Harry's emotions his strength or his weakness? WAS: Re: Dumbledore's pleading

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 141526

> Nora:
<SNIP>
> Given the superpowers of  love magic in the Potterverse, does 
Harry 
> need to learn how to close his  mind, to shut himself off--or 
could 
> our final solution involve the emotions  primary over the 
intellect, 
> opening up to somehow  conquer?
> 
> 
>  
>  
> Julie now:
> I think Harry does need to learn how to close his mind, or at least
> to control his emotions to some degree. Twice now Harry's gone 
> half-witted while fighting someone because of his emotions, both
> times trying to Crucio someone (first Bella, then Snape). Love may
> be Harry's saving grace, but his inability to control his emotions
> may also be his downfall--i.e. making decisions based on his  
strong
> emotions may save him or doom him. That's not unusual--one's  
greatest
> asset are often also one's greatest weakness, depending on  how
> it is used. (Just as Snape's tendency to cold calculation has  been
> both an asset, and his downfall in HBP.)


Alla:

I am not sure I agree with you Julie and I think I agree with Nora 
one hundred percent.

At the end of OOP Dumbledore is incredibly clear, IMO. It is you 
heart  that saved you, period. Now, we were speculating non stop who 
will teach Harry Occlumency in HBP. But nobody was teaching Harry 
Occlumency, because IMO Dumbledore understood quite well after MOM 
fiasco that Harry does not need it.

As we know, JKR stated that Harry completely gave up Occlumency  
because he 
is in some sense damaged, but also too open, too honest about his 
feelings, about what happened to him. Do you read ANY negative 
connotation in that quote? Because I did not. Except the fact that 
Harry had been hurt during his life, I read underlined approval 
about being honest about his feelings.

I absolutely believe that "feelings" are what matters the most 
in "Potterverse", not cold intellect. I am not saying that JKR 
advocates  that characters she likes should be idiots, of course, 
BUT Hermione's statement at the end of PS/SS about friendship and 
bravery mattering more than books ( paraphrase) tells me a lot.

Now, could you tell me which character tells Harry that he should 
shut down his emotions, except Snape of course( and I would not say 
that he understands Harry well at all. :-))?

I think Dumbledore encourages Harry to FEEL to the full degree, 
personally.

As to examples you brought, well, to tell you the truth, I am not 
sure Harry should even give up those.

He used Unforgivables, true, BUT he did it at the moment of extreme 
grief, after just watching the Loved one die. I think it will NOT be 
good for Harry to learn how to " NOT grieve".

What does Dumbledore say at the end of OOP? 

"Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man!This pain is 
a part of being human..." - OOP, p.824.

I think that Harry should NOT give up his negative emotions either, 
because without them he may be unbalanced in a sense.

What I think Harry should learn is how to CHANNEL those negative 
emotions better, NOT to give up them. I suppose maybe he would learn 
how to channel  them in too different kind of magic, NOT 
Unforgivables.

To sum up - NO, I don't believe that Harry should follow Snape 
advice at the Tower at all, and this is one of the predictions I 
feel quite confident to make for book 7. Harry will NOT learn how to 
close his mind or anything like that. Now, preparing to eat a nice 
tasty crow. :-)


JMO,

Alla