The point is HOW we receive our values: CONSCIOUSLY and willingly or by passive default!
That's an astute observation. Is an unexamined life worth living?
BTS
You really DON'T KNOW LOVE at all
by Terry 18 Replies latest jw friends
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BurnTheShips
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Terry
The point is HOW we receive our values: CONSCIOUSLY and willingly or by passive default!
That's an astute observation. Is an unexamined life worth living?
BTS
Oh, you Randroid!
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lalliv01
Life itself is the source of all other values. Without life their can be no value.
So, if "love" enhances my life, makes me happy- promotes my life- do I then
"know" love? Might be true but it seems like a cold calculation, a cold ruler
to measure with.
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BurnTheShips
Oh, you Randroid!
BTS
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Terry
Life itself is the source of all other values. Without life their can be no value.
So, if "love" enhances my life, makes me happy- promotes my life- do I then
"know" love? Might be true but it seems like a cold calculation, a cold ruler
to measure with.
The point, kind soul, is that we don't think of love as the source of information about anything.
We don't follow our heart (as you always hear.)
When you follow your emotional response you are really listening to the values you've acquired.
The important question becomes "How did I develop my values? Did I vet them properly or just absorb what other people were saying?"
The reason so many people get into passionate relationships with genuine shitheads is that their "values" are sadly deficient.
There should never be a dichotomy (division) between what you think is best for yourself and your "feelings."
Your head and your heart are only at odds when you've accepted your values UNthinkingly.
That is why Objectivism is about rational and logical values put in place in careful contexts. Harmful things don't sneak in the backdoor.
Example: "I knew he was no good, but, I just couldn't help myself." Bad pulp magazine dialogue? Yes, but we all know people who have probably said it.
Just because you THINK rationally doesn't mean you will FEEL rationally. Your values are put in place throughout your life and are planted as deep as an oak tree's root system.
I can watch a lousy Jesus movie and cry like a baby.
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BurnTheShips
Love is what we feel towards what we value. We acquire information, analyse it, and come up with our visions of the way the world is and values that promote them. We love those things.
BTS
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Open mind
Terry:
I've never met a god. Have you?
Ever met anybody who has met anybody who has?
Shelby?
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Terry
Terry:
I've never met a god. Have you?
Ever met anybody who has met anybody who has?
Shelby?
Okay, I mean BESIDES Shelby!!
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VoidEater
It comes from your values.
That is a kind of love. But you miss the domain where the more powerful experiences of love take place. Thinking is but one domain - and one source - of emotions. You must not ignore the unconscious physiological source of emotions. To do so makes you a two dimensional caricature.
But I love the sentiment: "Love is an echo, not a voice." The way in which it is a voice, is that it is a teacher. Once you love, you can see what your behavior would be if you loved more.
The point is HOW we receive our values
We always inherit them at first. It is through self-examination and conscious choices that we can grow effectively. And you certainly don't need Rand for any of that (to the extent Objectivism promotes it, it is good).
We acquire information, analyse it, and come up with our visions of the way the world is and values that promote them. We love those things.
Well...we find *satisfaction* in them. I think you understand the difference between "love" and "satisfaction".
But THE BEST PART of this thread is the title: you are 100% right, you can't "know" "love", not in the way you use "know" - it takes place in a different domain from the mind (it literally takes place in the body). And, as any emotion, it provides feedback to the mind.