prepared in (rational?) minds and resources...

What does it mean to be 'rational' in one's life? What is it like for someone to rationalize everything he does or to view the world through rational eyes? Does being rational means suppressing one's creativity, making a person dull and not flexible? Do we have to live a rigid and monotonous life to actually be rational?

I think it would be far easier for me to explain what does not being rational means; for me, being rational does not mean you have to know everything there is to know about something, it does not mean you have to know something inside and out before you can make a decision, it does not mean denying the unpredictability and spontaneity that often colours one's life, it does not trying to classify and put everything - tangible or intangible - into clearly defined groups.

For most people, the word rational is often seen as a direct antithesis of the word practical or empirical; they feel that rational people places more importance of the conclusions derived from one's reasoning rather than those derived from one's experience. Often, they feel that rational people tend to see too much into things or over-analyze things, something which prevented them from seeing the big picture.

In their view, rational people think too much and too deep; rational people are not someone who you would want to go to to have a normal and casual conversation, therefore many people find them to be a wearying and intellectually mind-boggling company. Rational people lack the drive and spontaneity needed to have a vibrant and happening lifestyle, they are those who spoils the mood in a crowd. Rational people are boring.

Granted, some of things mentioned above have some truth associated with it. But for me, being rational means allowing yourself some degree of knowledge which translates into control over the things happening around you; it means seeing beyond the superficial side and delving into the fundamental and underlying patterns of things; it means being aware to the other points of view present in a given circumstance and able to bring yourself to consider them without any emotional attachment; it means guarding and controlling your thoughts and speech.

In short, being rational means you are able to calm yourself down, to listen and consider sincerely what other people got to say on a subject and to be mindful of your thoughts and speech.

Therefore, if viewed in this way, being rational does not mean having to know everything there is to find out; rather it simply means knowing what you have and making the best out of the limited and contrived knowledge which we have at our disposal.

And although both involves some degree of thinking, the results of pursuing any of them are vastly different.

I must fairly admit that I have been labeled as someone who thinks too much and sees too much into things; I am not sure whether they intend to say that I'm being too rational, but I think that is what they are actually trying to convey to me.

I've given it some thought and I come to realize that given my personality, I require some form of rigid structure to contain and control my thoughts and speech. It might seemed a bit brutal to have to confined your thoughts in such a way but I do not see it as a disadvantage. Having such form of control allows me focus my thoughts and carefully considers the things I wanted to say; such rigid structure accords me some measure of stability and certainty. Rather than keeping and locking my mind in, it liberates my mind because I am able to discern the fine implicit details which allows me to better my judgements and actions. It allows me to rise above the mundane and trivial things and gives me a clear perspective on the things that really matters.

However, it is true that trying to rationalize all emotions leads you to an intellectual trap; but like I said before, being rational does not mean you have to know everything. Once viewed in that manner, being rational does not seemed to be mutually exclusive with being practical or emotional.

Indeed, I am not denying the purpose and usefulness of being emotional; but considering the state of affairs of the world today, it might not be such a bad idea to start using more of our rational self and less of our emotional self.