Can passion be defined differently at each age and stage of life? What is the most passionate stage according to its pure definition?

Passion is an emotional experience that can be defined as a very strong emotional response. The semantics come from the Latin word patior, which means to suffer passively, without being able to do anything to avoid it. Passions have been one of the favorite themes in classical literature, from the Greeks, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides (in works like Medea, Phaedra, Orestes, Oedipus, etc.) to Shakespeare (King Lear, Titus Andronicus) and across all universal literature. It is important to note that in the past, "passion" was used instead of what we now refer to as emotions. This explains why Pascal wrote Traité des passions (Treatise on Passions), which he would probably call Treatise on Emotions today. The consideration of passions as something to be suffered passively contains an idea of the impossibility of regulating emotions. Today, we know that this is not the case: emotions can be regulated, changed, lengthened, shortened, and managed. In classical terms, emotions had a negative connotation, something dangerous. This is the sense that the expression the passion of Christ, The Passion according to Saint Matthew, might have. Currently, the emotional framework is broader than passions. We know that emotions play an important and necessary role in adapting to the context, and they can be positive (joy, humor, love, compassion, emotional well-being) or negative (fear, anger, sadness, anxiety, distress).

Can passion be defined differently at each age and stage of life? What is the most passionate stage according to its pure definition?
INEEW IT February 26, 2025
Share this post
Sign in to leave a comment