Why being Emotionally Sensitive is a need rather than a Luxury

By Manan Agrawal

Positive emotions like love, compassion, kindness, and care are considered the backbone of a good
human being. Yet, it is scarcely a question of how to develop them that arises. The head and the heart
form a complete human being. And society is now accepting that development is not restricted to
knowledge. Although, knowledge is as significant an aspect as the heart.

The development of positive emotions by their very nature requires one to be emotionally sensitive.
Emotional sensitivity is the ability to feel emotions in oneself and others. When the feelings of others
are understood, one can consider the results their actions will have on others. It is necessary to ‘feel’ all
emotions that one has. They can be positive like patience or negative like anger. It is critical to remove
emotional obscurations like anger. However, if one does not know the enemy, one can not defeat the
enemy.

Feel anger and other non-virtuous emotions arising, abiding, and ceasing when they do come about.
Also, feel them in others. See how their anger is a result of causes and conditions. These could be a
benefit of an enemy or the disrespect of a friend. Through this process, see how the nature of one’s and
others’ anger is but dependent on these causes and conditions. Doing so will train one “never to repay
abuse with abuse, never to be angry in return for anger, never to strike back when struck, and never to
expose the faults of others when they reveal our own (Trans. Padmakara Translation Group, 2010).”
Apply this to all the non-virtues, such as miserliness (attachment), wishing to harm others and laziness.

When one clears away emotional obscurations, namely, anger and desire, the next stage is cultivating
positive emotions. When one is no longer conditioned by these obscurations, it is possible to see the
unfavourable results the emotional obscurations bring about. Feel the emotional obscurations in others
and develop a desire to help all of them. See the purity of a mother’s loving-kindness and compassion
and feel that same loving-kindness and compassion for all sentient beings.