Display of Emotions, Sign of Weakness or Strength?

 This question has plagued me and I am not sure I have an answer. In this piece I will attempt to analyze this from different points of view. Since my knowledge of this is not clear I will need to research from multiple angles and then apply the same to my own experience and draw some conclusions. Emotions relate to feelings of fear, anger, sorrow and joy which occur and get expressed in day to day life. 

However, society creates rules and roles which seem to tell most of us to avoid expressing them in public. From childhood it has been ingrained in our minds that boys don't get scared and girls get scared and need protection of boys. Boys are supposed to be angry young macho and girls sweet shy and loving. Boys don't cry and so must not cry but girls are allowed to cry and show emotion. Joy is something which is to expressed exuberantly by males but girls are told to be modest and shy when they are happy. This is I think totally false stereotyping of a bygone Victorian era and does not exist today. 

My personal experience is that we all are human and feel emotional based on the situations we face in life. As doctors and scientific persons are emotions mere effects of chemical imbalances deeply interconnected with the physical organs of perception and action? It seems to be a self evident truth that emotions are a reaction to the external world and they come from the mind, which in turn causes a reaction. However, if it was as simple as that then the reaction to similar situations will be nearly same, but that is certainly not true. One may argue that each perception is unique and each of us are unique and therefore there is a higher consciousness which governs our reactions to the different circumstances. The explanation from a scriptural view point is that there is an unknown state of consciousness which helps us to react to the emotion. It is possibly this consciousness which helps us to control our emotions not in a manner of forcefully suppressing them but allowing us to remain detached from these. The development of the intellect has a lot to do with the emotion and even if we sometimes cannot suppress one's emotion our ability to overcome them and move on shows the level to which our intellect has developed. 

Science seems to have a completely contrary view from the above and seem reduce emotions to a biophysical and biochemical process. This affects the DNA which in turn causes physiological changes in the cells at both the microscopic and macroscopic level. Scientific research suggests that the heart is capable of creating electro magnetic fields which affect the functioning of each and every cell of the body. There also seems to be a connection between the gut and emotions and talks about food which elevates or dulls ones feelings and emotions. There are books to explain this which I plan to read and while science has given answers to most of the questions posed, I still feel that there is a higher consciousness which goes beyond the three perceivable states of consciousness namely the waking state, dream state and the deep sleep state. 

Everything described by science is temporary, finite and ephemeral whereas consciousness is permanent, infinite and eternal. Finally, the reason for writing this piece is that even after a course in Vedanta and study of scriptures, I have let my emotions get the better of me in public but have recovered sufficiently every time. This also shall pass is my mantra and I want to finally conquer fear, anger, sorrow and even joy. This maybe something I achieve in this life or in future but one thing is clear that I must not suppress my emotions but only recover and overcome them to keep the mind still and discover my consciousness. Well the next time someone valued and loved leaves or does something unexpected, will I understand than seek to be understood? Time only will tell. In the meanwhile I plod on the quest to get an explanation of the true nature of emotion. For now it is comforting to believe the Vedantic definition as against the scientific one. 

 Dr. Vispi Jokhi