the opposite of rational thought?

[vicariance]

I read on the Atheist community a while back, "Religion is the diametric opposite of rational thought". This is not at all true, and it instantly caused a frenzy among the nastier denizens of that community, the pedantic sophists who exist in all such communities for which deep thought is a prerequisite (the Polyamory community is wriggling with

Comments

[ovary]

This. Emotion is how you know what you believe, and how strongly you believe it.

Of course, that's not good in the case of an emotional disorder, because then you may feel things that aren't true to your beliefs, but at least there's the chance that you can realize, "hey, these feelings aren't jiving with reality." That's hard, though.

[vicariance]

No that's not true. Emotions are not the reflection of the strength of your beliefs. On the contrary, there exist a variety of emotions that I rank as worthless, obsolete artifacts of neurological physiology designed to protect us from dangers that no longer exist. I mark these such as the target of great personal effort to abolish. Jealousy is the quintessential example of this. Jealousy is an emotion that is never useful and often terribly harmful. Other emotions can be helpful, but only in certain contexts.

I am passionate but I do not let my passions rule me.

[ovary]

Hmm, I cannot agree with this. Jealousy in a historical context can be somewhat linked to property holdings, if you consider that your mate's assets are your own under our current law, and in past law, the wife was straight up property of the husband. If under these conditions, the wife were messing around and you couldn't guarantee that your children were yours, it would make sense to keep her in her place, motivated by jealousy, to protect your offspring's inheritance.

Today, it's not terribly enjoyable to feel jealousy, but I wouldn't say it's completely useless either. Harmful, sure, but I don't think that usefulness and harmfulness are mutually exclusive. I do agree that it is context that defines the utility of the emotion.

I don't think that having strong emotions is the same as letting those emotions rule the thought process.

[ovary]

Also, jealousy can be a pretty good motivator to action. A friend of mine bought a house which is in way better shape than my current house. I'm spurred to redouble my efforts to save for a down payment for a house of my own someday.

very nicely put.

[anonymous]

that is all.

Norma