We are at war with 'Emotions'

The human race's prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenseless against ourselves.

-       Arnold J. Toynbee

Our forefathers have survived in the wild when they had practically no technological means of defending themselves against the wild. From that point onwards, we have come a long way. We have been able to use our intellect to technologically advance and therefore survive the many threats posed by the external world. But have we survived the worse, or are we heading towards it?

Today, there is one grave black cloud hovering over the existence of humans. i.e. Emotions. We are knowingly or unknowingly at war with emotions. The cup of our life is brimming with emotions. We are all too full. Any random act or event is sufficient to catalyze a massive spill. And that spill can be grave enough to threaten our existence. Emotions are fuelling most of the problems around the world.

We are seeing a major surge in hate crimes. Recently a student of Indian origin shot dead his research guide out of frustration before killing self. The mass shooting in Orlando was against the LGBT community. There is apparently a cult operating in India against the rational thinkers, who have also been accused of hate- motivated murders of three well known rational thinkers. In the remote areas of India, honour killings are still prevalent. Racially motivated crimes are on the rise. Terrorism is at its peak. Suicides are increasing across all economies. People are carrying out violent rallies against those expressing their opinions.

We do not know as yet how to deal with emotions. Emotions are a summation of our feelings, thoughts and beliefs. All of these three ingredients are subjective and vary from person to person. Therefore emotions are not absolute. And when something is not absolute, you have to ensure that you do not shell out reactions- both physical and vocal on others based on emotions without screening them.

With emotion- induced actions on a rise, I wonder if we are heading towards the end. We are all well equipped with everything we need to destroy ourselves. From nuclear weapons to the motivation, we have it all. It remains to see whether we are able to survive ourselves.