A lot of disciplines think of the human mind as a rational creature. That the human being is rational at her core. But are we, really?
The irrationality of the human mind is interesting: it contorts our views and our human behavior models. It distorts schemas and other things that we have in our minds of human behavior. Yet this irrationality is also that which is perhaps at the cornerstone of our being human.
The complexity of our being human is perhaps found in our seeming irrationality. How and why we believe in a God and in religion, in ideals that are nonetheless beyond logic and science, in goals that are beyond reason.
We try to distill this complexity by assuming rationality - an assumption that is easily questioned by the things that we observe in our daily lives.
A good friend - on Saturday night, however, asked me via email: Could it be that underneath our seeming irrationality is a 'pure rationality' that unfortunately, we cannot define at the moment? Could it be that underneath the seeming drives of fulfilling desires and pleasures - which is sometimes assumed as part of the rationality of humans - is more than just that? Could it be possible that even in the "evil of greed" lies a kernel of good - and in the "altruism" of humans lies a kernel of evil?
I have no answer.
I can only try to be rational - but in so doing, be irrational.
