[Ailist] Meaning making around positive and negative emotions

[Mary Gergen]

-- HI,  I've been reading with great interest the thread related to the
emotions.  There are many interesting, even compelling, stories and comments
exchanged on this topic.  From my perspective, it is interesting to see a
community grapple with the definitions of commonly used phrases, such as
positive emotions, and find that some meanings are preferred to others.  The
listserv is a record of the ways in which this community is create its
realities together.  That's on the positive side.  On the other side, it
seems to me that often the purpose of the posts is to "get it right."  There
seems to be a notion that somewhere there is the correct way of talking
about emotions, what they really are, which ones are actually good or bad..
whether a particular emotion belongs in the good or the bad column.  To me,
this is a futile enterprise.  From whence will the "true" answer to these
queries come?  It scares me to imagine that some people believe, hope, or
desire that the answers will be forthcoming from neurobiological sources or
from experimental data in the positive psychology camp, or from anywhere
else.  For me, these are also discursive communities with their own
vocabularies and methods for creating realities. They are not the
truth-tellers. 
    I'm thankful for this community, especially during this time of
Thanksgiving.  I have benefited by this conversation, and I do not want to
eliminate these sorts of discussions.  I hope not  to be dismissed as a
spoil sport, although I am raining on a realist's  parade.