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Zakai Shirao's avatar

What’s one learning question I’d love to explore with others?

What is emotion—really?

Not just how it feels, but what it means. I want to explore the hypothesis that emotions are epistemic signals—real-time feedback from the mind-body system about internal contradiction or coherence.

Here’s how I’ve been thinking about it:

Contradiction generates emotional “heat”—what we label as negative emotions.

A good explanation—one that makes sense of the contradiction—dissipates that heat.

What we call virtues are simply what flows in the absence of emotional turbulence:

Forgiveness is the absence of resentment.

Courage is the absence of fear.

Compassion is the absence of separation.

So the hypothesis is this:

Virtue is not an effort or a performance. It is what naturally emerges from clarity.

And emotions aren’t flaws to overcome—they’re tools of navigation. They show us where understanding is missing.

I’d love to explore this—challenge it, build on it—with others who are asking not just what to feel, but what emotion is for.

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