When the brain creates memory, aspects of the limbic system will add emotional tags, as the sensory content is written to memory. The result is our cerebral memory is composed of both content and emotions. For example, our strongest memories, such as marriage, birth of a child, glory days, graduation, trauma, etc., will have the strongest feelings attached to them. For example, if one was asked to recall the Corona Virus pandemic of 2020, years from now, it will trigger feelings that the brain has attached to the details of those times. These feelings will then trigger connected details from memory.
The value of this tagging schema is connected to the animal brain and instinct. For example, if the animal sees a food item, that they once had, and this triggers a good feeling from memory, they will instinctively eat, based on the feeling, without having to think.
Because of the binary nature of memory; content plus emotional tags, we can trigger our memory from either side of the binary. I can see my favorite food; specific sensory content, and start to feel hungry. Or it can be dinner time soon and I naturally become hungry; feeling. This feeling of hunger may cause me to visualize my favorite food from memory. Although both paths can trigger the same memories and feelings, there is a difference, based on which side of the memory you use to trigger the memory.
The difference has to do with the fact that sensory content can be as diversified as the details of reality filtering through the five senses. While the number of emotional tags used by the limbic systems, are much more limited. The limited number of emotional tags will be recycled and used for more than one memory.
For example, most people are able to list their top ten favorite foods. Each will be distinct in terms of its unique sensory content; color, smells, tastes, spices, texture, etc., Yet all these favorite foods will use the same basic emotional tagging schema; good food. This is the pitfall of emotions first, since the exact content can be ambiguous among these ten foods with the same emotional tag. One can eat their favorite food and expect complete satisfaction, only to feel less than satisfied. This is because one's choice was wrong among all the similar options in the tagging ambiguity.
Stereo-types, for example, define a range of features that appear to have commonality, as applied to a person or group. Often this is due to a range of content, appearing in memory, all with the same or similar feeling tags. In this case, the learned feeling association, usually negative, triggers a range of content with this tagging, which is then applied to the type.
On the positive side, the Message of Jesus, to love your neighbor, is a memory strategy where you fixate on the love tag, so all your personal memories with love tagging, both conscious and unconscious, appear and reinforce the feeling of love. This becomes the limbic system neural chemical foundation for further tagging, of new and even contrary data; love tag the enemy.
On the negative side, this can be perverted. For example, fake news propaganda can present constant doom and gloom to trigger fear and despair tagging. This will induce a spectrum of personal and collective content with the fear and despair tags. This can also set a different neutral chemical environment for tagging, for all new memory. Trump became the stereotype for all memories with these negative tags. He was connected to Hitler, Nuclear war, poverty, big business, greed, collusion delusion, etc.. The tagging was so successful. many people still cannot be rational, due to the habit of leading the memory with emotions.
This brings us back to the natural use of emotions, which is to optimize human interaction. The ambiguity of tagging can be applied as Jesus Taught so we can see the good in each other. But what has happened, is emotions are being used as a substitute for the intellect. We are taught to approach memory in a way where the details of memory become ambiguous, and cannot be used for sound reasoning. The substitute is conformity and dogma.
The evolution of emotions is not about putting emotions first, but learning to use emotions for what they were intended for; natural integration of humans. We can find the good in all. The intellect is better served by approaching memory from the content side, so each detail of memory can be analyzed for it's tagging, so we can see if it makes sense, and is not a product of emotional tagging manipulation games or substitution tag misunderstanding.
