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From: jon@boulder.UUCP (Jonathan Corbet)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: A compromise on emotional self-determinism
Message-ID: <393@boulder.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Aug-85 19:37:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: boulder.393
Posted: Mon Aug  5 19:37:29 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 03:19:57 EDT
Reply-To: jon@boulder.UUCP (Jon Corbet)
Organization: National Center for Atmospheric Research
Lines: 36

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	This discussion on emotions and whether they are voluntary or not seems
to center on two extreme, opposite viewpoints.  Some say that people are 
entirely in charge of their feelings, and somebody who feels sad (or happy,
for that matter) feels that way through their own choice, and only through
said choice.  The other side claims that emotions happen to us, are part of
the human experience, and that we can't, and shouldn't try to do anything
about them.  How 'bout a compromise:

	We have a great deal of control over our emotions.  In particular, we
seem to be able to determine our long term emotional state, given enough effort
and the right attitude.  I once got a net-letter describing this "long term"
state as the "DC state" of one's emotional makeup (Oh, no, EE's on the net!).
However, the shorter-term "oscillations" can be much harder to control.
If a situation I really do not want to see comes about, I am simply going to
be unhappy about it for a while.  Likewise, fortunate events tend to cause
elevated emotional states.

	I guess my feeling is that somebody who is sad for an evening over
a rejection, or who cries for a month because the SO of their dreams has
just told them to take a leap, is NOT entirely in control of said feelings,
and most certainly should not be told that they are responsible for being
sad and would be happy if they chose to.  It just does not work that way.

	Where choice comes in is when it comes down to recovering from
said unfortunate event/situation.  I do believe that one has the capability
to prevent a traumatic occurence from ruining one's life.

	Does this make sense?

jon
-- 
Jonathan Corbet
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Field Observing Facility
{seismo|hplabs}!hao!boulder!jon		(Thanks to CU CS department)