The idea that emotions are deeply meaningful or mystical experiences is appealing. But it’s a misconception. Emotions—whether love, sadness, anxiety, or joy—are nothing more than biochemical processes unfolding in the human brain.
When we feel pleasure, it’s often because dopamine levels rise in the brain’s reward system. When we feel stress or despair, cortisol and norepinephrine may flood the bloodstream. “What you feel as an emotion is your brain’s interpretation of bodily signals,” writes Barrett (2017). These signals are chemical in nature, not metaphysical.
Emotional life is a feedback loop between the nervous system and its molecular messengers. Hormones and neurotransmitters—serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins—shape every human experience. Oxytocin does not create love; it creates the sensation of bonding. Serotonin doesn't create happiness; it modulates stability and social confidence. These are mechanisms, not mysteries.
What differs between people is not whether they are governed by biochemistry, but how that biochemistry is calibrated. Some individuals are biologically primed for empathy or optimism. Others are prone to anxiety or emotional detachment. These traits have more to do with neurochemical balances than personal will.
It is possible to influence our emotional chemistry. Non-pharmacological interventions such as exercise, sexual activity, meditation, or even sunlight exposure can alter neurotransmitter levels. For example, meditation has been linked to increases in dopamine, as observed by Kjaer et al. (2002).
Pharmacological interventions attempt the same end through synthetic means, with less precision and often unintended effects. While psychiatric medications aim to stabilize emotions, they often rely on crude manipulation of complex systems. And street drugs, which flood the brain with pleasure chemicals, tend to degrade emotional function over time.
Regulatory frameworks are not scientifically consistent. Alcohol, a depressant linked to thousands of deaths annually, is legal. Meanwhile, non-addictive substances like psilocybin remain illegal despite evidence of clinical value (Carhart-Harris & Goodwin, 2017). The public debate on drug policy is often driven by culture, not biology.
But none of this changes the fundamental reality: emotions are not spiritual events. They are triggered, shaped, and extinguished by chemicals. To feel is to be biochemically modulated. That fact doesn’t make emotions less real—it makes them more understandable.
And once we accept that every feeling has a molecular fingerprint, we stop searching for mystic explanations—and start asking better questions about how to live with the brains we have.
Barrett, L. F. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Goodwin, G. M. (2017). The therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs: past, present, and future. Neuropsychopharmacology, 42(11), 2105–2113. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2017.84
Kjaer, T. W., Bertelsen, C., Piccini, P., Brooks, D., Alving, J., & Lou, H. C. (2002). Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness. Cognitive Brain Research, 13(2), 255–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0926-6410(01)00106-9