FASTER THAN “FAST EDDIES”
THERE is something faster than the irritating “Fast Eddies” — con men, women and children (see yesterday’s post) — playing so prominent a role in contemporary society. Emotions.
Before I go on, I would like to make a critical distinction between emotions and feelings which are too often lumped injudiciously together. By “emotions” I mean the body’s release of circulating chemicals either in a local blood vessel plexus or the general blood stream. Okay, let’s call them what they, by definition, are: hormones. An emotion is when the body, typically the brain or gut, suddenly releases a packet of hormones. These hormones tweak neural receptors throughout the body, making one more likely to react in a particular manner. You name it, hormones do everything from make one unconsciously more or less hungry, more or less impulsive, more or less interested in sex. As I said, you name it. But it’s a general propensity to behave in a particular fashion. Emotions are about nudging, not necessarily acting or doing.
Feeling, on the other hand, are what we sense when particular muscles or groups of muscles contract. We interpret these muscular contractions to “mean” something, like love or irritation, angst or anger. But more importantly, people (and some domestic animals) who observe these particular muscles, especially facial or hand muscles contracting, through a system called “mirror neurons,” in their mind reproduce, at least in their mind, the same muscle contractions, hence, what we call empathy — to learn more, see outstanding Stanford Professor Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky’s paper on Mirror Neurons here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti....
Okay, having clarified the difference between emotions and feelings, I repeat my opinion that there is indeed one thing faster than a Fast Eddie, and that would be emotions. One’s emotions can, as we often say in the literary world, turn on an instant. It’s the reason some say there can be the thinnest knife edge difference between the propensity towards acceptance and rejection in matters of the heart. Feelings, in my experience, tend to take a bit more time, though newborns trying to make sense of their “new world” might disagree (see THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor — https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.squ... — required reading for mothers and fathers with a newborn).
In conclusion, I challenge you, dear reader, to be as totally cognizant as possible for one day about your and others’ emotions and feelings, and see if you don’t agree with me. Catch some empathy here and there. Make your life richer and more robust. My gift to you today. :-)
The Edge of Madness
Available in printed, digital and audiobook formats; purchased by K. Simmons Productions for manga, animation and cinematic treatment.
Before I go on, I would like to make a critical distinction between emotions and feelings which are too often lumped injudiciously together. By “emotions” I mean the body’s release of circulating chemicals either in a local blood vessel plexus or the general blood stream. Okay, let’s call them what they, by definition, are: hormones. An emotion is when the body, typically the brain or gut, suddenly releases a packet of hormones. These hormones tweak neural receptors throughout the body, making one more likely to react in a particular manner. You name it, hormones do everything from make one unconsciously more or less hungry, more or less impulsive, more or less interested in sex. As I said, you name it. But it’s a general propensity to behave in a particular fashion. Emotions are about nudging, not necessarily acting or doing.
Feeling, on the other hand, are what we sense when particular muscles or groups of muscles contract. We interpret these muscular contractions to “mean” something, like love or irritation, angst or anger. But more importantly, people (and some domestic animals) who observe these particular muscles, especially facial or hand muscles contracting, through a system called “mirror neurons,” in their mind reproduce, at least in their mind, the same muscle contractions, hence, what we call empathy — to learn more, see outstanding Stanford Professor Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky’s paper on Mirror Neurons here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti....
Okay, having clarified the difference between emotions and feelings, I repeat my opinion that there is indeed one thing faster than a Fast Eddie, and that would be emotions. One’s emotions can, as we often say in the literary world, turn on an instant. It’s the reason some say there can be the thinnest knife edge difference between the propensity towards acceptance and rejection in matters of the heart. Feelings, in my experience, tend to take a bit more time, though newborns trying to make sense of their “new world” might disagree (see THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor — https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.squ... — required reading for mothers and fathers with a newborn).
In conclusion, I challenge you, dear reader, to be as totally cognizant as possible for one day about your and others’ emotions and feelings, and see if you don’t agree with me. Catch some empathy here and there. Make your life richer and more robust. My gift to you today. :-)
The Edge of Madness
Available in printed, digital and audiobook formats; purchased by K. Simmons Productions for manga, animation and cinematic treatment.
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