Whats the correct perspective on emotions? Where do emotion come from?

[Bogge]

Hi, 

I saw another post where the OP asked for strategies for clearing out the emotion of anger.

He got linked to the six sounds of qigong or something along those lines. 

It made me realize I have a completely different perspective on emotions. I always have thought of emotions are something you deal with mentally, they are ego that you as a seeker need to clear away with introspection, meditation, right view, etc. Something you have accumulated over lifetimes of wrong action. 

But I remember when taking huge doses of Iodine intense anger would sweep over me for a few seconds and after that I felt so much lighter. It most likely detoxed something in my liver. It made me ponder on the possibility of emotions are something that can be healed in the body, because they come from the body. If that makes sense?

Either way I am interested in more input and other perspectives and where emotions come from, how we can deal with them, and so on.

Thanks. 

[Krenx]

Emotions are due to past conditions, views, actions, conduct that we have participated in for a long time.  In this life, in previous lives. 

 

Emotions are not so much stored, but experiencing enough of it, the layers of the body adjusts, rewires, to accommodate these flavours of emotions. To be more efficient in expressing them, to fuel them, to accommodate them. And often at the cost of our health. Because it takes a lot of twisting internally and physically to accommodate its existence. 

 

Emotions are blameless. They are just a natural phenomena of life doing what to supposed to do, based on the conditions of our views, ignorance, habitual participation in it via thoughts, speech, action. It is doing what it supposed to do.  

 

In buddhism, there is the teachings of dependent origination. Alot of training happens at the link between feeling and action. An untrained person, allows feelings/emotions to automatically roll into action. And it causes suffering, strengthens the chains of samsara, weighs one down to lower realms. 

 

The job is to weaken, and eventually break these chains. So as feelings arise, one does not act due to the pressures of the feeling. Instead train to eventually see that it is actually totally separate domains that arises on its own. 

 

This reveals true responsibility. Because we realize ALL our actions we were actually responsible for. No amount of pressure of feelings or emotions could have ever crossed from the gate of feeling into the gate of action. We were solely responsible for making that connection out of ignorance. 

 

That is why virtue has this very specific quality. Virtue is wholesome action is done out of wisdom, "no matter how intense the pressures of feelings are against it". Why virtuous person chooses death instead of making unwholesome decisions/ actions.  

 

The question of how to "cool down" emotions, is basically to tackle its roots, which is refining views, developing wisdom, and paired with taking skillful action and habits, to gradually untwist the mind and body, so various emotions cool down and have no fuel or basis to arise. 

 

[forestofclarity]

** Mod Note: Post removed regarding sexual violence and victim blaming. **

[doc benway]

12 hours ago, Bogge said:

Hi, 

I saw another post where the OP asked for strategies for clearing out the emotion of anger.

He got linked to the six sounds of qigong or something along those lines. 

It made me realize I have a completely different perspective on emotions. I always have thought of emotions are something you deal with mentally, they are ego that you as a seeker need to clear away with introspection, meditation, right view, etc. Something you have accumulated over lifetimes of wrong action. 

But I remember when taking huge doses of Iodine intense anger would sweep over me for a few seconds and after that I felt so much lighter. It most likely detoxed something in my liver. It made me ponder on the possibility of emotions are something that can be healed in the body, because they come from the body. If that makes sense?

Either way I am interested in more input and other perspectives and where emotions come from, how we can deal with them, and so on.

Thanks. 

 

I don't believe there is a correct perspective on emotions.

Every individual and every tradition has a perspective.

All have value and validity to varying degrees.

The perspective that is most effective and useful for me depends on me, most of all.

 

I see emotions as energy, manifesting and moving through body, speech, and mind.

They are a product of many factors - physical, mental, environmental, cultural, generational, karmic, celestial, and so on.

Emotions can have profound effects on, and be held or trapped in, body, speech, and mind.

They affect us with or without our knowledge.

 

The relationship to the body is easily demonstrated by the connection between emotions and illness and by the effects of physical exercise, nutrition, hormonal, elemental balance, and illness or injury on emotional states. Trauma in particular can cause deep seated and sub-conscious emotional content to be fixed in the body, in the nervous system in particular. David Bercelli's work on this is useful and interesting. The relationship to our “speech” (this can refer to our breath, our energetic states, as well as inner and outer voices and stories we tell ourselves and others), is easily seen through our recurring stories, through how our breath affects and is affected by our emotions, through how our energy level is profoundly affected by our emotional state. 

 

Dealing with emotions can take many forms - psychotherapy, dream work, body work, qigong, martial practices, drugs, art, spiritual practices, EMDR, Bercelli's trauma release exercises, etc... I work mostly with Bön Buddhist methods at this point though I have some experience using Daoist techniques as well as a form of cognitive behavioral therapy called ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy).

