Human beings are under the misguided notion that that they are rational and in control of their lives. This couldn’t be further from the truth. More often than not, we are driven by emotional impulses. We do as much as we can to avoid pain and spend every breathing moment in pursuit of pleasure. Anything that soothes our ego is an icing on the cake and is a welcome relief. Acknowledging that we are intrinsically irrational goes a long way in ensuring that we break free from the yoke of stagnation. In as much as the truth is a bitter pill to swallow, the earlier you come to terms with reality the better it will be in the final analysis. Having an in-depth understanding of human nature will help you swim with the tide when it suits your interest and avert disaster at the earliest opportune moment before making a grand entry into a cul-de-sac.
As a disclaimer, irrationality ought not to be viewed in negative light and being labelled one is by no means an insult. Everyone is irrational to some degree. Even the calm, cool and collected type are irrational at times in as much as they have their emotions under a tight leash and they are quite adept at keeping their emotions under wraps. When push comes to shove and they have their backs against the wall, they too will lash out in a way no one could ever imagine. Emotions takes precedence over rational thought and that is the essence of human nature. However, all is not lost since we can use certain tactics to become more rational such as increasing reaction time as well as striking the optimal balance between thinking and emotion amongst other strategies.
Robert Greene in his book “The Laws of Human Nature” describes how emotions and thinking are intertwined. He effectively uses the ancient Greeks’ metaphor of the rider and the horse to illustrate the nature of this relationship. Our emotional nature is represented by the horse. It has tremendous energy, power and is constantly in motion. In the absence of a rider, the horse is wild, vulnerable to predators and can easily get in trouble owing to lack of guidance. On the other hand, the rider represents our thinking nature in the sense that the rider holds the reins and directs the horse in the right direction. In addition, the rider can tap into the energy provided by the horse and potentially put it to good use. Without the horse, there is neither energy nor power. Whereas without the rider, there is neither purpose nor focused movement. Therefore, one without the other is as useless as a chocolate teapot or cup. Try drinking hot tea out of it.
Several decades ago way before I started formal education, I used to while the time away exploring and putting to practice what I had seen the adults do. After having breakfast one morning, in the spirit of acting like a responsible five year old, I took my cup to the kitchen. I left the nanny in the living room. Barely five minutes earlier, she had just finished washing the clothes and hung them on the line outside the kitchen. Oddly enough is that while in the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of a hand grabbing the clothes out of the line in one swoop. Had I been as tall as an adult was, I would have captured more details through the window. With the little visuals I had, I knew that a robbery was in progress since there was no other soul in the vicinity besides the nanny and yours truly. I brought this to her attention and she wasted no time. Upon stepping out of the house, we saw a man making a mad dash out of the compound with a sack full of clothes. The line was definitely empty save for a few pegs he left behind. How generous of him.
Without much thought, she made a hot pursuit. I frantically yelled back at her and told her not to bother since I was planning to call the police. I barely knew their number. I dashed to the living room, grabbed a stool and stood on it in order to reach the phone which was safely tucked away in a corner above my reach. I had seen the adults make a call and so I was confident I also knew how to do so. After dialing a number, I spoke to a gentleman on the other end of the line and told him that my favorite pair of jeans was gone. A few minutes later, a car showed up. Apparently, I had called our neighbor. In my frantic attempt to call the police, I actually set out to dial our own number and miraculously misdialed the last digit and as fate would have it, the call went out to our neighbor who happened to be at home. I motioned to him the direction in which the robber went and he drove off in that direction. Several minutes later, he came back with the sack of clothes. When the robber noticed that several individuals were hot on his heels, he ditched the clothes and scampered for safety. In this case, the nanny acted out of impulse and things would have taken a different turn had the robber been armed. My approach was borderline rational aided by the wind on my back. After all was said and done, everyone did their part.
My wife and I set out for the city one afternoon in a public service vehicle to run some errands. Upon reaching the antepenultimate stop prior to our final destination, a gentleman entered the vehicle. He attempted to sit next to my wife and realized there was no space then promptly moved to the back row. Shortly thereafter, he came to the realization that the vehicle was full and he alighted. All this while he appeared visibly drunk and looked disheveled but it could have been an act to fool the masses. His action raised our antenna and my wife instinctively reached out for her purse but was dismayed when it dawned on her that it had vanished into thin air. We immediately knew who the culprit was. It baffled us how one could be that drunk and blinded to the fact that there was no empty space. We even laughed at him but the joke was on us since he had a carefully thought out script that was well executed.
She dashed to the door and asked the driver to stop since she urgently needed to alight. The vehicle screeched to a halt and she got out. The conductor received quite some tongue lashing from her end since she suspected that there was some form of collusion at play. Little did I know what she had up her sleeves but I had little choice but to alight as well. We barely exchanged words since she was infuriated. She took off towards the earlier stage and I followed her closely behind. I couldn’t keep up with her since she was moving as fast as lightning. At some point she dropped her bag on the ground because she felt it was slowing her down. In any case, at the back of her mind she knew I had her back and bag.
Upon reaching there, she went straight to the lion’s den and demanded her purse back. The wayward fellows were seeking refuge behind the stage structure. Her bold nature caught them by surprise and they must have been lost for words. The gentleman pulled out the purse and handed it to her. In a comical twist of events, she barely moved an inch as she opened the purse to audit the contents. All else was intact save for missing funds. She threatened to raise a storm if the money was not returned. They obliged and returned some, not all the funds. To save face, they resorted to insults as we walked away from the scene. In as much as the items were recovered, it was a risky maneuver egged on by emotions as opposed to rational thinking. In conclusion, Jeanette Winterson once opined that it would be foolish not to take irrationality seriously. In this case, it paid off by a whisker.
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