From where are your emotions arising?

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: I have been following some of the pages on social media, and there is one topic that is quite “in” these days — which says, ‘no emotion is a mistake’. But I have heard you in the past, and you have said that emotions are intensified thoughts. So won’t that be a hindrance in understanding, when the author is saying, “No emotion is a mistake?”

Acharya Prashant:

Emotions are obviously not a mistake, but emotionality is.

Emotions are neither good, nor bad.

Emotions depend on the center that they are coming from.

If the emotions come from a center of fear, of grief, of insecurity, then because they are arising from insecurity, you will be attached to the emotions themselves.

Watching the emotions is not the same as being emotional.

The author who says that, “Emotions are not a mistake,” has a responsibility to quickly add that,

“Emotions are not a mistake but emotionality is.”

Emotionality means being identified with the emotion. And when you are identified with the emotion, then you cannot know the emotion. You cannot watch the emotion. Then you cannot really see what is going on; then you are carried away by the emotion.

If someone says’ “Emotions are not a mistake.” Then, he is saying something very dangerous if parallelly he is not saying that you should not let the emotion carry you away. You are far too big to be carried away by any emotion. Otherwise, we are all emotional.

Who anyway thinks that emotions are a mistake?

Had you really felt that emotions are a mistake, you would have given emotions long back. So, what is the point in asserting that emotions are not a mistake? We anyway don’t take emotions to be a mistake. We anyway take emotions to be our identity.

You see, it’s like being money minded versus having money. Having money is not a mistake, but being money minded is a mistake. Having thoughts is not a mistake, but becoming a thinker or identifying with the thoughts is a mistake. And whether or not something is a mistake, the…