I have recently become quite interested in the concept of causality, and how different scientific approaches deal with the issue. I feel it is one of the key features that distinguishes different ways of knowing, but the literature doesn't share my enthusiasm for it.
Today, as I was feeling a little low, I immediately tried to ascribe a cause to it. Was it because I had slept badly the previous night, or was I nervous about teaching, or was it because of my friend's recent death, or was it a matter of the heart? Ascribing causes to an emotion helps us make sense of it, or at least gives us the impression that we have made sense of it. This reduces its raw emotive power, which is particularly useful for negative emotions. It also allows you to activate coping mechanisms, which you have honed through previous experiences.
But is it possible that these ascribed causes or triggers are a mental fetter? Do they lock us into a particular way of thinking about certain events and people? When you concoct a story about why you are feeling a certain way, do you push yourself to feel that way if the contents of the story occur again? In other words, if you tell yourself that you are feeling a certain way because X happened, do you subconsciously train yourself to feel the same way if X happens in the future? Do you diminish the possibility that your emotional response to a certain trigger might evolve? The only answer is to learn to listen to yourself, to learn when to take evasive action and when to do nothing, which is easier said that done.
I am periodically visited by mild anxiety symptoms and most times there is no discernible cause. I have given up trying to identify the cause for these very physical symptoms and they usually blow over by the following day. I don't react to low spirits in the same way, but maybe I should.
Today, as I was feeling a little low, I immediately tried to ascribe a cause to it. Was it because I had slept badly the previous night, or was I nervous about teaching, or was it because of my friend's recent death, or was it a matter of the heart? Ascribing causes to an emotion helps us make sense of it, or at least gives us the impression that we have made sense of it. This reduces its raw emotive power, which is particularly useful for negative emotions. It also allows you to activate coping mechanisms, which you have honed through previous experiences.
But is it possible that these ascribed causes or triggers are a mental fetter? Do they lock us into a particular way of thinking about certain events and people? When you concoct a story about why you are feeling a certain way, do you push yourself to feel that way if the contents of the story occur again? In other words, if you tell yourself that you are feeling a certain way because X happened, do you subconsciously train yourself to feel the same way if X happens in the future? Do you diminish the possibility that your emotional response to a certain trigger might evolve? The only answer is to learn to listen to yourself, to learn when to take evasive action and when to do nothing, which is easier said that done.
I am periodically visited by mild anxiety symptoms and most times there is no discernible cause. I have given up trying to identify the cause for these very physical symptoms and they usually blow over by the following day. I don't react to low spirits in the same way, but maybe I should.
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