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Discover .Your .Mind New .Ideas .in .Psychology .and .Idealism

The . Generation .of . Emotions,

plus the Internal Dialogue

How does one independently generate emotions: is this through an internal dialogue or visualisation of some kind ?

The generation of emotions occurs through two ways:

External source -- in any situation, we have particular attitudes and beliefs. These generate our conscious emotional responses. We may be aware of these emotions.

Internal source -- the processes of abreaction generate certain sequences of emotion, independently of the situation that we are in. These emotions are usually subconscious.

In addition, we often have some degree of anxiety present. Anxiety is an emotion, and occurs along with the two sources. In effect, at any time we may have up to three different emotions flowing through us.

Conscious emotions can be deliberately generated by suggestion, so long as they are in harmony with our current mood. For example, if we are feeling positive (ie, experiencing a 'good' emotion already), then we can induce other good emotions. However, it is hard to generate good emotions if our mood is negative. The conscious induction of good emotions does not annul the presence of subconscious negative ones. This is why the classic use of suggestion, as in "every day I am getting better", only has minor therapeutic effect.

It is subconscious emotions that are the problem, since they are not under one's control. In fact, they are influenced and even controlled by the spiritual world (ie, the soul, plus astrological influences). The process of abreaction is created by the immanent god, and usually controlled in its intensity by one's degree of sensitivity and creativity, together with the soul's interaction.

The reason for abreaction, which is often a very unpleasant experience, is that it slowly, slowly propels each person along the route of acquiring a sense of morality and ethics. We each have unpleasant aspects to our personality that we would gladly love to ignore or deny. However, abreaction brings these nasty aspects into consciousness and forces us to deal with them. To overcome this conflict we have to develop guidelines and boundaries (morality and ethics, in other words).

[The subconscious mind is the effect of having free will. I assume that life forms that do not have the need for free will do not have a subconscious mind, and so do not experience abreaction].

Internal Dialogue

To investigate the subconscious mind, and to identify its components of hidden emotions, beliefs, attitudes, etc, requires the cultivation of deep awareness. This can take several forms. I use intuition, and probably all methods have this as an ingredient. I do not visualise, but other people have used visualisation as their route to discovery.

An internal dialogue is a very intriguing phenomenon (I assume that novelists have this ability in a pronounced form). Occasionally, I used to daydream of giving a lecture on some topic ; the dialogue would generate itself and sometimes an original idea would spontaneously spring into my mind. I always regret that I could never remember these internal lectures, because if I had then they would have improved my teaching style (I only remembered the ideas that the dialogues produced). They would have enabled me to introduce difficult ideas in a better way than I have.

To generate an internal dialogue it is best to relax into reverie, and just let ideas follow their own flow, with little attempt to consciously guide them -- you just set the scene and then let things happen.

To generate emotions by this method, you would still need to set up ideas and situations which are associated with the emotions that you want to experience. In this method, the emotions follow the ideas. So if you daydream of the joys of individuality, you are likely to experience narcissism, whereas if you daydream of social interaction then you are likely to experience jealousy. If you daydream of repudiating the authoritarianism of someone, then you will be experiencing pride. If you daydream that you are just drifting through life, with no possible goals being achievable, then you will be experiencing self-pity.

To get results from such investigation is a two-pronged affair. Each person has to supply the determination and effort and desire for results, but such results are the product of contact with the person's soul. It is the soul that brings about the intuitive flashes of understanding. The ability to make this contact depends primarily on the degree of sensitivity that the person has developed, together with the preferred outlook on life. Some people prefer to understand life in a symbolic way ; as did Jung, for example. Others prefer a religious way. Yet others interpret life in terms of art, etc. In this lifetime I have preferred an intellectual /cognitive way. The understanding that each person gets reflects his/her preference.

In other words, each person's soul interacts with that person in the manner that the person prefers. There are no right or wrong methods, but only individual preferences.

Ian Heath
London, UK

www.discover-your-mind.co.uk/

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