Packet #5 (Part 1/90):
More Support For My Philosophy + Extensive Q&A Section
Note to Reader: You might wonder why this packet is so long. It's because I discuss other things in addition to my philosophy/worldview. Although I do think these other discussed things are important, I don't think they're that important to warrant their own files, and they were relevant to the discussion of my philosophy.
That's why they're all discussed in this big file. Many people might say this is an entire book I've written, rather than a packet. I had nothing better to do than write all this material, since I couldn't enjoy my life or hobbies, due to my miserable struggles (especially this recent struggle, which took the longest to recover from). Lastly, a value judgment is where you judge something as good, bad, beautiful, horrible, disgusting, etc.
So, perceiving value would have to mean perceiving goodness, badness, beauty, disgust, horror, etc. When we have no emotions, nothing can matter to us (since we're apathetic), and we can't see value, worth, or significance in anything. There will be people out there who'd deny this. But, I think it's true. I try to prove how emotions make things matter to us, and allow us to perceive value below:
I Think I Can Prove The Emotional Perception Theory Of Value: Considering how there are many people out there who disagree with the emotional perception theory of value, I think there's a way for me to personally prove it. This is my own personal argument, which is an attempt to translate emotions into perceptions of value. Positive emotions are the reward wanting and liking in the brain. When you want something and like something, this means it matters to you.
When something is good, bad, beautiful, disgusting, etc. from your perspective, this means it matters to you. For example, if getting a new video game, or movie, was something good or bad for you, that means it was something good or bad from your perspective, which is the same thing as saying it mattered to you. As I mentioned before, positive emotions make things matter to us in good ways, and negative emotions make things matter to us in bad ways, since positive emotions are the perception of good, and negative emotions are the perception of bad.
Now, the only way something can have value to you is if it matters to you. How can you say that helping someone had value, or even worth to you, if it didn't matter to you? It makes no sense. A life that doesn't matter to us would, thus, have to be a life that has no value from our perspective. Also, when you perceive value, that's the same thing as a value judgment. So, this whole argument I've made here also proves emotions are value judgments. Lastly, here's a link (study) that shows how positive emotions are the reward wanting and liking in the brain:
We have found a special hedonic hotspot that is crucial for reward 'liking' and 'wanting' (and codes reward learning too). The opioid hedonic hotspot is shown in red above. It works together with another hedonic hotspot in the more famous nucleus accumbens to generate pleasure 'liking'.
'Liking' and 'wanting' food rewards: Brain substrates and roles in eating disorders
Kent C. Berridge 2009 Mar 29.
For Those Who Disagree Positive Emotions Are Wanting And Liking: I think there will also be people out there who disagree that positive emotions are a form of wanting and liking. So, here's proof for them. Emotions are a form of motivation. When you have a positive form of motivation to do something, this means you want to do it and like to do it. The religious form of my worldview would say that the force of light (positive emotions) motivates us to have a relationship, create works of art, and to live our lives to the fullest.
Yes, The Light is unreliable, since it can result in harming us and others. But, it's still the only source of beauty and joy in our lives. The Darkness can also motivate us, but makes our lives bad and horrible. The force of light is from the heavens, and the force of darkness is from the lower realms. So, positive emotions symbolize heaven, and negative emotions symbolize hell. Having no emotions symbolizes The Void (or limbo, which is neither heaven nor hell). Our positive emotions make us angels on the inside, our negative emotions make us demons or beings of darkness on the inside, and having apathy just makes us empty vessels on the inside.
A Little Experiment: I have performed a little experiment here, and it's already clear to me that my emotions really are perceptions of value that give my life perceived value. There are certain stimuli that trigger positive or negative emotions, and then there are the types of stimuli that trigger no emotional response. When I look at the cup sitting there on my desk, it triggers no emotional response. I can clearly tell this cup doesn't matter to me and has no perceived value. It's nothing more than just a cup sitting there.
Sure, I can think it has perceived value and worth in my life, and that it matters to me. But, those thoughts are just ideas going through my mind that don't make the cup matter to me, or perceived as valuable and worthwhile. Now, when I turn my sights over to something that does trigger a positive emotion, such as a character from a video game or anime, I can clearly tell this character matters to me, and has such beauty and joy from my perspective upon feeling a positive emotion.
