reason to think this division is true based upon my own personal experience. After all, positive and negative, good and bad, light and darkness is a well known concept in many movies, anime, artwork, etc. Feeling good and feeling bad is an actual quality of good and bad that makes things, moments, and situations perceived to be of either good or bad value to us.
Since different people will have different emotional responses to different stimuli, then what one person sees as good another would see as bad. So, with all of this being said, positive and negative emotions, also known as pleasant and unpleasant emotions, are intrinsically good and bad. Beliefs and mindsets themselves are not the same thing as emotions because, if you were in the most miserable state of your life and you believed that you were in a positive emotional state such as feeling joyful and excited about a certain idea such as going to the carnival, then you wouldn't be.
Biochemicals: Endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin.
Moods: This is not a feeling of elation. Rather, it is either a generalized and constant state of well being or non well being. For example, when the brain is in its normal, healthy state, this is a constant, chronic, 24/7 state of well being since this is the state the brain is normally supposed to be in. It is a state of mind induced by the biochemicals. Likewise, if you were in a constant, low-grade, depressed state of mind, then this would be a depressed mood. Mood states give our lives a constant and stable perception of good or bad value in our lives.
It's no different than how we constantly see objects and our whole entire world through our sight. This is the inner light and darkness taking on a constant and stable form which would be no different than a positive charge taking on a stable and constant form. Take note that, in my writing, I talk only about emotions being the source of good and bad value in my life and in the lives of others. But moods are also to be included as well. So, when you read this whole packet, also include moods. Lastly, moods do not allow us to perceive value in regard to specific moments, things, and situations. Rather, they are just generalized states of perceived value such as "My life is good and beautiful" or "My life is bad and miserable."
Feelings/Emotions: Both terms can be used interchangeably to describe moments of elation. For example, if you felt excited over a new movie, video game, or felt intense love, then these are feelings/emotions. They are, again, states of mind induced by the biochemicals. Likewise, if you felt completely miserable due to an emotionally traumatic life event, then this would be a miserable feeling/emotion. Feelings/emotions are far more powerful and profound states of mind than moods. They give a person's life a much greater and more profound perception of good or bad value. It would be like having moments of enhanced vision through your sight. This would be the inner light and inner darkness taking on powerful forms which would be no different than powerful surges of a charge. I explain more about the inner light and darkness later on.
In addition to the positive mood, I also require the positive emotions to drive and inspire me to enjoy my life, hobbies, and compose. Without my positive emotions, then I simply have no positive drive (interest) in anything. It would be no different than how, if you are not feeling sexual arousal (a positive emotion), then you have no interest in having sex. Positive emotions give our lives positive interest. That is, they give our lives good value while our negative emotions give our lives negative interest. That is, they give our lives bad value. Having no emotions would be having no interest at all. That is, no good value, no bad value, and no worth in our lives. That is why I think that our positive emotions can be the only inner light to our lives while our negative emotions can be the only inner darkness to our lives as I explain later on.
Positive Mood And Emotion: A positive emotion would be a feeling of love, joy, sexual arousal, or excitement. A positive mood would just be a stable and constant state of well being. They allow us to truly perceive the good values in life. I am actually going to give you one last example of a positive emotion. If you were very ill from the flu and your whole entire atmosphere felt like a beautiful dream, then that would be a positive emotional state. The opposite would be a negative emotional state since that would be like your whole atmosphere feeling like a horrible, sad, miserable, tragic, etc. nightmare.
Negative Mood And Emotion: A negative emotion would be a feeling of despair, anger, sadness, hopelessness, or anguish. A negative mood would just be a stable and constant state of non well being such as a depressed mood. Based upon my own personal experience, I can tell you that, for me, the miserable and hopeless states of mind I have been through due to emotional trauma and negative obsessive thinking is the absolute worst negative emotional state to be in. Negative moods and emotions allow us to truly perceive the bad values in life.
Happiness: The positive mood and emotions.
Seeing The Values And Worth In Our Lives/Having Real Value And Worth In Our Lives/Your Life Being Good Or Bad: Value judgments allow us to see value and to have value in our lives to make our lives valuable. But when you read this packet, you will come across this quite often when I say that emotions are the only things that allow us to see/perceive the value and worth of our lives and that they are the only things that can give our lives real value and worth. What I simply mean by this is that it can only be our emotions that can allow us to judge things, moments, and situations as good or bad. A value judgment is a state of mind where we perceive value and, thus, seeing value is the same thing as making a value judgment. As I explain later on, there are the rational/thought form of value judgments and then there are the emotional value judgments which are the emotions themselves.
