Feelings are Snowballs

Illustrations by Copilot Designer

Feelings are like snowballs. They make a small start as minor emotions or subtle reactions. Unless they are brought under the control of rational thought, they are likely to intensify as we dwell on them or as new experiences amplify them. It’s just like the snowball picking up more snow on the way and growing bigger. And bigger.

That big snowball gathers greater momentum as it hurtles down the hill. Soon it will acquire an unstoppable energy. Quite the same thing happens to feelings. They become powerful enough to control our thoughts and actions. It should be the other way around: our reason should control our emotions.

Let us consider an example. Nationalism is a feeling. Contrast it with rational truths. A simple rational truth is 2 + 2 = 4. Indisputable. We all learnt at school that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. That is another indisputable truth. Unless you’re living on Kilimanjaro where water boils at about 80 degrees Celsius. On the Everest, it chooses to boil at 68 degrees. Well, so if the Chagga people of Kilimanjaro take up their swords to kill you because you tell them your absolute truth about the boiling point of water, will water become a religion like nationalism? A disputable, relative truth?

You know enough science to tell them that the boiling point of water is dependent on the atmospheric pressure. The lower that pressure, the quicker the water boils. Out there in the interstellar spaces, where there is no atmospheric pressure at all, water will boil at zero degree Celsius. Just get the fire close to it and water will begin to boil there.

Do people make a religion out of such truths, however? Obviously, we know the science behind those variations and so we let them be.

When it comes to things like nationalism and our gods, they too should be considered intelligently if not scientifically. If you think your country is the best in the world merely because you were born in it, well… Isn’t that what nationalism is in the final analysis? If you are intelligent enough, you know that all humans belong to the same species and national borders are merely for administrative conveniences. These borders don’t make anyone great. Greatness has to be merited by your thoughts and deeds, not by your country’s geography.

The same argument holds good for religious feelings too. The other day somebody sent me a WhatsApp forward, a video in which the speaker says: “The problem with religions is that each one claims superiority over the others. My religion is the best, my God is the only true God, my God’s di©k is larger than your God’s….”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong in loving one’s country and one’s god(s). But if your love for a geographical and a mythical accident* makes you hate your fellow creatures, then there’s something seriously wrong. You may be letting your feelings dominate your intelligence. It will be a good idea to put the latter to good use. 

* Isn’t one’s religion an accident? How many people choose their religion? Your gods are given to you by your family, right? Sheer accident of birth. Your nationality? As another WhatsApp forward puts it: "Bragging about your religion or nationality is like taking credit for the Wi-Fi password at a café—you just happened to be born into it, buddy!"