Are we emotion sensors?

Thank you all for your contributions.
Arisaig, once you noticed anger in yourself you say you do no let it dictate your actions. Does it mean you feel something but do another? Isn't that emotional suppession? If you meant something else please develop if you may.
I often hear people say you bave to settle your mind (if possible) in a quiet place between intense joy and intense sadness on your way to nirvana (or another equivalent). Do you agree? Doesn't it mean that you don't feel anything? Or only a little? How is that good or bad for you ?
When you go to the extremes on a regular basis I understand it makes you go into a spiral where it will be harder and harder for you to feel moderate emotions. Maybe when you moderate your emotions it is harder and harder to go into extreme feelings?
Would I dare to propose that the place of freedom is where it isn't hard to be moderate nor extreme. But that would mean to stay in a place where you are neither extreme nor moderate. In the chaos maybe Kyrin ? I don't know guys it is your turn now.

@Kyrin, some of my best and worst moments have been dictated by love. To answer your question more precisely: I barely ever feel I am in control in the sense that I almost never take calculated actions. Whether my actions are born of love, fear or empathy. I usually go where my actions take me, steering vaguely in the direction I want to go. And I am not yet fully convinced this is always a problem. But of all my impulsive actions, those born of love seem to be most in balance when looking at good and bad results.

Flojade wrote: Hello everyone!
I would like to give your opinions about the way we feel emotions. Apparently there are sensors in our brains that sense cortisol which is the molecule of anxiety and sensors that can sense endorphine or whatever thw molecule of happiness is. Some of us have more of the first type and some of us have more of the second type from what I heard. It would also seem that for 1 minute of sadness or anxiety i don't know you spend 1 hour getting rid of the cortisol in your brain. Also the only emotion your brain is constently trying to reproduce would be happiness.

So I was thinking, more sensitive peraons have more sensors right? What would happen if two persons would possess a 50/50 ratio of sadness sensors and happiness sensors but person A would have significantly less sensors than person B overall. Would they feel the same? Or one would feel hapoier or sadder than the other? Providing Jedi are probably very sensitive beings, what would it mean about the trials Jedi have to face everyday in their brain?
I am looking forward to hear your thoughts about this. Thanks for reading!

You bring up A LOT of complicted topics here. Im not a neuroscientist and my understanding of the neurology involved is still very much in its early stages but i think i can help explain SOME of this. Lets start with the brain: for the purposes of this conversation, the brain is the the Big Kahuna of the central nervous system (CNS) which is the brain and spine. In addition to the CNS there is the peripheral nervous system (PNS) which is.... well its whole a lot of other stuff lol including nerves that travel out of the spine and continue out into the arms and legs. The sciatic nerve is the one most people have heard of, it runs down the legs, but there are many, many more. The nervous system is really the "soul" of the body. Its the part of us that regulates all of our bodily functions and especially, its the part of us thinks; that knows itself to exist and that interacts consciously with the world. Basically, every other part of our body serves the purpose of keeping our nervous systems safe and mobile and able to act. Relevant to this conversation are the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic (PSNS). The SNS essentially "wakes us up" and the PNS "calms us down". These are simplifications but they are useful for the moment. The nervous system receives information from the world around you (and within you), processes and translates the meaning of that information, and then sends out response signals which trigger various bodily reactions. Our eyes, ears, and sinuses (which includes the mouth) are right next to our brains because they need to be directly connected to the brain and CNS. They are sensory apparatus that the CNS uses to interpret the world. We also have touch, temperature, pressure, and pain receptors, located in our skin and within our bodies.

Heres a picture of the nervous system. Im 90% confident that its an artistic depiction but its definitely accurate enough to give you a sense of what im talking about.



The brain is the supercomputer of the CNS and is basically a superhighway of neurons and neural pathways. Heres a fun fact; the brain really runs down the entire length of the spine! Whats a neuron? A neuron is an elongated cell associated with the nervous system which is "designed" to transmit information via electrical signals. Whats a neural pathway? A neural pathway is a long series of neurons that are in connection with each other. Every time the brain does anything (which it is constantly doing a billion different things at once) electrical signals travel through these pathways. So for instance you want to move your finger, there are neural pathways associated with that action and for as long as you keep intending for your finger to move, your brain will fire electrical impulses through those pathways which will tell your finger to move. (ITS FREAKING AMAZING!)

