Out of control passion?

jupiterswoon

jupiterswoon

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"Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled," said writer William Blake.

Is it wrong to not feel comfortable with out of control passion? It tires me, it upsets me, it makes me experience too many ups and downs. Perhaps it is because my passion involves other people, and not hobbies?

What's been your experience with passion? What are you most passionate about?
 
Sometimes our passions have to pull our ego out of the ruts it gets itself into

Sometimes we aren't able to take the right step ourselves and we need to be pulled in the right direction by a part of ourselves that we don't always listen to

When we don't listen to that part of ourselves and deny it then there will be temporary chaos as we are pulled out of our comfort zone onto the path we are supposed to be following

I have at times clung to things that now seem completely unimportant; it all gets burnt away though and i'm feeling an inexorable pull in a certain direction
 
muir said:
Sometimes our passions have to pull our ego out of the ruts it gets itself into

Sometimes we aren't able to take the right step ourselves and we need to be pulled in the right direction by a part of ourselves that we don't always listen to

When we don't listen to that part of ourselves and deny it then there will be temporary chaos as we are pulled out of our comfort zone onto the path we are supposed to be following

I have at times clung to things that now seem completely unimportant; it all gets burnt away though and i'm feeling an inexorable pull in a certain direction
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One of the wisest things I have seen you write on this forum muir.

What you are speaking of describes my experiences and my journey in the last year and half. Passion is what got me out of a rut, but not fully following my passion by trying to control it has brought me the chaos that I was trying to avoid. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just Hindsight Bias speaking but I feel now like I should have just followed my passion fully at the time. Using passion to drive me forward now will still bring me to a better place than if I had completely stifled it but some things might be too late.

[MENTION=5301]jupiterswoon[/MENTION] , I definitely struggle with being a passionate person and a very controlled person at the same time. Until a few years ago I always chose control and buried my passions. I wish now that I had followed my passions more in the past. They can make life worth living.
 
i may respond with better considered detail to the actual substance of your post later, but for the time being let me just say, Blake was a literary genius and all, but his paintings are hideous, and he thought women are stupid animals, and he wasnt infallible.
 
invisible said:
i really bit the big ad hominem just then, didnt i.
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It can help put the quote in context. Information like that can be important in interpreting where the person was coming from when they made the quote. It can completely change it's meaning.
 
well, it is ad hominem, and lousy debate, because it isnt really addressing the argument, which is the important thing. but Blake provided the artistic model for a lot of later romanticists, such as Coleridge, who poisoned his own son to death with opium, and that has prejudiced me badly. i always think that the classics appreciated the inherent irrationality of humanity but saw the value of not exactly repressing passion, but directing it with reason. but these are abstract matters that i struggle with continually and i recognise that my understanding is very incomplete. but i have a bit of a prejudice against the romantic ideal of unrestraint.
 
jupiterswoon said:
"Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled," said writer William Blake.

Is it wrong to not feel comfortable with out of control passion? It tires me, it upsets me, it makes me experience too many ups and downs. Perhaps it is because my passion involves other people, and not hobbies?

What's been your experience with passion? What are you most passionate about?
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I have strong passions, which I mostly repressed when I was young. Sometimes they got the better of me - and I suppose that sometimes they still do.

What has changed over the years is that I have deliberately sought either to harness, or channel them, to drive what I am more sober about further. Still a work-in-progress.
 
invisible said:
well, it is ad hominem, and lousy debate, because it isnt really addressing the argument, which is the important thing. but Blake provided the artistic model for a lot of later romanticists, such as Coleridge, who poisoned his own son to death with opium, and that has prejudiced me badly. i always think that the classics appreciated the inherent irrationality of humanity but saw the value of not exactly repressing passion, but directing it with reason. but these are abstract matters that i struggle with continually and i recognise that my understanding is very incomplete. but i have a bit of a prejudice against the romantic ideal of unrestraint.
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Coleridge's son died from an adverse reaction to the new small pox vaccine whilst coleridge was away from home

What was it Blake said about women?
 