I clearly notice that all stimuli that trigger no emotional response are stimuli that have no perceived value (don't matter to me), while the stimuli that do trigger an emotional response are the stimuli that have perceived value (do matter to me). When people mistreat me and I feel a negative emotion from that, this mistreatment bothers me. But, when I don't feel any negative emotions from their mistreatment, then it doesn't bother me.
This is yet another reason why I'd prefer a life without negative emotions because this would mean that any name calling or mistreatment others give me wouldn't bother me. I'd be immune to it. Anyway, like I was saying before. If people perform this little experiment and report the opposite of my results, then this is just something I don't understand.
We live in a society where we're expected to go beyond our emotions. Thus, we tend to dismiss them as trivial when, in reality, they're vital and the very source of perceived value in our lives. So, maybe this would be a contributing factor to any results opposite of mine in this experiment. I have a keen sense of introspection, and I can clearly tell that emotions make things matter to me and give my life beauty, love, or horror. Maybe others don't have this keen sense of introspection.
My Nightmares: During my worst miserable moments, I've had very horrible nightmares. They've profoundly affected me, since they've consisted of very horrible emotional states far worse than anything I could experience in my waking life. But, then there were those nightmares I've had, which didn't have these horrible emotions.
These nightmares didn't affect me at all, and I've woken up from them like they were nothing. They were nightmares I've had when I was almost fully recovered from those miserable moments. This clearly says that emotions are what give us beautiful or horrible experiences, and that you can have nightmares that consist of the most gruesome, demonic, or hellish imagery and sounds.
But, as long as said nightmares don't have any horrible, disturbing emotions to them, then they're nothing more than images and sounds. They can't possess any horrifying or disturbing power to them. Another thing about dreams and nightmares is that spirits can contact us.
They can be angel spirits, demon spirits, or any spirit in general. Their spiritual energy will be received by our brains during our dreams and nightmares, which allows us to experience their angelic beauty, demonic horror, misery, despair, happiness, etc. via our emotions.
Changing My Philosophy Might Prove Very Difficult: As I said before, my philosophy is profoundly spiritual to me like a religion. Therefore, it would be that more difficult to change. It would be like trying to convert a Christian over to some other worldview, such as atheism, or to some philosophy. Most Christians I know remain Christians their entire lives. Few of them convert. As for me, I am 30 years old now.
Chances are, I might have this philosophy my whole entire life. Also, most Christians have a disagreement and conflict with atheists, or people with different worldviews. This is no different than how I disagree and debate with other people. What makes this situation even worse for me is that there are many factors that can take away my positive emotions.
If I'm ever put into a position where I lose my positive emotions, and they can't sufficiently recover back to me, this would put me in a position where changing my philosophy is the only option of changing my life for the better, and giving me a whole new set of values.
Unfortunately, this would be no different than putting a Christian in a position where converting over from his religion is the only way to change his life for the better. It would obviously prove very difficult to try to convert this Christian, since he thinks any other worldview is false, and that any set of values not founded upon Christianity aren't the truth.
Anime Metaphor: Since I love anime, then I'm going to use an anime metaphor for my worldview. As I said before, I'd describe the perception of beauty, greatness, and joy to be a divine state of consciousness, since it's something so vital and precious to our lives. This goes quite well with the anime metaphor I'm going to give.
The anime I'm going to use is Dragon Ball Super, if you're familiar with that show. Imagine if I was a character out on the field, meeting another character. I then induce a profoundly beautiful positive emotion by thinking of something very beautiful.
This positive emotion is a powerful, intense surge of divine beauty and joy through my conscious being. It transforms me into a Super Saiyan God. I'm now in a divine state of consciousness through this positive emotional state, and that's the reason why I'm now in this god-like/divine form. This form has beautiful aura, and there's beautiful music playing to express my divine form.
I then tell the other character on the field that this form is the ultimate thing in this universe, and nothing compares to it. I tell this character that positive emotions are, therefore, the ultimate divine things in this universe, and that he cannot match such power through his intellect and character.
Especially euphoric states, since these would be the most powerful god-like forms. The character then responds back to me by saying that I transform into the Super Saiyan God through my positive emotions, but that he transforms into the Super Saiyan God through his intellect, character, and morality. Now, there are two possibilities here.
