Emotion Review – Limbic Rage

There is an anger that you nurse and tend, and which makes you feel wretched and powerful. This is not that anger. This is something that comes on you like an attack from behind. It makes you feel wretched, but it makes you feel weak; not because you lack the power to act, but because you lose the power to direct your actions. You are as mighty and helpless as a burning building. For good reason, the law makes provision for those who kill under the influence of this emotion.

You could see the world as a series of tripwires that, when triggered, throw you into the power of this emotion. Everyone’s tripwires are different. Some have many tripwires, and some have only a few. For me, a blow to the head is the surefire way—even an accident, even something I do to myself. Other, more noble people have their tripwires go off when they see someone mistreating an animal, or when they hear about people going hungry.

This emotion a great revealer of personality. For it tells you a lot about a person that they have a tripwire just here. People you’ve known for years surprise you.

As for the subjective experience of limbic rage: your blood goes magmatic and bubbles in your heart like a witch’s brew; it rushes to your cheeks and ears so that they burn; it stuns your brain like a blast-fishing bomb. Your vision goes tunnely, and your tongue gets heavy. Inarticulate protests crawl up your throat. Your muscles tighten. Then, something dramatic.

The dramatic thing varies between people. I knew a man who—ordinarily sweet and soft-spoken—suddenly threw a bowl of cereal across his kitchen as hard as he could. Even he was surprised. The world has plenty of screamers, plenty of shriekers, and some people who, like me, turn pale, turn quiet, and leave the room silently. The particular manifestation of the rage also tells you something about a personality. When the whole building’s on fire, what stays stable and what snaps in a burst of sparks?

3/10 – Not a great ride, but tells you something about yourself.