Acknowledging Both Rationality And Emotionality

There is no need to sacrifice emotionality to be rational or rationality to feel deeply.  Although the two might be thought to be at constant war with each other, there are at war only when emotion is misunderstood to be a legitimate revealer of truths beyond the fact that one is experiencing emotion.  One can embrace deep intellectuality/rationality and emotionality simultaneously.

In this way one does not ignore one aspect of one's personhood in order to lift up another, and a broader amount of human nature can be safely acknowledged.  Being an emotional creature does not mean that one will or must flee from reason, and being an intellectual creature does not mean that one will or must act like a non-emotional being, since the exercise of reason and the experience of emotions are not exclusive.  Because of this, someone is not irrational simply by nature of experiencing feelings, even deep, multifaceted feelings, and someone is not emotionally shallow simply by nature of being highly intelligent or very rationalistic.

I am deeply appreciative of emotion.  I never intend to come across, in my numerous tirades against emotionalism or appeals to emotion, as if I despise emotion itself or as if I am saying emotion must be suppressed or ignored in full for someone to be properly rational.  Instead, I only call out the unfortunately popular habit of basing beliefs on emotional reactions or preferences.  Appeals to emotion are contrary to reason, not the existence of emotion itself.  To embrace both aspects of human nature is possible and can be quite fulfilling.

One can be both perfectly rational and deeply emotional at once.  Nothing is impossible about such a thing.  There is no need to pit the very existences of logic and emotion against each other, since in their rightful epistemological places there is no tension between them; God created humans to be both intellectual and emotional creatures, and it is very good (Genesis 1:31) [1].  A person can find a great sense of freedom in acknowledging, accepting, and living out both rationality and emotionality in a way that honors reality.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-christian-rationalist-defense-of.html