Emotions (Part 2): The Lie Detector
”Few realize that they can control the way they feel and positively affect the things that come into their life experience by deliberately directing their thoughts.” -Abraham Hicks
(It’s recommended that you’ve read Emotions (Part 1) before continuing with this article.)
Many previous articles have discussed truth as an ultimate good; something to be valued and actively sought. In fact, it would be most accurate to say that truth defines the good. That which is good, is good because it is true. Even a negative piece of information – “Hey, neighbor… there’s a Tyrannosaurus in your backyard, and your kid is throwing alphabet blocks at it” – can be seen as good in the sense that this accurate bit of knowledge puts us in a better position to deal with this unfortunate reality.
Despite short-term appearances, there is no long-term benefit to deception. Ignorance is not true bliss. Sure, you would temporarily feel better not knowing about the saurian menace in your yard, but the consequences of that lack of knowledge will very likely be disastrous. Even if you get away with it now and then, when willful ignorance is adopted as a general practice, it will absolutely result in less-than-desirable outcomes, more often than not.
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Knowledge is the awareness of true information; Understanding is the assimilation of that information into your own thinking; and Wisdom is the ability to apply that understanding to beneficial effect. In addition to revealing the nature of our thoughts, emotion serves wisdom by cluing us in to their merit - their alignment with ultimate truth. Thoughts that will serve us best will be accompanied by better-feeling emotions, and these emotions will inspire us to right action.
This can be a very subtle distinction, and difficult to perceive. When we feel rage toward someone in response to some action they’ve taken - and remain in that state - something about our thought is misaligned with truth. Maybe it's because we are seeing them as a “bad” person, when in reality - no matter how heinous their actions - they are only seeking higher states of emotion, just like we are. Their motivations are good in that sense, and so our perception of them as fundamentally bad people with vastly different goals is inaccurate on a deeper level.
That being said, their actions very well may be immoral, and by entertaining thoughts of what they’ve done, it is appropriate to feel lower-state emotions. In that moment, our negative emotion is revealing the deception in their perspective – detecting the lie - which we have temporarily adopted by mentally participating in their action through contemplation. We may not think as they do generally, but we are getting feedback relative to the thoughts we are having on a moment-to-moment basis.
It is crucially important to acknowledge the reality of the T-Rex, and the immoral miscreant - negative emotion is not to be avoided at all costs - however, this is not the position from which to determine appropriate action. Fear and anger make us less capable of handling situations optimally, and we must train our ability to quickly move to higher-consciousness thoughts before acting.
The law of polarity asserts that everything contains its opposite. In fact, the two are actually different sides of the same coin. For every problem, there is an implied solution available by discerning the root cause of the problem, and embracing its opposite polarity. In this way, the problem actually points the way to the solution. This is why acknowledging a problem – rather than avoiding it through willful ignorance – is the path to progress and ultimate benefit.
Tuning-in to the specific thought that inspires a particular emotion is a nuanced endeavor, made all the more difficult by the speed by which thoughts move through our conscious awareness. Expect that it will take time and dedication to garner the full benefit of applying this process; but also expect that it will change your life dramatically once you get a handle on it.
Thanks for checking in!
Brian Blackwell
If you’d like to explore relevant topics that support the ideas presented in this post, see the articles listed below:
Good, thank you.
I thought that "knowledge" is now the holy grail and this Steemit hill is just another media branch that over emphasizes it.
Joke aside, that was a very good read. Many thanks!
As I was reading I paused and had other thoughts coming in. I was thinking and asking myself: Who is this human who writes this article? Who is the person behind the avatar? It would be fun to guess some categories and tags to that particular person. So my first thought was, that you must be a man (you must believe me that I just found out I was right because surprisingly enough I found a name under your article).
Age is somehow more tricky as I have no personal information whatsoever in your posting, or so it seems. Of course, I would say that if you truly not only believe what you write, but also talk from experience you MUST be of some more mature age. Say, between 40 and 50?
My next guess is the country: I tip on the United States.
... how close am I?
Back to your article: I can confirm that "we are getting feedback relative to the thoughts we are having on a moment-to-moment basis." Totally, so. Thoughts seep through not matter how hard I try to hide that :)
Life becomes easier when I can stay present to the fact that there is no "x" on the line of life as life is not a line.
Well Erika, you are quite the marvel! You’re absolutely correct - I’m a forty-year-old man from New York City! I don’t know how you did it, but I’m glad to hear that my heroic masculinity and noble wisdom come through accurately in my writing. Hahahaha That’s a joke there - quit your eye-rolling!
What a great comment, though; thank you so much. I appreciate your openness and your active mind. Your joke about knowledge actually solidified a nebulous idea I had floating around...
Magazine-style tips, tricks, hacks and facts represent the state of the cultural mindset. Deep understanding takes too much thought and is a snoozefest... Who has time for that in the midst of refreshing and multi-tasking four social media apps while watching TV?
Gives me an idea for a new article: “The Age of the Hopeless Tidbit” - what do you think? Hahaha
Anyway, it sure is nice to meet you!
Thank you, I was a little hesitant to ask in that manner about your identity. But as I was in a real happy mood when I started to make guesses I was almost certain that your reply would come out positive. I noticed that when I TRY to transport a light mood but inwardly there is not lightness the response also does not carry that. From this you can see that I believe in resonance between living beings. It's not always accurate, though but then I am not a witch and the addressed human not an object.
Oh, and thank you for the photograph! Now, that is proof, that you're a man. :-) - and no ax-murderer as well. The beard suits you!
