
Atlas of Emotions, a New Project with the Dalai Lama and Paul and Eve Ekman - sebg
https://hi.stamen.com/in-2014-the-dalai-lama-asked-his-friend-scientist-dr-2a46f0c6bd80#.tqpk6qg2m
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woodandsteel
I find it interesting to look at the relationship between the basic emotions
and Maslow's need theory. So for instance, if you think something is about to
happen that runs strongly contrary to one of your vital needs, I suppose you
will feel fear. If you see one of your basic needs being well-met, pleasure.
If you think someone is acting contrary to one of you needs, you will tend to
feel anger. Disgust seems to be when you think something is happening contrary
to your need to avoid disease and poisons. In terms of Ekman's concepts, I am
trying to explain the various triggers.

Is calm a state of mind where you sit back and look at what is happening, good
or bad? Maybe someone who knows something about Buddhism could explain what
the Dali Lama means when he uses this term.

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ewzimm
To understand where the Dalai Lama is coming from, you should understand the
states of transition that Buddhists identify as the relationship between the
physical world and consciousness. These are sometimes called the five
aggregates. I can give you my perspective on that concept from what I know,
but it's going to be different from his of course.

The first aggregate is the physical form. This is translated into a good or
bad feeling. Next comes a perception of whether or not the thing is familiar.
This then becomes a mental formation of emotions and ideas triggered by the
thing. Lastly, integrates into consciousness.

So in the Buddhist understanding, which is based on people's experiences in
meditation, a positive or negative judgment comes before something is even
recognized, so there's a separation between judgment and emotional reaction.

Calmly sitting back and looking at what is happening is meant to bring
awareness past the final point of consciousness when judgments and emotions
have already been formed, closer to the source. A little bit like taking a
tour of the farm and soup factory to see where your food came from before it
got processed and put in a can.

So if you're especially good at it, you should be able to see past that
judgment and filtering process that your mind does with information, not
ignoring it but just being aware of the filters that exist.

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but what I'm getting at is that
most Buddhists are interested in breaking down this process that leads from
external stimulation to a conscious perception and tend to view emotions and
judgments as steps in processing. He's comparing his understanding gained
through a lot of internal analysis of these steps in processing to the
scientific understanding of how it happens.

~~~
woodandsteel
Thank you, that is a very clear answer.

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natchiketa
I am delighted to see that the five universal emotions match up with the ones
in Inside Out (down to the colors):
[https://i.imgur.com/2WsZGqp.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/2WsZGqp.jpg)

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rfreytag
Where is compassion?

It isn't in my opinion any of enjoyment, fear, anger, disgust ... maybe
sadness. But looking under sadness I see nothing suggestive to me of
compassion.

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jey
They have it classified under "Enjoyment" as "Compassion/Joy":
[http://atlasofemotions.com/#states:enjoyment](http://atlasofemotions.com/#states:enjoyment)

~~~
rfreytag
Thank you.

It would be very interesting to see if different languages necessitated new
emotional spectra.

~~~
gerbilly
From what I know of this research, these emotions are supposed to be universal
and independent of language and culture.

"For more than 40 years, Paul Ekman has supported the view that emotions are
discrete, measurable, and physiologically distinct. Ekman's most influential
work revolved around the finding that certain emotions appeared to be
universally recognized, even in cultures that were preliterate and could not
have learned associations for facial expressions through media."[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion)

