inside out - a buddhist perspective
In the past few years, whenever I’ve received new bits of info that I’ve found inspiring, I’ve always found the need to shuttle it back and forth in my mind until it fits into the body of truth that is Buddhism. Or at least, I need to reconcile it with the dhamma and see how it compares, how it relates to it. You could call it a “homing” process I guess, because new philosophies, new ideas never fit comfortably in the slots in my mind until I can see how close they are to dhamma.
After watching inside out, a few ideas emerge -
Memories define us and define our personalities
Our actions and speech (what comes out of us) are result of a struggle between multiple conflicting thoughts (the different emotions that play a role within us) - to me, an extremely positive and non-deterministic view of things
The importance of sadness
I address the lattermost point first, the importance of sadness.
In the movie, the emotion sadness is represented by a somewhat eeyore-like character - a bespectacled, chubby, female version of eeyore (hence adorably cute). She is dismissed throughout the movie by Joy as useless and ruining the girl Riley - ruining her popularity at school, tainting her golden memories, making her gloomy when she could be happy! the best state to be! However, later on Joy (and we as the audience are supposed to) learn that sadness is an integral part of one’s makeup. There are times when being sad is the most appropriate state to be in (apologising, reconciling with family). Sadness can also lead to happiness, as in the case of one of Riley’s memories when her family and her hockey team came around to cheer her up when she lost her hockey game.
This is a very... simplistic view of sadness. I suppose the lesson that kids can take from it are that being sad is okay, too - and just because you aren’t bright and bubbly all the time it doesn’t mean that you are less spirited or less than anyone else. This can be a little pick-me-up for some kids in high school - kids like me who couldn’t muster the energy to jump around in excitement at the sound of every party, who was always told off by the cheerleaders for not cheering loudly enough during sports days and swimming galas.
I would argue that the movie only goes as far as to say that sadness is part of us and that we should not deny it when there are times we feel sad. However, there are arguments for sadness that run deeper than this. Take Ode on Melancholy by Keats, for example, one of my favourite poems of all time. Not to deviate too much from my main intention for writing this, that is, linking this back to Dhamma, but basically in the poem, Keats is of the opinion that melancholy, or sadness, adds a colour and depth to beauty that happiness does not. It is the transient (and hence sad) nature of blooming flowers that enhances its beauty. The same goes for youth. It is the bitter tangy aftertaste of a grape against your palate that rounds out the full-bodied flavour. A ode to the superiority of the bittersweet, as opposed to just sweet, I suppose.
Now for dhamma. Here is an excerpt from an article, The Psychology of Emotions in Buddhist Perspective: Sir D.B. Jayatilleke
When an object is charged with a strong emotional cathexis, or in Buddhist terminology "clinging" (upaadaana), a sudden loss or separation creates a disturbing vacuum. Feelings of guilt, depression, and self-pity may color the emotion of grief in various situations. The Attahasaalinii warns that sometimes people will not be able to distinguish between sorrow and compassion; while the distant enemy of compassion is cruelty, the close enemy is a kind of self-pity filled with worldly sorrow.[31] While a deep sense of compassion has a power to transform a person spiritually, worldly sorrow binds him more insidiously to the wheel of samsara.
Sorrow, grief, and lamentation are all facets of dukkha and can be overcome only by grasping the philosophy of the "tragic" in Buddhism.[32] Mourning and weeping are not effective in dealing with the tragic. We should understand the causes and conditions of suffering and work out a therapy to remove the causes of suffering. The Buddhist attitude demands a sense of reality; this is different from either excessive mourning or the use of diversions to drown one's sorrow. Dukkha is a universal feature of samsaric existence along with impermanence and egolessness. The Buddha has said: "What is impermanent, that is suffering. What is suffering, that is void of an ego." To think that there is an ego where there is only a changing psycho-physical complex is to create the conditions that generate sorrow, grief and dejection.
The Buddhist philosophy of tragedy is contained in the four noble truths: the truth of suffering, the origin of suffering, the extinction of suffering, the eightfold path leading to the extinction of suffering. The nature of suffering is thus described by the Buddha: birth, decay, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering. To be joined with the unpleasant and to be separated from the pleasant is suffering; the failure to get what one wants is suffering. In short, clinging to the five groups of mental and physical qualities that go to make up the individual constitutes suffering. It is the last part of the formula that gives a sense of depth to the meaning of tragedy in Buddhism.
If the nature of the Buddhist analysis of Dukkha is understood, within that setting the confrontation with genuine tragic situations in life may have a positive role to play; it could break through the natural slumber and complacency and create the sense of urgency in the mind of the Buddhist. Authentic tragic experience (sa.mvega) should be a spur to the religious life and strengthen one's faith in the doctrine.
The way in which the impact of genuine tragic situations may bring about a spiritual alertness without falling into the unwholesome extreme of morbidity is brought out clearly in the Anguttara Nikaya.[33] A certain person hears that in a village or town someone is afflicted or dead, and stirred in his way he realizes the truth; another beholds with his own eyes... and realizes the truth; the third person sees a kinsman afflicted and realizes the truth; and finally the person himself is stricken with pain and suffering and this situation stirs him to a realization of the truth of suffering. This is by analogy compared to a steed that is stirred when the stick is seen, one stirred when the stick touches the skin, a third when the flesh is pierced and a fourth when the very bone is pierced by a stick. There is an element of stirring (which the translator renders as agitation) which awakens a person to the tragic sense of life and the emergence of faith in the doctrine. Even if we call this a state of "agitation," it is different from a person whose fear, anger, or grief has been aroused. Even the sense of the tragic in life can turn out to be a creative emotional response.
Sadness is a form of grief, a form of dukkha
Do not mistake it for compassion, the feeling of a sense of deep understanding of the sufferings of others and the need to alleviate them.
Sadness - in the form of grief from the loss of life, of health, etc. - is not something that is worthy in itself (unlike in Ode on Melancholy). It is only worthy as a means to understand dukkha and spur you on the spiritual path.
Memories + Emotions --> Self (Mind)
Body/form (5 senses) + feeling/sensation (pleasant/unpleasant/indifference) + perception + volition + consciousness (awareness, or sensitivity to an object) = “self”
Self = a convenient term for a collection of physical and mental personal experiences, such as feelings, ideas, thoughts, habits, attitude, etc
Each emotion has multiple emotions within themselves as well
