I write and reflect a lot about the less easily defined or understood emotions on my personal blog and I tend to think of them in terms of expansion. There reaches a point, I consider it self awareness, but feel free to call it whatever you want, to where things stop existing in black and white or easily defined metrics. I often wonder if there are ways to measure things like awareness, love, happiness, joy, or gratitude. I haven't conceived of a way to measure these things and there are plenty of people that I'm sure have spent their lives trying to do so and I won't waste mine following in their footsteps.
My perspective on these things is that they simply expand and we feel them more deeply. I don't think there is ever a way to really feel them less, but we can deny feeling them. Denial is the way to cope with feeling or knowing something that you don't want to accept is true. For example, I can love my parents even though I feel they probably weren't ever ready to be parents at any point in their lives. On that note, who can really say when anyone is ever really ready for something like that. Perhaps parenting is just steadily expanding your awareness and love for someone on a continual basis and doing the best you can for them. Then again that seems to be what love is in general in my mind. Namaste.
Awareness and love can only be measured by a sincere heart. Because consciousness and love are what the heart feels. If the heart is good then it will be okay else. If the heart is rotten, it will be bad and evil everything. A heart based on a much more sincere faith in love. The hearts of those who believe, will realize it all. So the medium / tool for measuring awareness and love is not a barometer such as rollers or scales, but a clean heart from all heart diseases.
Thanks
Hi^^ Thank you for sharing, I'm following you!
I don't know if I necessarily agree with you that you can't feel something "less", but I really do like your explanation and thought process behind this idea!
Maybe it's that we choose to feel other things more! For example love and fear go hand in hand as they are opposites. To love someone means that you will lose them at some point. We all lose everyone at some point in a physical sense, because we all die at some point. I prefer to think of our existence as energetic and that we all meet back at the source consciousness and recycle, so there is no real fear of loss.
Thank you for giving us perspective each and every day.
It's funny that you said that. It hadn't really set in that I was sharing my perspective through these posts as I tend to always feel like I'm just exploring the concepts and wrapping my own mind around them. Thanks for your perspective!
I have a friend that compares these experiences of love, joy, peace, etc. to appreciation of music. Especially of more challenging pieces, such as classical music.
For example, two people can appreciate a symphony by Mozart. The first, a novice to classical music, can whistle the melody and intuitively knows that it is quality musicianship. The second, a seasoned musician who has put years into her craft, can pick out the complexity, depth, and subtlety of every measure. Both individuals can enjoy and appreciate the experience of the symphony, but they are at different levels. Using your word, you could say the second person has "expanded" in knowledge and appreciation of music.
The nice thing about this is that you never "arrive!" There is always more to expand into, as love is infinite!
well put @abishai we all see things through the prism of our own making...individual perception is an ever expanding spectrum of knowing now what we didn't know then...when spread over the entire population. The fact that we all see the same thing just a little differently is one of the things we all have in common
~may all hatred cease...let there be peace~
I am all of my days of awareness. At this time tomorrow I will be but one more day closer to the day my awareness reaches it's endpoint in this realm of existence. What lies beyond this growing awareness is anybody's guess.
I thank you @philosophy-trail for adding to the me today that I will be tomorrow, and going forward.
~may all hatred cease...let there be peace~
please follow me @JoeyArnoldVN #JonesvKellyFeelings cannot be measured that I know of however I am sure at some point the scientists will find a way with heart beating, blood flow, eyes or some other way. LOL Parents are never ready. Yes they have screwed up many of us. I completely get it. However if a child could perhaps be raised in an environment of wisdom and sound doctrine in a utopia free from the messed up world it might happen to their off spring. doubt that is possible. Parents do try with what limited wisdom and experience they have. i just think they are not instructed well as children so they are going mess up their own children. Great post.
What is this utopia?
(According to Webster)
Definition of utopia
1: Define utopia: an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect —
It does not exist. I read post here on steemit referring to this "utopia" and I think Why are people setting their sites on this concept? Perfect laws and government does not exist. Laws and government are not natural. They cause surpression, prejudice, corruption. People can govern themselves. If we govern ourselves, feel deep down for the truth of right and wrong, living in loving kindness we can achieve harmony by ourselves. No ruling system. The ruling system is God alone and God is in us.
This post deals with topics I do find myself pondering. Clearly, and I agree you can not tangibly measure these things. You can just feel them more deeply, if you're fortunate. I slightly disagree with:
"I don't think there is ever a way to really feel them less"
If you have been subverted to any sort of trauma (especially in your developmental years) can lead you down a path of feeling love towards someone. Then they deeply betray you (in the developmental phase this would be the caregiver who destroys your view of love/happiness/joy with their actions towards you). Of course this can happen in adulthood also. I do think these feelings can be sensed in a, shall we say, "decrease or lessened" quality. You may feel these feelings deeply, something cataclysmic happen, you never fully get over it and subsequently can't feel those things as deeply ever again
Enjoyable post. The nature of that which can be measured isn't necessarily understood, and that which is understood, is not necessarily measurable.