Body and Soul, Passion over Reason

In the book of 4 Maccabees, the author argues that reason trumps everything. We should be able to practice enough self-control that no matter what we're faced with, we choose to be reasonable. Your brain should win out every battle with your passions and emotions. And I'm here to say: Where's the fun in that?!? Normally, I am a very responsible person (don't laugh mom, you know it's true) and have a hard time letting my spontaneous, fun side win out over my more reasonable side. Lately though, I've been letting myself have a little fun, sometimes against my better judgement. And you know what? I'm happy! I'm not saying that I've completely let go, but I've enjoyed having some fun for once. There have been some nights where my responsible brain has told me to go to bed, but friends want to hang out and watch a movie. Once in a while, I cave to the friends. Sure, I'm a little tired the next day, but the fun I had the night before makes up for it! If we let reason run our lives, how boring would that be? We would never buy anything, go anywhere, do anything fun, because reason would tell us that it's a waste of time or money. I would not be on this trip if I let reason 100% control my decisions. College is expensive enough, add in a trip to Greece... But this was a once in a lifetime opportunity I may never get again, and I'm so happy I decided to come here! This has been a month I will never forget, and hopefully the things I have learned on this trip carry over into the rest of my life.

On the flip side, we do need to make sure that reason does play a part in our lives. Because without reason, what's the point of passion and emotion? If you go through life just giving in to your every whim, over time the things that make you happy will start to make you less happy. I think I learned something about this in Psych 101: sometimes you have to have less-than-perfect moments in your life in order to make the good moments even better! So make sure that your brain keeps operating, and don't give in to every single thing your emotions tell you to do. Find that perfect balance that will keep you happy. Be passionate about something. Add some excitement to your life!