Religion and Emotion

Yes, the two go very much hand in hand. This is especially
true since most religions are taught at an early age, along with education and
other staple principles of life. We are taught to compose ourselves and behave properly
– especially when it comes to religion. There are certain rules to abide by;
some written and some unwritten, there are expectations to fulfill and so on.
This is where emotions can come in because some are “negative” such as anger
and sadness. These two emotions are quickly frowned upon for good reasons –
especially if they’re being expressed inappropriately and without control. But
isn’t it okay to have these feelings? Because many people have been taught at
an early age that it’s not okay. You’re not supposed to get angry or “wear your
emotions on your sleeve” (I think that’s how the saying goes). Other
expressions include “it’s not very Christian-like” or “that’s not a good way to
carry yourself”.

So what are we supposed to do when we get angry, upset or
sad? Well for the most part, we’ve been taught to suppress those feelings. Don’t
show them because it’s a sign of weakness or it’s just not appropriate. This
has always been confusing to me because everyone has a range of emotions
including anger. Why are we expected to suppress something that is in us to
begin with? From a religious standpoint, many of them carry the notion of anger
means negativity. In the church, saints are always calm and have it all
together. Other religions promote the notion of peace and always being in a
peaceful mood. Why should anger get a bad rap in religion? Has anyone ever
wondered where anger stems from? Most of the time it comes from being
hurt.  One is definitely the result of
the other. That’s why people get angry. Expressing the anger is another entity
in itself, but no one should be frowned upon because they’re angry, sad or
excited about something. I will say it – religion has played a huge role in
teaching us to suppress our true feelings.

It’s to the point where people have perfect phoniness. That
is nothing to brag about.

People are walking around bottling up they’re true feelings,
all because they’ve been taught that having those feelings is a weakness of
theirs. If you can’t be in touch with your feelings, then you can’t possibly be
in touch with reality! So eventually a false world has been built by the mind
that the person operates out of. They’re not being real in their relationships
or their passions. But most of all they’re not being real with themselves. That
is scary. I don’t trust anyone who is calm 100% of the time. An outburst is
bound to happen. There is something that will eventually make that person go
off.

There are situations that make us upset and that is okay. We
should be allowed to express that feeling and then the situation will be done
and over with. Walking around as if everything is okay when it’s not is insane
and is just being out of touch with reality. We’ve seen over and over again on
the news the end result of holding in feelings – it’s not pretty and it never
ends well.