Non-Expression of Negative Emotions

Non-Expression of Negative Emotions

Negative emotions cannot be transformed. They can however, be observed and this is possible by not expressing them. The expression of negative emotions is the most mechanical habit we have. With practice however, it is possible to not express them. This begs the question, what is the value of the non-expression of negative emotions?

Before we go further, it must be understood that the non-expression of a negative emotion is not suppression. Suppression of a negative emotion is how the lower self denies both the negative emotion and it's cause for the sole purpose of continuing to keep us asleep to our Self.

Returning to our question, by not expressing negative emotions we are able to observe and learn about them and their causes. If we’re sincere in our efforts, it becomes clear that presence and expressing negative emotions are completely and utterly incompatible with each other. It is incumbent upon each and every one of us - including the authors of our posts - to verify and re-verify this.

A couple days ago the door to my truck swung open and the top corner hit my forehead. The negative shock to the instinctive center and the accompanying I’s that were produced are shockingly and accurately portrayed in Rembrandt’s figure on the shield of Bellona. When I looked at this image, what struck me (apart from the door of my truck) is that many negative emotions are based on pain, regardless of the center that receives them.

Some time ago, I received an email from a professional sales organization to which I belong. The subject line poignantly described the results of expressing a negative emotion: “Expressing Your Anger Has a Price Tag”. Aristotle has some beautiful and practical advice for us: "Anybody can become angry; that is easy. But to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”

As we continue to practice the non-expression of negative emotions, the realization begins to form that all negative emotions are in us. Walt Whitman, in his epic poem Song of Myself communicated this truth:

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

The sentries desert every other part of me,

They have left me helpless to a red marauder,

They all come to the headland to witness and assist against me.

I am given up by traitors,

I talk wildly, I have lost my wits, I and nobody else am the

greatest traitor

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

In Ouspensky’s Fourth Way, in relation to the non-expression of negative emotions he says, “You may think what you like, but you may not say what you like.” About two thousand years earlier Jesus is recorded as saying “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”

Because higher states are not permanent for us, the non-expression of negative emotions prepares us to receive higher centers. And when higher centers emerge, then we exist!

Join the discussion

Detail from Bellona, Rembrandt

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York