The 1st is that this character would transform into a Super Saiyan God, which would mean he really is in that divine mental state (that state of perceiving beauty and joy). As a matter of fact, his Super Saiyan God form could be much more powerful and beautiful than mine.
He might tell me he has much more knowledge and life experience than me, and that's the reason why his form is so much greater than mine. From there, he'd tell me his form is everlasting, unlike mine, which only lasts for a short while. If this 1st scenario is the case, then I'd be very interested in obtaining the Super Saiyan God form this guy has.
It would bring my life perceived beauty and joy that, not only goes beyond that of my positive emotions, but is everlasting. But, there is a 2nd possibility here. That is, this guy could attempt to transform into a Super Saiyan God through his intellect and character, but won't.
He then might say to me he's a Super Saiyan God, when he really isn't. If this is the case, then he doesn't have that divine state of consciousness. He believes he's perceiving beauty and joy in his life when he really isn't.
From there, I'd tell him I'm the real god through my positive emotions, and that his intellect, character, and morality is nothing compared to positive emotions. So, there's my anime metaphor. I wanted to give this metaphor, since it makes my worldview more interesting.
While I'm on the topic of anime, if I were to feel profound beauty and joy from, for example, a female character, then it's as though her joyful and beautiful presence is there within my conscious being for a limited time only. So, not only do we experience the beauty and joy of moments and things in our lives through our positive emotions, but also the beauty and joy of certain characters.
What I've Learned From My Struggles: I've struggled with many miserable moments, due to unhealthy thought processes. This misery and hopelessness took up much of my life, and was the worst hell to be in. I've finally broken free of that cycle. What I've learned from this whole struggle is just how vital and precious positive emotions really are. In the past, I took them for granted and thought that perhaps there's more value to life, despite the fact that I was a hedonist in the past.
Now, I've come to realize that positive emotions truly are the only good in life through my whole struggle. This has made me into a religious hedonist, which means I'm much more of a hedonist now than I was before. How do I know positive emotions really are the only good things in life though? Well, I have a keen sense of introspection. That's how I know. I have no scientific evidence or anything else.
I just have my personal experience and my own introspection. What's interesting is that my own introspection has led me to conclude that emotions are the perception of value. Sure enough, I later discovered the emotional perception theory of value. Clearly, I might be on to something then. Therefore, this could mean my worldview was right all along, and that other people, who claim there's more value to life than emotions, could be having a flawed sense of introspection.
Remember, I pay very close attention to my mental state, and it's all about what mental state I'm in because perception is everything. As long as a person cannot perceive his life as something beautiful and worth living, then what would it matter to that person if you told him his life is still beautiful and worth living? He'd just be an empty vessel or a being of darkness, and none of that would actually make his life beautiful and worth living from his perspective.
My Brain Would Have Adapted: Our brains have the ability to adapt to new situations, harsh situations, and conditions. For example, someone who has lost a loved one, and sees no more beauty in life, would eventually adapt to the situation. He'd move on and find a new sense of beauty in his life. Now, as I said before, I've struggled with many years of misery. One would think my brain would've adapted to all that misery, and that I would've eventually had a new form of beauty in my life besides my positive emotions. But, none of that happened. Not even in one, single, brief moment.
This could very well mean positive emotions really are the only mental states that allow us to value things as good and beautiful because, if there was another way to value things as good and beautiful, then surely my brain would've adapted and found a way to. One would've thought that me having gone through so much misery would've changed my philosophy. After all, people who go through a lot of struggles end up having a different philosophy, which would be their brain's way of adapting to new situations.
For example, if a rich person loses all his money, his view would change from seeing money as the only good thing in life, to helping others as good. No such change has happened to me. So, the fact my philosophy still remains the same, even after all the hell I've been through, must mean my philosophy was right all along. Those who've developed a different philosophy than mine through their struggles, must be deluding themselves into thinking that the non-emotional based beauty, goodness, love, happiness, etc. is real, when it's not.
My Reply: If they open this document in, for example, Microsoft Word, then I think the software automatically gives this whole document page numbers. So, people can write down the page number they last left off reading.
More Support For My Philosophy + Extensive Q&A Section
Note to Reader: You might wonder why this packet is so long. It's because I discuss other things in addition to my philosophy/worldview. Although I do think these other discussed things are important, I don't think they're that important to warrant their own files, and they were relevant to the discussion of my philosophy.
