Exploration Of The Mind

Emotion is emotion; it is impossible to feel an emotion and not feel that same emotion at the same time.  While there are some people unintelligent enough to literally deny the self-affirming truths of basic logical axioms, few would openly disregard that logic applies to emotions (as in the aforementioned examples), even if many people allow emotion to overpower their use of logic.  At the same time, the fact that one must rely on reason to understand one's mind, including its emotions, continues to go largely unrecognized.

It is impossible to fully understand the depths and complexities of one's own longings, feelings, and experiences without the illumination of rationalism.  Emotion and desire can be experienced even by unintelligent people, and perhaps even experienced on a deep level, but they can only be comprehended and appreciated to the extent that a person holds them up to the light of reason.  Logic is the only thing that can quantify the serpentine caverns of the mind.

It is folly to suppose that reason does not not metaphysically govern even that which is often considered in opposition to reason.  Logic is the key to understanding oneself, just as it is the key to understanding all other things.  The person who examines their own emotions and longings with the aid of logic will see that there might be plenty of material in their mind alone to last them a lifetime of reflection.  Ironically, the true depths of the mind will go unacknowledged apart from a rationalistic approach.

Even if every facet of the universe was already explored, the vast crevices of one's mind hold the potential for further expansion--and therefore the potential for further investigation.  Only reason allows for intelligible experiences in the first place; for this reason, rationalism is just as instrumental when it comes to self-discovery as it is when it comes to the discovery of any other metaphysical or epistemological fact that can be demonstrated.  Exploration of the mind will always be able to outlast the exploration of the natural world, but that exploration is unguided without rationalim.