EMOTIONS

 By Rev. Keith Smyth

The above signature is that of Rev. Keith Smyth. His expertise is in Huna, Biofeedback, computers, dreams, science and electronics. He is doing research in some of the above areas. He is a Technical Writer, Electronics Instructor and Metaphysical Teacher. He is also a cartoonist and contributes many for our Rainbow Connection.

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This was written for the Rainbow Connection, to be sent to prisoners (insiders) sentenced for crimes committed (whether the one sentenced actually committed the crime or not). However, it pertains to everyone.

THE FUNCTION OF EMOTIONS

I heard the statement the other day --"I am powerless over my emotions". At first, I kind of thought "You poor soul....", and then I began thinking. What did this person really mean? So I asked. The answer I received was very informative.

It boiled down to this: I recognize that I have emotions. I recognize that I have let powerful forces, which I have never attempted to understand, control my life. I recognize that these forces are not controllable by "reason". I recognize that even though I am gripped by powerful emotions, I do not necessarily have to take any action about them. I recognize that far too often I have taken immediate action in such circumstances, and I am still paying the price for unwise actions. Emotions cannot be ruled, legislated, nor repressed. Emotions are a fact of living in a physical body! For many, emotions are a prison and the sentence is life. For others, the sentence is prison because of an emotion. What then can be done about emotions? The answer is not simple, nor is it easy. There is no such thing as a "Free Lunch".

The real answer is...nothing. Nada. Not one damned thing! GOT THAT? You had better, because the rest of your life, and your view of your past, hangs in the balance. You will have emotions, and there is not one conscious, intellectual thing you can do to change that fact. Even if you believe you have them "under control", you are lying to yourself.

Are you the "calm, deliberate type person, unruffled by pressure - anything"? Question. Catch a lot of colds? Flu? What about stomach trouble, indigestion? Ulcers? Blood pressure up? In trouble with relationships? The law? I can say this straight out. There is something inside you just waiting to explode...and take you with it!

So what is the function of emotions? Simply this. It is the non-conscious level of mind, using body sensations, attempting to communicate with the conscious mind. Period. That is it. The whole ball of wax. No flim-flam, no con. Just straight fact. It is a level of mind, attempting to get the conscious minds attention, that there is either something going on that is pleasurable, or not pleasurable, so please do something.

We accept and enjoy those sensations which we term as pleasurable. We reject, deny and feel guilty about those emotions we consider as "negative", such as hatred, fear, anger, frustration, jealousy, guilt.

Why? Because we do not recognize them as warning signs from the non-conscious levels. We regard them as "bad" or "evil". Are we, as we are told over and over again, to "love everything"?

What a bummer!

That one is a classic double-bind. Are we then to love persecution of the weak and helpless, are we to love murder, rape, torture of the helpless? What about forcibly taking something someone else worked hard to acquire?

Personally, I do not love these things, nor the people who do them. Even you dudes in jail and the pen do not love these things, especially when they are happening to you!

The function of these emotions is to tell the intellect that something is happening that is detrimental, destructive or at the very least, unpleasurable to you, and for God's sake, don't just sit there, do some thing about it!

So what about emotions? You were taught, as children, that certain actions were acceptable to those around you, and others definitely were not. The teachings were accompanied by various levels of violence. Now consider this next part very carefully

The violence did not have to consist of physical abuse. Violence can consist of mental abuse! Inconsistently enforced rules of behavior damages just as effectively as bruises or torn and bleeding bodies! You, at that time, decided how you would feel about such things from then on, and even more importantly, exactly how you would deal with anyone who attempted to inflict such things on you again! And you have done just exactly what you said you would, ever since! And our emotions are our non-conscious levels of mind, using body sensations, attempting to signal the conscious mind to either get the hell out of there, or to do something about the situation. The rub comes in when we choose an action which is not very beneficial to ourselves, under the rules of the society we live in. And all societies have rules of conduct.

Pushing the guys teeth down his throat just because he had the gall to object when being ripped off, is most definitely a no-no. Kapish? But then why were you ripping him off in the first place? Because he was sucker enough to be a "Straight John"? Or because you had a hundred a day habit? But basically because he had something you could use, right?

Simply put, you wanted it, and he had it, and it is just too dumb to work for it, when you can be smart, and rip it off. Smart? He is still walking around OUTSIDE, and you are INSIDE! Smart? Or dumb? So why not work for it in the first place? Because intellectually/emotionally we revert to four years old, grab it and clobber the kid who tries to stop us. Period.

Emotionally it was wanted. Intellectual choice of action caused trouble. That simple. And that complex. Every one of you in the pen now, made that choice. I do not deny that our so-called "justice" system has not sent many innocents there, along with the guilty. But those of you who know you did it, know who I mean. I am not saying that you should "Love it, because you are responsible for choosing it." Especially the innocent. And then again, at the Deep Self level, that is true, but we are not consciously aware of it, and therefore, it is not so. What I am saying is that the action you choose now, in response to the emotion you have now, can and will determine the entire course of your life. No one else's. Bitterness, desire for revenge, emotional outbursts will cause only greater harm to you. Those of you who are there in prison now, because you did in fact do it, know what I mean. You are also probably pretty clear right now that it was because of an emotional havoc that you did commit your crime. Even those of you who planned every step of it... except the detail that got you caught... well, look back

Were you really thinking all that clear? What has your basic lifetime emotion been? The one you felt most often? Anger? Fear? Frustration? Rage? At who? Parents? Teachers? Authorities? Family? Those who had more things than you? More complex than that?

Then identify it. Even those who may not have done what you are penned up for. Do it for yourself. What emotion have you spent the greatest part of your life living in? How many times have you been at war inside yourself? Why has that war taken place? Who do you hate? Can you actually put faces to that hate, or are "they" faceless?

If you can put a face to your hatred, stop and think back. Remember. Recall. Notice, that as screwed up as you are, they are even more so, and always were! Or maybe, it was that you were so screwed up that you could not recognize common sense when you were handed it. Ever think about that? It might just be that you are a natural. A real honest-to-God screw up! If so, then, unlike the pregnant woman, you can be unscrewed!

It won't be easy, but it can be done. How? By using your emotions as your friend, not your enemy. By acknowledging that another level of yourself is trying to get your attention about something that is happening. By looking at whether or not that emotion is not just a learned response to the violence of our being taught by someone who was even more screwed up than we were. Or, if the lines were solid, firm, and the the punishment predictable, then it was our rebellion that did us in.

Whichever it was, many of our emotions are learned responses to how we were taught, as well as what we were taught. If you are reading this right now, you will recognize the truth of that statement. Of course, if you are not reading this, right now, then you are an ignorant barbarian. Only those with intelligence could get this far, anyway. Ha! Did you know that emotions can be changed? Old learned responses can be unlearned. How? By the simple but damnedably difficult process just outlined. But then it is YOUR life, not mine. I know it works, because I am doing it. Sometimes, even effectively.

PEACE