When it expresses as love it can link us wonderfully to other people, bringing harmony and happiness to our lives.
When it expresses itself as certainty that some idea is right or wrong, it can bring disaster.
WW II was brought about by an emotional certainty in Germany that Aryans were a superior race, coupled with the equally delusional belief in Japan that the Japanese were a superior race.
The people of Germany and Japan in WW II were operating with the same brains and emotions we have today. How could they be so misguided? Were they just bad people? Or were they just indulging bad thinking habits?
The stockmarket crashes in 1929 and 2001 were brought on by a delusion based in the emotional belief the stock market could only go up and everyone was going to be rich. Were people in the 1920's and the 1990's stupider than in other years? Or were they indulging bad thinking habits?
Virtually every war, economic collapse or act of slavery or genocide in history can be traced back to people using their logic to justify an emotional belief.
Good decision making uses logic based in facts to test emotional belief. Bad decision making uses logic to support an emotional belief, and selectively gathers facts to support the logic.
Most politicians seek our votes by trying to find sound bites and facts that allow us to justify our emotional beliefs, rather than truly examine whether our emotional beliefs make sense.
Politicians that try to get us to examine our emotional beliefs usually don't get elected.
If we want better government we as voters need to become better thinkers and respect candidates that are willing to make us challenge our beliefs.
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