Evan+S's+OpEd+Article

media type="file" key="evans-muckraker-2011.mp3" align="center" Rationally Irrational By Evan Skora  ﻿  My problem lies on the superficial level of the human psyche that we all too often reside in and fear straying from. It is this level that seems to be prized among a majority of persons that are swift to overlook the other level that makes us human, our emotions. Irrationality is not a poison that is manufactured from our emotional level to infect our decisions; merely it gives us the energy to act in a fashion with a strength and fervor that far surpasses that of simple rational thought.

The simplicity of rational thought is where the problem manifests. A rational act may be well planned and clear-cut, but when it comes to the actual energy put in to the act, it leaves something to be desired. Rational thought is purely a mental process based on facts or valued assumptions that you have learned and little to nothing more; meaning that rational thought deals with the brain and solely the brain. For me, that is far too simple a task. Irrational thinking, when granted at appropriate times, should be a highly valued skill. Irrationality many times deals with powers far more potent than the brain can handle on its own. An irrational thought is accumulated through processes that stem from the heart as well as the brain and maintains its boundaries in both areas of fact and theory. It is a two step process to reach an irrational thought. First, the episode that occurred to establish the thought is played and replayed if needed to the heart and the brain equally. The two then investigate their answers according to prior knowledge and converse and compromise until they finally reach a single response. For me, I do not want my answers to come from only my rational thinking, I want my emotions to have a say as well. I am not content with answers that have no emotion to back them up because, to me, rational thinking involves consulting emotions.

Admittedly, both of the levels need not be valued higher than the other because each affects the other and each adds new details and processes to human thinking and exploit that are exceedingly essential. Both are tangible on seemingly impossible ends within each other to the point that, on many issues, the irrationals are seen as rational and the rational ones are seen as irrational. No one level should be held higher than the other because, just as rational thinking is simple and precise and irrational thinking complex and unpredictable, it is impossible to enact one without the use of the other.