The Story Of The Origin Of Emotions

There is no consensus as to how this wonderful story of the origin of emotions came to be. For some unknown reason, many people attributed it to Mario Benedetti. However, the truth is that he did not write this story at all.

Others speculate that it is actually an edited version of a story by Jorge Bucay or Mariano Osorio. Be that as it may, the story of the origin of emotions started going around about three decades ago.

The story takes us to a mythical time when human emotions were just beginning to find their place. It shows us in a moving and very human way the origin of emotions.

The origin of emotions

One day, somewhere on Earth, the virtues and flaws of humanity converged. Boredom began to yawn and infect others with its laziness. To counter this, Insanity suggested that everyone should do something fun. “Let’s play hide and seek,”  she said.

Intrigue seemed interested in the idea and Curiosity immediately asked, “What is hide and seek?” Wisdom explained that it was an old game. All you had to do was cover your eyes and count to a million while everyone else tried to hide. Then the one who counted to a million had to find all the others.

Enthusiasm and Euphoria began to jump up and down excitedly. They were very excited to play the game. They seemed so happy that Doubt finally said she wanted to join in. Even Apathy, who never revealed herself, indicated that she was willing to participate in the game

And so the game began…

Insanity offered to be the first to count. Truth didn’t feel like playing with it because she didn’t see the point in it. She reasoned that they would eventually find her.

Proud said it was a stupid game and therefore decided not to play. In reality, though, she just couldn’t stand the fact that Insanity was the one who suggested the game and not her.

Laziness began to run and hide, but soon grew tired and hid behind the first rock she saw. Triumph, as always, chose the tallest tree and climbed straight to the top. Envy went right after her and hid in the great shadow of Triumph.

Meanwhile, Faith also started to run and soon flew. To everyone’s surprise, she soared all the way up to the sky and hid in the clouds. No one could believe it—only Faith was capable of doing such things.

Generosity was very much concerned about those who could not find a good shelter. So she started helping them all one by one. In the end, she was running out of time to hide herself.

Selfishness, on the other hand, found a beautiful shelter in a cave, but he surrounded the cave with thorny plants. He did this because he didn’t want to share his hiding place with anyone.

The surprising conclusion

Insanity was very excited. She counted and counted until she quickly reached a million. Then she opened her eyes again and started looking for her friends. The first she found was Laziness, who was hiding a stone’s throw from her. Then she found Passion and Desire. They were hiding at the bottom of some volcanoes.

Then she found Dishonesty. Dishonesty was such a liar that she tried to convince Insanity that she was hiding underwater. In reality, however, she was hiding in the middle of the rainbow.

Insanity also tried to track down Forgetfulness, but she soon forgot where her trail went, so she saved her for later.

The only one who failed to hide before Insanity finished counting was Love. When Insanity got close to her, she quickly tried to hide behind some bushes.

Insanity wasn’t stupid, though, so she said to herself, “Love is so predictable that it must have been hiding in the rose bushes.”

Since roses naturally have thorns, Insanity picked up a pitchfork and started poking it into the bushes. Until suddenly she heard a cry of pain and discovered that she had damaged the eyes of Love.

Love is blind

Insanity felt tremendously guilty and didn’t know what to do. All she could think of was to kneel before Love to beg her forgiveness. She also offered to become her guide forever, as she had damaged her eyes. From then on Love was blind and Insanity followed her everywhere.

That is the end of this beautiful story about the origin of emotions. It is a story that attributes certain qualities to our emotions. These qualities determine our emotional experiences. Most of us will surely be able to recognize them in our own lives.