Yes, I also have a very critical mind towards the usage of media. But from what I also think and experienced here in this realm are indeed approaches to handle the information flow in a different way.
"Hopeless Tidbit" - go ahead, I am curious what will come out. Inwardly hoping not to read something conspiracy related. Laughter! You became a little bit of a victim with this remark as I also noticed that a lot what people write about distances itself from personal experiences and there is a tendency to talk about "them" and "their" purposes. After having me asked I would recommend to mix it with something personal. What do you say?
How is living in New York City? I've never been there and from what I saw through the media (LOL) and from people visiting it, it kind of scares me. It must be tough to live there ... how much time does it take to escape the city and enter nature? What is near by to visit?
I am from Hamburg. And I am a bit older than you.
I saw you responding to an article which contained "mind construction" - this morning I stalked your comments:). You might be interested to read this:
https://steemit.com/steemstem/@erh.germany/the-construction-loving-master-mind
Nice to meet you, too. Have a good Sunday.
Alright, well, The Hopeless Tidbit may be redundant with my other work, as I often write about ”going all the way”, i.e. going beneath the surface and taking thought down to the core premises and causal factors.
But you say to add something personal... Like you did with self-discipline? I did this in my article Philosophy - What it Means, and Why it Matters, but it was rather unintentional. I figure people don’t care to hear about my life story, just the point of the article, if anything.
OK, so you see that festering wound of grey amidst the surrounding green? I live in the center of that. See that long island extending eastward? There’s some places to get a bit of nature out that way, and that’s where I usually go - it’s about 1-2 hours drive for the nicer places. And in case you haven’t figured it out, that island is not-so-subtlely named Long Island.
If you want real nature, like camping and stuff, you have to go north, out of NYC to “upstate” New York (2 hours or more). As to whether it’s hard to live in the city, I don’t have any point of reference because I was born here. But probably so, as it runs contrary to everyhing a human being is at its core. I guess I would describe it like being a rat - you’re surviving, but you may as well not be.
I’m not into conspiracy theories dependent upon facts that I have no first-hand knowledge of, but I do understand that there are very wealthy, influencial people who use others for their own personal gain on a massive scale. I do know that we are purposefully enslaved by those in power - that they know as well as I do that there’s no logical or moral justification for their power, only desire and deception. This is known by logical deduction.
So where does one draw the line on victimhood? We are victims, by definition, as we are being hurt by moral crimes enacted against us; but we needn’t adopt a mentality wholly comprised of this concern. We can focus on our power, but to acknowledge these injustices is simply fulfilling our duty to truth, and thereby serving the uplift of humanity - is it not?
Thank you so much for your response. I would like to say: To the contrary, people want to hear your personal narrative. Or I should say, the female readers tend to like that a lot. :) Nevertheless the former article of yours was a very very good read and I liked it a lot.
I build up trust to people who refer to intimate and personal experiences and tell what really happened instead of pondering over and over theoretical concepts and ideas (I do not mean you!). The ordinary person has much more potential and wisdom one usually likes to think because modernity is so obsessed with the grand figures of history and science.
Absolutely - I agree that evil is in the world. I would be stupid to deny that. What I usually do is to exchange terms as language already has a huge influence on my mental state and mindset.
I prefer not to title myself as a victim but as being a part of the interests of others. Always I am a fulfiller of the ones with the highest powers as well as I am not obeying to all concepts and rules. I have a certain playing space in which I can act as I have chosen to do.
Take my social work. I was told to fulfill a certain task towards unemployed immigrant mothers within a project financed by the European Union Funds.
The formulated goal was indeed to put them into payed labor. Now my own notion if that is a good or bad goal comes into play. I can be all-party and still find a good relationship to the single woman I am consulting and also towards my income giver. ... In my consultancy it sometimes unfolded that the woman indeed was not interested in working but rather stay at home with her children. Then I did not force her nevertheless to be a good participant but to follow what had made the most sense to her at this particular time and space in her life. It's not at all relevant what I find particularly important but what the woman finds sensible. But would I be a person full of resentment towards the state I would want to manipulate the woman to become an enemy towards governmental measurements and make her all desperate about her situation.
In some cases the immigrants participating were either not willing to work or the circumstances were so against the goal that even if they would have gotten a payed work it wouldn't have been possible due to their life conditions. Like husbands working in shifts and children too small to be taken into day care etc. etc. In other cases, the women couldn't wait to start an education or a work.
Within this evaluation the government is going to see whether what they thought was correct or incorrect. We as citizens must give them proper feedback and see us as equal dialogue partners.
I asked the mothers if they were indeed ready to separate from their children and if not I did not want to persuade them doing otherwise.
... No force other than threatening ones life can make people doing what they actually don't want to do.
And sometimes even not that is enough. One of my favorite examples is my mother, who was imprisoned after WWII in a Russian camp. She and her sister were forced to do hard woodwork labor and one day she was so angry about it that she stood up against the commander and demanded from him a more easy work. She could have lost her life right there and then but she still took the risk. And survived. That is an extreme example, I know.
I would think that what many of my fellows - living in secure and wealthy circumstances - call being enslaved is actually accompanied by self-lies. If life threatening is already losing the status of a comfort life or not being seen as a good member of the community than I think the will to stay integre is not very well established.
I am a very practical spirit and I love reading from real life examples. You seem to be experienced and I bet you've got some good stories to tell which match what you learned through philosophy and psychology.
Brian wonderful post. This is an inspirational post for me to write something sometimes.
Thank you so much, Rebecca! I hope you will write something - I enjoy your insights!
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