I'm not trying to set anybody up. I was objecting to the original blanket statement that everybody can control their responses to anything that is said to them. I disagreed, and continue to disagree.
As we develop this discussion, I think there are several strands getting intermingled which we need to separate.
1. Our internal reactions/responses -- anger, fear, etc. I maintain, and some others here have agreed, that no human is in practice capable of always and perfectly controlling those reactions/responses. Under certain circumstances, we will have visceral internal reactions which are as uncontrollable as our reaction to the doctor's rubber hammer. (As I said before, after all our emotions are all physically based. The brain is physical, and everythingthat goes on it is physical.)
2. Our external reactions/responses. What we say or do to others. If we get angry, do we swallow it or hit out (verbally or physically)? Here I think there is a higher expectation of control. I think perhaps Michael has been addressing this level rather than the first level, though I may be wrong. I maintain that much of the time we can control this level, but that on occasion the influence of stimulations working on past experiences is sufficient to make us lose control, and that every person has that response at one time or another. I think most people have as a goal the ability to completely control this level of reaction/response. But I also think that no person is capable of controlling this at every point and for every stimulus. |
