Does the thinking mind govern emotion, or does emotion govern the mind? Which is more reliable?

Question

Which of these forces in us is dominant? Does feeling give way to thought, or is it the other way around? Kindly give a rationale for your response.

I was reading Eckardt Tolle and thought this might be a good question for anyone familiar with him or Buddhism in general.

Answer 1

A better question might be - are we better off using instinct than logic? Because our instincts have become so numbed, they seem to emerge as emotions rather than what they really are.

ANGER is an emotion, but FEAR is an instinct. PASSION is an emotion, but LOVE is an instinct. Unfortunately, fear and love have been reduced to "emotions" fit only for those who are weak. Humans are the only animals who suppress their basic instincts!

I believe the mind can be tricked into behaving in a way which appears to be logical, yet lacking in compassion. It's much easier to fool the mind than the instincts.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that compassion is an instinct, although many suppress it... still, if compassion is considered emotion, then let it be that emotion that rules us.

Answer 2

In some people emotion governs thought, in others thinking governs emotion. It varies from person to person.

It's been my observation that emotion is the more natural tendency of people, but it can be effectively controlled by rational thought if only people would put forth the mental effort.

It has been an interesting subject of study for me as to why some people choose to believe weird or irrational things even when evidence & facts directly contradict that belief. I think such people believe simply because they WANT to believe. When emotion is dominant over rational thought, logic & evidence become irrelevant.

To have thinking dominate over emotion takes training and education. Training meaning mental effort to suppress what you'd LIKE to be true in favor of real-world conditions. Education means not just knowing facts, but knowing _how_to_think_. How to look at things objectively, how to avoid logical fallacies, how to avoid confusing wishful thinking for reality.

I can't say I'm familiar with Eckardt Tolle, but my wife's Buddhist so I'm at least somewhat familiar with that.

Answer 3

This is no a question that can be answered for anyone else. This question can only be answered for "Self."

Infants and young children have little rational logic. This is something which comes at the time of the formation and strengthening of the human ego boundary. Infants are aware of and respond to emotions and immediate physical needs.

Older children and young adults do have the ability to think rationally and must learn to balance their thoughts and emotions. This is made more difficult as sex hormones begin to alter their bodies, minds and emotions.

For adult humans, learning to express the emotions and discipline the mind is an ongoing process. Some are better at this than others. Mind without emotion is robotic. Emotion without mind tends toward lunacy.

Attachment to either emotions or mental processes is often a trap that one must learn to grow out of. The key is balance.

Answer 4

Do you want to have coffee/coke ? Depends totally on your preference at that moment .
Same with the decision-making power of humans . At that 'moment' who do we let govern ? Is it the emotions that matters or the logic ?
Sometimes past experiences or circumstances make us think that its not good putting our heart into the situation & so we need to think rationally . Other times , however, we follow our gut feeling .
So, in a nutshell, the factors around make way fertile for mind/emotion to govern each other . If they are in favour of practicality , mind will rule emotion . If not, emotion will be supreme .

Answer 5

Emotions are the physical reactions to sensory receptions that are interpreted by the mind. Many emotional responses happen without apparent thought because we have trained ourselves to react to certain things in predetermined ways. for many years I became angered easily partly because I am a red head and was always told that redheads are easily angered. after being persuaded to think seriously about this subject ,I came to realize that the only time I became angered was when I had a loss of security. I f we were trained from when we were small to handle emotion arousing thoughts carefully with our intellect , we would still be able to enjoy the physical effect without letting the emotion runaway with our senses. Anything to do with emotions seems to arouse very emotional reactions . If this happens to you, stop and think for a second-----------Is this really the way I react or is this trained in By habit or custom? Slonezy.

Answer 6

In my humble opinion:

I think that the emotion comes first. How do I think this? Well I believe that thoughts are an expression of feeling.

If they were no feelings, how could we conceive thoughts?

By thinking logically about things we create more feeling to give more thought. The feeling is always there before the thought.

The more you try and understand things logically, the more separations you find, just like peeling back the layers of an onion.

Answer 7

It is hard to do, but one should always try to achieve a balance between logic and emotions. One should never rule over the other.

When emotions rule over your logic, your judgement becomes clouded, you become unable to make intelligent, objective decisions, you become biased and unfair and you may lose all your touch with reality, ending up suffering a lot or accidentally hurting another person.
When logic rules over your emotions, you become cold, distant, you stop enjoying life and you stop seeing people as people, but you start seeing them in terms of statistics and numbers. You forget the meaning of life itself, and the reasons on why you should be using your logic. Like a robot, you end up using logic for logic's sake, without looking into the beautiful reasons that propel it. You may become so utilitarian that you may hurt a lot of people and don't even care, because you are convinced you are doing the "most efficient" or "logical" thing.

If we can, we should try to balance both things. We should never have one without the other.
Emotions tell us what's right, they give us passion and willingness to better things for ourselves and the others. They allow us to enjoy life and be happy.
Logic is the means to reach those happy emotions. It show us the path to justice, fairness, and prosperity. It shows us how to act and how to improve things.

Basically, logic is a recipe to bake a cake. Emotions are the ability we have to enjoy the cake once it's done.
We cannot bake a cake without the recipe. But there's no point in baking it if we can't enjoy it either. See my point?
Emotions are the objective. Logic is the means to reach that objective.

Answer 8

I think that depends on the individual. Some are ruled by logic and other s by emotion. While many people say that women are emotional and men are logical, I have never found this to be true.
Personally, I think it is very important that your logic rule your emotions, except in extreme cases, such as the death of a loved one. As for careers and such, it can be difficult to work with people who are more emotional than logical.

Answer 9

It depends on the situation. For example, there are two types of anger. One type is the hot anger that is momentary and easy to brush off, if you know how to control yourself. If you are hotly angry at someone, you find it easier to forgive them for their transgression or whatever they did than the other type of anger, which is cold anger. That is the type of anger that is slow in the developing and is extremely strong. Someone who you love could hurt you badly in a physical way, and you could develop a cold rage towards that person. It would be deep and emotional, and very hard- perhaps impossible- to control. Your emotions can overpower you, and more likely to unless you practice self-control. But, in the end, it is impossible to completely control your emotions with your mind, but you certainly can control your reactions due to those emotions for the most part with your mind. It all depends on the level of rage. (Not too coherent an order of explaination, but I hope it helps...too tired to organize it)

Answer 10

think i've encounter a question similar to this... but anyway.....

here's how i look at it...

the mental capacity of a person induces doubts. it innovates us to think, evolves reasons, stems from facts, deduces logic, complicates things with deep rooted senses, aims for objectives and hypothesis solutions.... it's the why, who, how, what, when, where, etc... of things... but often then not, it alwys starts with why...

on the other hand, the emotional state of being is base on gut feeling, instincts, intuitions... herein lies doubts too but goes with what instincts dictates us... no logic needed just quick actions...

now, in some cases, emotions strikes first and in other cases, logic or thinking mind... in dire emergencies (specially, those involving people dear to us), we respond as quickly as possible without thinking of the outcome. what we feel we put into action...

in some case, logic must prevail... specially in decision-making where vital events may cascade into our actions and may worsen the particular situation...

therefore, my answer would be simple... it depends upon the situation.. whatever is called upon, we respond as quickly to what the situation calls for.... either can survive without the other but neither can live without the other....