Friday, November 16, 2007

The heart & the intellect

"The heart is wiser than the intellect". This is what was written as my daily horoscope. As I read on I could not help but to wonder if this saying is really true. When making a major decision in life, which should one go with, the heart or the mind?
Should I study Underwater Basket Knitting because I have a passion for it, or should I go to Medical School in order to make money and obtain status? Should I marry the guy with the job who will never cheat on me, or should I run away with the convict who makes my heart skip a beat? Should I take the stable job with the 401K or should I work in the African Jungle researching my interests? The decision must be made based on one question: Will I regret doing one as oppose to the other later? Because if any thing, we want to avoid the number one disaster in life: Regret!
It is the end of your life and you are thinking "I should have went for Underwater Basket Knitting, I would have been happier", "I should have settled and married the practical guy, I would not have gotten so hurt", "I should have gone to Africa, I would not have wasted my life being miserable", etc. There is no turning back the hands of time and you cannot go back and change a single thing. All you can do is regret your decision and wonder what it would have been like if you had taken the alternate road. Now that is painful!
So how do you know which road to take? Stay with your intellect and take the practical road or go with your heart and take the exciting way? How do you know which one will provide you with a happy life? You know! Deep down in your heart you know which road is the "right" road, being the intellect or the heart. It is your life, you know yourself, and therefore you know what road to take. No matter how much you may think that you are confused, if you take a long hard look at the equation, you will know. There is no straight answer between the heart and the intellect, because either one of them could be right in separate occasions.
Some may always take intellect's side, and some may always take the heart's side, but I am friends with both of them equally. I consult with them both and get their advise, and some times I do not even have to chose one and let the other go. Some times they go hand in hand.
Now I yet have to come to the end of my life to see how my decisions will turn out, but so far I think both intellect and heart have provided me with decent choices.
So no, I do not believe that the heart is wiser than the intellect, because if it was not for intellect I would have been a candy shop clerk married to one of the Nelson brothers.

1 comment:

pradmit said...

hey! nice post :)

By the way, I wouldn't agree if its the choice that makes the in-the-end-regretting people regret most of the times, its probably the mind still:)

Cos regret is itself a feeling which comes through mind, and its totally dependent on the person. Know what? Most of them would have regretted in either case whether they choose practical or heart!
worth mentioning:
Have a strong mind and soft Heart!

keep posting!
Pradeep