Many people don't know why they "feel" what they feel. They fall in love with the wrong person. They cry unexpectedly. They lose their temper trying not to. They pursue activities that ruin their life while knowing exactly why they shouldn't.
A Value is something we seek to obtain because it serves our needs. An unchosen value works against us.
When you chose your values you are also selecting the EMOTION which follows it. No, really.
If the EMOTION precedes the formation of the VALUE logic is squeezed out.
WHERE WOULD A NON-SELECTED VALUE COME FROM?
Our parent's values are our first experience.
Our friend's values, our social group in our religious background are next.
We aren't intellectually able to be skeptical at first about ANY influences. We don't have a vote.
What if our father was abusive and yet we "love" him? What might that result in?
Studies have shown that abused women continue to choose men who will abuse them long after they are taught what is going on. (Simply "knowing" doesn't reach the hidden core VALUE absorbed unconsciouly earlier in life.)
Victimizers find enablers. Suckers find conmen to cheat them. Shy and introverted "nerds" find a bully to push them around. It all seems like invisible magic.
Only by consciously selecting our values and removing aberrent ones can we seize control in order to UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ARE FEELING and WHY!
Will this stop grief if a loved one dies? NO!
Will it stop fear if your life is threatened? NO!
Those are emotions precious to life and must be preserved.
We often hear about somebody having emotional "needs" which must be filled. Yet, you never read about anybody suggesting it is necessary to identify the source of power behind those "needs".
SUSCEPTIBLE TO HIDDEN VALUES?
When are we most susceptible to illogical and irrational absorption of values? When we TRUST!
Positive and negative trust are important issues. Let's rename it Conscious rational trust and unconscious emotional trust.
TRUST is dangerous because it shuts off our firewall, turns off our alarm system and leaves us defenseless.
FAITH is a program that automatically shuts off our defenses.
When are we most susceptible? When we are EMOTIONAL! When emotion comes before the selection of values the result is irrational.
If Emotion is used INSTEAD OF EVIDENCE the choice of VALUE is warped into and upside down effect/causing/cause.
EMOTIONS, being involuntary, can cripple us or make life extremely interesting and exciting.
It all depends on whether you are the CAUSE or at the EFFECT (freely selected or blindly absorbed.)
Why do I feel this way?
What piece of information lies behind it?
Do I agree? Do I disagree?
Am I helpless? Am I uninformed?
Where does this come from??
Until I indentify the hidden value TRIGGERING emotion it is like a murder mystery where clues must be searched out and culprits singled out for suspicion and questioning.
The harmful emotion is harmful for a reason.
The involuntary physical reaction to an instruction (value) has been set and must be removed.
When the harmful instruction is identified and rooted out you have no need to control the harmful emotion anymore because it ISN'T PRODUCED ANYMORE.
Why?
The instruction (value) is gone and replaced with a correct instruction, (new value.)
Would you say a computer infected by virus needs to be controlled or would you say you need to remove the virus?
That is a distinction with a difference.
Man's rational mind measures cost/benefit in a precise mathematical model using standards for risk.
Part of man's methodology of learning precisely involves VALUES.
All of mankind uses VALUES on the cost/benefit scale. (How much will this cost me in time and effort and how much will I benefit by spending it?)
Animals live in the moment for pure survival for the most part. When humans do this they are plunged into poverty and a hand to mouth existence.
Many people don't know why they "feel" what they feel. They fall in love with the wrong person. They cry unexpectedly. They lose their temper trying not to. They pursue activities that ruin their life while knowing exactly why they shouldn't.
Many people trust their "feelings" more than they trust their own mind!
Many people say they rely on their "gut" and call it "intuition". (Non conscious source of data.)
But--they are wrong. As wrong as being misinformed can make them.
Here is why.
Our emotions are not a source of information. Our emotions are involuntary physical responses that happen for a reason. The question is: Do we KNOW the reason we experience those emotions?
Here are the reasons.
Emotions begin with values.
What we value results in an involuntary response (emotion) that reflects viscerally the value we hold.
Easy example. If you hate cats and you see one run over what do you think your emotional response will be? If you love cats, what is your response. The cat is just as dead either way. Right?
People who actively filter their thinking and consciously decide on what values they hold not only make decisions with awareness but experience emotions fully informed by that awareness. Meaning what?
We realize WHY we feel what we feel when we've CHOSEN our value while on alert. Contrast that with the person who is lazy about thinking. What means of information SUBconsciously gets fed? Rumor, innuendo, urban myth, social norms, legends, lies and half-truths. This sort of person doesn't KNOW why they suddenly experience emotional attachments that seem AT ODDs with CONSCIOUS knowledge. Passive thinking programs us unaware that we are feeding our emotions at the same time.
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES are warped by being instructed to use EMOTIONS as SOURCE of information.
Love of Jehovah. Loyalty to the Governing Body. Love of everlasting life. Desire for paradise earth with all their previously deceased loved ones.
THE TAIL WAGS THE DOG!
By using EMOTIONS as a source of information the JW is tricked into accepting WATCHTOWER VALUES!
The virus enters and the programmed individual is trapped into a wrong scheme of living which defeats their RATIONAL mind.
Emotions rule instead of Rational thinking based on evidence!