The rational-minded approach

Strive for objectivity!

A lot of us think we, more or less, know what reality is. But it’s never black and white and we cannot always be so sure that what we believe is the complete and full truth. If you’re seeking to know something about reality you have to look at what you actually know for a fact, then build on that to start viewing reality through an objective lens.

The fact that we are so sure of what we know can be a good motivator for action, but it does not ensure we reach the fullest understanding of things. But still, there are things we can know for a fact. The sun will rise tomorrow, the degree of uncertainty around this makes it a perfect example of an objective understanding. You know the sun will rise tomorrow, you’re so sure of it that you’re willing to base your life on it. That’s the attitude of objectivity.

How can I know?

If you take an account of everything you know and try to be honest about how certain you can be of this, you can start building a somewhat objective view of reality. And that is really the basis of rational-mindedness. To strive to have an understanding of reality which is beyond critique. To view reality through the lens of factual and shared understanding and to have a more realistic and less idealistic view of what the nature of reality really is.

If you don’t think that you know the sun is going to rise tomorrow it would mean you have a less rational understanding. Building your rational understanding to where you’re sure you have the answers to the meaning of life or some big difficult answers would mean you have a larger rational understanding of life.

Having a rational approach is truly about being realistic. It is the opposite of cope. The opposite of wishful thinking, or irrationality. It means you truly understand.

How can I be sure?

There’s always going to be doubt and uncertainty, because the nature of reality is so complex and also very individual. You could have two extremely rational people disagreeing whether there is a God, as well as two deeply dysfunctional people agreeing that there is no God. There’s a lot of interpretation involved, and you will never be fully sure of what is actually going on.

Doubt is guaranteed, and it should only make you try for increasing your rational understanding instead of giving up on understanding and just acting the fool.

Why even be rational?

Rationality is a high ideal. It’s something that means you can make logical decisions. A rational person is more regarded as smart and savvy because they understand what the situation is and know how to make the correct decisions. If you don’t even strive to be rational, of course you can be happy, but you will never be really stable and you will always be distanced from a real understanding of things.

I think rational-mindedness isn’t something everyone should work towards. There are also arguments for allowing irrationality to increase your creativity. But in general you want to be rational. You want to see reality for what it really is to make you take the right choice.

How to start

At first try to see reality through other peoples perspectives. Particularly, the collective-group think is a very simple but realistic view of reality. Once you understand how everyone else is experiecing reality, you can start analysing and figuring out what perspective makes the most sense to you.

Overall it’s about striving for objectivity, and trying to be realistic. Don’t cope. See it for what it really is. It definitely isn’t that easy, but it’s a worthwhile approach if you want to make logical decisions.

Photo credits:

Person holding container with seaweed by Chokniti Khongchum, Pexels