excreationist

It is basically about having general empathy. i.e. being a psychopath/sociopath(?) or not. It is about whether the person emotionally values the well-being of people in general. If a person only valued the well-being of their mother and didn't care if other people were tortured then that isn't general empathy for all people. It would be even worse if that person got pleasure from the suffering of others - basically it would be a playful novelty kind of pleasure. Or maybe they feel hurt and hurting others makes things fair. Or it makes them feel important and in control. (If you're nice to others you could be rejected)

A3

So there seem to be differences between humans and animals? Why are there humans and why are there animals? Why male and female of both? Could there be a use for humans to have emotions or where could these come from?
We are all familiar with the saying ‘man are from Mars and women are from Venus’ but does anyone wonder why that is so?
BTW this is the contents of the book I mentioned above

I. The Quest for the Mind
II. The Mind and the Brain
III. The Sensual Degree of the Mind
The Corporeal and the Sensual
The Scientific and the External Memory
IV. The Formation of the Memory
V. Memory and Imagination
VI. The Rational Mind
The "Pure Intellect"
The Rational Mind
Formation of the Rational Mind
VII. Human Thought and its Discipline
Mental Digestion
The Use of Abstractions
VIII. Types and Degrees of the Rational Mind
Abuse of the Rational
Degrees of the Rational
IX. Relation of the Natural Mind to the Celestial and Spiritual Degrees
Beyond Consciousness
Degrees within the Memory
Supersensible Thought
Opening of the Spiritual Mind
Reformation of the Natural Mind
Liberation of the Natural Mind
X. The Natural Mind after Death
Spiritual Sensation
The Interior Memory
The Natural Minds of Angels
Degrees of the Angelic Mind
The Inmost, or the Human Internal

Regards
Adrian

WJ

a3!

Sounds like an interesting read! Did you say that one was available electronically...? Is it more psychology or philosophy, or neither or both?

Walrus

joshack

ALL emotions make people human. In fact, all emotions that people feel can be pointed to in other animals (behaviorally). There is no sharp dividing line. If anything, what makes people human (emotionally) would be the ability to look objectively at one's own emotions. The evidence for this ability in other animals is questionable, although I don't think it impossible.

A3

Hi Walrus,

I scanned the book, so you might find a 'he' that should be a 'be' or something like that.
You ask what it is, well..I like to see it as spiritual mechanistic, the arms and legs of how our mind works. It is indeed an interesting book and a good source for discussions. I will send it to anyone that asks (I will not send it willy-nilly) so my email address is abraam@idirect.com
Besides if you send me a request I don't have to save your address to send anything I can just respond.

Regards
Adrian

PS After thinking it over it is probably closer to Psychology. In the intro there is a quote
[ June 05, 2002: Message edited by: A3 ]</p>