Brain Food #833: Our grasp of joy
On seeing and naming our emotions
Thoughts of the day
Despite the world’s increased tendency and ability to quantify everything, our feelings remain largely unmeasurable, concealed behind our veil of subjectivity, which no algorithm or hardware can reach.
What has been quantified more successfully is the range of emotions a human can experience, which appears to be much more universal. In Pixar’s Inside Out, there are five core emotions that run the main character’s control centre: joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. Some scientists add surprise, trust, and anticipation to this list. And with more research, the list kept growing, to include others like desire, excitement, boredom, admiration, and adoration.
And then there are emotions so specific that they have only been given words in specific languages, like ‘Schadenfreude’ in German, a pleasure driven from someone’s misfortune, or ‘dépaysement’ in French, the feeling of disorientation that arises from being in a place you cannot call home.
Another word, not of any emotion itself but of their acknowledgment: kairosclerosis, defined as ‘the moment you realize that you’re currently happy—consciously trying to savor the feeling—which prompts your intellect to identify it, pick it apart and put it in context, where it will slowly dissolve until it’s little more than an aftertaste.’
Finding the right words for how we feel can be a form of superpower, although some things are better left not explained. As philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote, “Love has reasons which reason cannot understand.”
As we grow older, the control centre in our heads attempts to balance and regulate, so we can integrate into society without tantrums and meltdowns. Toddlers learn how to experience and manage their emotions, often by finding the right words for them, but by also making room to express all of them safely. In Inside Out, after all, although Joy tries to take the lead, she also comes to understand that Sadness is very much a necessary character of the story.
Even in the euphoric La Danse by Matisse, a careful look will reveal that the grip between two of the dancers is broken, and they seem to reach out in despair. Like in art, we should make room for the odd bout of sadness. Joy cannot always be held within our grasp, but we can still learn to see it when it is there, without feeling the need to attach any explanations or measures to it.
Amidst other writing projects, Brain Food has become more sparse, but it is not going anywhere. I write Brain Food out of my own desire and willingness to share what I find interesting and to inspire others, and help them see life in a different light.
All of Brain Food is free, but if you would like to pledge your support of my work by committing to a future paid subscription you can now do so: