Since I'm doing "praise the positive" this morning instead of "pointing out the negative," I thought I should expand on the issue I brought up yesterday about "overly emotional" people and those who seem to *indulge* in emotions and consider being overwhelmed by emotion not only a positive thing, but often a "spiritual" thing.
I presented a few points about that negative spin on emotion. To balance them, today I'd like to present a counterpoint, and focus on a more positive aspect of emotion -- balance. Marek presents what I consider a fine example of "balanced emotion" on this forum. Although he has a formidable intellect, I'm pretty sure that no one here could ever think of him as "stuck in his head" or "overly intellectual." His far-too-rare posts display a great deal of emotion IMO. And there are two things about Marek's use of and expression of emotion in his posts that for me scream "Balance!" The first is range. One day he'll post about the joy and exhilaration of surfing, and we can all feel that joy and exhilaration in what he writes. Another day he'll express an understandable (given his career as a public defender) outrage at unfair laws and those victimized by them. Another day he'll be excited enough about some cool link he's found on the Internet to want to share it with us. And another day...well...you get the picture. The dude has range. He doesn't just rerun the same old emotion over and over. The second is non-attachment to the emotions. The very fact that he *does* express different kinds of emotions in his posts indicates one important thing -- he can let go of the previous emotion, the one he wrote about the day before or the week before. Marek seems to understand and live the fact that emotions are not "us," any more than fleeting thoughts are. They come, they go. We experience them while they're there -- "put them on" and "wear" them like an interesting outfit we're trying on at the store -- and then we *take them off* and "put on" a different set of emotional clothing. *None* of the "clothes" are "us." *None* of the emotions are "us." They're just things that flit across the self, none of them defining that self, and none of them defining the Self. Marek for me personifies a sense of balance in his display of and use of emotion that I find inspiring and uplifting. I think that there is much to be learned from appreciating it, and admiring it.
