week 13 blog 1

I find Sartre’s ideas interesting.  The idea that we control our emotions really made me think about how I’ve lived my life so far.  For the past several years I’ve been dealing with a lot of emotion stress.  From loved ones dying to realizing that my best “friend” wasn’t even my friend.  But after really thinking about the idea that we control our emotions I think I’m starting to come to terms with my emotions.  If we really do control our emotions why do we feel those that are negative?  Why have I been depressed and angry?  If I can control these emotions why would I chose to feel negative emotions as well as positive?  But after some pondering I think I may have a better understanding.   First off, if we didn’t feel negative emotions, positive emotions wouldn’t mean anything.  They must coexist within us in order for us to feel them at all.  You can’t have one without the other.  But why would people chose to dwell in a state of mind in which only negative emotions are felt?  I think that what Sartre may have been getting at is that, rather than sitting down and weighing the options of what emotion should I feel right, that we choose in an instant.  We choose subconsciously.  I think that we can choose whether or not to be happy or sad or angry.  But it’s not a conscious choice.  Our body chooses how we react to stimulus.  So in a way we do choose our emotions.  But I don’t think this is the main point Sartre was getting at.  There’s something deeper than just choosing our emotions.  I think that he might be trying to say that, what’s important about our emotions is to take responsibility for them. This idea of being responsible for our choices is another one of Sartre’s points.  My interpretation of this idea was that we are free to make whatever choices we want, but we are responsible for them.