This is my answer to this Question on Quora.

Principle is necessary to provide you with a rockbed onto which you can anchor your belief.

Principle is necessary to provide you with a rockbed onto which you can anchor your belief. Without Principle you are incrementally drowning in a confusion of lack of self-belief and a gradual descent into Hell.

I will illustrate my understanding of emotional stability this way;

On 12 August 1943 during World War Two a man died. He was one of many that died that day. He died not for the duty he was obliged to endure. He died so that today 11 December 2017 we could enjoy the rights of self-respect that we provide to each other. His sacrifice must never be forgotten and his legacy must continue in our everyday acts.

His was a death of Principle. The true fight of good against Evil. When you have Principle your life has purpose, it has meaning and you are able whenever possible to ensure your Principle helps those who cannot help themselves.

When that man died in 1943 fighting the Evil of the Third Reich to ensure that we all live in freedom he died for all of us. Including the children of Yemen.

It is not possible to be a person of Principle when you supply bombs and missiles that you know without any doubt are going to be used to kill and maim innocent men, women and children. You do not then go to Church and before God say ‘I am supplying bombs and missiles which will be used to kill innocent men women and children please forgive me’ – because he will not.

That is my second emotional stabiliser. Self-belief and my understanding of the Word and World of God.

I say to myself ‘Would God supply missiles and bombs to kill children in Yemen’? The answer is No. God guides me but he does not rule my life. For that is why he gave us imagination so that we could dream of the possibilities of mankind in all its wonderous of infinite achievement.

To be emotionally stable you must believe in yourself before you believe in anybody else. You must appreciate yourself.

It is not possible to appreciate yourself when you do not appreciate others.

Therefore, to be emotionally stable ensure you have a Principle that respects others and that provides you with a stability against all that attempts to harm you. That Principle will allow you to believe in yourself and thus to believe in a faith or an understanding of what is good and bad.

Happiness is a product of good not Evil.