The mental concept that is associated with an emotion actually creates the boundaries of that emotion. If the mental concept changes, the emotion does not change ; instead, it fades away and a different emotion arises, one that fits the current mental concept. The mental concepts of emotions are not normally a part of our awareness. Emotions are not unique to any particular individual, so the mental concepts that underlie them come from the unconscious mind. Since the mental concepts are unconscious they are extremely difficult to identify. The mental concept is normally unconscious, so I call it an unconscious concept or an unconscious idea.
At this point I need to clarify my usage of two important terms.
I use the term ‘subconscious mind’ for what is personal to the individual, and the term ‘unconscious mind’ for what is general to humanity. [²]
An emotion is not unique to any particular individual, so the mental concept that underlies it comes from the unconscious mind.
Now an unconscious idea has two values : it is good or it is bad. The good value generates the pleasant feeling, the bad value the unpleasant feeling. This division leads to two choices. One choice gives rise to one emotion, the other choice to its complement.
In general, the definition of an emotion is that it is an unconscious idea powered by either a pleasant or an unpleasant feeling.
Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath. All Rights Reserved
