Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00360)

Hey,

Jamison is best known for the bestselling An Unquiet Mind, about 
depression, and followed that up with a treatment of suicide. Now 
she turns to positive emotion in her study of exuberance. The 
writing is very evocative, e.g.:

"Exuberance is an abounding, ebullient,effervescent emotion. It is 
kinetic and unrestrained, joyful, irrepressible. It is not 
happiness, although they share a border. It is instead, at its core, 
a restless, billowing state. Certainly it is not lulling sense of 
contentment: exuberance leaps, bubbles, and overflows...The exuberant 
move above the horizon, exposed and vulnerable."(p. 4)

IMO both of the primary TS Founders exemplify exuberance, but HPB 
seems to me a more problematic example. I thought of her in relation 
to Jamison's reference to Karl Jaspers describing a continuum of 
active, ebullient temperaments. The "sanguine" temperament is 
abnormally excitable (quoting Jaspers) and "reacts quickly, and in 
lively fashion to every kind of influence, it lights up immediately 
but excitement dies down equally fast. The individual leads a 
restless life, and likes extremes. We ge a picture of vivacious 
exuberance or of an irritable, troubled hastiness."(p. 101)

Indeed, this new diagnostic category of "hyperthymia" made me wonder 
if HPB qualifies: "talkative, extraverted, self-assured, and filled 
with plans and ideas. He or she needs little sleep and possesses the 
kind of energy which leaves others gasping...while there are many 
advantages to this type of temperament-- gregariousness, 
indefatigability, and the ability to handle highly stressful 
situations with relative ease-- there is, as well, an instability in 
mood that can lead to intemperate behavior."(p. 101)

Somehow, the Theosophical movement ran out of steam after 
Krishnamurti's defection, and lost the exuberance of its first half 
century. How and why this occurred could be endlessly debated, but I 
think the revulsion at the excesses of the CWL era on one hand, and 
the collapse of Point Loma due to the Depression on the other, had a 
lot to do with it. Theosophists got more inclined to perceive change 
and innovation as danger rather than opportunity. We are hardwired 
to give preferential attention to danger signals. Jamison reports:

"...brain imaging studies...demonstrate that when subjects are shown 
emotionally pleasing pictures...; unpleasant pictures...; or pictures 
that are netural...; the unpleasant pictures provoke activation in 
the primitive, subcortical parts of the brain conceptualized by 
scientists as an ancient danger-recognition system. The pleasant 
pictures, on the other hand, activate a phylogenetically much younger 
part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex. Danger, the researchers 
conclude, requires a quick and relatively simple response system; the 
ability to appreciate the positive in situations requires, on the 
other hand, a more sophisticated level of processing in the brain."

Enough food for thought for today. Next week I'll comment on 
Gurdjieff: the Key Concepts by Sophia Wellbeloved (which frequently 
refers to Theosophy). The following week's choice is Dream Catchers: 
How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality by Philip 
Jenkins, which refers to Theosophical influence on five widely 
dispersed pages.

Have a good weekend,

Paul