Thread: How i see human emotions (mood ring theory of my brain)

Emotions are like colors, there are a few primary colors and a couple tints and shades to help darken and lighten.

to be generic as all hell there are 3 primary emotions; happy(yellow) sad(blue) and angry(red) and by mixing these emotions together u get alot of different things. but when you add the shades Black and White you get a totally new feeling. and the black in this case is a lack of that emotion, and white is a total of all emotions combined.

So purple would be blue and red right?

so purple is sad and angry.

so purple could be a vengeful type feeling.

See what i mean?

culturally instilled associations

o.o? what??

your colours and moods are not intrinsically linked - the are dictated by the culture you grew up in
other cultures link your colours with different moods

The analogy is good. But one's emotional state follows a richer mix of chemicals than the visible spectrum can describe. You may as well say sounds are like colours.

you people made my brain hurt on this one....

I think emotions are the biological process that takes place in response to the environment we face as humans

did u get what im saying with the color thing though? im not say that there isnt more emotions ad what not, but those 3 are the primary emotions that are either grown from or drawn back upon

It's an interesting idea, brokenazs, but unless you have some factual information about emotions or neurotransmitters or brain function that might support the hypothesis that your idea has functional significance, it is just an idea. I know there is a great number of neurotransmitters that are used in neuron communication; I do not know if they organize in structural families, and if they do, if those families are each associated with a general category of emotion like the ones you describe. You should do a little research and see what you can find.

In my opinion, if there are extremely basic categories of emotion from which all other emotions that humans have names for arise, then I would say it is stressed vs. not stressed. I was considering adding aggression, but really, an animal only uses aggression if it has to, because it has something to fear if it doesn't. A socially dominant individual who is secure and unchallenged in his or her position is calm and not particularly aggressive. A socially dominant individual who is being challenged in some way or another by more subordinate individuals can become very aggressive in order to ensure that their position is maintained.

Originally Posted by paralith

In my opinion, if there are extremely basic categories of emotion from which all other emotions that humans have names for arise, then I would say it is stressed vs. not stressed.

I wondered along the same lines and came up with "rewarded" vs. "not rewarded". That would correspond to the dopamine group. Colloquially we'd say thinking/feeling "positive" or "negative". But these are often fickle fluttering "quick as thought" so to speak. Rarely do we get (feel) a persistent elevated or depressed dopamine state. So how persistent must a feeling be to call it an emotion?

this is a reasonable idea. where do you think fear might fit into this proposed pallete. guilt, and hope are another couple of emotions that i dont see fitting into the three primarys that you suggest.

That's a neat idea Brokenazs.

Many philosophical and mystical systems use colour as symbolic of human qualities.

And just a little experiment in looking at colours and observing thoughts and moods theyr induce demonstrate they have a definite effect on our psyche.

In the qabalsitic system i use, colours are used on the sephiras and paths. And each colour is either primary or blended with other colours or natures of the other spheres and paths which influence it.
Although it doesn't use these individual colours in various tones of light and dark. I think that system is possible, but I also think it could become quite complex. And life is overwhelmingly complicated. The point of a system is to simplify complexity in order to enable the mind to grasp it. The successful systems stick to a colour which describes a particular quality, it is perhaps then useful to keep in mind when contemplating the colour to realise the various degrees between light and dark ( which really must be quite a big spectrum if you were to attempt to put them all down on paper, one blending into the next etc)
I would envisage white being symbolic of the quality as it's ideal and purer abstract regenrative sense and possibly black being it's lower corrupt and degenerative quality, but where do we cross lines? See it becomes too complex.

The Qabalah gives me quite a comprehensive system, whereby a particular colour is symbolic of a particular quality and idea, and other ideas are primaries or blends of other qualities. It demonstrates to me the unity in life as well as the interrelation of things and ideas.

For example Martial qualities are considered to be red. The solar body or central consciousness of equilibrium is considered yellow. When yellow and red are combined, they create the mercurial nature of intellect.
If anger overrules your head and sense of balance, then you just get a bloody red angry mess!

As one poster pointed out about this being cultural, yes it is a learned thing. Although it is interesting to note how certain colours automatically affect us, and these we can use as springboards to explore the quality of other colours, the most important key is the meaning we give the colours. So it is more important what we individually ascribe to their meaning.
It doesn't matter what colour system you follow, or whether you design one yourself. What's most important is that you grasp and absorb understanding of these individual colours and what their qualities and natures mean to YOU.

When you've done that, a lot of practical work can be put to good use and you can utilize colour to consciously and intentionally affect your moods and ideas, as well as using the colours which are now activated by the meanings you have given them to explore more deeply the essence or the unconscious of these qualities through meditation and contemplation.

By knowing these qualities, you know yourself and your environment better which gives you much more scope and choice.