Welcome to Cairo.
If you ever come here, you'll know what I mean. Just about EVERYONE I meet says that. It's The Uberfriendlyness! Or something.
Anyhow, my dad's working here now, so parents have moved over here, so now its summer holidays and Uni's out, here I am.
Speaking of Uni, blaaaaaaargh. That is all I have to say on the matter. Alright wasnt that bad, but ONE freaking subject screwed me over...well sort of. Just thought i did a bit better really. Should be enough to get me where i want to go, hopefully. Stupid grades. For some weird reason I've even had DREAMS about that bloody thing coming up and causing problems later on. Who knew school was this stressful? Oh thats right, everyone does!
Well havent done much in Cairo yet, just helping out my mom recently. Not much to say about that, I'll probably have to write more about that later.
Being surrounded by deserts, this place is really sandy, and really dry. Takes a bit of getting used to, but honetly i cant wait for a sandstorm. I'm just curious as to what its like. Heh asking for trouble I suppose, well I'm back to sketching and attempting to write a story, which has sort of been in the works for the last few months or so, still very early in development. Writing a coherent story is honestly such a huge undertaking I wonder if i have the preserverence to keep it going. Wel summer holidays are long, we'll see what happens.
11 May 2006
Emotion
Wanted to post this a while ago, seems kind of rough still and doesnt seem to convey my exact thoughts, but hey...close enough i guess.
People say emotions are separate from thought. That while some people think things through, others react on their feelings. I do believe that everyone has some coherent thoughts before doing anything and do not just react instinctively. Unless of course the adrenaline is flowing and said person is in fight/flight mode.
But lets not get sidetracked (too much).
All the abstract ideas on what emotions actually are; have been thought up. So can we even define them in words in the first place? Would that not be picking apart and examining what makes up that particular emotion and thus losing part of the whole already. As we know, the sum of the parts of something does not necessarily equal the whole. That we try to describe emotions by 'thinking' about them seems to be a step backwards if they are truly apart from thought. Just how separate are emotion and thought anyway?
Some might say emotions are simply subconcious thoughts, things which are already going on in the background and simply bubble to the surface given the appropriate stimulus. Well i think so anyway, heh. After all people separate the 'head' from the 'heart', but this is obviously another flawed old view, because its rather obvious that the heart, while essential, is simply a blood pump. When brain activity stops it is assumed that the person has no concious thoughts. So it seems to fit rather appropriately, that while you may not conciously be thinking of anything, you can still 'feel' something, still have emotions. So subconcious = emotions, possibly, i'm not brain expert.
If you've gotten this far into this post, lie back in your seat for a moment, look around and take a stretch, you've earned it by getting past that sea of rambling.
Now lets move on and answer the question i posed earlier. How separate are thought and emotion? There seems to be a division, even if we go with the subconcious and concious thought theory thingy. Obviously one is done conciously with knowledge and intent while the other simply goes about without us ever knowing about it, most of the time (dreams are fun but i'm going on way too long already).
I do believe one more thing however, that state of mind affects emotion. So what i mean is that, thought makes emotion. And that seems like a weird conclusion. I know some people will be saying at this point: No way, its just another one of those, Thought Rules Emotion crappy thingamabobs!
But thats not what i meant really. Its simply the outlook we have on our lives. I must have deleted what i wanted to say after this around 20 times and i still cant word it right; so lets try an example?
So look at your life right now, in my case: i'm swamped with homework, i'm constantly lacking sleep, being kept up by my roudy floor mates, eating cafeteria food which i've grown bored of about a month ago, and my significant other is across the Pacific Ocean. Sure if you look at things like that you could say your life is pretty sucky.
But the way i look at things most of the time is: i'm actually in a university and i wanted to be here, i'm eating food at all, which is edible despite being rather boring by now, i get along with my floormates, and actually HAVE a significant other! (Wan Noor Diyana that is, be still my heart....)
When i look at things in that light i kind of feel grateful rather than sad.
So is it as simple as what Monty Python says? Always look on the bright side of life? (Though no one does expect the spanish inquisition, thats not relevant here) And by doing so will our lives magically seem happier and more fulfilling? The answer: I dont know, but hey it works for me. Perhaps thats the point i should have been pursuing in the first place, that we should honestly look at life and live life the way that makes us feel good. So think good, feel good, go have fun and stop reading this rubbish.
People say emotions are separate from thought. That while some people think things through, others react on their feelings. I do believe that everyone has some coherent thoughts before doing anything and do not just react instinctively. Unless of course the adrenaline is flowing and said person is in fight/flight mode.
But lets not get sidetracked (too much).
All the abstract ideas on what emotions actually are; have been thought up. So can we even define them in words in the first place? Would that not be picking apart and examining what makes up that particular emotion and thus losing part of the whole already. As we know, the sum of the parts of something does not necessarily equal the whole. That we try to describe emotions by 'thinking' about them seems to be a step backwards if they are truly apart from thought. Just how separate are emotion and thought anyway?
Some might say emotions are simply subconcious thoughts, things which are already going on in the background and simply bubble to the surface given the appropriate stimulus. Well i think so anyway, heh. After all people separate the 'head' from the 'heart', but this is obviously another flawed old view, because its rather obvious that the heart, while essential, is simply a blood pump. When brain activity stops it is assumed that the person has no concious thoughts. So it seems to fit rather appropriately, that while you may not conciously be thinking of anything, you can still 'feel' something, still have emotions. So subconcious = emotions, possibly, i'm not brain expert.
If you've gotten this far into this post, lie back in your seat for a moment, look around and take a stretch, you've earned it by getting past that sea of rambling.
Now lets move on and answer the question i posed earlier. How separate are thought and emotion? There seems to be a division, even if we go with the subconcious and concious thought theory thingy. Obviously one is done conciously with knowledge and intent while the other simply goes about without us ever knowing about it, most of the time (dreams are fun but i'm going on way too long already).
I do believe one more thing however, that state of mind affects emotion. So what i mean is that, thought makes emotion. And that seems like a weird conclusion. I know some people will be saying at this point: No way, its just another one of those, Thought Rules Emotion crappy thingamabobs!
But thats not what i meant really. Its simply the outlook we have on our lives. I must have deleted what i wanted to say after this around 20 times and i still cant word it right; so lets try an example?
So look at your life right now, in my case: i'm swamped with homework, i'm constantly lacking sleep, being kept up by my roudy floor mates, eating cafeteria food which i've grown bored of about a month ago, and my significant other is across the Pacific Ocean. Sure if you look at things like that you could say your life is pretty sucky.
But the way i look at things most of the time is: i'm actually in a university and i wanted to be here, i'm eating food at all, which is edible despite being rather boring by now, i get along with my floormates, and actually HAVE a significant other! (Wan Noor Diyana that is, be still my heart....)
When i look at things in that light i kind of feel grateful rather than sad.
So is it as simple as what Monty Python says? Always look on the bright side of life? (Though no one does expect the spanish inquisition, thats not relevant here) And by doing so will our lives magically seem happier and more fulfilling? The answer: I dont know, but hey it works for me. Perhaps thats the point i should have been pursuing in the first place, that we should honestly look at life and live life the way that makes us feel good. So think good, feel good, go have fun and stop reading this rubbish.
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