The Paradox of Rationality: How Being logical Can Lead to Success ?

 The Paradox of Rationality : How Being Logical Lead to Success ?

To understand rational people first we learn and know the behaviors of irrational people.

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Human Nature....

Whenever anything goes wrong in our life, we naturally seek an explanation. To not find some cause for why our plans went awry, or why we faced sudden resistance to our ideas, would be deeply disturbing to us and intensify our pain. But in looking for a cause, our minds tend to revolve around the same types of explanations: someone or some group sabotaged me, perhaps out of dis- like; large antagonistic forces out there, such as the government or social conventions, hindered me; I received bad advice, or information was kept from me. Finally if worse comes to worst-it was all bad luck and unfortunate circumstances.

In ancient time, it might have been gods or the evil spirits who were to blame.

We can only suspect or imagine. These explanations tend to intensify our emotions-anger, frustration, depression-which we can then wallow in and feel bad for ourselves.

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Irrational....

People do not confront the real source of problem, then the crashes keep repeating, making a negative pattern of life.

Emotions make people irrational.

Irrational people have no such awareness, they rush into action without carefully considering the ramifications and consequences.

For Eg :-

We can also see the difference between a rational and irrational person in particular situations, when it comes to calculating long-term effects and seeing what truly matters. For instance: In a divorce proceeding with child custody issues, rational people will manage to let go of their bitterness and prejudice and reason what is in the best overall long-term interests of the child. Irrational people will become consumed with a power struggle against the spouse, will let resentments and desires for vengeance secretly guide their decisions. This will lead to a protracted battle and a damaged child.

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Psychology of the Mind....

Neuroscientists have affirmed evolution has lead to the higher mammalian brain being composed of the three parts  :-

• Oldest is the reptilian (Controls all automatic responses that regulate the body).
• Limbic brain (Controls Feelings and Emotions).
• Neocortex (Controls Cognition language).

Here is a real life example and situations.

For instance, we feel anger at person X, whereas in fact the true source of this may be envy; below the level of conscious awareness we feel inferior in relation to X and want something he or she has. But envy is not a feeling that we are ever comfortable with, and so often we translate it as something more palatable- anger, dislike, resentment. Or let us say one day we are feeling a mood of frustration and impatience; person Y crosses our path at the wrong moment and we lash out, unaware that this anger is prompted by a different mood and out of proportion to Y's actions. Or let us say that we are truly angry at person Z. But the anger is sitting inside of us, caused by someone in our past who hurt us deeply, perhaps a parent. We direct the anger at Z because they remind us of this other person.

For animals, unburdened by the need to translate physical sensations into abstract language, emotions function smoothly, as they were meant to. 

For us, the split between our emotions and our cognition is a source of constant internal friction, comprising a second Emotional Self within us that operates beyond our will. 

Animals feel fear for a brief time, then it is gone. We dwell on our fears, intensifying them and making them last well past the moment of danger, even to the point of feeling constant anxiety.

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Comparison....

Lets start from an example :-

When it comes to hiring an assistant or partner, rational people will use competence as their barometer-can this person do the job? An irrational person will easily fall under the spell of those who are charming, who know how to feed their insecurities, or who pose little challenge or threat, and will hire them without realizing the reasons. This will lead to mistakes and inefficiencies, for which the irrational person will blame others. 

When it comes to career decisions, rational people will look for positions that fit their long-term goals. Irrational types will decide based on how much money they can immediately make, what they feel they deserve in life (sometimes very little), how much they can slack off on the job, or how much attention the position might bring them. This will lead to career dead ends.

In all cases, the degree of awareness represents the difference. Rational people can readily admit their own irrational tendencies and the need to be vigilant. On the other hand, irrational people become highly emotional when challenged about the emotional roots of their decisions. They are incapable of introspection and learning. Their mistakes make them increasingly defensive.

It is important to understand that rationality is not some means of transcending emotion. Pericles himself valued bold and adventurous action.

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Journey from an Irrational to Rational....

The following three steps will help you begin on the path toward rationality. It would be wise to incorporate all three into your study and practice in human nature.

• Recognize the biases.
• Beware the inflaming factors.
• Strategies toward bringing out the rational self.

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Thanks for reading till here, explanation of all three factor to be a rational person will be published in next blog.

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Written By :- Aryan Singh Chauhan

Ig :- whoaryanchauhan