ZERO POINT
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2b. Negative Emotions "So if one is trying to create consciousness,
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| The fourth way offers a dismal view of the role
of negative emotions within the life of humanity. Negative emotions
are a central and pervasive feature of human abnormality and pathology.
Ouspensky states that there are “no necessary negative emotions.”
Negative emotions are never justified, never useful, never productive,
never glorious and noble. Instead, negative emotions are useless,
and waste the energies of the emotional life as well as those of the other
centers. The fourth way psychology highlights the extent to which
negative emotions govern the sleepwalking life of humanity, and the horror
of this situation.
There are innumerable types of negative states and emotions: anger, hostility, envy, boredom, depression, anxiety and worry, resentments, suspicion, fear, self-pity, annoyance, jealousy, mistrust, emotions of violence, and so on and on. Ouspensky describes negative emotions as a terrible phenomena, which solve nothing, yield no knowledge, make life a burden and result in the great violence and suffering of humankind. Even worse is the fact that people do not realize that negative emotions are something which might be questioned, or struggled with in order to eliminate. |
People even imagine that they control their negative
emotions, manifesting them as they like, or as they choose, and that negative
emotions express their real self, or I. Humans in the state of relative
consciousness glorify negative states and take them to be motivating, or
as providing catharsis, or as giving oneself life, vitality and purpose.
All of these rationalizations are simply wrong ideas which justify weaknesses
and stupidity. People do not choose their emotional reactions but
are mechanically controlled by them. In fact, as they are, people
cannot stop the stream of habitual negative emotional reactions and states.
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| Modern culture consistently reinforces and glorifies
negative emotions: portraying them as being not only appropriate, but justifiable
and honorable reactions to any and all situations. Educators, parents,
peers and the media suggest that negative emotions can be right or noble,
genuine expressions of one real self. Even psychotherapists share
this view–believing that anger and worrying are, to a certain extent, natural,
useful and appropriate processes. All in all, people cling to negative
emotions and celebrate them. Consequently, they cannot even imagine
why they would want to oppose their negative emotions and seek to be less
attached to their expression.
Of course, there is only one way to verify the view that negative emotions are unnecessary, wasteful and useless, and that is to study oneself. Unfortunately, the study of negative emotions is very difficult to do in an impartial way and people little motivation for controlling their manifestations. Nicoll (1975) explains:
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| A second aspect to the study of negative emotions involves
the struggle with identification. Typically, we tend to identify
“I” with “it,” to lose ourselves in negative emotions, imagination and
internal considering, and to be absorbed in these processes. The
Buddhist view of attachment as the root cause of all sufferings, may be
likened to the process of identification. We are attached to our
negative states and absorbed by these sub-identities, or little i’s.
However, by observing and remembering ourselves, one tries to inwardly
separate from one’s negative states and to maintain a deeper sense of one’s
presence within the fullness of the moment. In this case, there is
an inward separation between I and it–even if only slightly or momentarily,
before one gets caught up again in the patterns of personal concerns.
Insights into patterns of negative states help to de-automatize these processes, as one loosens the attachment and identification. In doing so, one aims to lessen such destructive patterns formed in false personality. M. Nicoll compares this to tending a garden and getting rid of the weeds which would overtake the vegetables. Similarly, observation and awareness of negative states begins to weaken the continual states of attachment and identification, allowing one to remove the weeds of negative states from one’s inner life. |
A third practice is the forming of the right mental attitudes,
or right thinking. Ouspensky notes:
It is necessary to have the idea of struggling with negative emotions and then to apply this within self-study and inner work. A person can think rightly at the times of negative emotions and be aware of what they really involve within oneself and the situation. The origin of negative states must be understood within oneself, rather than simply being viewed as caused by others, or situational and accidental occurrences. The light of consciousness and self-remembering begin to illuminate what negative emotions really entail, and their useless and unnecessary nature. A fourth aspect to the study of negative emotions involves the rule of not expressing them. In order to understand what negative emotions entail–their mechanicalness and control over the person–it is necessary to struggle with their expression, both inwardly and outwardly. One must see through work i’s, or work ideas, at times of negative emotions. We must come to know how negative emotions move, think, feel, smell and taste, how we justify them, and in what weaknesses or past conditioning they are formed. By self-observing, the individual begins to separate I from “it, ” through increased consciousness. Moments of non-identification bring about deeper insights, new emotional states, and gradually, an increased inner light or illumination. The study of negative emotions requires a resistance to negative states and reactions and their hold upon oneself. This is not simply to restrict the outward expression of the emotion, while feeding it internally with justification, negative imagination and internal considering. Repression or suppression only maintains negative emotions at a deeper subconscious level. One has to find reasons and a viewpoint which demonstrate why negative emotions are unnecessary–understanding what these states involve from different angles and from the perspective of work ideas. Most importantly, one needs to self-remember at times of negative emotions to enhance one’s consciousness of all that they involve. One comes to view negative emotions as mechanical and automatized reactions of “it,” rather than as expressing real I. Negative emotional patterns are acquired throughout childhood and form patterns of false personality. A child imitates other people and their emotional displays. He or she learns manners of expression, feelings and imaginations, which support the identification with negative emotions. A child also learns to control and manipulate others through the display of negative emotions, and can maintain a false exterior in order to hide inner feelings and insecurities. Family, peers, socializing agents and cultural models all provide potential influences for imitation. Children observe other people’s negative emotions and are the victims of them. Unfortunately, over time, people come to think that their negative emotions comprise their real self. Negative emotions assume control of the thinking center and motivate self-justification and internal considering. To make matters worse, the inclinations of false personality towards laziness and self indulgence provide no basis for a struggle with negative states within oneself. |
| All of these things need to be studied and verified within
oneself, and doing so requires an exertion of conscious effort to observe
and struggle with these states. This cannot simply be done as an
intellectual task–dealing with negative emotions in the abstract.
Instead, it is necessary to observe one’s particular states; to label and
classify them; to recognize their smell, taste, and walk; to
realize where they originate. This all needs to be done in a personal
way. Ouspensky writes: “You must find which negative emotions
you chiefly have, why they come, what brings them, and so on.”
(1957, p.73)
It is useful to study negative emotions within three spheres of life; within oneself by means of self-study and self-observation; in others whose negative states are intertwined with one’s own; and within society and the larger world scene. The fourth way teaching suggests that the world is largely governed by negative emotions, and the history of humanity provides ample testimony to their pervasive and destructive nature. Little by little, one can begin to understand more objectively what negative emotions entail, of what stuff they are made and how they detract from life. It is necessary to acquire a new perspective, and to bring light to bear within the inner world–to realize how insane you have been. Negative emotions drain vital life energies, diminish consciousness and disrupt the harmonious development of an individual’s essence. They are useless–yet they govern the life of sleepwalking humanity, and maintain human lunacy and madness:
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