Logic

Logic, derived from the left side of the brain, it's an extremely powerful ability that can help you and also harm you. It can help you to understand things, it can help you rationalize things, and make smart decisions. It can also lead to unnecessary and/or morbid thoughts, or overthinking. Now that we've stated that, today we're going to talk about what does it means to rationalize things, when and why you should use logic, and when and why you shouldn't use logic. Before I started writing this there was a word I used that wasn't a word, it was logistify, which, in my head, seemed like a perfectly logical word meaning to apply logic to, but nope not a word, so for the sake of grammar I'm going to have to use rationalize instead(in real life I'll still use logistify). With that being said, what does it mean to rationalize something? Well when you are rationalizing something, which I personally do very often, you're trying to prove or understand something with factual evidence and/or prior knowledge on the subject. You want to break down something unknown into smaller known parts. Doing this is great, and sometimes the broken down pieces aren't things that you know, but things that people have solved, meaning that you might have to do some research to learn more about what you're trying to understand. Doing this leads to you gaining information. This is a win win, you get a better understanding of what you're trying to understand and you also learn more, which is always a win. Other than the wins that you get from thinking logically, why and when you should engage in logical thinking. First, allow me to tell you a story. There was an Egyptian librarian that lived in Alexandria, now keep in mind this was extremely long ago. This librarian heard that in the city of Syene (modern day Aswan), there was a well, and on the longest day of the year, the sun shined above the well. Knowing this he heard rumors that shadows were being cast from nearby pillars. He thought to himself, "why would that happen? shouldn't the sun be directly overhead?" Then he proceeded to travel to Syene, and go check it out for himself. Once he confirmed that the shadows were being cast off the pillars and poles, he reasoned that the Earth was round. Yes, this man before anyone else logically reasoned that the Earth was round, before anyone else. Also, before you say Christopher Columbus was the first, he wasn't, everything you learned about Christopher is more than likely completely wrong, that's another story though. This librarian wasn't done though. He worked out the circumference of the Earth. He thought since the distance between Alexandria and Syene was 800 kilometers then the Earth must be 40,000 kilometers in circumference (800 x 50). The actual circumference is about 40,008 kilometers. That's pretty good for a guy with nothing except for his brain and some logic.

Now that you've heard that story when is it a good time to use logic? When you truly do not understand something, but you feel as if the answer is apparent somewhere, then you can use logical and reasonable thinking to figure it out. Another important variable is time. Ask yourself how long it would take to find the answer to what you're attempting to rationalize. Maybe it's just a few google searches away, and maybe it's a lifetime's worth of research. Are you trying to figure out why you have hiccups, or are you trying to find out what love really is, and how does it work. The answer to the first statement is the body is attempting to get excess air out of the stomach. The answer the the second statement is an answer that humanity hasn't found yet, we do not know why humans love, and why it happens. All we know is some of the chemicals that go into love such as, phenylethylamine, norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. As for why you should use logic, I will restate that it will help you better understand things that you can then share with other people, and all in all be more knowledgeable about things you're interested in. Even with all of that I said at the beginning there are times where you should stay as far away from logic as possible. This time I want to answer why first. If you try to rationalize certain things then you will end up digging yourself a hole down to a point that you may not be able to get out of anymore. In other words you might accidentally dig your grave. As for when; Again time, make sure you know roughly how long it would take to find your answer or response, and find out if you actually want to, or can, commit to that. Then as I said earlier you should engage in logical thinking when you feel the answer is apparent somewhere in the universe, but if what you want is beyond something the universe can answer, don't spend your time pondering it, the thoughts will lead you nowhere except into that hole. Other times you shouldn't ponder things is when you can legitimately say that you have no reason of finding out what you want to, and that it will never apply to you later in life, then don't waste the time finding out, just let it be. For me I learn basically everything, even the most extreme random things, but I make sure that I will use them. I do however do this every week, and knowing a lot of stories and facts are great, like the hiccups, love, Christopher, and the librarian. If they help you though, go ahead and learn it. That's logic. Derived from the left side of the brain, something that can help you as well as destroy you. Today though, I hope you learned what it means to rationalize something, when and why you should use logic, and when and why you shouldn't logic. It's a great tool, but it's extremely sharp, be careful. That's all for today, hope you guys enjoyed, I really liked this one, so yea, have a great week and peace. Original