My writing and research explores the role of emotions in subjective and inter-subjective life, drawing on all possible approaches to the question: ancient and modern, sacred and secular, scientific and subjective. My focus on this area derives from an overlap between purely academic interests and pressing personal concerns. Regarding the former, fascinating research from a range of disciplinary directions is converging on a recognition of the importance of the emotions to areas of human life as diverse as law, justice, ethics, reasoning, health, and more. This is being promoted by advances in neuroscience, and developments in the theorization of the mind and self that are following from these insights. I think through the implications of these findings for the visions of human life we've inherited from our traditions. In terms of the pressing personal concerns that drive this, I have sought solutions to problems such as addiction and related emotional disorders my whole life. This has led me on a long and fascinating path through a wide variety of therapeutic modalities, and has shed light on the underlying operations of emotions in the construction of the self.