Feelings are very important elements of our lives, but isn't it the case that the good or bad value of our lives comes from actions, rather than our feelings?

Having an abundance of good feelings (happiness, joy, love...) is much better than having a surfeit of wretchedness and misery. The value of our lives -- as perceived by others, certainly, and ourselves -- is a product of our works. Someone who vegetates in a state of bliss isn't doing anything for anyone else. And someone who feels like death warmed over -- but who also performs service to others -- has a more valuable life -- yes?

I still don't agree. Let me post a conversation I had which gets my point across:

Other Person's Response: Feelings are very important elements of our lives, but isn't it the case that the good or bad value of our lives comes from actions, rather than our feelings?

Having an abundance of good feelings (happiness, joy, love...) is much better than having a surfeit of wretchedness and misery. The value of our lives -- as perceived by others, certainly, and ourselves -- is a product of our works. Someone who vegetates in a state of bliss isn't doing anything for anyone else. And someone who feels like death warmed over -- but who also performs service to others -- has a more valuable life -- yes?

My Reply: I still don't agree and I will never agree no matter what anyone says. My reasons are as follows. Continue reading this Q&A section which explains why.

Other Person's Response: "Good" and "bad" are subjective judgments based on personal preference. There was someone on here a little while ago that said she didn't like happiness. It's up to the individual to decide things like good, bad and worth.

My Reply: She would have to be delusional then. That, or she actually had a negative emotion on some small level even though she did not realize it. Another possibility would be that the positive and negative qualities have taken on a different form for her besides her positive emotions (happiness) and negative emotions. But I doubt that based upon my own personal experience. My life (conscious/mental reality) was literally the worst hell and completely devoid of any real good value, joy, worth, and beauty during those miserable/hopeless moments.

Therefore, I think positive and negative emotions truly are the only real positive and negative qualities and that people are just deluding themselves otherwise. I am not necessarily saying that she is delusional though. She could have another form of this inner positive quality as I said before. But, based upon my own personal experience, my positive emotions are my only inner light.

Other Person's Response: Comments regarding the meaningless or worthlessness of life if your "worldview" were true would necessarily be limited to describing your own life's meaningless or worthlessness.

My Reply: I metaphorically described the positive and negative qualities as being the inner light and the inner darkness. The inner light and the inner darkness is a well known metaphor presented in many movies, anime, and t.v. shows. Without the inner light, then we could have nothing but the inner darkness or neither light nor darkness. So, I think you are wrong here. We all need the inner light to make our lives truly good and beautiful. Otherwise, it is truly no way to live or be an artist.

Other Person's Response: You know it's true when anime says so. Now, where did I leave my tentacles........

My Reply: Again, it is a metaphor for life itself which holds true. Just because the positive quality is literally depicted as an inner angelic light in these anime shows does not dismiss the message that these anime are conveying. They are conveying the message that we all need the inner positive quality in our lives to truly make our lives good and beautiful. So, these anime are actually conveying a realistic message.

It would be no different than how anime convey messages of love and friendship through battling mystical beasts or through acquiring mystical powers. I mean, the real message is still there despite the mystical elements. One last thing here. Sure, you might see certain anime characters surrounded by dark aura which indicates the inner darkness and, sure, they might have done kind deeds and whatnot despite that inner darkness.

This character might have even believed it to be a good and beautiful thing to perform these kind deeds. But this character would need at least some of the inner light in his/her inner universe to allow him/her to truly perceive it as being a good and beautiful thing to help these people. The darkness would actually be blinding this character from truly seeing the good value and beauty of life and in the helping of others. That is why this character would need at least a little bit of inner light to see a bit through that darkness.

Another example would be characters trapped inside a dark void of emptiness and despair. This is a dark void separated from all joy, beauty, and goodness. These characters, while in this void, can believe all they want to that their friends, family, nature, the universe, etc. are still good, beautiful, and worthwhile things. But these characters are still in a state of mind where their lives are completely empty and devoid of any goodness, joy, and beauty.

It would be like souls trapped in the realm of darkness. These souls can believe all they want that things are still good and beautiful. But they are trapped in the dark realm and, thus, they have no light to allow them to truly see the goodness, worth, and beauty of those things. Again, all of this is just a metaphor to get my point across. It still gives an accurate representation of reality. If you want an analogy/metaphor that is based on reality, then I will give it to you. It would be like you are in a pitch black cave. You can believe all you want to that there is gold inside that cave.

But you need some light to see that gold. The more light you have, the more the gold shines. The less light you have, the less this gold shines. That is, the more light you have, the more you are able to see that gold and the less light you have, the less you are able to see that gold. With all of this being said, our beliefs, attitudes, and mindsets alone are not the inner light to our lives. There is something that goes beyond that and that is what we truly need in our lives. It is the true inner light and not some counterfeit.

Unfortunately, if there are a number of factors in your life that take away your inner light such as the factors that take away our positive emotions (i.e. depression, misery, brain damage, etc.), then you are at a disadvantage just as how a person who is in a pitch black cave would be at a disadvantage if the light or torch he had grew dimmer and dimmer due to a number of factors such as insufficient fuel or low batteries in his/her flashlight. If this person was relying on the light of daytime to see the gold in that dark cave, then the factor that would dim the light would be the day becoming night.

Now, this whole concept also applies to the bad value in your life. As long as you have nothing but the inner light, then you are blinded by the light and you cannot see anything bad. You would be in nothing but a state of pure joy, love, beauty, and goodness and you cannot be in any state of misery, despair, torment, suffering, agony, badness, etc. To conclude and recap, I think our positive emotions (aka happiness) is the only inner light we as human beings have to allow us to see the good value, joy, beauty, love, and worth of things in our lives.

Other Person's Response: Could you give me an example of people who think that their positive emotions are the inner light to their lives as you claim?

My Reply: There are many people out there who struggle with depression. Many hate their lives and they just want to die. They say that having a positive mindset does nothing for them. This supports my worldview quite well because these depressed people are only expressing the truth here. They are merely expressing the need for the inner light back into their lives again.

Someone who vegetates in a state of bliss isn't doing anything for anyone else. And someone who feels like death warmed over -- but who also performs service to others -- has a more valuable life -- yes? — Bitter Crank

Not necessarily, that's only assuming that there is something that should or has to be done.

Can a positive mindset be based on truth? If yes then a positive mindset is good