Rational or Irrational?

Do we entirely understand the reason behind everything we do? I am one who certainly thinks otherwise. Not all the decisions we make in life are entirely reasoned out. A hell lot of them are impulsive. How many people can precisely explain why they happen to like a particular person the way they do? Rather than a few vague guesses on the possible reasons I wouldn’t really believe a lot of people can really justify their rationality in such decisions. What would you say of it? That the human mind in such situations is acting irrationally? Or is it that we do not completely understand our own selves?

Well, when one says he has made a decision impulsively it more often than not doesn’t mean he has tossed a coin and let that outcome decide. It rather means he is following his intuition rather than sitting down and reasoning out for a decision. What is intuition and how and why did this mysterious thing called intuition develop in us?

Every incident of our life, every second that we have lived leaves certain impressions on our character and it shapes us into what we are, like a mason who skillfully crafts a piece of nothing into an ornate sculpture. In this process we form our views, our opinions without in most cases understanding which incident lead to us change in which particular way. And this is how our intuition is formed, which forms a basis for many of the decisions which we take up later on. Would then it be irrational to follow such a systematically formed framework? There is a no digital yes or a no to such a question. It would rather depend on whether the kind of experience you have had equips you to deal with the situation at hand. If it is such a case, then there is nothing better than blindly following intuition as no amount of reasoning can measure up to be better than this extensive framework that your brain has developed unknown to your conscious self.

Now, let us get back to the question that was initially raised? Do we completely understand our actions? When one reasons out, comes to a conclusion and then takes a decision, definitely yes. But, some of the decisions your intuition strongly prompts might not be justifiable at that particular moment, where your reasoning might be suggesting otherwise. Only later on, when the implications of that decision have come forth, might you be able to comprehend the reasons what made you take such a decision that was seemingly so irrational but turned out to be right, or in some cases you might never end up knowing the reasons why a particular decision was right.