Sometimes anger is good
Sunday, 2011-October-30
There you have all these philosophical approaches talking about how we need to control our emotions – at least the negative ones. So the stoics talk about apatheia. Now, for some reason I thought that this would be a pretty boring life anyway. Or as I read in an article on Buddhist monks where they made tests showing that those monks really didn`t get startled when when hit unexpectedly: “Isn`t there something good in getting startled too?”
So I always thought giving into strong “good” emotions is a good thing as it intensifies life. But to be honest, I think there are times when letting negative emotions show is a good thing too – to make the others aware that they are pushing it.
So maybe we shouldn`t always hide them but give them direction and purpose in order to continue with our lives in peace …
Why is it …
Thursday, 2011-October-6
That sometimes the death of a stranger can move us so?
Steve Jobs (1955-2011) – How to live before you die
Thomas Nagel wrote in his book “The View from Nowhere” that with every human being a world dies …
Man the laughing animal
Sunday, 2011-October-2
Ich fürchte, die Tiere betrachten den Menschen als ein Wesen Ihresgleichen, das in höchst gefährlicher Weise den gesunden Tierverstand verloren hat, — als das wahnwitzige Tier, als das lachende Tier, als das weinende Tier, als das unglückselige Tier.
(Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science)
Well, ever since Aristotle who claimed that man is the only animal that can laugh we thought it to be a unique human trait. So now, when my mom told me today on the phone that there were experiments being made to show that animals can laugh too, I can ask myself: Does that make me as a human being less since the difference between man and animal seems to be getting smaller or the animal more? My emotional reactions tends towards the second notion I notice. I always thought rats are very human …
Doesn`t it make us so much more responsible towards our fellow creatures and to take care of them the way the stronger should of the weaker?
