July 18, 2000
What an interesting thing the human mind is. Yesterday (and a lot of days recently) wasn't really a terrific day for me. There are a lot of things in my life right now which are making me unhappy, or uncomfortable. So, I was thinking last night when I finally got home about moods, what causes them, how they work. (Yangtze Kiam, river of many moots... Oh, Yangtze, Yangtze Kiam, river full of fish... never mind) This raised the question about just how does the human mind work? What is it that causes us to be self aware, and able to modify what we do based on the exterior circumstances. One moment, we're sad, the next we're happy, then hurt, an endless cycle of emotion for each of us to live through. How can one understand the processes that cause this to occur in our minds? Is there a particular combination of chemicals that makes us feel one way, rather than another? Why would that be evolutionarily worthwhile? I can understand some of the baser instinct... anger, fear, hunger... but what drives unhappiness, joy, the need for chocolate? How did the human mind become so complex?
I enjoy watching the Discovery Channel and the History Channel, to get insights into what we are, what we have been, and ultimately, what we may become. The current theory that I'm aware of is that the reasons humans are intelligent is that they needed to be smart, since they weren't large, have big (nasty pointy) teeth, or particularly fast, so to keep away from predators, they had to develop intelligence.
Of course, the last documentary I saw indicated that we haven't increased our mental powers since the development of homo sapiens. Which then brings to mind what impact infrastructure has on our abilities to build farther and better lives. But, getting back to the main discussion, just what reason do we have the complex set of emotions we have? And why are they so transitory?
I wish I had insight into these questions. All I know is, sometimes I'm just plain tired.
Have a good day!