 

In the Bön tradition there are three types of approaches. The Sutric approach (path of renunciation) is similar to what Krenx describes above - a combination of mindfulness and the use of various practices known as antidotes to negative emotions that primarily involve working with the mind.

 

The second group of methods, Tantra (path of transformation), involves a variety of things - rituals, prayers, mantra, visualization, concentration, breathing, postures, and body movements can all be used to transform negative emotions into positive qualities like compassion and equanimity.

 

Finally there is the Dzogchen approach (path of self-liberation). This path sees all of life experience as being "perfected." Meaning it is as it is (I feel a sort of divinity there) and there is nothing inherently wrong with it, almost like there is nothing inherently wrong with what happens in our dreams, or even death itself, they are simply an expression of the inner workings of body, speech, and mind and karma, causes, and conditions. In the dzogchen method, you learn how to recognize, connect with, and abide with stability in the natural state of their own mind which is open, unbounded, and clear. It is a discovery of a state of being that cannot be adequately described or defined. It is NOT anything we make happen under any particular conditions, it is not the result of anything we do, say, even understand, but it’s not hard to get a taste if you look properly and once you recognize, you need to become very familiar. The Tibetan word for meditation is gom which means to become familiar. When emotion arises, either spontaneously or by invitation, they are fully and directly experienced in body, speech, and mind without engagement of any sort, just openness and awareness. Leave it as it is! Emotions need to be fed by our engagement, or by suppression/repression, to be maintained and strengthened. If we are able to remain connected to our natural state of mind (one of my teachers refers to it as pure and perfect mind) and allow the emotions to simply be as they are, they soon run their course and "self-liberate.” This applies to positive and negative emotions alike. Feel great? It will change at some point, I promise! Feel horrible? It will change sooner or later, one way or another - this is impermanence. We all have that experience. Doing this once is generally not a permanent solution, however. They continuously return but over time they weaken and eventually liberate themselves with no effort or directed attention whatsoever.

 

Not sure any of this will be useful to you but it's fun to write about sometimes. 

 

Good luck on your path!

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 02:35 AM by doc benway

[Sherman Krebbs]

My thinking:  Emotion is just varied forms of pain.  We tend to differentiate between physical pain and emotional/mental pain, but it is really the same, or at least on the same spectrum, just manifested different ways and for a different biological purpose.  There are lots of different names for emotion, but its all the same pain. 

 

Think about anger. When I am angry there is this compulsive force, a gnawing pain within me causing me to curse at the poor old lady in the car in front of me who was too bashful to make a rash left turn across oncoming traffic.  It is no different, in my theory, than the pain and reaction, when I touch a hot stove, and reflexively pull my hand away from the pain.  

 

I don't really know how to control my own emotions very well.  My working theory is that if you can master reaction to pain, you can master reaction to emotions.  Basically like iron crotch training for the mind.  I have also found if you just observe emotions mindfully without reacting reflexively,  you can understand what they are telling you and act more authentically, perhaps sparing yourself the embarrassing/painful memory of giving some poor old lady the bird because you were late for accounting class. 

[Nungali]

On 6/16/2025 at 10:47 AM, forestofclarity said:

** Mod Note: Post removed regarding sexual violence and victim blaming. **

 

I didn't see it but thanks for removing it . 

 

There is another one floating around  using 'karma' as the 'victim blaming'  device  regarding a woman being raped by a policeman .

 

Its really horrible ...... in my opinion .....   I have worked with such victims in their recovery ... they don't need this at all ! 

 

and when I mention it ... it gets a down votes !

 

Down voting a comment that asks people NOT to  victim blame  a woman that got raped by a policeman  !

 

What's going on with some people here ? 

Edited 22 hours ago by Nungali

[Nungali]

20 hours ago, doc benway said:

 

I don't believe there is a correct perspective on emotions.

Every individual and every tradition has a perspective.

All have value and validity to varying degrees.

The perspective that is most effective and useful for me depends on me, most of all.

 

I see emotions as energy, manifesting and moving through body, speech, and mind.

They are a product of many factors - physical, mental, environmental, cultural, generational, karmic, celestial, and so on.

Emotions can have profound effects on, and be held or trapped in, body, speech, and mind.

They affect us with or without our knowledge.

 

The relationship to the body is easily demonstrated by the connection between emotions and illness and by the effects of physical exercise, nutrition, hormonal, elemental balance, and illness or injury on emotional states. Trauma in particular can cause deep seated and sub-conscious emotional content to be fixed in the body, in the nervous system in particular. David Bercelli's work on this is useful and interesting. The relationship to our “speech” (this can refer to our breath, our energetic states, as well as inner and outer voices and stories we tell ourselves and others), is easily seen through our recurring stories, through how our breath affects and is affected by our emotions, through how our energy level is profoundly affected by our emotional state. 

