On Being Rational
I have observed, both in my own thinking and the thinking of people I know, that rationality is something we often take for granted: that is to say, we can assume that we and others are being rational, but it is often not the case. One cannot judge rationality on the basis of themselves, for it is a surefire way to egotism, bias, and self-deception. In the context of discourse, there is a way to progress a conversation, a way to make it into a conflict, and a way to simply make unrelated, tangential points, with no desire to understand the subject matter. There are many things which could induce the 2nd and 3rd outcomes, such as emotional instability, distractions, and a lack of self-awareness, but nothing is more important than the actual power of rationality.
People live in their assumptions — I say this because, if they are genuinely challenged on their assumptions, they are often finding ways to reframe the argument in a way that makes sense to them. Or, they are unable to recognize that they’re capable of being wrong, and their bias regresses them to a state of being unable to discuss anything at all. Once one does not want to discuss a matter on an unbiased basis, that person has forfeited the right to rationality — they are assuming that there’s a true and a false before it has been understood, and that is akin to dishonesty. It is like this in cases of insecure, controlling people, who derive their self-worth from being validated by others, and they make the space around them uninhabitable. We must not exist in any presuppositions at all if we are to understand life.
Rationality is a gift of seeing the world clearly. If we are able to distinguish decent people from manipulators, we are able to calm our world down. A person who could see the truth would not waste their time with meaningless people, or those with an intemperate heart, because they have respect for themselves. Rationality allows us to separate the false from the true, and the unjust from the just, thereby saving us much distress. Philosophically, people underestimate the power that words have on them, especially coming from those we call ‘friends’, and we must be forthright about the effect these words have on us. We must respect the fact that our reason isn’t always good enough to assess things objectively, but we must do our best.
The rational person looks out into the world, with all its chaos, and says “I will not let this move me”, for it is tiring to look out into the world and only see constant distress. People let themselves be moved by every trivial thing, for it is easier to be moved than unmoved, and people believe this to be the state of things — let the paycheck determine them, let the spouse determine them, and hell, let themselves determine them, but a rational person sees this and does not feel moved, for it is wrong to let ourselves be moved by anything. We must not give in to the irrationality of our reality. A person who has understood the reasonable path has understood that nothing can truly throw them off of the goodness of life, and we must surely be considerate of this.
Beholden to God, I say this: we must not let ourselves lose sight of life. I have no desire to live in a meaningless, hopeless schema of irrational being, not when I can choose to see the world clearly and fairly. There are many who argue day and night, striving to validate their truth — but ultimately, truth is a process of humble searching, not a fight to the death. Let us relax, and seek the truth in earnest, for there can be no searching when we feel irrational. Let us find ourselves first, and only then we can we seek out our lives. Perhaps the human being is cursed to search until it is satisfied. Amen to that.
Thank you.
