Emotions are self-serving

[Esaman]

How I see Te egos and particularly Fe PoLR in this question. All emotions are an undercurrent for them. There doing their thing of developing/reacting to themselves and the world. The undercurrent status cannot be functionally broken, because person has no conscious tool and capability of dealing with them. So strong emotions that plop themselves in to consciousness to be dealt with are a problem and so is having people planting emotions in to the undercurrent that is holding/creating cohesion and direction dynamically and passively.

There can be even an emotional benefit to the arrangement. You cannot mess up natural processes you do not actively access.

... I don't think you are LSI. @Park

[aixelsyd]

tl;dr, nah, not really. Emotions can go either way and it's not something anyone can run from or separate themselves from. Some people have a better grasp on emotions than others do and are better at manipulating them, but we all manipulate our and other people's emotions whether we'll admit this or not.

Emotions are a fundamental aspect of being human. I'll say it's even fundamental to animals, but that's another subject. Emotions and mental and physical health are interwoven, hence why physical health (diet, fitness,) tends to befit mental health which helps make us emotionally healthy, if you will. Humans will always emotionally manipulate others and their environment, for better or for worse. But emotional manipulation, if you want to call it that, can provide a sense of wellness and a sense of purpose, among other things. I don't see emotionally inspired art and music is much different than an emotionally inspired speech or gesture that influences others to a certain end. They're different methods going toward a similar end. Body language, music, language that is emotionally charged or is geared towards emotion is just a part of communication. To deny, invalidate, and cut oneself off from the emotional sphere of communication is an easy way to be trapped in a mood disorder. After all, relationships couldn't survive without emotional communication, including some form of emotional manipulation (which doesn't have to take a context of deviousness and deceit). There would be no society without it.

After all, the very ideas of selfish and selfless have a subjective, emotional basis in how they are understood. The cause, though, I believe has more to do with a person's overall health, as I already mentioned.