Spirituality or just emotion...?

[_Drifting]

During Fast & Testimony meeting a number of people will choke up and cry during the bearing of their testimony. They and most of the congregation, will attribute this type of outpouring to "feeling the spirit".
I have seen and continue to see members welling up over seemingly trivual things. One recent example would be a member describing the return of a lost purse and attributing the miraculous finding of the item to the power of prayer - which was the point during the talk where the tears came. Was that spirituality or emotion? Does prayer/the Holy Ghost really get involved in lost purses as a way of helping people feel the spirit?

But is it?

I remember having that type of experience a number of times throughout my life - but it was always in direct connection to events involving my children (their birth for example). These experiences for me, have all taken place during times when I would not, in any way shape or form, have qualified for the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

I suppose I am confused and unclear and I am the type of person that likes things in neat organised boxes and categories. Is spirituality the same as emotion - if not, how can you tell which is which?

[_subgenius]

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Though the meaning of the purse is seemingly missing from your anecdote (purse may have been an heirloom, or held precious photographs, etc). your statement about the birth of your children is revealing - Every had to watch another person's home movies? The birth of your children is hardly a relevant HG experience to me, and i would likely consider that tantamount to listening to a story about a lost purse.....unless.......yes, unless.....i had a real concern and love for who you were and what your life experiences were. Then whether it be a purse, a child birth, or a fight against cancer, i would recognize that what was important to you was all that mattered.

You sum up a very important perspective on this point when you state "for me". Which is the only experience of the HG that you should be concerned with....to become concerned with whether or not the HG helped find a purse is completely irrelevant.

I don't see how one can confuse "emotion" with spirituality. I think your thread title is flawed.

[_Drifting]

I don't see how one can confuse "emotion" with spirituality.

Of course you don't.

I think your thread title is flawed.

Of course you do.

However, in terms of the question "is spirituality one and the same as emotion?" do you have a view or opinion you'd like to share?

[_Buffalo]

I don't see how one can confuse "emotion" with spirituality. I think your thread title is flawed.

That's the entire basis for the LDS faith.

[_subgenius]

However, in terms of the question "is spirituality one and the same as emotion?" do you have a view or opinion you'd like to share?

the flaw in your argument is that you fail to recognize the "apples and oranges" which are emotion and spirituality.
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality;[1] an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spirituality

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical (internal) and environmental (external) influences.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emotion

Spirit is the intangible and conscious, yet emotion is the tangible and unconscious.
However the spirit is concerned with the mind, the will, and the feeling....the latter being "emotion".

Obviously not the same, but how do you suggest it is possible to confuse one with the other?
Joy may be a by-product of a spiritual experience but it is not the spiritual experience itself....just as weeping may be a by-product of sorrow, but is not the sorrow in-and-of-itself.

So, if your proposition is that people confuse "feelings" with spirituality, i think that you are wrong, because it is understandable that feelings are a "part of" spirituality. The notion that feelings or emotion are the sole ingredient of spirituality is something for the more hedonistic individual.
Are you finding a large amount of people who are confused about these two subjects?

[_Hades]

Emotion is just emotion, until you attach "the church is true" to it, then it becomes spiritual.

[_Buffalo]

the flaw in your argument is that you fail to recognize the "apples and oranges" which are emotion and spirituality.

Since there is no such thing as "spirit" they amount to the same thing. People blubbering at the podium and calling it the Spirit.

[_Themis]

I don't see how one can confuse "emotion" with spirituality. I think your thread title is flawed.

Emotions being interpreted as being the HG communicating with them in certain situations is a standard in the church, and the church teaches this as well. It certainly is not limited to it. I think some critics do a disservice to chalk it all up to emotions. Thoughts and feelings are also considered to be a big part of the spiritual experience. Many feelings/sensations are not technically emotions but are experienced and interpreted by many as being the HG communicating with them. Thoughts also play an important role with things like intuition, discernment, voices, visual, etc. The problem I see is that this is a common thing throughout the world regardless of religious beliefs, and happens with the non-religious as well. Most just interpret the expereince differently then most LDS, while some try not to make to much out of it, and don't consider it to be divine in nature.

[_Hades]

If Mormons really have this divine gift, the Holy Ghost. Why don't they use it to help humanity? They could cure cancer. They could come up with an economic system that would do away with poverty. They could find a way to feed the starving people of the world. Instead, they tell us not to drink coffee. Everyone should pay 10% of their income to the Church Corporation no matter how poor they are. The Holy Ghost spends a lot of time on the Book of Abraham. We should all believe in it. The world is getting short-changed.

[_Drifting]

However, in terms of the question "is spirituality one and the same as emotion?" do you have a view or opinion you'd like to share?

So, if your proposition is that people confuse "feelings" with spirituality, i think that you are wrong, because it is understandable that feelings are a "part of" spirituality.

Why do you keep refering to 'my argument' or 'my proposition' when I clearly haven't offered one. I am asking how you can tell the difference between something that is emotional, but independant of the 'the spirit'. And something that is spiritual involving the Holy Ghost, but which causes a visible display of emotion that people refer to as 'the spirit'?

This isn't about positioning, this is about seeking clarity.

The purse example that I gave is not an uncommon one. People stand up and give emotional outpourings every week at Church. Is the visible demonstration of tears and breathlessness 'the spirit' testifying of a spiritual experience or is it merely someone getting 'emotional' over something that may be important to them?