I think it can only be our emotions which are the real value judgments which means that they are truly the only things that can make our lives good or bad. Positive emotions can only bring our lives good value since they are always value judgments of good value and our negative emotions can only bring our lives bad value since they are always value judgments of bad value. In short, I think that the only subjective values we can have in our lives would be the emotional ones and not the rational/thought ones. Our thoughts and rational mindsets themselves can only give us the idea of good and bad value in our lives. But that is not the same thing as actually judging things as good or bad. In addition, our thoughts themselves can only give us the idea of water, food, visuals, audio, hunger, thirst, etc., but that is, again, not the same thing as having any real version of those things in your life.
For example, a blind person can only have the idea of colors in his mind, but he cannot actually see any real colors. Therefore, thoughts are just ideas of certain things, but do not bring our lives those things. But many people are confusing the idea of good and bad value with having real good and bad value in their lives. So, they are only deluding themselves. An example of this would be those famous, genius, miserable, and depressed artists out there. Despite having little to no positive emotions, they still thought that their lives and artistic endeavors had much good value and worth. But that is false because they were very poor on the good value in their lives. It would really be no different than a poor person believing he has won the lottery or that he has earned some big bucks when he really hasn't.
Inner Light And Inner Darkness: A metaphorical term used to describe a mental state that allows us to see the good and bad values in our lives. I think the inner light can only be our positive moods and emotions and I think the inner darkness can only be our negative moods and emotions. If it can take on the form of our rational value judgments, then the rational value judgments themselves cannot be the inner light and inner darkness since, like I said, they are not real value judgments. Rather, these rational value judgments would require the inner light and inner darkness to them in order to transform them into real value judgments. This alternative form of the inner light and inner darkness could be described as an alternative positive and negative emotion, and alternative positive and negative quality mental state, or an alternative good and bad quality mental state.
I personally do not think such a thing exists because I have never had that in my life. If I were to lose my positive emotions and I cannot have the alternative form of the inner light, then my life would be empty since the rational value judgments themselves cannot bring my life any real good values. I had many miserable moments in my life where I used my rational value judgments in judging certain things as being good and beautiful, but they were just empty words. Even though I believed these things were good and beautiful, that did nothing for my life. That is why I conclude that something more than our rational value judgments is required to bring our lives real good and bad value and that would, again, be the inner light and the inner darkness. There are two versions of my worldview. The 1st one would be the secular version and the other would be the spiritual/religious version.
The inner light and the inner darkness would just simply be metaphorical terms and they would be literal terms in the spiritual version of my worldview. According to the spiritual version, the inner light would be the light of god himself which would be sheer goodness, love, joy, and beauty itself. The inner darkness would be the opposite of god's light which would be pure badness, suffering, misery, hate, etc. Unfortunately, I think there might be factors that can also take away and prevent the alternative form of the inner light in our lives such as the factors that take away and prevent our positive emotions (i.e. brain damage, too much stress or misery, mental health issues, mental disabilities, etc.). This would sadly have to mean that having good value in our lives is also fleeting and a matter of luck. One last thing here. When something truly matters to you, then it could either matter to you in a good way or it could matter to you in a bad way.
When you have real good value in your life, then that is the same thing as saying that something matters to you in a good way. When you have real bad value in your life, then that is also the same thing as saying that something matters to you in a bad way. This means that our rational value judgments cannot make things matter to us at all and that it can only be our emotions that do. This is because emotions are forms of motivation and it can only be motivation that makes things matter to us. I know this all to well from personal experience because, during my blissful moments, I have judged things through my rational value judgments as being the most horrible and disgusting things. But none of that mattered to me. Since my life was nothing but blissful, then my life only had real good value and no real horrible and disgusting value at all. The same idea applies to my miserable moments.
I have judged things through my rational value judgments as being good and beautiful, but I could still tell that my life was absolute hell and that there was no real good or beautiful value in my life at all. Despite believing that these things, such as the idea of getting the help I needed, were truly good and beautiful things, there was no real good value and beauty in my life at all. If there was some positive emotion on some minute level that I could not detect, then those things would have mattered to me in good and beautiful ways on such a small level that I could not detect. The same idea applies during those blissful moments. One last thing here. I use the terms inner light and inner darkness because they accurately express our true value judgments since they are what give our lives all the joy, beauty, and good values. It also goes very well for the spiritual/religious version of my worldview since I explain the idea of god's light within us.
