If our spirit is that which makes alive and our mind is our cognitive function, what role does our mind play in our emotions, the up-stirrings of our spirit?
In my view, our mind often plays the key role in determining what emotions we feel.
For example, when we're taking a walk, see an object in our path, and interpret it to be a snake, we might feel fear. However, when we see it clearly and correctly interpret it to be a stick, we might then feel embarrassed and relieved.
Perceiving a snake is not just a matter of our sense sight. Neither is it merely a cognitive interpretation. It's a bio-psycho-social-spiritual event. It involves our physical sense of sight, our cognitive interpretation formed by our society. Our spirit not only makes the whole process of perceiving and interpreting possible but also responds to our interpretation by either being stirred up or remaining homeostatic.
Our spirit is what makes us alive and therefore able to perceive and interpret our perceptions. No spirit, no life; no life, no perception or interpretation; no perception or interpretation; no emotion (up-stirring of spirit).
Put affirmatively: spirit makes both perception and interpretation possible, interpretation makes emotion (up-stirring of spirit) possible.
Interpretation of perception is a function of our mind. How we interpret our perceptions determines how our spirit is stirred; that is, what emotions we feel.
The process is cyclic, beginning and ending with with spirit.
The moral of this story: we can manage our spirit with our mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment