Emotional Communities
Human, Microbial, Galactic, and Divine
In Whitehead's philosophy, wherever there is energy there is emotion, This means that whenever there are energetic connections between entities, there are emotional or felt connections, Energy is a form of feeling, and feeling is a form of energy. Energetic feelings go all the way down in into the depths of matter, all the way out into the heights of the heavens. And whenever things are held together, to form communities of one sort or another, their feelings are what hold them together. Whitehead speaks of these feelins as prehensions. Feelings, then, are not simply private affairs, They are prehensive connections. This is true for human communities, of course, but also for microbial communities, animal societies, plant ecosystems, and stellar networks. An individual body, plant or animal, is a nodal network of prehensive connections. All communities, stable or unstable, brief or long-lasting, are emotional communities.
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In human life, emotions are often thought of as internal and private experiences, confined to human psychology. However, from the perspective of process philosophy, emotions are much more than this—they are dynamic, relational feelings that connect and shape all levels of existence. Feelings that hold things together, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, but always together. Thus they are the glue by which "communities" emerge, and there are many, perhaps countless, forms of, as it were, emotional glue. Two primary forms are attraction and repulsion, but there are also many others: curiosity, longing, fear, anger, empathy, joy, compassion, jealousy, awe, hope, guilt, grief, contentment, frustration, wonder, pride, shame, love, and disgust.
These glues bind things together as communities not only in harmony but also in conflict—and oftentimes in both simultaneously. Friendships, families, neighborhoods, villages, and countless other forms of togetherness emerge and persist through this interplay of emotions. Sometimes it is precisely the tensions, disagreements, and struggles that serve as the glue, holding them together in dynamic and evolving ways, whether healthy or unhealthy. Togetherness comes in many forms.
In what follows I offer springboards for thought on emotions and emotional communities, proposing along the way that such communities include animal communities, plant communities, microscopic communities, and galactic communities. Even the universe as an evolving and living whole - even God - is a community partly formed by the emotions of the universe and partly by divine aims and responses to those emotions. We live in an inter-emotional universe.
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Before proceeding, a note on the phrase "emotional community" is in order. The concept of emotional communities emerged from the work of historian Barbara H. Rosenwein, who introduced it in the early 2000s as a way to understand how emotions were expressed, regulated, and valued in specific historical and cultural contexts. Emotional communities are defined as groups of people who share norms and expectations about emotions, including how they should be felt, displayed, and interpreted. By examining historical texts, rituals, and artifacts, Rosenwein demonstrated that emotions are not purely individual or universal experiences but are shaped by social frameworks and collective values. In a related but slightly different way, I use her term to explore how emotions function as energetic connections that flow between entities, shaping not only individual relationships but also broader networks of interaction that include human and more-than-human worlds.
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In human life, emotions are often thought of as internal and private experiences, confined to human psychology. However, from the perspective of process philosophy, emotions are much more than this—they are dynamic, relational feelings that connect and shape all levels of existence. Feelings that hold things together, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, but always together. Thus they are the glue by which "communities" emerge, and there are many, perhaps countless, forms of, as it were, emotional glue. Two primary forms are attraction and repulsion, but there are also many others: curiosity, longing, fear, anger, empathy, joy, compassion, jealousy, awe, hope, guilt, grief, contentment, frustration, wonder, pride, shame, love, and disgust.
These glues bind things together as communities not only in harmony but also in conflict—and oftentimes in both simultaneously. Friendships, families, neighborhoods, villages, and countless other forms of togetherness emerge and persist through this interplay of emotions. Sometimes it is precisely the tensions, disagreements, and struggles that serve as the glue, holding them together in dynamic and evolving ways, whether healthy or unhealthy. Togetherness comes in many forms.
In what follows I offer springboards for thought on emotions and emotional communities, proposing along the way that such communities include animal communities, plant communities, microscopic communities, and galactic communities. Even the universe as an evolving and living whole - even God - is a community partly formed by the emotions of the universe and partly by divine aims and responses to those emotions. We live in an inter-emotional universe.
*
Before proceeding, a note on the phrase "emotional community" is in order. The concept of emotional communities emerged from the work of historian Barbara H. Rosenwein, who introduced it in the early 2000s as a way to understand how emotions were expressed, regulated, and valued in specific historical and cultural contexts. Emotional communities are defined as groups of people who share norms and expectations about emotions, including how they should be felt, displayed, and interpreted. By examining historical texts, rituals, and artifacts, Rosenwein demonstrated that emotions are not purely individual or universal experiences but are shaped by social frameworks and collective values. In a related but slightly different way, I use her term to explore how emotions function as energetic connections that flow between entities, shaping not only individual relationships but also broader networks of interaction that include human and more-than-human worlds.