Did you know behavior is the result of two different forces, one invariant and the other a finely textured elaboration? You interpret the latter as your freedom of choice, your ability to respond in an intelligent and judicious manner. You govern it by your perception of each circumstance and its conditions.
The biological direction in love and hate is the same. Hate's the attractive force of love, deflected or reflected. You the subject are
drawn towards the object, but equally
repelled,
inhibited, or
stopped. You the subject are caught in the destructive intent of hate. It's attraction, but the physical response turns what would otherwise be love, into hate. One biological direction pushes fear and anger. It's repulsion or retreat. After you take circumstance and judgment into account, what
could be your fear
could become your anger. Fear powers the physical approach of
attack. If the only escape route's through danger, nature takes that direction with an angry tooth and nail.
Thought's the mental process that reserves judgment and resolves problems. Thought's hallmark is equitability. It's this problem resolving ability in you that determines your worth to humanity. Whether you sense emotion in others or yourself, it plays out on a stage of awareness. The procedure's virtually invisible, but you're aware that in thinking,
something is taking place, even when you've reached a conundrum. Emotional displays provide a window over the process of your thought, if you care to read it, because the anatomy of emotion
maps your thought.
You can see through that window and it presents you the challenge to recreate not just the likeness of your physical self but also the very intelligence that constitutes your inner essential nature. In art, the task isn't to carve a living figure; it's to carve a figure who expresses the capability of forming learned decisions and responses as you do, it's to carve a figure who
behaves as you do.
Behavior and emotion is a river that follows a path governed by topographical circumstance. It sends a current in one direction then sends it in another. What've we learned from behavioral reversals and emotional extremes, where our biological directions push from one end of the spectrum to the other? Maybe it's an exercise in self-reflection. Maybe it's an exercise in
choice. And for what?
You'd think this City was one big roleplaying game.
Today's Playlist:"Human Behavior" Björk
"People Are People" Depeche Mode
"Girls and Boys" Blur
"Opposites Attract" Paula Abdul
"Angry Johnny" Poe
( Radio Notes )
