We all know someone -- or many someones -- who claim to live their life by a clear, cool and detached code of logic. They'll confidently tell you that everything has a cause and effect relationship, that deduction is simply a matter of methodology, and that human beings are little more (if any more) than statistical events "waiting to happen."This is...a rather absurd belief; and yes, it is a belief and by no means a "rationally deduced fact based on scientific inquiry." The world is hardly an exclusively logical place.
Yes, naturally, logic does play a role. Water will boil at a certain temperature -- that is logical. The sun will pass through the sky, at a certain speed, on a certain day, just as it did last year or will next year. Dogs bark -- they don't suddenly start quoting Shakespeare. Cars drive -- they don't arbitrarily decide to sing you to work or, perhaps, think that they're butterflies.
So yes, logic has a role. But the world, as a whole, is simply not an exclusively logical place. It is just as illogical as it is logical.
Have any doubts?
Go to an area where you find a bunch of trees. It doesn' t have to be a forest -- it can just be a small "gathering" of trees. Stare at it.
What's logical about this!? Is it part of some master plan? Why do trees even exist in some places? Why do interesting little animals exist in the deep heart of the jungle -- why do they even have life in the first place?
We can go on (but we won't :)
The world is both a logical and an illogical place. It's both. And in fact, the real proponent of logic will, logically, accept that the world is both logical and illogical. In other words: it's patently illogical to reject anything illogical.
So...I guess that means that the folks who preach the gospel of logic are, in fact, quite illogical.
Interesting, isn't it? Think about this the next time you face a situation where something illogical happens. Always leave space in your life for the wonderful to happen -- for the illogical. Don't limit life's possibilities by imposing a flawed -- and deeply restrictive -- logical framework. Yes, illogical things will still happen...but you simply won't see them. Opportunities and possibilities will greet you, but your logical eyes won't receive them.
Be as logical as you wish, but never at the cost of your wonder. Wonder is the language of possibility. Are you fluent?
2 comments:
Hello:
First of all let me congratulate you for putting up such a beautiful blog together.
I like to read a lot about the stuff you write too and I read a lot of Osho books (www.osho.com) if you've heard about him.
The concept of logic, I believe, pertains to our understanding of what is normal.
Something seems logical because it is normal- I mean like your example, water boiling at 100 degrees- that's logical because that's how the process normally happens. If suddenly the water starts to boil at say 50 degrees then that would be abnormal or illogical I suppose.
I strongly believe that in order to grow personally we need to look beyond what is normal, logical etc. These words are very misleading and very relative too.
Of course there might be some sort of "logic" when god created the world, and to understand that logic- which might not even be a logic, seems like the purpose of our souls. If I think about the sudden weather changes, that sometimes go against with the forecast- where does logic go there, so I don't know if God's following any logic or is it just random...hmmmm...I dont know...
Hi Aakanksha, thanks for your nice comments -- I'm glad you like the blog. Yes, I love Osho and find him and Eckhart Tolle to be remarkably similar in their underlying teachings (though with some obvious difference in expression!)
According to both Osho and Tolle (and many, many others), to grow personally one must, paradoxically, let go of their personality and find out who they really are at the deepest core of their being. Because this is so harrowing to the ego (it means the extinction of the ego -- and what wants to be extinguished?), there are always very arduous attempts to improve/change personality. That's like changing the wrapping paper of a gift and making it nicer and nicer (or worse and worse), and forgetting that there is actually something INSIDE. Until people start to look inwards and slowly re-attach themselves with the essence of their being, growth 'personally' is impossible.
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