The brain speaks in electrical impulses but much of the rest of the body speaks in chemical messengers and chemical receptor sites (which are "spots" along a cell that receive or "recognize" the messengers). So, there is a part of the neuron which actually translates the meaning of electrical signals and converts the signal into the appropriate chemical messenger. These chemical messengers are called neurotransmitters. Serotonin is one of the primary neurotransmitters associated with "happiness" and also one that most people have heard of before. Theres also dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. Serotonin is actually the "happiness" chemical. Its also the "sadness" chemical, in the sense that WE THINK that severely depressed persons have something going on where they are not producing "normal" levels of serotonin. (The reality is we still dont know exactly whats going on, or what a "normal" brain even is in regards to neurotransmitter levels). Oxytocin is the "bonding" chemical, that is associated with feelings of trust, kinship, and intimacy. Endorphins hit our opioid receptors and probably have a euphoric effect in high quantities, but their main function is to inhibit pain. If youre in a lot of pain, simply not being in pain anymore feels pretty damn good lol. Dopamine is an excitory nerotransmitter associated with approach anticipation. So it excites you as you approach... for simplicity, lets just say "a goal", or as you get closer to something you want.

Cortisol is known as the "stress hormone" but it doesnt get produced in the brain (its the the adrenal glands which produce cortisol and they are located on the kidneys) and it doesnt cause sadness (again, sadness is probably a shortage of serotonin). Instead, what cortisol does is to activate the SNS, which basically activates the entire body on preparation for danger. This is the "fight, flight, freeze" effect, which is absolutely vital to our survival. We NEED cortisol and the fightflightfreeze response, but we're not supposed to maintain it indefinitely. The effect is supposed to be temporary, as it inhibits non-essential functions of the body and takes control of the current energy stores.. which taxes the entire body in who knows how many ways and interferes with the normal process of energy production (which is actually a big deal). I dont know the full extent of cortisols toll on the body but its been linked with a multitude of health conditions including (but not limited to) high blood pressure, weight gain, diabetes, insomnia, memory loss, reduced cognitive function, inflammation.. i mean theres more but its too much to list everything and just the ones ive named are pretty serious if you study on their long term implications.

As for how long it takes for corisol to "clear out".. i dont think it works quite like that. As long as you are stressed or frightened or angry or w/e, as long as youre in that ACTIVATED anxious etc state of mind, you will be producing cortisol and it will be in your blood stream. Once you calm down, say by breath work and meditation, you will stop producing cortisol and your blood levels wil return to normal pretty quickly. The thing is that people who are stressed out and anxious usually feel this way ALL THE TIME. They rarely fully relax and even when they do, they get stressed again very soon.

There is a hypothesis which suggests that modern people are more CONSISTENTLY stressed out than our ancestors were. Like, yeah they had to fight lions and stuff, but then they could eat the lion, make a necklace out of its teeth, and go have sex in the cave. We start our day with a newspaper or television telling us about some new war or biological weapon or terrorist attack or political scandal or economic crisis etc etc, and thats actually the least stressful part of the day lol. This is when stress and cortisol cause problems: when we are constantly entering into a state of high negative arousal.

I hope it will be today but im not sure... but i will respond to another of your comments eventually Flohade, and probably to some others that i read before typing this.

Kyrin Wyldstar wrote:

Arisaig wrote:

Manu wrote: I would argue that this attachment towards trying to control emotions at all costs is more conducive to mass murdering than simply admitting you are angry when you are angry. Sweeping dirt under the rug only makes it worse, as Kyrin points out.

Emotional wellness is more about looking at your own darkness honestly than it is about applying gimmicks to appear happy.

Agreed. Being able to come to terms with your own mental state is key in finding a balance in your own life. To know how to admit you're angry, to know you are, but choose to not let it dictate your actions... that is control over self.

Lets take a different emotion - love. Do you allow Love to dictate your actions? Do you maintain control over self when it comes to love?

Love is a powerful thing, a madness of sorts. It can drive people towards doing great good and great evil. I used to let love dictate my life, my actions. I would put myself in harms way to protect the person i loved most, and it would push me towards doing great things in my life. It pushed me towards a career, it even pushed me here so to become a better man for her. When it ended, my love made me act out, say things I shouldn't have said hoping I could hold onto what we had.

So no, I tend to lose myself to love. Hopefully next time around I do not depend too much on it. They key is knowing your own mind from the madness of emotion.

