Please feel free to write more of these essays. I always find these from you very interesting in the thread.
Thanks!
It also doesn't make complete sense that having the need for a quick system is why emotions aren't analytical. Maybe that's part of the reason but to me it feels like this explanation is missing something.
Our emotional system is centered in one specific part of our brain, whereas our consciousness/ego/logic is centered in a different, separate part of our brain. The two systems operate independently of each other:
1) Our emotional system is centered in our amygdala and limbic system, a very primitive part of our brain that developed early in the evolutionary chain. The amygdala and limbic system are lightning-fast because they are simple: Fight or flight.
2) Meantime, our consciousness, ego, and logic belong to the prefrontal cortex, which developed much later in the evolutionary chain. The prefrontal cortex is much slower, because it involves more complex operations: Reasoning and logic.
The amygdala/limbic system (the emotional system) does, in fact, make some simple analyses and come up with simple narratives and explanations for what's going on. But it all happens lightning-fast and in a different part of our brain from our conscious mind, so our conscious mind doesn't register any of that. Being in a separate part of the brain and operating more slowly, our conscious mind only registers the end result: A gut-level emotional feeling about things.
Again, the two systems operate independently of each other. So when I say that emotions are too fast for analysis, I mean that the operations of the amygdala/limbic system are so instantaneous that the much slower prefrontal cortex (consciousness/ego/logic) can't keep up and provide explanations and commentary at the same time. So the prefrontal cortex ends up bringing up the rear and has to play catch-up.
If the amygdala/limbic system is triggered by something subtle, the prefrontal cortex may find itself in a situation like a cop stumbling upon a crime scene: The prefrontal cortex finds the limbic system all riled-up and in shock but unable to communicate what happened; and the prefrontal cortex has to puzzle out after-the-fact what got the limbic system into that state.
It doesn't make sense that emotions are always about the sudden changes and newness.
Well, "change and newness" describes the base function of the amygdala/limbic system. The amygdala/limbic system developed in the first place as a fight-or-flight mechanism that largely focused on registering change in our surroundings. And it still retains that original functionality. But with evolution, it has gotten a bit more subtle and complex in its operations.
For example, it's important to remember that the starting point for emotions is your expectations/Sense of life. Primates are worried about getting eaten alive, so they focus on any change in the environment that might signal the approach of predators. Whereas modern people have a different set of expectations/Sense of life: Modern man is concerned about more subtle things than simply staying alive until nightfall. For modern man, "change and newness" might mean something like your boss frowning at you, your kid giving you attitude, or a stranger cutting you off in traffic. Something that represents a departure (negative or positive) from how you *expect* those particular people to treat you.
Also, as I mentioned above, the amygdala/limbic system actually does make some simple analyses and come up with simple narratives and explanations for what's going on. Daniel Kahneman is a Nobel-prize-winning psychologist who has spent his life analyzing the workings of the amygdala/limbic system. He wrote a 500-page book that is mostly about how the amygdala/limbic system operates. It's actually quite complex and interesting. The book is called "Thinking, Fast and Slow." The fast-thinking system is the amygdala/limbic system (emotional system), and the slow-thinking system is the prefrontal cortex (consciousness/ego/logic).
I don't really get the idea that logic = ego/consciousness. Why would it be? If you just mean that a certain mental effort and focus is required to do detailed logical analysis for new details, sure ... my experience would match that. But I don't experience all logical analysis to be very conscious and effortful or slow. Some types of analysis are quick and not effortful, I find. I don't know what that depends on.
Non-human animals are mostly just walking limbic systems. They see something, and they react to it emotionally: Can I eat it? Will it eat me? etc.
Meantime, human consciousness arose with the development of the prefrontal cortex and the development of reason and logic. So the conscious ego tends to identify with rationality as its main driver. After all, the emotional system is in a totally different part of the brain and operates on a whole different time scale.
But people may get into playing with (and identifying with) their emotional system. Emotions involve adrenaline and drama; Feelers often like to deliberately trigger that system so that they can experience and analyze the altered states of consciousness that arise from that. Emotions outrun logic and provide a sense of immediacy; and Feelers may see emotions as way of analyzing and reacting to the world in a very personal fashion.
So different people may regard their emotions differently. Feelers may feel kind of enamored with their emotional system; whereas Thinkers may see their emotional system as just static coming from some remote corner of their brain and focus their attention on honing the logical tools of the prefrontal cortex. But either way, the prefrontal cortex and ego/consciousness are the starting point for both.
As for the "slowness" of the conscious system, I'm just speaking relatively. IOW, the prefrontal cortex operates slowly relative to the lightning-fast amygdala/limbic system. As a result, the prefrontal cortex is often put in the position of playing catch-up, as described above.