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[–] middle_path [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I see where you are coming from. I'm very anti-religion myself, but I think each one contains a kernel of truth.

Negative emotions, I don't think, are ever beneficial. Anxiety can be replaced with foresight, depression replaced with insight, and stress replaced with awareness. I understand the concept, but fear and anxiety are useless. Anything they prevent can be replaced by simply imagining the worst outcome and being prepared for it. If you worry, you only add more suffering.

I think that's the idea of enlightenment. It's not an abandonment of emotions, just moving beyond them.

For what it's worth, I think you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater on a few subjects.

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[–] Reddiggoat 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

I hear you on the religions - life-centric ideas don't get billions of followers for thousands of years without having something to them.

As for emotions, I'll have to agree to disagree. I don't think you could have foresight without the fear/anxiety the ideas would evoke. Ideally, yes, but you can't rationally prepare for everything in life. I like your idea of moving beyond emotions rather than discarding them but I still find it very helpful to stay attuned to all of them. (A crude example: with a bit of practice, you can trigger your own fight-or-flight response for a variety of uses. For me, I need to access some stress/fear emotion to be able to do that.)

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[–] middle_path [S] ago 

At least we can both be rational about it. Agree to disagree.

As for the fight or flight, check out Wim Hof. He's a crazy fellow who can, and has taught others, how to take full control of their bodies using only breathing and exercise. A person lying on their back can produce as much adrenaline as a man in a burning building. Cool shit.