Is Negative emotion better than no emotion?

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What state is preferable?
Zombie void 44%  44%  [ 8 ]
Melancholy 56%  56%  [ 10 ]
Total votes : 18

Nambo
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10 Nov 2013, 5:56 pm

Being in Love and happy and living in a world of Bunnies and Puppies is obviously the preferred state.

But in the permanent absence of the above, what is preferable, an empty emotional void filled with unsatisfied longings in an otherwise mundane but comfortable existence, or

Extreme sadness, melancholy and depression, satisfying your emotional hunger with the only thing available to you?
Where you search out sad films, listen to the Blues, reflect on your misery so that you at least get to experience something of the emotional self.



Who_Am_I
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10 Nov 2013, 6:04 pm

I've been depressed to the point of feeling nothing. The negative emotions came back first, and they were very welcome.


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smudge
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10 Nov 2013, 6:08 pm

Feeling nothing is...completely meaningless. At least a negative emotion has meaning, and makes you feel *something*.


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Willard
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10 Nov 2013, 6:11 pm

None of the above. I'm fine with just achieving a sort of contentment with the status quo. Awareness that the world is not perfect, but being able to acknowledge that fact without getting unduly upset about it.

A bunnies and puppies state is dangerous, as it blinds people to the hazards of the real world. Besides, it's not very productive. People who are too happy are not motivated to accomplish anything, because they already have everything they want.

Negative emotion takes too much energy to maintain. It's draining. Whether it's rage or despair, that require huge amounts of energy, or angst and worry, which also burn lots of mental calories, or just melancholy and general dissatisfaction, those are all states that accelerate the aging process.

Unfortunately, I feel that the guiding philosophy in today's mass media is that these are the emotions that keep audiences captivated, so they collectively keep humanity in a falsely heightened negative state of anger and anxiety.



Schizpergers
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10 Nov 2013, 6:59 pm

I feel nothing most the time and I would much rather feel nothing than be in a bad mood. I cannot understand why anyone would desire to feel bad.
People who are distressed about feeling nothing are likely depressed. If they were actually feeling nothing it wouldn't bother them.



AGhostWriter
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10 Nov 2013, 8:29 pm

This is nearly the exact problem I've been struggling with for days. I've been very low and possibly suffered bout of depression for almost a full year now, and I've gotten to the point that I'm just trying to return to this sort of perpetual emotional void. I welcomed all of my sadness at first because it was the first true emotion I allowed myself to feel after years of shutting everything out. Now I'm just trying to go back to being in a preferable state of feeling mostly nothing aside from occasionally mild anger and annoyance. Everything is easier this way. I suppose there is a certain sense of not embracing my 'humanity', but honestly nothing embracing my 'humanity' got me was worth keeping.


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10 Nov 2013, 9:43 pm

I rather feel nothing than to be in pain. I so wish I had NO feelings. If it were possible to shut off all emotions when it comes to humans, I would do that.


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Toy_Soldier
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11 Nov 2013, 12:31 am

I think if an area can't be satisfied, thats its better to shut it down. You can always get it going again in better circumstances.



hurtloam
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11 Nov 2013, 2:35 pm

Nambo wrote:
But in the permanent absence of the above, what is preferable, an empty emotional void filled with unsatisfied longings in an otherwise mundane but comfortable existence...


Ideally the emotional void would be such that there were no unsatisfied longings because there would be no longings at all. To be a proper void it would have nothing in it.

Generally I'm ok if I don't have to deal with other people. It's when people tell me about their lives that I realise that I'm missing out or not living to the full and then I feel trapped and depressed because I can't figure out how to change my life.

I prefer it when I'm in a void. I met someone recently that I liked and spent a happy hour or two talking to him and then I realised what I was missing out on. Don't know what the chances are of running into him again. I wish I hadn't met him because then I would just be happy in my void and nothing would have interrupted that quiet peacful life I was living. I'll get over it eventually and go back to normal again soon enough I suppose and stop writing in this section.



Shatbat
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11 Nov 2013, 4:28 pm

Who_Am_I wrote:
I've been depressed to the point of feeling nothing. The negative emotions came back first, and they were very welcome.


It's pretty much like this; if I feel bad about something then it's ok, I can't feel good about everything :lol:. But total apathy, not THAT's something to worry about.


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leafplant
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11 Nov 2013, 4:37 pm

I love total apathy. The only problem is that when I finally get to that coveted state I get too cocky and think it would be ok to feel something...and then it goes again...a long and torturous cycle until I gain those 5 minutes of relief...



thewhitrbbit
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11 Nov 2013, 4:59 pm

Negative emotion will corrupt you and eventually destroy you.



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11 Nov 2013, 6:18 pm

Unhappiness is better than depression.

Crying at a sad film is better than being unable to watch films due to depression.