Root of all emotions — Love and Fear
Nothing is perfectly complete in this world and everything that exists is one side of the same coin. This also gets reflected in the dual nature of mind. As long as anything is identified by the analytical mind, it has it’s opposite. This same idea is also reflected in the ancient Chinese philosophy by the symbol of Yin and Yang which shows how seemingly opposite forces are complimentary and interdependent in the manifested world.
Likewise, the two complementary base emotions are — Love and Fear. All positive emotions like happiness, enthusiasm, thrill, ecstacy, excitement, bliss and compassion arise from the base emotion of Love and all negative emotions like sadness, anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, depression and anxiety arise from the base emotion of Fear. However, it would be apt to say that at any point in time we are either driven by Love or Fear, as both these emotions being complimentary in nature can’t reside together. Just imagine — if you can be loving and fearful at the same time? Not possible indeed.!
It’s a matter of conscious choice about what we would like to be driven by — Love or Fear? Whichever emotion is watered consciously or unconsciously, eventually grows and at some point, in time becomes the second nature (temperament) of the person. So, it’s very important to make this conscious choice to be driven by Love to have favourable and positive consequences.
As long as we are driven by Fear, we feel stuck in life and have difficulties letting things go. It might be difficult to forget past failures, forgive others and move on in life as we might feel a void somewhere deep within, which we might attempt to fill by something (more stuff, more wants, more desires, more money) but none of these will make us feel really fulfilled.
On the other hand, when we are driven by Love, we feel fulfilled in our lives making it easier for us to forget past failures, forgive others and letting things go. It helps us to rather focus more on meaningful aspects of life — being more giving and caring, building meaningful relationships and helping others.
Fear can only arise if there is a sense of lacking or inadequacy of something as there are so many external things that we want — success, money, fame, material comforts, good relationships and we will always feel some inadequacy somewhere, as our desires are endless. We are constantly chasing some or the other thing and the moment we reach there, we are on for the chase of the next thing, but we forget that there is no end to this chase.!
True love and Joy can arise if instead of chasing these transient things, we look inward and connect with our true being which is never changing as compared to the ever-changing external world. This connection with inner being can be established through meditation and introspection and once we establish that connection, we can find true love, joy and peace within, irrespective of what is happening in the external world.
So, which emotion are you consciously choosing to be driven from —
Fear or Love?