• Home
  • Biography
  • Services
  • Links & Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact
 

      WHY REASON ALSO NEEDS A VACATION

7/27/2015

0 Comments

 
Well, it's that time of year again. If you have not yet had your vacation, you probably are way over-due and plan to take one very soon -- I hope. Unless you are trapped in that mind-set, all too familiar here in these United States where workaholism is associated with patriotism, machismo, true capitalism, the opposite of laziness, religious piety, duty, etc., all of which oil the years of productivity driven by the obsession that profits must increase and that development knows no bounds! Incredible!

But prevalent. No wonder we have suicides, divorces, mental illnesses, and violence. No wonder that most people I see in my consulting room confess that they are miserable. No wonder one ideal that keeps surfacing in the fantasies of people is either to escape to the country and get away from it all, or to work even harder so as to arrive at the supreme goal of being able to sit back, play golf, and "manage their wealth." Incredible that this replaces baseball as the national pastime, "managing wealth." The infrastructures crumble, habitats are destroyed, neighborhoods are ravaged, schools lack resources, religious wars threaten civilization, and we "manage our wealth." Incredible!

But, wait, this is not about that madness. In fact, this blog is about something entirely different. This blog is about "vacation," in particular, the vacation of reason. Why this topic? Because the people I counsel are notably physically exhausted; more than anything, they are mentally exhausted. They have exhausted their "critical reasoning." 

Think about it. Remember that vacation you enjoyed so much, or the one you wanted to enjoy but never gave yourself the opportunity to go for it? I am talking about that time at the beach: a sunny day, a nice shady umbrella, a soft breeze, no worries about the work back home, perhaps some easy beach music in the background, the sound of surf, and -- here it comes -- that novel you waited to read! It may not have been one of the world's great classics of memorable literature, but it captured your attention. You could hardly put it down; when you did finish it, you felt refreshed, inspired, renewed in some way. You just enjoyed a mental vacation! Now you can get back to the grind. Somehow you have found your old energy, your old zip. You see the old stuff in new ways with new solutions, and exciting outcomes. Or, you may throw it all aside and find the courage, ways, and means to do what you always have wanted to do.

My friend, a college professor who works very hard preparing for his classes, lecturing, researching, grading papers, counseling students, and tending to administrative duties -- given all this, he never allows himself to read fiction. A waste of time! Or, at best, an indulgence that would interrupt his path toward full professorship! But then he peeped inside the first volume of the Harry Potter eight-volume set and has not been able to stop. He is now finishing volume eight, The Rise of the Dark Prince, and feels "somehow refreshed." Incredible!

But not. Actually, he is using another kind of reason. In his daily work my friend employs his critical reason; but in this reading of fiction he follows the lead of another kind of reason, one I call heart-reason.

I am indebted, in part to Blaise Pascal, of course, who expressed it best like this:
               The heart has reasons which reason knows nothing of... . 
               We know the truth not only by the reason but by the heart. 
                            (See his Thoughts, #423)

This is not a reasoning of sentimentality, but a form of reason that is not boxed-in by critical analysis, although it is yet rational. The heart's "reason" is not commandeered by rationalism but rather by a rational process of valuing (as Jung might describe in his typological discussion of "feeling").

And this reason of the heart is influenced by the promptings of the unconscious. Listen to Jung:

                As a matter of fact, day after day we live far beyond the bounds
                of our consciousness; without our knowledge, the life of the 
                unconscious is also going on within us. The more the critical reason
                dominates, the more impoverished life becomes; but the more of
                the unconscious, and the more of myth we are capable of making
                conscious, the more of life we integrate. Overvalued reason has 
                this in common with political absolutism: under its dominion the 
                individual is pauperized.  (Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p. 302)

So, yes, take your critical reason on vacation. But let it snooze in the sun while your heart frolics in the surf -- and in the novel that has been calling out to you for some time now. 

Enjoy!  It's OK.
0 Comments

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Email: [email protected]
  • Tel: 704-344-1100