Does emotion really mean anything?

sleepy

Lets for a moment agree that we a evolved and no God was involved in the matter.We were not created in Gods image and are not endowed with his qualities.

Do the emotions we feel mean anything or are they just an illusion without true meaning?For example is the more intense feeling of love toward your family just a leftover from evolution, where maybe at one time it served to keep you in a pack so you were safe from harm?Is a special attatchment to blood relations really benifical anymore?

Why do we have a need to be loved or to love or in fact do we?Are happiness a saddness just a chance fluke of nature that happen to fall in place to fit cetain happenings in our lives?Maybe some people feel happy at things that sadden us because of natural variation not evilness on their part?

Just why exactly and how did humans come to posess emotions?

Vivamus

So emotions are nothing more that a chemic reaction in our brains. Maybe, but they are also what makes life worth living. Without emotions, our days would be filled with nothing but grey colors. Emotions give you laughter, give you passion and sorrow. They are what make you appreciate your life, your loves. Without them, life would be meaningless. Edited to say that I do not believe in a god, so the evolution part sounds right to me.

Edited by - Vivamus on 4 October 2002 17:12:27

larc

I don't know where they came from, but I am glad that I have them. Yes, life would be grey and joyless without them.

Are they an evolutionary residual? Perhaps, but I think they are still necessary for the survival of our species.

comforter

what is emotions? what do yo mean when you ask about emotions? how do people determine what is emotions and is not emotions?

terabletera

Interesting things you mentioned. I must admit to thinking about it a lot. For some reason, I have dismissed a god in the picture myself....for a multitude of reasons that most who BELIEVE in god would find inexcusable...been there done that. I just cant' help it. Emotion is an amazing thing..so why is it that our creator would have it so amazingly in check? That he/she/it can look upon the devastating things mankind can do to the innocent and do nothing? And we only say we are too small and insignificant to question such a being. Sorry, I feel very entitled to question. It is just that there is no one, or thing that I can find to question. Maybe, MAYBE, there is a force of creation. That's the best I can do. But the answers to the amazing things we find is simply not available.

My sister is a Christian. She asked what I say now to my children when they ask about the very difficult things in life that most parents answer with the "God" things like "We go to heaven" or "Only our Lord is aware of that, trust Him" or "God will never let such things happen"....I told her that this GOD seems to let a lot of things happen. So I focus on teaching my kids to "see the beauty of this world as well as feel the pain of it" and you can learn and move forward. It is the best I can do without filling them up with things I cannot prove.