Sunday, June 28, 2009

Heart vs. Head

I have the tendency to want to work everything in my life out logically. I want things I do to make sense, and expect that the decisions others make will make sense to me too, as they should make logical decisions which anyone would make with the same information they have. Society as a whole seems to take this same approach, with many making moral decisions based on the most logical explanation rather than based on their gut feeling about the issue. Einstein spoke about this value of logic over intuition. He said:
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Relating this to the gospel, this quote made me think of the need to follow the guidance of the spirit when making my decisions. I think it's understandable that, when following the spirit, things may not always make perfect logical sense, and at the same time we will feel that what we are doing is right. Although it can be hard to handle those situations when they occur, the humility that comes from that sort of cognitive dissonance is a blessing in itself. Ultimately, we should get used to the Lord's will not always making sense to us in the moment. As the Bible says:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8)
Posted by Matt Chandler at 11:00 PM
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3 comments:

  1. And that's the question, for the whole world, isn't it? Can one do what is right without making perfect, logical sense? This has been on my mind constantly lately, because my gut feeling is that the answer is no, and yet, as you say, when following the Spirit things don't always seem to make perfect sense. I love that you quoted that scripture, because it leads to this conclusion, which eliminates the paradox: All things make perfect, logical sense from an eternal perspective, while we have finite minds, and so we are sometimes asked to go forward on the faith that the Lord knows better than we do what the logical course is.
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  2. I think there pretty much always has to be a balance of some sort in all things. I know you don't (nor wouldn't) do this, but some people try to rely on the Lord/Spirit to make ALL their decisions. So clearly there is a level of personal agency involved in which the Lord expects us to work it out in our minds and come up with the decision that is best for us.

    The comfort I take away from this is that if we're in tune with the Spirit, the Lord will find a way to hit us upside the head when the decision we make will lead us in the "wrong" direction. (As opposed to just "another possible direction" for us.)
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  3. Good points, Bob! Have you read Atlas Shrugged? It's what has me analyzing everything from this perspective right now...
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