We Are The Bad Guys. The Evil Is Already In You: Consciously Changing Yourself Is One The Tasks

By Davide Appi

We are the bad guys. The evil is already in you How many times do we promise ourselves not to make the same mistakes again, not to react abruptly, but then at the first opportunity we reproduce the same deleterious behaviour again, which harms the relationship with those around us and the people we interact with every day? How many times in our daily lives do we behave irrationally, getting angry, and frightened in objectively uncompromising situations? How many times do we let our emotional memory, i.e. our past, make us react to the situation of the moment when clearly the circumstance of now has nothing to do with what happened to us a long time ago? We probably all experience these dilemmas, which is why inner work on oneself is fundamental, so that we are truly free to choose according to our real needs of the moment, and stop being victims at the mercy of the 'conditioning chain' formed by the thoughts-past-emotions complex. Making the right choices, without them being dictated solely by reason or conditioned solely by completely unconscious and automatic emotional impulses, is an important part of our journey of awakening. It is difficult to change oneself, one's own debilitating emotional reactions, one's own negativity, and one's own unconscious conflictuality, which constitute the 'bad' side within each of us. Consciously changing oneself is one of the most difficult tasks, yet it is an indispensable stage in our personal transformation; it is an arduous task, but we must not be discouraged by the difficulty of the manoeuvre; on the contrary, it is precisely the difficulties that make us grow. This is why changing ourselves is vital to transforming the world, and true revolution can only start with a profound inner change. We must recognise that in us we have both good and evil, it is up to us to choose which path to take and which side of the coin to pursue. We can decide, in every moment of our lives, whether to be on the right side to uplift ourselves and society, or to give in to our baser instincts, turning our lives and consequently the very world we live in into a perpetual earthly hell. The choice is ours. It is already within us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tektime
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9788835451983

Book preview

CHAPTER 1: EMOTIONS

WHAT ARE EMOTIONS

What are they, what are they for, and why do we feel emotions?                  Etymologically, the word emotion derives from the verb 'to move' i.e., 'to set in motion', which is why we can say: emotions are what set us in action, they are therefore the basis of our actions and the driving force behind our behaviour. Emotions play a crucial role in our survival, in fact they act as a guide to guide us in our choices, identify dangers and defend ourselves. The problem arises when their intensity becomes excessive or we fail, at a time when we are overwhelmed by them, to identify them, recognise them, and then in those situations we risk them turning against us. 

But back to the initial question, emotions are certainly a boundless world, an extremely complex phenomenon, we all experience them, but it is not easy to give a precise answer to the question of what they are. They are simultaneously both thoughts and physiological and even behavioural reflexes. Sometimes we tend to confuse them with moods or feelings but, for most modern theories, they are a multi-componential process and not a static state, so they have several components and an evolving time course. Emotions, as we said, act as a guide, determining our behaviour, our actions, with innate responses composed of involuntary, automatic and simultaneous phenomena; in their process they involve both the body and the mind. We can give banal examples that have happened to us all: when faced with danger we react by running away, or following a wrong suffered we frown. And already in these simple cases, it is evident how different factors come into play, and can help us understand what emotions are like. They are responses to stimuli whose origin can be either external or also internal. As far as internal stimuli are concerned, they can be thoughts or bodily sensations. External ones, on the other hand, can be a long wait at an appointment, a criticism received at work, and these initiate a whole series of modifications at the level of the nervous system, which give rise to emotional reactions, which are characterised by physiological aspects that result in the following changes: heart rate, body temperature, facial expressions, muscle activation, and blood oxygen. But not only the changes can also involve cognitive aspects such as: verbal changes, analysis of the nature of the stimulus, propensity for action, specific behavioural reaction, which can be an aggressive attitude if we are angry, or fleeing if we are frightened.

The emotional chain, i.e., the different components of the 'emotion system', can influence each other, which means that each element can influence the other components. Acting on one aspect of the emotional system consequently influences the response as a whole. This allows a kind of emotional regulation capacity, that is, it allows us to consciously go about modulating the reaction itself. For example, if we are under stress and feel we need to relax, taking deep breaths will certainly help us, or we could act on our thoughts to calm ourselves down.

WHAT ARE EMOTIONS FOR?

