60-40 Rule part 4: third defense from no-god view

My third defense: we are all a combination of intellect and emotion. It is not possible, or desirable actually, for a human person to cut off their emotional component. We nearly always make decisions based more on emotion than on intellect - even those of us who try really hard to be emotionless intellects. They're just strongly emotionally attached to a negative self preception: "I'm not influenced by emotion."

The selection processes by which we think, create ideas, construct conceptual structures, are driven by both emotion and intellect. We are attracted to certain ideas and repelled by others. This is emotion, not intellect. We may think very clearly and logically through whole conceptual sequences. We may carefully examine all the parameters, all the related ideas, all the relevant information. But when it comes to selection of what to examine in the first place, there will always be a strong emotional component that will either modify the process, color it or even completely direct it.

Emotion may not be, and often is not, entirely recognized as it permeates our thinking processes. The self-image of completely detached intellectual purity is actually an emotionally driven self-image; we want to be that way, we have a desire for this self-image - that desire is emotion. The more you think of yourself as unemotional, the more you can be sure that that very conception is being constructed by emotions - the desire to be what we perceive as a superior state of being.

All of these emotional parts of us that want to be this or that, will necessarily affect how we think about everything and anything. If I imagine myself to be compassionate I'll never allow myself to think in terms that might seem like cruelty to me. If I consider myself to be logical, I'll avoid any whiff of ideas I've come to accept as "illogical."

We all ignore immense volumes of information and knowledge that might contradict what we believe. For any thing we believe, we can find information which supports it and information that calls it into question. We all avidly collect the former and assiduously avoid the latter. When we can't avoid the contradictory information, we attack it vigorously - as if that could actually make it go away.

I'll tell you about monsters in your dreams. I know about this. You can't make them go away by attacking them. They will multiply, they will grow larger and they will tear you apart with fangs and claws. But if you look at them square, acknowledge their right to existence and reach out with respect, they will always transform into mildness, timidness, or even friendship.

Of course I realize that's exactly what you're afraid of: becoming friends with a horrible idea! That's an emotional decision - not an intellectual one. And that's the next thing you're afraid of - having your intellectual purity affected by emotion. But being afraid of it is also an emotional decision! But this isn't a bad thing! Emotions are what give ideas richness and depth. Emotions are just part of the thinking process; just another layer of complexity that has to be added into the equation. Both intellect and emotion are integral constituents of the fiber and content of our thought systems.

All the different intellectual and emotional components bouncing off each other may either enhance the rightness of what we think or increase the wrongness of it. But being subjectively invested in our own minds and thoughts, we can never be sure about which way it's going.


so in the next blog I go to the is-a-God defense of my 60-40 rule.