A Word

Once a thing becomes a word, it is alive, real.
-Jonathan Ames, What's Not To Love?

I agree. Not to imply that if something is not a word, then that means it is not real. However, I :would: argue that if one has a feeling, and it is not made concrete, then it is less significant than if it were to be put into words. This is for several reasons, the first of which being that there is no way to hold onto the memory. I could write it down, which is good way to retain the information. But even if I don't happen to write it, if instead I have a conversation with someone about what's going on inside my head or body, then I am more likely to remember by virtue of the fact that I had to articulate what I was experiencing.

I don't want this to be misconstrued as me saying that we can translate emotions into words, no problem. I don't believe this is true. In my mind, there will always be a linguistic gap between what we say and what we mean (or feel). Words are just a means of communication, a stab in the dark at trying to express ourselves and understand each other, because human connection is so damn important, whether we admit it or not.

It may be a challenge to represent the gloriousness or deep sadness or enlightenment that an unworded thought might give us, but I think it is worth that challenge.

*Vitality

I want to be alive with intellectual vitality!

A Way to Communicate

Ways to Communicate...
*What are they? Verbal, non-verbal (body language)

*How do they affect the individual? Without communication with others, I'd presume we'd be a lot more unhappy. Even the most introverted person that I've ever heard of enjoys the occasional conversation or momentary connection with another.

*Why are some means of communication work well for some people and not others?

*Why is communication so important to us? For me, it helps to establish "normalcy" (or uniqueness, depending on what I'm searching for) and acceptance from others.

*Is communication primarily a way to connect with another human being? Do we "need" this connection? No because the animal world has methods of communication as well. I think I need it!

Body

*What is it?
*How is it important?
*In what ways is it linked with the mind?

I believe in the Mind-Body Connection. It's like Morpheus says in The Matrix, "the body can't live without the mind." Technically this isn't true (think of life support being used in the case of a patient with severe brain damage), though this depends on our definition of how much the mind has to be undamaged in order to be counted as "living."

But when we consider something like physical health, we know that this affects the mind in several overt ways. Eating well and getting enough exercise makes a person happier than they would be if they didn't exercise enough and ate junk food (I would know). Then there is the issue of chemical imbalance, which we tend to medicate (attempting to stabilize the Mind-Body Connection) in this society. Take Depression, for example. Someone's mind (obviously, in this context I use the immaterial meaning of the word "Mind," likening it to something like "intelligence" or "personality," rather than "brain") is made unhappy by the body.

Existence

In existentialist terminology, 'existence' means that a consciousness assumes its responsibility to act freely whereas 'being' is a static identity of a thing.
~"Simone de Beauvoir," Great Thinkers A-Z

Emotions

I think that emotions are chemically created. By our brains, hormones, etc.

Each separate emotion is in a way too limiting. By this I mean to say that when I say "I feel happy," there are a range of emotions in me, with "happy" standing out above the rest. But I may also feel a degree of contentment, a degree of triumph, and, hidden away, possibly even a degree of sadness.

So to some extent, labeling the way I feel with a single emotion is a generalization.

Actions or Thoughts?

Which is the more "true" us: the us that is manifested in our actions or the us that is manifested in our thoughts/feelings?

I think it's important not to discount either one, but some part of myself is inclined to say the thought/feeling part of myself because it feels more complete or "full." I may think about an action before or after I accomplish it (or both), but I also have lots of other thoughts, thoughts that are never actualized and yet are very true to myself.

Of course, I'm not discrediting the objection that I may have thoughts that are completely unlike the usual me, perhaps even scary or sick thoughts that I don't want to admit to having. But I do have them, on infrequent occasions, as does everyone (I'm assuming...right?). Also, just because I place a negative value judgment upon them doesn't mean they're not "me" in some aspect, however hidden. Jung would call this my shadow.

I would argue that the totality of my thoughts and emotions constitutes a more whole self than merely the self I present through actions to the world outside of my mind and perceptions.