That's why they're all discussed in this big file. Many people might say this is an entire book I've written, rather than a packet. I had nothing better to do than write all this material, since I couldn't enjoy my life or hobbies, due to my miserable struggles (especially this recent struggle, which took the longest to recover from). Lastly, a value judgment is where you judge something as good, bad, beautiful, horrible, disgusting, etc.
So, perceiving value would have to mean perceiving goodness, badness, beauty, disgust, horror, etc. When we have no emotions, nothing can matter to us (since we're apathetic), and we can't see value, worth, or significance in anything. There will be people out there who'd deny this. But, I think it's true. I try to prove how emotions make things matter to us, and allow us to perceive value below:
I Think I Can Prove The Emotional Perception Theory Of Value: Considering how there are many people out there who disagree with the emotional perception theory of value, I think there's a way for me to personally prove it. This is my own personal argument, which is an attempt to translate emotions into perceptions of value. Positive emotions are the reward wanting and liking in the brain. When you want something and like something, this means it matters to you.
When something is good, bad, beautiful, disgusting, etc. from your perspective, this means it matters to you. For example, if getting a new video game, or movie, was something good or bad for you, that means it was something good or bad from your perspective, which is the same thing as saying it mattered to you. As I mentioned before, positive emotions make things matter to us in good ways, and negative emotions make things matter to us in bad ways, since positive emotions are the perception of good, and negative emotions are the perception of bad.
Now, the only way something can have value to you is if it matters to you. How can you say that helping someone had value, or even worth to you, if it didn't matter to you? It makes no sense. A life that doesn't matter to us would, thus, have to be a life that has no value from our perspective. Also, when you perceive value, that's the same thing as a value judgment. So, this whole argument I've made here also proves emotions are value judgments. Lastly, here's a link (study) that shows how positive emotions are the reward wanting and liking in the brain:
We have found a special hedonic hotspot that is crucial for reward 'liking' and 'wanting' (and codes reward learning too). The opioid hedonic hotspot is shown in red above. It works together with another hedonic hotspot in the more famous nucleus accumbens to generate pleasure 'liking'.
'Liking' and 'wanting' food rewards: Brain substrates and roles in eating disorders
Kent C. Berridge 2009 Mar 29.
‘Liking’ and ‘wanting’ food rewards: Brain substrates and roles in eating disorders - PMC
What brain reward systems mediate motivational ‘wanting’ and hedonic ‘liking’ for food rewards? And what roles do those systems play in eating disorders? This article surveys recent findings regarding brain mechanisms of hedonic ‘liking’, such as ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
For Those Who Disagree Positive Emotions Are Wanting And Liking: I think there will also be people out there who disagree that positive emotions are a form of wanting and liking. So, here's proof for them. Emotions are a form of motivation. When you have a positive form of motivation to do something, this means you want to do it and like to do it. The religious form of my worldview would say that the force of light (positive emotions) motivates us to have a relationship, create works of art, and to live our lives to the fullest.
Yes, The Light is unreliable, since it can result in harming us and others. But, it's still the only source of beauty and joy in our lives. The Darkness can also motivate us, but makes our lives bad and horrible. The force of light is from the heavens, and the force of darkness is from the lower realms. So, positive emotions symbolize heaven, and negative emotions symbolize hell. Having no emotions symbolizes The Void (or limbo, which is neither heaven nor hell). Our positive emotions make us angels on the inside, our negative emotions make us demons or beings of darkness on the inside, and having apathy just makes us empty vessels on the inside.
A Little Experiment: I have performed a little experiment here, and it's already clear to me that my emotions really are perceptions of value that give my life perceived value. There are certain stimuli that trigger positive or negative emotions, and then there are the types of stimuli that trigger no emotional response. When I look at the cup sitting there on my desk, it triggers no emotional response. I can clearly tell this cup doesn't matter to me and has no perceived value. It's nothing more than just a cup sitting there.
Sure, I can think it has perceived value and worth in my life, and that it matters to me. But, those thoughts are just ideas going through my mind that don't make the cup matter to me, or perceived as valuable and worthwhile. Now, when I turn my sights over to something that does trigger a positive emotion, such as a character from a video game or anime, I can clearly tell this character matters to me, and has such beauty and joy from my perspective upon feeling a positive emotion.
