Emotion

Happiness is when you are doing something enjoyable and interesting. Happiness stems from the word happening. Depression is the antonym and is a loss of interest—the same as a child’s boredom—but for the adult a lot of mental re-cycling is also going on, producing a lethargy caused by the biological cascade. As soon as interest is invoked, depression will cease until the interest is lost again, and the interest is short lived and doesn’t grow as it normally would, there being too many cues to return to the minds pit of despair.

Happiness and depression could be considered to be the parameters of interest, because we are happy when we are interested, and not interested when depressed. "Interest" = inter + est = between being. Being is a state of observing, while between these states of being is the activity of doing.

Happiness is something happening. No one thing that is happening, can be happening more than another, and so there is not necessarily any more gain in one thing over any other. The illusion of greater happiness is produced when you make something different about something that you were already doing.

A different viewpoint/perspective adds to the picture and therefore builds a bigger picture and is therefore useful and rewarded by our system via dopamine neurotransmitters etc. If continued to the point of familiarity, the newness goes and becomes normal and therefore loses consequentiality. The sine wave of happiness will peak and trough and we have to jump to the next wave to avoid the depression. This is where we get to exercise our choice.

It is important to set life buoys to help pull you out of a pattern forming, which creates repetitive scenarios and lessens interest. It is important to have new and different things, but to have them as new means having them only occasionally.

But depression could also be seen as a call for meditation. No use just trying to distract yourself; the lack of interest—between being—is right for just being. It is the thoughts and judgements which cause the problem in what is otherwise a natural state. You can't be happy all the time, because of the need for difference.  And it doesn't matter how much you surround yourself with beautiful things and the things you love, because when you are depressed you can see none of it. So it isn't anything to do with our surroundings, it is only our minds; it is only our thoughts; it is only a story.

It is an unnerving truth that we are actually completely in control of our happiness. When things get really bad our minds automatically switch off, and in that state of emptiness there is little suffering. The same with depression; we lose interest in everything, which is nature's way of telling us to meditate, because that is the perfect state to compliment that mental environment. It is a sedative, like our natural pain suppressors are, and this melancholy can be quite comforting and pleasant. Trying to run away from this mental peace by filling our lives with doing things, only stokes the fires of further anguish as we fail to be completely distracted all the time, and the mind will always return to that which it is most frequent in its pursuance, which for a depressed person is normally negative mental dialogue.

•••

Mental stillness is the perfect place to escape the world which we no longer want to be subjected to. It sets us free and is the best place to be. All we have to do is cultivate the habit of mindfulness. Controlling our bad thoughts which make us so unhappy, is simply a matter of being attentive to what is happening and desisting from the muddy flowing into that misery. We can do that by wholeheartedly focusing upon our breathing. Our breathing is a constant activity which we can tune into to concentrate upon. Coupled with proprioceptive relaxation, there is no nicer state of being.

Posture is always playing a part in our lives, because it is carrying so much emotion.  When we feel ourselves entering into a pessimistic or depressive state, straightening ourselves up from the stoop of our burden, can reset us.  Lengthen the spine, straighten the neck, unlock the knees, feel the contact of your feet with the floor, rise up onto your first feet and feel yourself pulled skywards. You tower over the world—a god.  You are beyond being affected.

Once you have a bad concept of something and it becomes fixed, it can seem as if there is something wrong with your life. But that is only because  other concepts are hidden which would complete the full picture of what can only ever be a small presentation of the universe, in the divine making of it all. So it can always only ever be what it is supposed to be, and it can always only ever be our lack of full picture concept which makes it seem to be anything else.  The flowing with it, the trusting, is the only way that makes any sense at all. There are so many parts which are hidden from normal consciousness as can be evidenced by self-examination, that if one concept is undesirable, then another concept can take its place, and we can ride the wave of seeing the good through it all. It is only ever about making a good story of it. That is the game of happiness. The desire for happiness can be a difficult game to play, but not impossible.

Finding your way through the divine, seeing the divine and unfiltering its hidden presence, is therefore the best game to play; it is the truth because it is the natural way. It is how we started and it is how we end.

It is all down to mental discipline and has been since we were born. It is that which is within our control, and what is needed to stop the misery and start the mystery of our wonderful lives. To paraphrase a forebear of mine: it is only our thinking it, that makes it so.

