Tag Archives: saddness

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

I’m Just a Melancholy Man

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Based on their observation of human behavior the ancient Greeks defined four fundamental personality types; sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic.

Being melancholy means that you’re overcome in sorrow,  that is wrapped up in sorrowful thoughts.  Your behavior conveys a powerful sense of thoughtful sadness.

Singing the Blues

Being depressed can become a state of being.   In the deep south of the U.S., the negro population was well known for creating the popular music format called the blues.

This naming of the musical genre was derived from the steady plodding of the melody coupled with lyrics that often told stories about hard lives filled with desperation and despair

This ethnic group was labeled (stereotypically) with hardships that led them to sing the blues.  Over time the stereotype has been broken and being a negro living in the United States does not mean a melancholy life is in store.

Changing Your Life

Singing the blues does not need to be, nor should it be a permanent state.  From time to time depressing circumstances arise or in some cases like the aforementioned prejudicial attitudes applied to an ethnic group getting out of the state of melancholy seems insurmountable.

It is not.  You can overcome.  Work to embrace life to its fullest and bathe in the splendor of the universe.  Each of us can rise above our self inflicted or even externally forced melancholy.

The power to do so is within you.  If you feel like you have the blues, shake it off and get up and boogie (a musical form that rose out of the blues).

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Logic or Emotions

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I received some terrific feedbck about yesterdays post.  In summary of my post, I postulated a world based solely on logic would be peaceful.  That is to say, the things that break the peace have an emotional driver.

This idea was explored in the original 1960’s version of the sci-fi TV show Star Trek.  Vulcan characters could not feel, express or act on emotions.

Feedback Recieved

What would live be like without emotion.  Emotions motivate, create pleasure (not logical but nice to feel) and pain or sadness (again not logical but certainly motivating)

Also the question arises whether a fully logic based race would in fact be peaceful.  Could violence not be logically justified under certain conditions?

The answer to whether violence can be a logical outcome of any situation is probably an interesting discussion for debate.  I think strong arguments exist for both sides.

Motivation

The lack of feeling, pleasure or pain, does on the surface seem very detrimental.  Interestingly this topic was explored in a number of the Star Trek episodes.

Having watched these episodes with pleasure, I believe the ideas expressed promoted both lack of emotion as best and on the oppisite side,  the need for emotion as critical.  In short, it was inconclusive.

Of course A fictional drama cannot provide definitive conclusions; however, it can certainly be thought provoking.  As I hope is this blog post.

Personally the discussion I had about yesterdays blog, that is emotionless world might not be the peaceful paridise I postulated, certainly has strong suporting arguments.

That being said I do truly wonder if this emotional world we live in, with it’s mass murders, war, personal attacks, bullies and so on,  is really worth having the pleasure of emotions.