Emotions are not fate that is forced upon you, but magic that you choose in the face of an unbearable reality. Freedom opens when you accept responsibility.
Five complete deep essays
In 1939, Jean-Paul Sartre, a young 34-year-old philosophy teacher, published a slim book of just over 100 pages in a Paris cafe. The title was 『Esquisse d'une théorie des émotions』.
At the time, the psychological community treated emotions only as ‘mere physiological nervous excitement’ or ‘remnants of evolution.’ However, Sartre completely redefined emotions based on Husserl's phenomenology.
'Emotions are subjective decisions of human consciousness that have meaning! Emotions always have a clear purpose and strategy behind them!'
Sartre summons the story of the hungry fox from Aesop's fables to explain the mechanisms of emotion.
The fox jumps up and down because it wants to eat the delicious grapes hanging from a high tree branch. But no matter how much I run, I cannot reach the grape bunch. The fox despairs in the face of the strict laws of reality (limits of gravity, height barriers). How does the fox behave at this time?
I turn around and say this. 'Hmph, those grapes are so sour that they won't taste good anyway!'
� This is the essence of emotions! Since we cannot pick the grapes of reality directly, our consciousness swings a magic wand and instantly changes the nature of the world to 'those grapes are trash not worth picking.' When we fail in unrequited love, we suddenly find all the shortcomings of the other person and belittle them, or when we fail a test, we hide with cynicism, saying, "Each degree is useless anyway," are all magic tricks we use.
So how can we explain the phenomenon of people fainting in the face of extreme fear?
Sartre's insight is that fainting is also 'an extreme magic that consciousness casts on the world.' A robber with a gun appears in front of you, but you have no place to run and no weapon. In a desperate moment when there is 0% chance of solving the problem through instrumental action, consciousness uses its final magic. This is ‘turning off one’s consciousness (passing out)’!
By fainting, the gun-wielding robber instantly disappears from my subjective world. The same goes for locking yourself in a room and crying out of sadness and depression. It is an unconscious magic strike that says, 'I cannot handle all the duties and tasks the world demands of me, so I will become a sick and sad person and temporarily suspend my contract with the world.'
The sharpest criticism of Sartre's existentialism is 'self-deception (Bad Faith)'.
People always make excuses after getting angry, verbally abusive, and throwing things away. 'I was so angry that I lost my temper. There was nothing I could do at that moment.' They cosplay as victims, as if a monster called emotions has kidnapped them from outside and forced them to commit sins.
Sartre firmly declares: 'Don't lie!' You have not lost your mind. To discourage and subdue the other person, or to cover up your own mistakes, you have chosen the most effective magic mask called 'anger'. We always choose and direct our own emotions.
Sartre's philosophy may seem uncomfortable and cold when you first hear it. However, no philosophy values human dignity and freedom more highly than this.
If I am a helpless victim of my emotions, I will have to live my whole life as a slave to hormones and the external environment. However, if emotions are ‘the magic I choose in the face of reality,’ I also have the power to remove that magic and move toward a truly realistic solution.
Put down your magic wand. No matter how harsh the reality and how bitter failure may be, don't discount it as 'sour grapes.' 'I failed and it breaks my heart. But I will overcome this pain and recreate my life.' In that courageous choice, you will stand tall as a truly free person.