Transience of feelings

If road rage is any indicator of how emotions can influence action, the Stoics perhaps had a point when they said that feelings are not a reliable basis for deciding action. The emotions of the moment can override rational thought and lead to actions that one may later regret. On the other hand, feelings can also lead to inaction. In fact, the Bhagavad Gita, one of the more critical texts on doubt, centres on the possibility of inaction.  

Just as the battle in the Mahabharata is about to begin, the epic freezes to allow for Krishna’s philosophic advice to the Pandavas’ best warrior, Arjuna, on the necessity of entering the battle. When Arjuna is despondent about the possibility of killing his relatives, Krishna advises him to snap out of it. What had to be done had to be gone through. Feelings would pass.

Similarly, the mind is a battlefield, and emotions often cloud judgment, leading individuals to take ill-advised actions. Even as Aristotle maintains that feelings are integral to ethics, there are situations in which action is imminent and timing so crucial that there can be no debate about its abhorrent consequences.

There is no doubt that feelings and emotions are valuable and even necessary to experience anything. In all cultures, music, theatre, ideas, and propaganda play on emotions to create a desired ethos. Indian music and dance classify the moods and use appropriate musical notes and gestures to convey each mood. Armies use marching tunes and lyrics to inspire courage and sacrifice. Tragedy and farce in theatre have been instrumental in the rise and fall of kingdoms. And ideologies as feelings are equally potent in creating hate, violence and divisiveness.

Hence, there is a need to regulate emotions lest others gain control over them. Even the mind of a sage can be swayed and carried away by emotion. Attachment, anger, greed, envy, and acquisitiveness are forms that feelings take. Reason is of little avail, as emotions can override it.

It is only when emotions and feelings come under control that their transience becomes clear. The ego, which orchestrates all persuasion and justification, stands exposed. There is recognition that all sense-perceived objects are mere manifestations. When the transience of emotions is realised, the only feelings that dominate are compassion and love. A moral obligation to all creatures.