The rationality of emotion

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I was laying in bed pondering about the role of Logic and Reason in our lives. I don't do this often, but sometimes when I get thinking, it really goes off.

I was musing about the tremendous importance of these things and are they the most important objects to allow to govern our lives? What about emotion? What about the delight in chaos and disorder? I think logic, rationality, and reason still trump them all and I will try to expound but will probably trip myself up along the way.

This was sparked by a documentary we watched this evening on an aspect of alternative medicine. It was a terribly unscientific and unprofessionally done film. Not that it didn't try to promote a valuable treatment that showed promise, but it constantly cried out against "the establishment" keeping this treatment down. I had to admit, if I were "the establishment" and could so readily find flaws in their statistics, their logical reasoning, I'd dismiss it too. Not out of greed, but out of lack of concrete reason. Emily and I discussed the science and decided to check out what Pubmed had on this treatment. Quickly we found some statistics that did promote this treatment as beneficial to cancer patients vs. no treatment. Not a perfect treatment by any means, some of the survival rates for severely metastisized cancers were 39% 5-year survival using the prescribed method vs. 6% 5-year survival for no treatment. Sounds great. But what are the 5-year survival rates of the same cancers using conventional medicine? We didn't bother to look it up, it was late. But such an important set of stats as this would change everything, yet the movie hadn't used it at all. It spoke anecdotally to only survivors. They could find lots of them who'd used this method, but somehow couldn't similarly interview those who'd died. Nor did they compare numbers against conventional (i.e. "the establishment's") treatments. To me, it doesn't really matter at this point, because the treatment involved such modalities as eating a plant-based diet (they actually advertised veganism, but that discussion I'll save for another time) and everything I've ever learned agrees with this, so it's a moot point in my life, but the evening was a stimulating exercise of logic and reasoning.

Back to this idea of emotion. How does it play into the progress and improvement of life? Or better yet, how does it improve our existence? Sadly, I think it safe to say that the incredible majority of problems in this world arise because of abused, uncontrolled, or unchecked emotions. Yet it is checked emotions, properly controlled by reason and logic, that provide almost all production and improvement on this planet. What is emotion? I define it to be the set of physical and mental reactions which our immeasurably complex environment and our collected set of memories and intelligence exert on us. Sounds robotic, dry, and lifeless, but let me give an example: there is a windy stretch of road near our home. Close to the side of the road is a steep and high cliff dropping to the beach and ocean below. The road itself is fairly steep and the sharp corners can be hazardous at high speeds. The scenery is reminiscent of romantic views of Mediterranean vistas. The ruggedness of the terrain is unusual for any city of comparable size. I get an amazing rush of pleasure riding my bicycle as fast as I can down this street. Enough of a rush that if I have the time, the energy, and the weather on my side, I'll ride an extra 100 feet uphill and a mile out of the way to barrel down on my way home from school. I have occasionally passed cars doing this. This creates even more of a rush.

This ride produces strong and temporary emotions. Thinking about it, that emotion is created partly by the amazing scenery, the stimlulation of wind on my face, the forces pulling on me as I speed around the corners, and a great deal because of the slight loss of predictability of my outcome. I let go a little bit of the control I have over my life. It is scary. When I don't die or get hurt (which has been every time, knock on wood), I feel terrific. That additional bit of chance I throw into my life sparks emotion.

The possibility of disorder or lack of control is what creates emotions. When an outcome goes against our predictions we become sad or angry. When it unexpectedly goes right, we become ecstatic. When we enter into a relationship with another person our emotions become tied to their actions as we give up control of some portion of our life to them. This creates very strong emotions.

As we learn about our emotions, we become more rational and logical, and in maintaining control over them we are able to produce, to create.

So, thinking eternally, how does God experience emotion? He knows everything, can do everything, and in perfection would never knowingly endanger his position or give up any of his control to anyone else? How does our eternal Father have any room for emotion? If he wanted the rush of a risky activity, he would give up attributes and qualities that make him God such as perfect logic, rationality, and reason. If he didn't know the outcome of everything, he wouldn't be God. His emotions are intimately and eternally tied to us, his children. He has achieved perfection and glory. The risk and chance he takes are the risks and chances we take on ourselves. We are disordered and chaotic. We are learning and growing. We choose our eternal futures. Some of us will choose to model him, will receive ability and power, and thus achieve glory, adding it to his and giving him a source of pleasure and joy in achieving the desired outcome. Others of us will not and squander their positions, properties, and abilities, and fail to retain our own control over ourselves. The desired outcome is not achieved and sadness for us is felt in him.

This seems like a perfect spot to be in. Relinquishing no control he didn't previously have (the exercise of our will) and completely avoiding endangerment to himself (he loses nothing of his own since our free will was never his to begin with) he is able to experience all realms of emotion in his control over this amazing universe. Managing the complexity of innumerable planets of billions of his children, trillions of life forms, and uncountable interactions of matter and energy all while having the capacity to monitor and care for each one should provide a ready source of physical and mental stimulation along with all accompanying emotions to keep someone like our Heavenly Father working and doing for an eternity. To cease acting would create a loss of these emotions and so in selflessly working to produce to give us power and control, he is rewarded by us. Enough desirable emotion that he would continue to do it.

This makes him an integral part of the universe. Always maintaining the ability to cease, but in never doing so he becomes everlasting and eternal. Not even matter and packets of energy can tout these qualities and yet he is infinitely more complex than the universe and life in their entireties.

Thinking this way provided some relief to a troubled spot in my mind: What would you do with all of that time and ability after a couple of eternities have passed? I admit, I don't feel satisfied with the written explanation I've given, but it worked out better in my head an hour ago when my emotions were running stronger and before I had to sift out the rational parts that fit into simple text.