Emotions are the expression of the
thoughts in the body. If so all thoughts have an emotional
component. But some more so than others, depending on the nature
of the thought, and the samskaras that
is represents. Even the highest forms of bliss that are
experienced in the aftermath of samadhi
appear to be felt as well as thought.
The emotions are the expression of the vrttis. Each chakra has
the capacity to express a range of vrttis, but in practice will
only express some of them to varied degrees. In fact these are
not all expressed all the time, or all at the same time. There
can be certain triggers that stimulate emotions. The balance
of the vrttis determines the strength of the response to these
triggers.
There must be a very complex relationship between physical and
mental components. The actual expression of the emotions depends
on the secretion of hormones by the glands that correspond to
the vrttis. This can be in response to real or imagined stimuli.
A real snake, or the rope that looks like a snake in the dark.
This implies that the mental image is the root stimulus, and
yet this stimulus does not have to make it into conscious
awareness (although it usually does) to have to response occur.
But what the conditioning that sets the response is multifaceted.
Past experiences can create associations that strengthen a response,
or produce a response in some people that does not exist in others.
E.g. the man who becomes nauseous at the smell of bananas, due to
a long rough sea voyage in a banana boat. Some may be completely
biological, e.g. reaction to someone else's fear or sexual arousal.
But even this is complicated. How much is due to direct biological
response to phemerones, how much to an energetic or psychic
sensing of the others emotions?
Thus we come back to the idea that the samskara's, from present or
past life regulate the settings of the vrttis and the responses to
stimuli.
In the expression of emotions it is said that some of them are
current, in response to the present-time situation. Others are
stored, old emotions that were tucked away at the time, and which
can arise in response to various triggers at a later time. These
are often very powerful, due both to their accumulation over time
to repeated similar situations, and perhaps to the energy and
effort that has gone into containing them over the years. When
they finally erupt they can be overwhelming.
While the result of suppression may be an eventual explosion, or
a slow rotting away on the inside, it is said that uncontrolled
expression only leads to further expression. In opening up the
stored patterns, the cakras are set and the more energy flows
through that configuration the more set, or open it becomes. Thus
one seeks a third way, in which the energy is transformed, neither
suppressed, or given unlimited expression. Where does the energy,
or force come from, if not the original stored energy? Is it
simply that the set of the vrttis colors incoming cosmic energy
in a given way, and the more it flows the more comes? In which
case it is only by changing the picture, the setting of the vrttis
that the outflow will change its character. Just as the more love
we give the more we get, so to with other emotions. So we must
not only open ourselves as a channel, but cleanse ourselves so that
the energy remains pure as it flows through us.
But how does this relate to the idea of elemental emotional beings?
Is this simply the clairvoyant's picture of the above, seeing the
drawing in of the energy, as it steps down to the emotional level,
as the inflow of an external being? Or are they seeing the old
stored energies, which having been shunted aside take on a quasi-life
of their own. If there are independent beings, that like to find
expression, it is only when we are in resonance to start with that
they can come in. Once they are in, then they can amplify and nudge
us further in a given direction.
How does one tell the difference?
The Setting of the Vrttis
The Expression of Current Emotions
The facial expressions produced by various emotions is common to
all people, and appears to be part of the
body's expression of that emotion. Even deaf and blind children
display the same expressions. In reverse, the assumption of various
expressions produces the associated emotion, including appropriate
autonomic nervous responses, which
vary from emotion to emotion.
The gastrointestinal and cardiac systems are involved in the
expression of most emotions, and are linked to the sympathetic nervous system. This is aroused by all
strong emotions and excitements, producing a similar range of
physical reactions for many emotions. There are some differences
between emotions and also variation in the physical "symptoms"
in different individuals, but in general they all involve the
same division of the autonomic
nervous system. [HB] [It seems probable that although the
stimulus is the same (e.g. preparing for an exam) the emotional
response actually varies. Some may be nervous with fear others
with excitement. I.e. the variation in the
samskaras or pictures that
are activated may explain part of the variation in the physiological
reactions.]
The lower emotions, the vrttis of the
first three chakras, arise due to the four
basic aspects of the vrtti kama and the
attachments formed in satisfying them.
If the energies of the lower chakras are
repressed, and fail completely to rise
to the level of the heart chakra then
the person will be "without feelings". E.g. emotions are associated
with the first three chakras, and feelings with the fourth. [See
also comments by Micheal T.]
The emotional response to perceptions
is intimately bound up with their interpretation or meaning. However, there is a circular
affect, in that the emotional state prior to the perception will
color its interpretation. This agrees with the idea that perception
in general is only meaningful in
relation to the immediately proceeding perceptions.
The loss of the ability to recognize a
paralyzed limb as part of one's
self is apparently bound up with the loss of any emotional
connection to it. In a person who loses their sense of color, there is a strong
emotional reaction to the new view of the world, which is so
different than it had been. This may include depression etc., but
also a sense of ugliness and anger at the world. This begins to fade
as the person moves on to creating a
new world view based on their new way of seeing, and may give
way to a real joy at a new way of experiencing life. [AM]
Emotions arise in part on the basis of relationship to self,
including ones level of attachment or
avoidance. Thus a developed
self (body) image would have large role in defining ones
emotions. [SFF]
The interesting question is, how much of this is in fact an
energy process, i.e. what might be termed a
psychic interaction. It is noted that people who receive
emotions are often not expressive. This might be because they
are actually more sensitive, and have an inward focus, trying to
control all the energy they are picking up from others, attempts
to avoid interactions due to fear of invalidation, or knowing
that they will probably pick up more unwanted energy. [ahm]
