Ayn Rand: “When men abandon reason, they find not only that their emotions cannot guide them, but that they can experience no emotions save one: terror.”
“Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions…”
1. AND now it came to pass that when Moroni had received this epistle [from Pahoran the Chief Judge] his heart did take courage, and was filled with exceedingly great joy because of the faithfulness of Pahoran, that he was not also a traitor to the freedom and cause of his country. 2. But he did also mourn exceedingly because of the iniquity of those who had driven Pahoran from the judgment–seat, yea, in fine because of those who had rebelled against their country and also their God.
You may not be able, simply by choice, to free yourself at once from unworthy feelings. You can choose to give up the immoral expression of them.
8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. 9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.
“Get the spirit of the Lord, and stop your whining, every one of you.”
"Let me offer a word of caution. … I think if we are not careful … , we may begin to try to counterfeit the true influence of the Spirit of the Lord by unworthy and manipulative means. I get concerned when it appears that strong emotion or free-flowing tears are equated with the presence of the Spirit. Certainly the Spirit of the Lord can bring strong emotional feelings, including tears, but that outward manifestation ought not to be confused with the presence of the Spirit itself.”
We can’t feel differently toward others until we think differently about them and ourselves.
Changing your story is the key to changing your feelings.
“School thy feelings, O my brother; Train thy warm, impulsive soul. Do not its emotions smother, But let wisdom’s voice control. School thy feelings; there is power In the cool, collected mind. Passion shatters reason’s tower, Makes the clearest vision blind.”
“No matter what his emotions, a sane man retains the power to face facts. If an emotion is overwhelming, he retains the power to recognize this and to defer cognition until he can establish a calmer mood.”
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ... Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
7. And now, when Mosiah had made an end of reading the records [of Zeniff], his people who tarried in the land [of Zarahemla] were struck with wonder and amazement. 8. For they knew not what to think; for when they beheld those that had been delivered out of bondage they were filled with exceedingly great joy. 9. And again, when they thought of their brethren who had been slain by the Lamanites they were filled with sorrow, and even shed many tears of sorrow. 10. And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God. 11. And again, when they thought upon the Lamanites, who were their brethren, of their sinful and polluted state, they were filled with pain and anguish for the welfare of their souls.
“If we pause to consider any emotional response from love to fear to rage, we can notice that implicit in every response is a dual value judgment. Every emotion reflects the judgment of ‘for me’ or ‘against me’—and also ‘to what extent.’ Thus, emotions differ according to their content and according to their intensity. Strictly speaking, these are not two separate value judgments; they are integral aspects of the same judgment and are experienced as one response … Every emotion contains an inherent action tendency; that is, an impetus to perform some action related in that particular emotion. The emotion of fear is a person’s response to that which threatens his or her values; it entails the action tendency to avoid or flee from the feared object.”
“[Most Greek Philosophers] held that emotions are not simply blind surges of affect … rather they are discriminating responses closely connected with beliefs about how things are and what is important … if one really accepts or takes in a certain belief, one will experience emotion … the pursuit of intellectual reasoning apart from emotion will actually prevent a full rational judgment—for example by preventing access to one’s grief, or one’s love, that is necessary for the full understanding of what has taken place when a loved one dies. Emotions can, of course, be unreliable—in much the same way beliefs can … they are not self-certifying sources of ethical truth.”
“We claim that the Christian world is in a state of apostasy, and though thousands and millions of them are perfectly sincere—just as sincere in their belief as we are in ours—still, it devolves upon me as a servant of God to preach what I know to be the truth, and you can take your choice whether you accept or reject it.”
If you’re feeling stressed or helpless, change your body’s state — get outside and take a walk, or jump in the pool (or better yet the ocean) — because every emotion and symptom you feel is directly correlated with what you do with your body.
Values are the things that we must ACT upon to gain or keep. We then sort these things into a hierarchy scale according to the relative amount these are for me, neutral, or against me.
Emotions are Lightning Quick Calculators of What I Perceive to Be “For Me” or “Against Me”
Ayn Rand: “When men abandon reason, they find not only that their emotions cannot guide them, but that they can experience no emotions save one: terror.”
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