Forgiveness is not an emotion as such, but it is a directive in overcoming emotions. Although not specifically stated etymologically, I believe the word "forgive" really means "stop give". This is the only way that the word can really work and means that you stop giving advice or mental dialogue to the situation. You forgive another person by stopping trying to make them be the way that you want them to be. You stop giving your criticism. You stop giving your picture of how you think it should be. And it is the same in forgiving oneself: you stop giving yourself a hard time. You stop insisting that you should be better. You stop blaming yourself for what has happened. Forgiving oneself or another is just a matter of stopping going on about it. It’s not about justification.

It works the same with the word "forget". In this case you stop getting the thoughts and the replaying of events. Stop bringing it in into your mind. Allow the neurological pathways to calm down and diminish their sensitivity to fire up again.

Both forgiving and forgetting involve mental control, a stopping of your thoughts. That is the only way that it can work. Unfortunately, the etymology doesn't fully support my interpretation, but regardless of that, ultimately, forgiveness is just about stopping the mental regurgitations. That is all that can be done; that is all that is happening. The etymology is justifiable if it is considered that the prefix 'for-' can mean 'completely', and so in this case it is that you have completely  given; it is finished, you do not give any more. You have done your remonstrating, you have given your complaint, it is completed and you are full and so stop giving any more.

But you only need to forgive oneself. Any needed forgiveness of others is rooted in a non acceptance for how they are, and therefore it is oneself that is in error. If I have a problem with someone and am not coping with it well, it is my problem and my need to cope. The forgiveness (stop giving) that needs to be done is within my own mind. It is my mind that is doing the giving and needs to stop. It is my mind that needs forgiveness; it almost has nothing to do with anyone else.

Any justification of oneself is reinforcing the problem, and is part of the not coping. Forgiveness of oneself lets it all go; stops the mind chat and chastising; stops the minding. You cannot forgive others, you can only forgive yourself.

The word "forsake" can also be given the same treatment, and in this case the "-sake" means "seek". You stop seeking a resolution to your problem, you give up on the dispute and trying to make it be the way you want it to be. You recognise that  the world takes its own path and those who are fixed within it are beyond your control. You let them be, and by accepting them for how they are, you love them.

You can't love a lion by throwing your arms around its neck—it will eat you! You have to do it respectively from a distance. Some people are like a different species, created by a social barrier that it is very difficult to breach. It is best to keep a respectful distance.

If you try to forgive others, you only try to hide the problem, and they will only go and do it again, anyway. If you forgive yourself, you admit and take responsibility for the insanity that has been occurring. Blaming others is a social disease! There are no others causing the problem, it is all down to reaction and expectation within your own mind. Fix your own mind and you will have no problems.

Forgiving someone does not make whatever the reason is go away, or stop it from happening again.  Ultimately, forgiveness is just about stopping your own mental regurgitations. Stopping the resentment. Stop the story. No story will set you free.

Suffering is also not an emotion as such, but rather the result from it. The word suffer comes from two Latin words: "sub" and "fero". "Sub" means under, and "fero" means bearing. Under the bearing. Sub-fero. It is the load that we carry which weighs us down, and it is a load that is carried by our thoughts.

If you have an ego of being hard done by and unloved, then you will adopt the bearing of this, because this is your suffering. You create the concept that you live. That is your meaning of life; that is your reality.

If the recognition of this is to change your thinking to produce a good ego, then this is your free will; the result from the circumstances which have constructed the individual.

Do not allow yourself to entertain thoughts which are negative for you; choose what you bear. You will always be bearing your circumstance. Your mind produces the concept of your circumstance, therefore it is your mind that you are under the bearing of. Our suffering is our mind. It is our mind that compares and creates judgements which allow us to know misery.

My first experience of fear was as a baby within a purely sound scape world, with no sight and no concept of what was going on. Ultimately fear is of the unknown, and it was upon the action of trying to understand what the sounds were that fear would occasionally arise within me, and a panic would set in that something was going to happen which I was completely powerless over. But nothing did happen and I was able to calm myself with the realisation that the sounds were not anything to get upset about. I believe that a lot of babies cry due to some welling up of fear.

My mother said that I didn't cry much as a baby and I could be left alone in my pram or cot and I was quite content. This may be due to my inherent philosophical nature.

The mind is biologically motivated to find the reason for things and to juxtapose everything into a working concept. That is its purpose. When it fails to be able to do this, one of the reactions is fear. The pacifying of the emotion is to let it go. Let go of the need for understanding. To be at peace is to just let it happen; to go with the flow and not be concerned about it. To abandon to it and trust it and be love in it. Acceptance will neutralise fear while resistance will stimulate it. It is the resistance that causes all negative experience.

