How Does Conviction Lead To A Passionate Intensity?

I believe that our convictions can be pernicious or used for malicious intent. When a clash of opinions is mishandled that there are frequently repercussions and often calamitous outcomes follow.

Regardless of whether or not a person may know the facts behind a situation, predisposition trumps knowledge learned later on; just as instinct trumps what has been taught. It is human nature to believe in what one thinks is correct, even if there are facts that prove otherwise and one will go to the necessary lengths to prove themselves so. In Kolbert’s article, Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds, various studies are put into use to explain this theory.

Let’s begin to examine what Jagger’s method of investigative dispassionate belief means. Jagger realizes that emotion, like sensory observation is ignored or not taken into consideration in western epistemology. Jagger believes however, that emotions are needed for human survival and thus, emotions have an essential and useful value and “without emotion, human life would be unthinkable”. (pp.190, Jagger)

People prejudge others before you get to know them. “loaded language” (5). Plays on personal feelings from past beliefs, as well as, prejudgment in our interactions with others. We need to ask one’s mind is it right to do, or say. Is my conscience clear in the midst of a panic? We can change our mind set on how we communicate with real life issues that are very complex. I feel from reading Weston’s book that if he can reach out and make a change in the world and help others change their moral mindset of thinking we all would live happier. I feel if we apply passion to our thinking when using emotions that it too can play a strong role in our ability to problem-solve. Letting our emotions get in the way of our thinking for a positive outcome is okay. As he reaches out to open minds on having more than one possibility to help solve a problem, when one is in an emotional state of mind, it can alter our way of thinking morally. Does redirecting a situation when emotions are high make it an ethical decision. Let us compare this to family court, when parents are bashing each other to look better than the other parent, is it the right thing. Does this help escalate their situation or make it worse? Our ability to problem solve has gone hay wire in today’s court systems, maybe. Having angry and sad emotions help give a direct understanding to equal morals. Overlooking morel ethics can be damaging to equality. He inquires we should be mindful thinkers. I feel Anthony wants us to be mindful thinkers in every aspect of decision making. When I say mindful I don’t mean having a one-sided thought. I am talking about being open minded, even if it means thinking of the other person. How would I feel being in that person’s shoes? What did they do to get here? Would you travel in his/her shoes after knowing their battle? Some would say yes others would say no, while a few would say what they could have done better not to be in that

This shows that a person’s guilt will manifest itself into ideas that can cause an irrational feeling in the person the guilt is eating away at. In addition, Dunstan ponders, “I was determined

Entwistle concludes his book on finding and understanding the truth that is defined in psychology and finding and understanding the truth defined in the Christianity perspective. Entwistle makes a clear observation on understanding the integration of psychology and Christianity, therefore here may have to be a better way to garnish understanding of the human mindset and through research and development and counseling future generations will benefit from the integration of psychology and Christianity.

These quotes only echo the beliefs held by our society in the supremacy of reason and the mind over emotion and the body. Our schools' primary function is to train the brain, while ignoring the training of our bodies and our emotions. Each student may take one physical education class for the body and maybe one creative class for the emotions, but this does not compare to the other four or five classes he takes a day to further his brain. The trends of our society clearly show that our society strives for dominance of the mind over the body.

The convictions that humans accept are meaningless without the actions that instigate and perpetuate the belief. For

Lewis Thomas, an American essayist, conveys the importance of preserving the mystery of one’s mind in his essay, “The Attic of the Brain.” According to Thomas, humans produce internal conflicts because they overanalyze their choices. Internal conflicts are not only caused by overanalyzing, but also from the feeling of guilt which “repeats the same transgressive behavior in the future.” Guilt is an emotional experience humans constantly face after they realize they disrupted their standards of conduct, until they rectify their mistakes. Even though the punitive feeling of guilt brings forth a feeling of worriedness, Thomas mentions that overanalyzing a choice to discard “unidentifiable articles” in the attic or to preserve memories overwhelms the human mind. He uses the analogy of the multitude of “unidentifiable articles” in the attic to compare to the flood of ideas in the human brain. The commodities stored in the cramped attic are “an old chair, [and] trunkful of old letters” which serve as a purpose of remembrance, as the human brain is filled with crucial information that enables people to think, feel, and store memories (75). However, he argues that people frequently clash with their thoughts, since they clutter their brain with excessive information. People do not have the ability to control their own brain; as a matter of fact, the human brain, the most complex part of the body, controls itself. From his analysis of the human brain, it can be concluded that humans have “unconscious minds” that automatically process different thoughts and memories resulting in a limitless supply of creativity. People “discover new things” by learning from previous ideas and applying their creativity to their practical use. Overall, humans cannot operate their brain, but should allow the extraordinary mind to be free.

What influences your opinions and decisions in life? Is it a fact base analysis of a topic, providing you with statistical evidence to back its claims, or is it an emotional based claim that tugs at your heartstrings and connects with your past? Both forms of argument are fighting for your acceptance of its arguments, but do so in conflicting ways. On one end of the spectrum, a Dodge commercial exploits your emotional connection to your country and leverages that to sway your opinion of their new car. And on the other end, a writer uses facts and data to convince you that the legalization of marijuana is the right thing to do.

“Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches” (Hurston, 6). Human life is a mixture of ups and downs and often the extent of these circumstances rely on the responses of those involved throughout the event. Voicing an opinion strongly and effectively can directly impact the outcome of a situation. Moreover, the articulation of an opinion depends not only on the internal confidence of a person, but also on the external factors, such as the context and background of the situation.

each other. Reasoning helps us to refine our emotions and emotions help us to evaluate our

Some convictions are generated by an unwillingness to accept change. It happens sometimes we get comfortable with how things are and how things have been and in general change can be difficult. In change lies a fear of the unknown. Sometimes we fail to see that along with change come opportunities for growth. The Bible tells us “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its water roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

The article provides many interesting ideas like how being certain about something will change so many thing and how to be able to create certainty in others. However, I think that it doesn’t put into consideration human race. If someone is very certain about something he will not listen to others and act.

For many people, they live their lives based on emotions. Emotions of happiness, love, success, and many more, could possibly be the most satisfying feelings. Except we commonly experience unpleasant emotions. There are emotions of anger, hatred, sadness, and disgrace. A very important question in the understanding of the human mind and highly related to cognitive science, is how do these emotions affect human cognition and the impact on our abilities to be rational? To tackle this question, we need to understand what emotions are, but not solely in the manner we are all familiar with, we need to understand them from a cognitive nature involving our physiology, psychology, and environment. Cognition, according to the Oxford definition