Emological Balance

Many of us have a tendency to construct an artifical barrier between our emotions and our capacity for reasoning. This goes back to the foundation of Western philosophy; Plato and Aristotle saw reason as superior to and separate from emotion. When we look at the organization and functioning of our brains, however, we see that even though specific parts of the brain control logical thinking vs. emotional origination, these parts of the brain must work in tandem. Also, our brain synapses and neurotransmitters all work in harmony, connecting the disparate parts, to give us full functionality.

I'm free writing here as part of a 40 day writing practice, and my goal isn't to start breaking down brain science for anyone reading this. If you have not already, you can and hopefully will go and learn about the limbic system, the frontal lobe, the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, and every other part of our amazingly complex brains. Please also read about neurotransmitters and connectivity between the different parts of our brains. It's worthwhile to mention here that the frontal lobe performs functions related to logical thinking, emotions and personality as well as emotional regulation. It's not accurate to say that emotions come entirely from one part of the brain and reasoning comes from another part. 

Today the brief point I want to make is that it would be beneficial if we could refrain from our tendencies towards reductionism and over-simplification with respect to human logic and emotion. Our emotions are one part of our capacity for reasoning. They're not separate. Instinct and intuition are inseparable from emotion and originate in the same parts of the brain (the limbic system, for example). Our emotions are valuable and merit inclusion in our communication with each other. Emotions have a place in the classroom, in business meetings and in professional forums. Yes, they do. Our culture teaches us to continually suppress and undervalue our emotions, preferring a calm demeanor and decisions based on rational thinking. 

There is no question that a calm state of mind is better than disruptively emotional behavior for any type of collective work setting. Also, if someone is trying to make a wise decision, coming to a neutral and balanced mental position is desirable. Cue the frontal lobe of the brain to set all of this up for us! 

However--and it's a big however--we need to be careful not to reject emotionally charged communication and the products of strong emotions in our interactions with each other. We readily share emotions with family members and close friends, but in our wider communities and what we consider work spaces, emotions must be regulated. We can regulate emotions while simultaneously valuing them as contributing to our growth as individuals and as a society. Maintaining a healthy awareness of and respect for our emotions truly enhances our capacity for sound decision making and problem solving. In other words, we can't have one without the other. 

One last coiniciding point here is that in our society, women have been traditonally viewed as more emotional than men and resultingly weaker. The way we view emotions and women are most definitely connected, like it or not. If our society shifts towards valuing emotional sharing as a part of fostering growth and positive change, women's voices will be powerful beacons. 

Our society needs to take an increasingly more holistic approach to problem solving, bringing more cohesion to our collective attitudes and actions. We need fewer barriers between masculine and feminine, logical and emotional, artistic and pragmatic endeavors. In our quest for holism and unity, let's start noticing our tendencies to parse out these seemingly opposing forces and try to witness how they're interwoven and inseparable.