We lived next to a main road which had lorries on it, which were noisy. Whilst in my pram, being pushed along the pavement, the noise of an approaching lorry got louder and louder and louder until I could bear it no longer and the fear that it would increase forever initiated a panic and I started to cry. It was the continuing intensity, seemingly without end that broke my composure as my whole world became one big earthquake of overbearing sound. I have always been sensitive to sound, as many psychics are.

•••

All the fear that I have suffered throughout my life can always be traced to a mental concept of the future. The unknown aspects of this vision create the adrenal response of preparing for action but with no action being taken. The feeling is dis-easing. This fear can become entrenched until it is unseen and taken as normal, but it is only a thought. The future which is nebulously foreseen, is so full of unknowns, it is effectively pure fiction, and yet this fiction can permeate every day causing an ensconced fear that can make us all pent up and jittery, causing overreaction to the smallest new thing.

Examination of my past has revealed that there was never any occasion when the fear that I suffered was actually justified. The fear was a far worse experience than the anticipated event. When the time came, I just adapted to the new circumstances as does everyone. When I look back I think why did I suffer so much, there wasn't even anything really happening.

Our fear is the unknown bits that we can't see how we would cope with. But we will always adapt appropriately to whatever the situation is, and it will never be as bad as we imagine it will be. Examples from our past prove this.

We are not afraid if we are secure. Secure = free from care (se = free from, cure = care). It is our caring about the future that creates most of our suffering. Our caring creates our fear.

Every single atom is doing its own thing, which is perfect, and brings into being the next moment without any interference from us. Everything is perfect on the level that everything is made of atoms. Everything is exactly as it should be. Any thinking that it should be different is just a wrong story.

Only when we are secure and abandoned to the way, will it all be just a wonderful experience all the way. When we resist what is happening, we suffer. No story will set you free. Have no story of it, and have no worry of it. Do not allow yourself to entertain thoughts which are bad for you; choose what you bear.

It is all happening in some unseen way, so you might as well write a good story around it as a bad one. You can write any story around it that you want, so why not make it a pleasurable one. It's only going to go its own way. Might as well live in fantasy because we all are ultimately anyway.  It never makes any difference to the outcome, though we will edit and blinker the details and re-write the story to make us think that it does.

It never turns out how we think. Our experiences have proven this (if we are honest with ourselves), so there is no point in worrying about the future—whatever the concept is—it has quite high odds of being wrong. This is just this bit now, and there's never really very much going on at any time. It is all just a game to play with, and nothing really matters. Life is but a dream. When you are free from care and therefore secure, you are free from fear. 

There is actually a smell of fear which is experienced in circumstances where someone or something is very frightened, which I have encountered a number of times. There was one occasion when as soon as I stepped out of the house to go for a walk, I was met with a really nasty shit smell. After walking a few yards I checked my shoes to see if I  had stepped in anything, but they were clean. The smell continued with me all the way to where I did my Qi Gung, about a mile from my house, and I was surprised at how consistently strong the smell was all the way there. As I did the breathing exercises the smell disappeared, which I was very thankful for, but as soon as I stopped and started walking back, the smell instantly returned. Really strong nasty shit smell! I was puzzled. I live in a farming environment but there wasn't any muck spreading going on. About 300 yards from home, I noticed there was a sheep in the field lying down with its lamb nudging it, and I thought something wasn't right. The sheep was not able to get back on its feet and was in distress. I went over and hoisted it back onto its feet, and it promptly ran off in a circle and fell over again, but the second time it was OK, as presumably the blood supply had now returned to its legs. I then noticed that the shitty smell had gone, and I can only presume that it was the fear from the sheep, as it could have died if I hadn't been there to help it. The amazing thing is the distance that I experienced the phenomenon from. I was linked to that event as soon as I stepped out of the house.

Another occasion when I had smelled the same thing was at a karate grading, during the free style kumite of 2 brown belts. One of the brown belts was obviously scared and not ready at all. I experienced the same overpowering smell of shit, which when I mentioned it to my colleagues afterwards, none of them had smelled anything at all, which I was amazed at because the smell was over-powering and almost made me want to gag. I believe this is where the phrase "shitting yourself" comes from.

These are examples of psychic smells, and are not at all subtle, as is the case with most psychic phenomena. It's in your face !