Arisaig wrote: So no, I tend to lose myself to love. Hopefully next time around I do not depend too much on it. They key is knowing your own mind from the madness of emotion.[/color]

So if I'm understanding what you are saying correctly this implies that you attribute a different weight to the dangers of the "madness of love" over the "madness of anger"? Do you consider all emotion as a state of madness or is there a threshold? If a threshold at what point does the emotion become madness? Just when we act on it?

Kyrin Wyldstar wrote:

Arisaig wrote: So no, I tend to lose myself to love. Hopefully next time around I do not depend too much on it. They key is knowing your own mind from the madness of emotion.[/color]

So if I'm understanding what you are saying correctly this implies that you attribute a different weight to the dangers of the "madness of love" over the "madness of anger"? Do you consider all emotion as a state of madness or is there a threshold? If a threshold at what point does the emotion become madness? Just when we act on it?

Not when you act upon it, but when you let it rule you, control you rather than remain in control of yourself. Know the emotion, experience it, but don't let it control you.

Flojade wrote: Arisaig, once you noticed anger in yourself you say you do no let it dictate your actions. Does it mean you feel something but do another? Isn't that emotional suppession? If you meant something else please develop if you may.
I often hear people say you bave to settle your mind (if possible) in a quiet place between intense joy and intense sadness on your way to nirvana (or another equivalent). Do you agree? Doesn't it mean that you don't feel anything? Or only a little? How is that good or bad for you ?

Its more control than suppression. I can feel anger, hate, love, sadness, all the plethora of emotion... but I don't let it control me. I can be shaking with rage, but still control myself. Passion, yet serenity. Emotion, yet peace.

Emotion are extreme for me. I've done some stupid stuff in my life while under the influence of emotion. I have no excuse other than I lost control. So instead I feel it, I accept that I feel like that, I experience it, and then I let it go. I do not let it rule me, unbalance me, unhinge me. Only I control me.

I lean to the 'pattern sensor' and have emotion as a construct of certain patterns which have representation in the somatosensory system... or more specifically, emotion as as complex sets of feelings - complex as in being feelings which extend either backwards or forwards in time (as held by the subconscious and/or consciousness).

Im not going to be able to make a thoughtful reply tonight (meaning a reply that required some genuine intellectual effort, thoughtful = thinking, not thoughtful as in "nice") but i wanted to 1) say that this is a fantastic topic with a lot of good input so far. 2) explain that a nerve is. Remember that a neuron is a "stretched out cell" that transmits electircal impulses? When we say "nerve" what we usually mean is a nerve bundle (the long "strings" in the picture). Basically a bunch of neurons bundled together and stretched out to extend deeply into the body. These are how we percieve the world, 3) to share this picture as i think its better than the first, and 4) make something of a correction: these are pictures of a...

"....plastinated central and peripheral nervous system at the 'Body Worlds', the anatomical exhibition of real human bodies by German Gunther von Hagens".
(In other words, its a real NS that this Gunther fellow turned into plastic. Thanks Gunther!)
The eyes are on the other side btw

I can only speak for myself here, but in my experience balance isn’t a lack of emotion or suppression. Where is it? In understanding. Our emotions are biochemical reactions our brain produces in response to the experiences in our lives. Like our senses, it’s another way for us to grasp what is going on in any particular moment and it’s also a tool. Fear can make you stronger and faster, for example. But it can also cloud your judgement.
On my journey to balance I had to deal with my rather potent emotional sensitivity. It was a long hard road to realize you can’t control or stop your emotions, no more than we can stop the rising of the sun. What worked for me was a deep honest examination of myself. I had to figure out the root cause of these extreme emotions, the ones that weakened my judgement. This has helped me to identify the spark and flare of my emotions before I completely lose myself. There are moments when this doesn’t work. Death of a loved one, watching some getting attacked, etc. These are times when the response is almost immediately.
When the response gets to a certain point, a point only the individual can measure, it becomes a viscous cycle. When our thoughts dwell on the events that inspired the great emotions we can produce even more of these biochemicals, further pushing us over the edge. Mindfulness can help to minimize the escalation and keep us in control of the wheel.
Do I feel emotions? Yes I do. But I can logically explain those emotions and understand where I am at with them. I can also keep myself in the present and not dwell on those emotions. In other words I feel them while they’re relevant, understand them, maybe even use them. But when they have no place or are resolved, I can minimize their affect. It isn’t so much suppression as it is separation.
Once again this doesn’t always work. I’d say about 80% of the time is it effective. And again this is only from my experiences.