I clearly notice that all stimuli that trigger no emotional response are stimuli that have no perceived value (don't matter to me), while the stimuli that do trigger an emotional response are the stimuli that have perceived value (do matter to me). When people mistreat me and I feel a negative emotion from that, this mistreatment bothers me. But, when I don't feel any negative emotions from their mistreatment, then it doesn't bother me.
This is yet another reason why I'd prefer a life without negative emotions because this would mean that any name calling or mistreatment others give me wouldn't bother me. I'd be immune to it. Anyway, like I was saying before. If people perform this little experiment and report the opposite of my results, then this is just something I don't understand.
We live in a society where we're expected to go beyond our emotions. Thus, we tend to dismiss them as trivial when, in reality, they're vital and the very source of perceived value in our lives. So, maybe this would be a contributing factor to any results opposite of mine in this experiment. I have a keen sense of introspection, and I can clearly tell that emotions make things matter to me and give my life beauty, love, or horror. Maybe others don't have this keen sense of introspection.
My Nightmares: During my worst miserable moments, I've had very horrible nightmares. They've profoundly affected me, since they've consisted of very horrible emotional states far worse than anything I could experience in my waking life. But, then there were those nightmares I've had, which didn't have these horrible emotions.
These nightmares didn't affect me at all, and I've woken up from them like they were nothing. They were nightmares I've had when I was almost fully recovered from those miserable moments. This clearly says that emotions are what give us beautiful or horrible experiences, and that you can have nightmares that consist of the most gruesome, demonic, or hellish imagery and sounds.
But, as long as said nightmares don't have any horrible, disturbing emotions to them, then they're nothing more than images and sounds. They can't possess any horrifying or disturbing power to them. Another thing about dreams and nightmares is that spirits can contact us.
They can be angel spirits, demon spirits, or any spirit in general. Their spiritual energy will be received by our brains during our dreams and nightmares, which allows us to experience their angelic beauty, demonic horror, misery, despair, happiness, etc. via our emotions.
Changing My Philosophy Might Prove Very Difficult: As I said before, my philosophy is profoundly spiritual to me like a religion. Therefore, it would be that more difficult to change. It would be like trying to convert a Christian over to some other worldview, such as atheism, or to some philosophy. Most Christians I know remain Christians their entire lives. Few of them convert. As for me, I am 30 years old now.
Chances are, I might have this philosophy my whole entire life. Also, most Christians have a disagreement and conflict with atheists, or people with different worldviews. This is no different than how I disagree and debate with other people. What makes this situation even worse for me is that there are many factors that can take away my positive emotions.
If I'm ever put into a position where I lose my positive emotions, and they can't sufficiently recover back to me, this would put me in a position where changing my philosophy is the only option of changing my life for the better, and giving me a whole new set of values.
Unfortunately, this would be no different than putting a Christian in a position where converting over from his religion is the only way to change his life for the better. It would obviously prove very difficult to try to convert this Christian, since he thinks any other worldview is false, and that any set of values not founded upon Christianity aren't the truth.
Anime Metaphor: Since I love anime, then I'm going to use an anime metaphor for my worldview. As I said before, I'd describe the perception of beauty, greatness, and joy to be a divine state of consciousness, since it's something so vital and precious to our lives. This goes quite well with the anime metaphor I'm going to give.
The anime I'm going to use is Dragon Ball Super, if you're familiar with that show. Imagine if I was a character out on the field, meeting another character. I then induce a profoundly beautiful positive emotion by thinking of something very beautiful.
This positive emotion is a powerful, intense surge of divine beauty and joy through my conscious being. It transforms me into a Super Saiyan God. I'm now in a divine state of consciousness through this positive emotional state, and that's the reason why I'm now in this god-like/divine form. This form has beautiful aura, and there's beautiful music playing to express my divine form.
I then tell the other character on the field that this form is the ultimate thing in this universe, and nothing compares to it. I tell this character that positive emotions are, therefore, the ultimate divine things in this universe, and that he cannot match such power through his intellect and character.
Especially euphoric states, since these would be the most powerful god-like forms. The character then responds back to me by saying that I transform into the Super Saiyan God through my positive emotions, but that he transforms into the Super Saiyan God through his intellect, character, and morality. Now, there are two possibilities here.
