Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (1:20 p.m.) Happiness Group Journal | Page 8

feelings. The sublime has the
capability to enhance how we
experience emotions. When we
look at a to-do list and see how
much work we must get done, it
can cause us to feel sad, an
emotion directly contrary to
happiness. Such feelings lead to
unhappiness.
Another philosophical idea
we tried to examine is anguish
and anxiety. This is an
existentialist idea, found in
Kierkegaard. This idea is that
human existence is completely on
its own and the anxiety we feel is
because we recognize this fact.
When we are surrounded by so
many different things in our lives,
we feel isolated and alone. Cell
phones are a perfect example of
how the actual outcome of using
a cell phone is opposite of what
was expected. When we use
phones, we are supposed to
connect with others. Sometimes,
phones cause us to feel alone
because we have the power to
see other people together or
know we aren’t with others,
thus feeling alone.
We wanted to create this
piece of art to point out some of
the pitfalls of society. There are
areas in society that are lacking
and also other areas that cause
us to feel unhappy. Another
area that is lacking in society is
when it comes to our relationship
with nature. As civilization
continues to advance, the
emphasis on enjoying the
natural world continues to regress.
Our capitalistic society counteracts
the actions of people in society
who want to preserve nature.
Erich Fromm described biophilia
as ‘the passionate love of life and
of all that is alive’. This is certainly
lacking in society as the number of
endangered species continues to
rise.
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