Emotional Maturity: An Overview Emotions are one of the qualities of Mind that means they are part of the Egoic equipment, and, as such, there is no possible way of getting rid of them. Emotions are very valuable. They move us forward. They make us be unsatisfied with the status quo. They are what make us human. Emotions give us depth and aliveness, otherwise we are playing stiff role relationships, performing our functions but not really relating to one another. Emotions have their value and we must come to terms with them. Many of us are afraid to plumb the depths of our feelings and let them run their course. It is as though we feel that strong emotions have an unlimited depth in which we would be lost forever if we let go to experience them fully. Of course, they do have a limit and that is within our ability to handle. For instance, if you experience grief at the death of a friend, society would expect you to keep a stiff upper lip and stay in composure for outsiders. But, it becomes dehumanizing if you do not sometime release that grief and experience it and flow with it and, therefore, resolve it and get it out of the system. Even anger and fear have their life-preserving functions. It seem like Christians are supposed to subdue emotions perhaps by some strength of will until they are not just mastered, but expunged or obliterated. Of course, nobody can really do that. Certainly, emotions should be brought under your guidance, otherwise you find yourself blown around helplessly before the winds of your own feelings and desires. The Christian goals of compassion, love, and joy are somehow subordinated to the intellect that, presumably, derives the same end through justice replacing compassion, and adherence to duty replacing love and joy. Something is very definitely in the subordination of human feelings to the rigid constraints of the intellect.
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