The 1st is that this character would transform into a Super Saiyan God, which would mean he really is in that divine mental state (that state of perceiving beauty and joy). As a matter of fact, his Super Saiyan God form could be much more powerful and beautiful than mine.
He might tell me he has much more knowledge and life experience than me, and that's the reason why his form is so much greater than mine. From there, he'd tell me his form is everlasting, unlike mine, which only lasts for a short while. If this 1st scenario is the case, then I'd be very interested in obtaining the Super Saiyan God form this guy has.
It would bring my life perceived beauty and joy that, not only goes beyond that of my positive emotions, but is everlasting. But, there is a 2nd possibility here. That is, this guy could attempt to transform into a Super Saiyan God through his intellect and character, but won't.
He then might say to me he's a Super Saiyan God, when he really isn't. If this is the case, then he doesn't have that divine state of consciousness. He believes he's perceiving beauty and joy in his life when he really isn't.
From there, I'd tell him I'm the real god through my positive emotions, and that his intellect, character, and morality is nothing compared to positive emotions. So, there's my anime metaphor. I wanted to give this metaphor, since it makes my worldview more interesting.
While I'm on the topic of anime, if I were to feel profound beauty and joy from, for example, a female character, then it's as though her joyful and beautiful presence is there within my conscious being for a limited time only. So, not only do we experience the beauty and joy of moments and things in our lives through our positive emotions, but also the beauty and joy of certain characters.
What I've Learned From My Struggles: I've struggled with many miserable moments, due to unhealthy thought processes. This misery and hopelessness took up much of my life, and was the worst hell to be in. I've finally broken free of that cycle. What I've learned from this whole struggle is just how vital and precious positive emotions really are. In the past, I took them for granted and thought that perhaps there's more value to life, despite the fact that I was a hedonist in the past.
Now, I've come to realize that positive emotions truly are the only good in life through my whole struggle. This has made me into a religious hedonist, which means I'm much more of a hedonist now than I was before. How do I know positive emotions really are the only good things in life though? Well, I have a keen sense of introspection. That's how I know. I have no scientific evidence or anything else.
I just have my personal experience and my own introspection. What's interesting is that my own introspection has led me to conclude that emotions are the perception of value. Sure enough, I later discovered the emotional perception theory of value. Clearly, I might be on to something then. Therefore, this could mean my worldview was right all along, and that other people, who claim there's more value to life than emotions, could be having a flawed sense of introspection.
Remember, I pay very close attention to my mental state, and it's all about what mental state I'm in because perception is everything. As long as a person cannot perceive his life as something beautiful and worth living, then what would it matter to that person if you told him his life is still beautiful and worth living? He'd just be an empty vessel or a being of darkness, and none of that would actually make his life beautiful and worth living from his perspective.
My Brain Would Have Adapted: Our brains have the ability to adapt to new situations, harsh situations, and conditions. For example, someone who has lost a loved one, and sees no more beauty in life, would eventually adapt to the situation. He'd move on and find a new sense of beauty in his life. Now, as I said before, I've struggled with many years of misery. One would think my brain would've adapted to all that misery, and that I would've eventually had a new form of beauty in my life besides my positive emotions. But, none of that happened. Not even in one, single, brief moment.
This could very well mean positive emotions really are the only mental states that allow us to value things as good and beautiful because, if there was another way to value things as good and beautiful, then surely my brain would've adapted and found a way to. One would've thought that me having gone through so much misery would've changed my philosophy. After all, people who go through a lot of struggles end up having a different philosophy, which would be their brain's way of adapting to new situations.
For example, if a rich person loses all his money, his view would change from seeing money as the only good thing in life, to helping others as good. No such change has happened to me. So, the fact my philosophy still remains the same, even after all the hell I've been through, must mean my philosophy was right all along. Those who've developed a different philosophy than mine through their struggles, must be deluding themselves into thinking that the non-emotional based beauty, goodness, love, happiness, etc. is real, when it's not.
Q&A Section
Other Person's Response: Since there's so much to read in this packet, then how are people supposed to know where they last left off reading?
My Reply: If they open this document in, for example, Microsoft Word, then I think the software automatically gives this whole document page numbers. So, people can write down the page number they last left off reading.