 

Dealing with emotions can take many forms - psychotherapy, dream work, body work, qigong, martial practices, drugs, art, spiritual practices, EMDR, Bercelli's trauma release exercises, etc... I work mostly with Bön Buddhist methods at this point though I have some experience using Daoist techniques as well as a form of cognitive behavioral therapy called ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy).

 

In the Bön tradition there are three types of approaches. The Sutric approach (path of renunciation) is similar to what Krenx describes above - a combination of mindfulness and the use of various practices known as antidotes to negative emotions that primarily involve working with the mind.

 

The second group of methods, Tantra (path of transformation), involves a variety of things - rituals, prayers, mantra, visualization, concentration, breathing, postures, and body movements can all be used to transform negative emotions into positive qualities like compassion and equanimity.

 

Finally there is the Dzogchen approach (path of self-liberation). This path sees all of life experience as being "perfected." Meaning it is as it is (I feel a sort of divinity there) and there is nothing inherently wrong with it, almost like there is nothing inherently wrong with what happens in our dreams, or even death itself, they are simply an expression of the inner workings of body, speech, and mind and karma, causes, and conditions. In the dzogchen method, you learn how to recognize, connect with, and abide with stability in the natural state of their own mind which is open, unbounded, and clear. It is a discovery of a state of being that cannot be adequately described or defined. It is NOT anything we make happen under any particular conditions, it is not the result of anything we do, say, even understand, but it’s not hard to get a taste if you look properly and once you recognize, you need to become very familiar. The Tibetan word for meditation is gom which means to become familiar. When emotion arises, either spontaneously or by invitation, they are fully and directly experienced in body, speech, and mind without engagement of any sort, just openness and awareness. Leave it as it is! Emotions need to be fed by our engagement, or by suppression/repression, to be maintained and strengthened. If we are able to remain connected to our natural state of mind (one of my teachers refers to it as pure and perfect mind) and allow the emotions to simply be as they are, they soon run their course and "self-liberate.” This applies to positive and negative emotions alike. Feel great? It will change at some point, I promise! Feel horrible? It will change sooner or later, one way or another - this is impermanence. We all have that experience. Doing this once is generally not a permanent solution, however. They continuously return but over time they weaken and eventually liberate themselves with no effort or directed attention whatsoever.

 

Not sure any of this will be useful to you but it's fun to write about sometimes. 

 

Good luck on your path!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks doc, well written .  Especially the first part .   There is no one simple   definition .  

 

One thing I notice is  a lot of emotional responses are linked to mental energies related to expectations . If you don't have those expectations there is no emotionally adverse reaction . 

 

I taught two terms , the 'daily lesson'  at  a Steiner school - year 10   ( the daily lesson is the bulk of that days teaching , there is other time reserved for more 'mundane ' things like math )  basically, 'know thyself'    an intro to hermetics  ( or 'getting on in the world when you leave school ) - everything from cooking , spirituality , citizen rights , psychic anatomy , making shelter , self defense  . Based on the four elements  ( eg   cooking and shelter - earth )   

 

One focus was on the difference between an emotion reaction and a mental response .   Emotions trend to be reactive , hence hard to control ,  and might be triggered by things that do not seem to relate to them  obviously , whereas mental responses  are often thought out and considered . 

 

Part of the teaching was ( well, first to identify one from the other )   to convert the reaction into a response  .  One of the best ways to do that is to pause  and then think about it ... the good old  " count to 10 first ' .

 

The opposite seems to be    " let me sleep on it '  ... before making a mental decision  , IE.  running a [possible response through the unconscious    ( the unconscious and the emotions are both in the realm of elemental water . 

 

And of course , with my usual insistence ;    reaction and emotions are are ruled by  the Mars Venus polarity  ( the reactions within the fight flight syndrome) .  Responses are above that base line and ruled by Mercury - air - the intellect . 

 

.

Edited Monday at 10:13 PM by Nungali

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, Sherman Krebbs said:

My thinking:  Emotion is just varied forms of pain.  We tend to differentiate between physical pain and emotional/mental pain, but it is really the same, or at least on the same spectrum, just manifested different ways and for a different biological purpose.  There are lots of different names for emotion, but its all the same pain. 

 

Think about anger. When I am angry there is this compulsive force, a gnawing pain within me causing me to curse at the poor old lady in the car in front of me who was too bashful to make a rash left turn across oncoming traffic.  It is no different, in my theory, than the pain and reaction, when I touch a hot stove, and reflexively pull my hand away from the pain.  

 

I don't really know how to control my own emotions very well.  My working theory is that if you can master reaction to pain, you can master reaction to emotions.  Basically like iron crotch training for the mind.  I have also found if you just observe emotions mindfully without reacting reflexively,  you can understand what they are telling you and act more authentically, perhaps sparing yourself the embarrassing/painful memory of giving some poor old lady the bird because you were late for accounting class. 

 

 

I hope you just focusing on the painful emotions    ATM   and have experienced their other wonderful side ... like  joy  or bliss  , that's an emotional state  too .