In an abstract sense I agree with you; what's important when bad things are happening is to do work in order to prevent the bad things from happening.
But as a practical matter, human emotions condition human behavior. When people are furious, they can be motivated to do very powerful things. When people are sad, that can sometimes happen too--although in other cases it can have a depressing effect where they fall into helpless despair. These negative emotions are very important.
If we try to treat emotions and behavior as two completely discrete things, it is easy to be confused. Imo we need to understand them as inseparable, and the more we understand this, the more we can use our understanding of our emotions to inform and improve how we act in the world.
I can say personally that negative emotions like anger have helped me, in many many ways, to work harder towards the kind of life that I want for myself and others. It has been a very good thing!
But as a practical matter, human emotions condition human behavior. When people are furious, they can be motivated to do very powerful things. When people are sad, that can sometimes happen too--although in other cases it can have a depressing effect where they fall into helpless despair. These negative emotions are very important.
If we try to treat emotions and behavior as two completely discrete things, it is easy to be confused. Imo we need to understand them as inseparable, and the more we understand this, the more we can use our understanding of our emotions to inform and improve how we act in the world.
I can say personally that negative emotions like anger have helped me, in many many ways, to work harder towards the kind of life that I want for myself and others. It has been a very good thing!
