Due to a disaster with the Blog Autosaving when I did not want it to –I am now going to keep my research journal in Word.
It has taken me an hour to get over my feelings of rage, pain, disillusionment and panic and to simply focus on getting on with the job – releasing my attachment to what was written, releasing the attachment to having it written so that I can get the relevant grade from the markers, releasing it all.
The second paper I am going to read is very relevant to the experience I have just had:
Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being. (2005) Eckman P., Davidson R.J, Ricard M and Wallace B.A.
Buddhism states that emotion and cognition cannot be seen as 2 separate entities. The paper cites neurological research that confirms that these are 2 processes that are also intertwined in the brains circuitry.
Buddhism does believe that emotions strongly influence people in their pursuit of happiness but they differentiate between 2 types of happiness: Sukha – achieved through mental balance and insight into the nature of reality (characterised by a deep sense of well being, propensity towards compassion and interconnectedness with other people) rather than fleeting emotion and mood arousal through sensory and conceptual stimuli.
The study of Presence as discussed in the At the Heart of it paper appears to have all been conducted through sensory and conceptual stimuli – thus in Buddhist terms the resultant emotional and mood arousal would be a different one that would be felt when reality itself is understood. As we then move towards Virtual Reality does this inherently mean we will be moving further away from our potential for Sukha or will that Virtual Reality actually become part of that which makes up our Reality and sukha will come from understanding Virtual Realities true nature?
In contrast to Sukha is Dukkha – a basic vulnerability to suffering and pain due to misapprehending the nature of reality. From a Dukkha viewpoint – I was vulnerable to suffering when I lost 5 hours of work because I was unable to comprehend that the words were gone but it was just the words. The reality behind the words had not disappeared; I had not disappeared with the words.
Sukha understands that there is a difference between the way things appears to the senses, the conceptual superimpositions one projects onto them and they way things really are. This is from a philosophy that dates back more than 2000 years and the western research is now corroborating.
Sukha is experienced by finding one’s individual happiness within a context of deep kinship with all beings, as all share the same yearning to be free of suffering. This corresponds to the African notion of Ubuntu and is found in western society not through a fundamental cultural premise but through our intellectual striving for understanding e.g. "People want connection [with other people] more than any other experience" (suggested by Heeter 1992 quoted in At the Heart of it).
With relation to the Buddhist comparison of Sukha and fleeting emotional states the paper highlights the fact that in some cited research people report only the most recent /intense emotional experience when giving subjective responses as to their emotional experiences. The responses refer rather to the “fleeting” emotion and mood arousal discussed earlier.
Buddhism recognises that affective states, aroused by pleasurable stimuli, are “contingent on specific times, places, and circumstances” and that these cannot be simply categorised as positive affective states as they may convert into neutral or unpleasant feelings when the person disengages from the stimuli.
With regards gaming and social networking – I have some research on how the progression of these feeling from positive to negative has been observed (To do list)
Buddhism rejects the Aristotelian notion that “all emotions are healthy as long as they are not excessive or inappropriate to the time and place”.
In addition the paper highlights 3 emotions that it considers toxic for the mind:
1. Craving
2. Hatred
3. Grasping onto one’s own and other’s reified personal identities as real and concrete.
1. Craving
Gives rise to anxiety, misery, fear and anger. It is an unrealistic mental state that displaces the source one’s well being from ones own mind to objects. Craving is concerned with acquiring and maintaining some desirable object (onto which one has projected and exaggerated these desirable qualities) for the self, which may be threatened by the other.
Buddhism sees this afflictive state as a “toxin of the mind” irrespective of the strength of it or the circumstance under which it arises.
Interestingly many of the MMORPG games include this notion of acquiring objects that have been deemed desirable by the players and protecting them from others.
Despite the toxicity of this millions of people are drawn to it.
In the previous paper Lombard and Ditton suggested that further research should look into why people are drawn to games that have a certain danger, maybe this should be included to see if people are drawn to games that have inherent elements of craving in them and why this is so. (Watch out for)
Buddhists use this term more generally than western psychologists who tend to include only states produced by substance or strongly appetitive opportunities (e.g. gambling). They include the desire to acquire objects and situations for oneself.
Neuroscience has shown that the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine is common to the states of craving in substance and activities such as gambling. This release is highly reinforcing but is not associated with pleasure in the long term
2. Hatred
Of another or object. Although the emotion may be triggered by the external entity, the source of this is in the mind.
3. Grasping onto one’s own and other’s reified personal identities as real and concrete
This is the source of craving and hatred. Instead of accepting the self as in a state of dynamic flux, there is an erroneous belief that the self is permanent, singular and autonomous. This gives rise to the notion of separation between self and others and craving naturally arises for the “I” and against the other.
Comparison of focus between Western Psychology and Buddhism
Western psychology does not distinguish between beneficial and harmful emotions
To improve one’s emotional life one should attempt to regulate experience and action once an emotion is felt.
.
Buddhists believe that the dispositional trait of sukha can be cultivated through specific practises.
Western psychology do not involve cultivating of long term effort that is involved in complex skill learning that happiness could be considers as an example of.
Suggested Research Directions
· More nuanced distinctions when thinking about emotional experience.
To do List
1. Look for the papers dealing with the progression of feelings from positive to negative once the person disengages from the stimuli and reflect on how this relates to Buddhist view on Afflictive Mental States
2.
What to watch for
The questions this paper evokes are then –
· When studying Presence through simulated stimulation of the senses and relating various characteristics of well being experienced through this mediation what are we actually evoking and what are we actually measuring?
· In the previous paper Lombard and Ditton suggested that further research should look into why people are drawn to games that have a certain danger, maybe this should be included to see if people are drawn to games that have inherent elements of craving in them and why this is so. (Watch out for)
· When a researcher looks for signs of Presence is there a differentiation in the research design between Presence, which will be fleeting, and Presence, which connects, to the core essence of the person?
· Do these questions matter to the research on Presence?
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