We recognize positive or negative emotions only as a result of the operation of our mind. This way of understanding emotions may seem different from the conventional wisdom about interpreting emotions.
Emotions are results rather than causes in themselves. When we recognize positive or negative emotions, it indicates that we are experiencing the result of something, not the cause. Therefore, it is logical to assume that we may or may not attribute our emotions to the right cause. If we try to find the cause of the present emotions only with reference to the present emotions that can be sensed, the judgment on our emotions is more likely to be incorrect since we are looking for the cause in the result.
For example, if you have developed negative emotions after talking with a person, you may connect your negative emotions as a result with the fact that you had a talk with the person as the cause of your negative emotions. To put it simply, you may think that you feel bad since you talked with the person. If you develop the idea further, which may be even farther from the truth, you may think that the person made you feel bad accusing the conversation partner as the cause of your negative emotions. If you develop your idea into the other direction, you may blame yourself for your negative emotions drawing upon some distant fact related with the conversation. It is as if we were looking for the cause of the negative emotions in seemingly related but actually irrelevant matters. Then, we cannot understand the true cause of our emotions no matter how hard we try, and end up distorting our understanding of the phenomenon and destroying relationships with the conversation partner.
We may easily assume that what we see, hear, and experience are the causes of negative or positive emotions, which is simply untrue. Then, we may try to change only what we see, hear, and experience to change negative emotions for better or to reinforce positive emotions based on the arbitrary interpretation. Here, we can see that we are not dealing with the underlying causes of emotions at all.
Feeling good or bad is sensed only in our own thought rather than it being facts, so individuals may feel completely differently upon experiencing identical facts. For example, person A may feel positive upon being criticized by someone since he thinks that the critic is doing him a favor for his progress and success. On the other hand, person B may feel negative upon being criticized since he thinks that the critic is blaming him for not doing well enough. Two people responded oppositely to an identical fact, which indicates that emotions are not caused by facts that are experienced. The universal truth is that the cause of emotions is always the operation of one’s own mind and psychology. Some people even attribute the present emotions to past facts that happened years ago. It must be clearly understood that emotions are not embedded in or caused by any fact. What we feel and recognize as emotions is only the result of the operation of our own perception, memory, and expression.
Many people talk about human mind and psychology, but do not base their research and practice upon this simple and obvious truth, leading many other people to get confused about the concept of emotions and their causes.
As in all matters of life, psychological problems cannot be solved without accurately understanding the causes. If you keep attributing your psychological problems to incorrect causes, refusing to see the truth, you will necessarily keep interpreting and addressing the issues of the past, present, and future in incorrect ways. Facts are just facts, and they do not produce emotions. We must never associate emotions with facts as causes of emotions .
Our mind, not facts, produces negative emotions when the facts do not accord with our thought standards. Positive emotions are produced by our mind when facts accord with our thought standards. Coping with or addressing problems by changing facts will lead us nowhere since facts are not causes of emotions.
Many conventional fields of psychology and philosophy, and other related disciplines are mostly focusing on surface phenomena in studying human mind and psychology. Experts on human mind and psychology guide people to deal with what is recognized and felt. People who suffer from negative emotions are told to ‘let go’, but they are not guided on exactly how to do so kindly enough. Unfortunately, the operation of mind and psychology deep inside ourselves are not recognized or felt. Then, how could you ‘let go’ of what you cannot even sense? Comparing mind to something that can be hold and let go of like a visible matter does not even make sense in the first place.
Many people get confused and wander in their journey for happiness due to inaccurate guidances that are so prevalent in the society. More people should be educated on the operational mechanism of human mind and psychology including the development, healing, and treatment of stress and wounds, in order to be able to adequately address and prevent psychological problems. Inaccurate understanding and application of healing and treatment may only aggravate individuals’ conditions and social problems.
All emotional problems stem from the operation of mind and psychology not from facts we experience, and emotions are sensed only within our mind and psychology. Facts are seen and recognized, but what is seen and recognized may not necessarily be all there is, let alone the cause of our emotions.
