Alchemizing the Emotions
When it comes to your emotions, this realm of existence often presents a world of enigmas and mysterious codes of reference when talked or written about.
The world of emotion is a world full of silence yet at the same time, it is a world of deep, colorful expressions that can lead someone to crippling despair and in the next moment toward an elated sense of victory and accomplishment.
In truth, no matter the perspective you take on emotion, be it the the clinical approach of psychoanalysis, the medical approach of internal chemical reactions or the more poetic approach of imagery and metaphor, it makes no difference.
We can all experience emotions either as a threat or as an intense catalyst to actions, as a force of contraction and expansion, and even as a viral intrusion as in the example of falling in love.
But what is so important about the world of emotion is that it is the fundamental driving force behind all experience.
We go out at night in the city to experience the excitement that is associated with the music, the lights, the boisterous encounters with strangers.
We watch sports to partake in the roller-coaster thrills of high-stake losses and victories.
Whatever the experience may be, the importance and meaning of that experience is derived from the emotional value we seek and extract from it. like an addict, who delves head first into the next dose knowing well and good that the danger of the experience is part and parcel of the excitement that is sought in the high.
We all know the power of emotion.
It’s what spurs someone to take massive risks, to seek out experiences and to invest energy and other valuable resources into something.
However, just as much as emotions push us to seek out experiences and things that excite and nurture us, they also repel us away from things that evoke fear, anxiety, disgust, etc.
So it’s quite clear that the power of emotion is immense.
It can seemingly make us do, experience and possess things that are both beneficial and detrimental to our long-term sentience.
But if emotions are simply pulling and pushing us into every which direction to seek, to possess, to experience just to be left empty again . . .emotions very quickly become our enemy . . . at least so it seems.
The fact of the matter is that emotions have a tremendous influence on our behavior and without our conscious awareness, compel us against our will to do things that are and aren’t beneficial to us.
They cloud our judgement while at the same time make our experience of life all the more magical and meaningful.
So here is our dilemma.
By perceiving our emotions as the driving, deterministic force behind our behaviors, this paints a stark picture of our evolution as fated to suffer.
Like an addict that continues to be drawn toward using despite their extreme efforts and attempts to “quit the thing”.
It’s as if human beings are a big mess of conflicting energies that attribute their decision-making ability to those predominant impulses that come out on top.
It’s as if our will-power is the prize of the emotional storm that goes on within us and whichever impulse is strongest wins our fate.
However, there are those who refuse to allow the power of emotion to determine their fate and course of action, and that develop routines, orders of behavior and systems of control to stop the emotions from bubbling to the surface of the mind.
Yet, we all know someone who lives in such rigidity within themselves that they never so much as seem to experience the heights of joy or the lows of sadness, strictly so that they can avert the experience of submission to “lower, animal drives”.
So we have a split.
On the one hand there is the stoic individual that praises the sober quality of the mind and it’s ability to divorce itself from irrational influences; and then you have the more poetic individual that freely throws herself into the abyss of the emotional symphony of life only to have a rich experience.
So which one is better?
The better observation would be that both positions lack the ability to embody the other perspective without perceiving it as a threat to it’s full expression.
The rational side perceives emotion as a threat to mental clarity and judgement, whereas the emotional side perceives the soberness of reason to lack the depth of experiential meaning.
This duality can be equated to the two hemispheres of the brain.
Both our creative and reasoning faculties are stored in the same region and yet their functions are as different as the left and right side of the body.
That brings us to the title of this article: alchemizing the emotions.
The power of the emotional by its very nature is prone to volatility and massive change.
One minute we can be ecstatic and the next minute we can be like a puddle on the floor.
The problem here is that the general assumption and misunderstanding about emotions that we either have to submit fully to its forces or resist it entirely is limited.
Emotions aren’t good or bad. (it’s not a moral issue)
It’s simply that we aren’t able to fully utilize it’s power correctly to benefit both our evolutionary growth as well as to enhance our experience of life.
The problems mostly arise when we take an extremist approach to dealing with emotions.
Think of emotions like water.
Imagine that you are in a small boat out in the middle of the ocean and a storm suddenly starts to brew.
Your attempts to paddle out of it just create more chaos until you have fully exhausted your energies and are forced to submit involuntarily.
The difference between the two individuals in that boat is that one revels in the chaos of unpredictability and the other wishes they had stayed on shore and not entered in the first place.
The fact is, no matter how much you resist emotion, you will never win.
The very spontaneous and unpredictable nature of emotions are what make life exciting and what make our intellect seem so weak in comparison.
Let’s face it, unless you are master, after one week in solitary confinement your emotions will have played a whole symphony of highs and lows enough to make you go insane.
So what is the solution?
Alchemy.
But what do I mean by alchemy?
Well . .
See the thing is, the more we resist something the stronger it gets.
The more we attempt to suppress our sadness the more we are storing that gaseous entity inside us, building up steam & pressure only to pop out at the most inopportune moments.
And yet, to simply live life according to the compulsions of emotions when they show up would be foolish and aimless.
So how do we gain control over the emotional?
We don’t.
We allow it to be it’s spontaneous self and we learn to control our reactions to it.
Emotions are like indicators.
They tell us if something is the least bit dangerous, exciting, beneficial, etc.
They give us intuitive clues about our environment.
So when we talk about alchemizing emotions, we’re talking about the relationship between emotions & feelings.
When we experience an emotion in us, it is raw and unfiltered.
It’s simply a response to something that may or may not be real or relevant to us in the moment or at all.
It’s the job of the mind to accurately assess the emotional world and determine what it means, i.e. what use and function it has to us for our personal gain.
This is a skill that obviously takes some practice.
It requires you to understand the nature of emotion, to maintain a clear sense of self within each moment and to accurately judge how to utilize this raw data.
Having said this, I’m not telling you to analytically approach every emotion you experience with intense scrutiny.
Let’s face it, that would become extremely exhausting.
What I am suggesting is that we learn the meditative art of “detached observation”.
This will allow you to survey the palate of emotional stimuli to utilize according to your own values and needs, instead of being made rag-doll of emotional energy.
By practicing meditation, self-discipline and having an experimental approach to life, it will enable you to create space between your experience of life and your decisions.
Let’s be honest, not every decision we make ends up benefitting us in the way we would like (whether that is primarily driven by emotion or intellect).
Yet that is no fault of our own.
It is simply a part of our experience as human beings.
Hence the power of retrospect.
We are motivated toward experience by our emotions and therefore we learn from our experiences by assessing the result with our intellect/mind.
So in essence, the power of alchemizing your emotions into feelings is your ability to assess the meaning of an emotional experience according to your conscious understanding of it’s function.
Sadness isn’t necessarily bad.
Elation isn’t necessarily good.
Emotions are the raw experience of life and in extremely elevated states of consciousness they can become blended together into an experience of unctuous bliss or intense insanity. who knows, maybe both.
The trick is not to block the flow of this type of energy, but to harness it’s intelligence and power for our desired purposes.
Intense sadness can spur one into deeply self-destructive behaviors and into deep self-reflection which through alchemy, can lead one to a heightened awareness and understanding.
The trick is not to get lost in emotion or to avoid it altogether.
So the next time you experience an emotion, pause before you qualify it as a specific feeling.
The quality of a feeling is strictly determined by the awareness and level of detached observation of the person experiencing it.
And with this awareness, you will unlock a newfound sense of bliss, personal power and intelligence otherwise veiled from you in the form of illusory dangers.