Eh, I don't really like that quote. It misrepresents passion as something that can be contained and it can't really, not really. I was very passionate about many things in life when I was a kid, I wanted to be a comic book artist, I wanted to play guitar, I wanted to be straight because I think to a certain extent straight women have it easy lol... but all of these things were very short lived. Passion is that fire you feel in your heart when you think something would be great if you could do it, and then you try, and then you get disappointed that it's not happening fast enough or its nothing of what you thought it would be and then you get discouraged and all together stop. Passion is an instant, not a lifetime, and it's not something you can control. Now drive to make your passions become a reality, that is something *nods*
 
invisible said:
well, it is ad hominem, and lousy debate, because it isnt really addressing the argument, which is the important thing. but Blake provided the artistic model for a lot of later romanticists, such as Coleridge, who poisoned his own son to death with opium, and that has prejudiced me badly. i always think that the classics appreciated the inherent irrationality of humanity but saw the value of not exactly repressing passion, but directing it with reason. but these are abstract matters that i struggle with continually and i recognise that my understanding is very incomplete. but i have a bit of a prejudice against the romantic ideal of unrestraint.
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Me too.
 
jupiterswoon said:
"Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled," said writer William Blake.

Is it wrong to not feel comfortable with out of control passion? It tires me, it upsets me, it makes me experience too many ups and downs. Perhaps it is because my passion involves other people, and not hobbies?

What's been your experience with passion? What are you most passionate about?
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I like that quote because it hints at a passion about passion, and that’s something I can relate to. I also know a bit about disillusionment. I think that, as a rule, healthy passion is naturally preserved when one learns to recognize an attachment to an outcome and gives up control concerning that outcome. What’s left then is a driving force that doesn’t really feel tempered or restrained, still provides power and direction, but honors natural evolution in all matters. That's been my experience anyway.

Fun thread. :wink:
 
What's been your experience with passion?
Takes me away, i live for and by it. Which doesn't really equate acting like an unrestrained idiot, but to forget about your own condition for a while to let beautiful things happen. I realize the setbacks of this mindset, like several ups and downs, poor discipline, unrealistic expectations, several problems taking care of practicalities, acting on my emotions and not realize the harm that i can do to myself, the list goes on and on.

What are you most passionate about?

Music, the people i love, art, more than anything.

Edit (this subject got me thinking for a while): Personally, true passion is what moves the world, that doesn't mean that we all must unleash the beast inside ourselves, metaphorically speaking... But go along with it, feel it, embrace it, once in a while at least. My opinion is probably heavily tainted by my own identity, personality, experiences, whatever, yes, unfortunately i'm a romantic.
 
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What's been your experience with passion?
- I've never had mostly positive experiences with that emotion. It's consumed me at some point, but only reflected false or poorly chosen attention to something or someone who didn't deserve it. I've had a weird relationship with the concept because I was taught to be controlled and restrained growing up. I even had "restraint" as a username on this forum when I first started posting on this forum. When I did allow myself let go, and be 'passionate", it didn't work out so well. I ended up with blind devotion to my "passions". A passion is an investment. I can't simply go into it headlong today but let it go tomorrow. I am still drawn to people and particular interests as passions, but I don't lead myself on about what they represent. I prefer to feel passionate about things that are truly meaningful and more likely to last than things that are only short term, and momentary.

What are you most passionate about?
- learning, the arts, intensity of emotion in a performance, mutually felt and reciprocated care and concern, movies, etc.
 
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invisible said:
well, i was probably wrong about both.
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Och well never mind...Blake was a pretty....special person!

I'd imagine he wasn't going to have relationship bliss with just anyone

Coleridge wasn't exactly one to bounce through life in a carefree way either; with great sensitivity is going to come great joy and great suffering
 
I'm about this passionate.
[video=youtube;43E2laRy9o8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43E2laRy9o8[/video]

My ultimate form is really this.
[video=youtube;UPUQDlrZ_MQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPUQDlrZ_MQ[/video]

I'ma fahrin mah lazors.

ALL OF THEM
 
"Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled"...I think this is not true at all. Therefore I don't think there is "out of control passion", because every passion can be controled and diminished.
 
invisible said:
well, it is ad hominem, and lousy debate, because it isnt really addressing the argument, which is the important thing. but Blake provided the artistic model for a lot of later romanticists, such as Coleridge, who poisoned his own son to death with opium, and that has prejudiced me badly. i always think that the classics appreciated the inherent irrationality of humanity but saw the value of not exactly repressing passion, but directing it with reason. but these are abstract matters that i struggle with continually and i recognise that my understanding is very incomplete. but i have a bit of a prejudice against the romantic ideal of unrestraint.
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I was talking about it with my boyfriend and we agreed that if "passion" was substituted with "intellect" then what Blake said would've been spot on.

Btw, sometimes the art can be separated from the artist and sometimes it can't be. I guess it depends on the situation. I love William Blake's paintings, but a lot of his poems kind of stink.
 
LucyJr said:
"Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled"...I think this is not true at all. Therefore I don't think there is "out of control passion", because every passion can be controled and diminished.
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I think if a passion is rationally thought about, then it changes the nature of the emotion.
 
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