The Use of the 5 Passions

136. The Specific Effects of Passions on Certain Individuals

Our soul is so connected to our body. After we have associated a bodily action with a thought, one does not present itself to us without the other.

The same thoughts are not always associated with the same actions.

Some people have strange aversions such as an inability to tolerate:

• the smell of roses or
• the presence of a cat

These stem from early life experiences where they were greatly offended by similar objects or empathized with their mother’s discomfort during pregnancy.

There is a correlation between all movements of the mother and those of the child in her womb, so what is adverse to one can be detrimental to the other.

The smell of roses might have caused a severe headache for a child while still in the cradle.

A cat might have frightened them greatly, without anyone taking note or them having any subsequent memory of it.

Nonetheless, the aversion they then felt toward roses or cats remains imprinted in their brain for their entire life.

137. The Use of the Five Passions Discussed Here, in Relation to the Body.

What is the use of Love, Hate, Desire, Joy, and Sadness?

According to Nature’s design, they all relate to the body. They are given to the soul only insofar as it is connected with it.

Therefore, their natural use is to prompt the soul to consent and contribute to actions that can either:

• preserve the body or
• make it more perfect in some way.

In this sense, Sadness and Joy are the first two passions employed.

The soul is only immediately alerted to things that are harmful to the body by the pain it feels. This pain:

• first produces Sadness
• then it is followed by hatred for what causes this pain
• finally, the desire to rid oneself of it.

Similarly, the soul is only immediately alerted to things beneficial to the body by some kind of pleasurable sensation. This pleasure:

• first arouses Joy
• then gives rise to love for what is believed to be its cause
• finally, the desire to acquire what can perpetuate this Joy

This shows that all 5 are very useful concerning the body.

Sadness is somewhat more primary and necessary than Joy.

Hatred is more so than Love, because it is more important to repel things that are harmful and can destroy than to acquire things that add some perfection without which one can exist.