They are like our internal guide, a kind of compass that is called upon during decision-making processes, in our reasoning and in our judgements. They also provide information about our physiological state, our well-being, enable us to manage vital decisions and understand our needs. Emotions are said to be a crucial factor in evolution, being an indispensable phenomenon for survival, the result of a long process of adaptation to one's environment that has enabled human beings to develop increasingly effective responses. Emotions are response mechanisms that allow us, for example, to stop at red lights out of fear of the consequences; if we did not feel anger, we would not be induced to fight for injustice and abuse, while sadness would allow us to deal with situations of loss and bereavement.

THE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS OF EMOTIONS

They predispose us to action by activating us on a neurophysiological level. In particular, by bypassing the intermediary of the cognitive process and reasoning, they allow a rapid response to a stimulus and this factor makes them absolutely essential to ensuring our survival. The rapidity of emotion allows us not to waste time in a dangerous or emergency situation. Furthermore, emotions allow us to express to others our state of mind and how we feel; this communication can take place through facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. These elements constitute significant signals about our inner state and how we feel.

PRIMARY EMOTIONS

Primary, i.e., innate, emotions are genetically programmed into us from birth. The psychologist Martin Seligman puts forward the hypothesis that there are stimuli, called 'phobogens', which would genetically predispose us to react to potentially dangerous stimuli. Also according to Antonio Damasio, a Portuguese neurologist, neuroscientist, psychologist and essayist, it is possible that we are programmed to respond with an emotional reaction to the perception of certain traits regarding stimuli from the environment or the body. Examples of stimuli that induce an emotional reaction can be certain sizes, think of a large animal, certain types of movement, such as that of a reptile or snake, or certain types of noise such as a roar.Possiamo elencare sei emozioni primarie, le quali risultano essere universalmente riconoscibili e innate a prescindere dal tempo, luogo e cultura. Esse sono: paura, tristezza, rabbia, disgusto, sorpresa e gioia.

Fear acts as an alarm bell, signalling danger, and eventually enabling us to save ourselves by flight, attack, or immobility. Let us think of a situation in which we find ourselves in the presence of a large animal, in which case fear is the stimulus that induces us to flee from danger. Sadness, generally related to a loss, allows us to take time to reflect and process what has been lost. In a newborn baby, sadness leads him to cry, and this can let the mother know that he is hungry. Anger signals an injustice or abuse suffered, so this spurs us to defend and claim our rights; or it can save us if we are attacked by an aggressor. Disgust turns us away from something physically or morally uncongenial to us, it signals for example a food that is spoiled and therefore potentially dangerous to our health. Surprise in the face of an adverse situation can make us flee from danger, for example if a branch of a tree falls it gives us the impetus to avoid the worst.          Finally, joy expresses our optimal state of contentment, and this encourages us to cultivate this contentment.

These primary emotions are basic to ensuring our survival, imagine our ancestors living in a hostile and dangerous environment; but even in the present, they have their usefulness, for example when we must cross the road, drive, carry out certain dangerous jobs, in fact in these situations there are actually risks to our person, so even today the primary emotions play an important role. But in addition to these reactions justified by the situation of the moment, we have a whole series of emotional reactions unrelated to survival, which often turn out to be not only useless, but even harmful and deleterious in our relationship with ourselves and others.

SECONDARY EMOTIONS

We have said that primary emotions are genetically programmed, whereas secondary emotions are not innate but rather learnt during our lives and experiences. Thus, a secondary emotion is an association between an event or experience and a primary emotional reaction. We can explain this better with an example: let us take the fear of losing one's job. If we are subjected to this fear we will create a stream of thoughts, of mental representations, about the possible scenarios and consequences if this becomes reality. Thus, every thought about this fear will have the power to generate a negative emotion of fear, rather than anxiety or insecurity. This concern is certainly different from the one we might feel if we were to find ourselves in a forest, with suddenly a ferocious beast ready to attack us.                        The fear of losing one's job is a secondary emotion, as it presupposes a cognitive process in relation to the evaluation of the circumstance, so it is something learned and not innate.

COMBINED EMOTIONS

The primary and secondary emotions discussed above are mostly elementary, but there are also more complex emotions that are formed by the mixing of several simple emotions, so for example fear seems to be a mixture of surprise and fear, while love seems to be a mixture of acceptance and joy. These are the combined emotions.

Ultimately, primary emotions are necessary for our survival and therefore have their uses, whereas secondary and combined emotions are often useless, if not harmful. Fear may make sense in the case of suddenly finding a bear when you are in the middle of a forest, but stressing over the risk of losing your job or waiting for an exam is something that is absolutely detrimental to our health.

‘Every emotion seems necessarily linked to a process of affective memorisation of a past experience’.