Dr. Forbush Thinks

Romanticism and Rationalism have butted heads before and they continue to butt heads today. This is essentially the conflict between heart and head, thinking and feeling or art and science. The truth is that these things do not really need to be in conflict. In our culture we recognize the power of emotion and the power of rational thought. We know that people are actually capable of both feeling emotion and rational thought. However, we also know that some people choose careers in which they dedicate themselves to one or the other extreme and these people often lose the understanding of the importance of the other.

We all know that not everyone views these things as equals. Romanticism is embodied in our feelings. We look back on “the old days” with Nostalgic Romanticism. We view our religious idealism with fear and longing. We have extremely high expectations for our marriage, family and future based on the emotional appeals of commercialism. In our politics the candidates appeals to our emotional side when they believe they can’t win the rational arguments. They appeal to our fears and our hopes with rhetoric and not facts.

We also know the stone cold man standing at the ready guarding our country. Emotions could be the downfall for him, if he were to give into his feelings of sympathy for the terrorist disguised to need a helping hand. But, what about the people who really do need his help? Icy cold rationalism allowed us to destroy two cities filled with innocent people in Japan in 1945. Rationalism allows doctors to cut open people and fix the problems that they need to fix without considering the ramifications of a mistake or problem. But cold bedside manners are the extension of that rationalism.

We should all agree that both rationalism and romanticism are important pieces to human existence. To neglect one for the sake of the other makes one slightly less whole. But, in the real world the rewards for being competent in these two areas are completely out of balance. People who excel in art and literature the most romantic of the human disciplines will find their stating wages much lower than the scientist or engineer who excels at the opposite end of the spectrum.

The reason for this seems to be that rational innovation may be measured in rational dollar amounts. But emotional benefits to society are measured in the feelings given from the artist to the observer. These feelings may change the way the observer looks at the world, and change society in unknowable ways, but because they are unknowable the rational remuneration is not figured. People do pay to be made happy, so artists that specialize in that emotion may be paid and paid some more. Happiness through art is often over paid for just as drugs are also over paid for. But, art, music and literature that makes you contemplate the more serious pieces of our lives is often ignored or even avoided. These are often the areas that are problematic in our society and they need to most reflection and deliberation.

Having gone to Catholic Schools I have known quite a few Irish families. I have known both the Irish families coming to the US directly from Ireland and the ones that are of Irish descent from their immigrant forebears of over one hundred years ago. There is one distinction of difference between these two groups that is almost universally true. Both are very proud of their Irish heritage there is no doubt. But, those who have descended from a long line of Americans have an unrealistic romance for the “old country.” The new comers know what the place is like today, and they know both the “good” and the “bad.” The American Irish families have romanced away the “bad” and enhanced the “good” beyond belief.

This is an example of what romance could do with out rational thought to keep it in check. The American Irish families more often than not had never been to modern Ireland. And, those who had often told the best stories of their visits enhancing to ideal with every new story. Irish whiskey has often become the elixir of the Gods, (or the wee folk), and often sought with energy beyond reason.

Politics is often much like the romantic visions of the world. Politics is often about creating an ideal world view much like the romantic vision of Ireland that many American Irish families hold on a pedestal. If only their political party could take complete control of the government, then that ideal American life would be around the corner. This goes for either political party, and extends to other countries and their governments as well. People are willing to work hard for a dream, even if that dream is a romanticized view of the world.
But, political parties are real and they don’t please all of their members. And, as we have seen when a political party holds all the strings of government they can’t please all of the people. And, in fact a surprise to some members, they can’t even please all the members of their own party.

In politics we swing back and forth between the romantic view of the world and how we could change it if only we had the power and the realistic view of practicality. In the practical view we realize that there are going to be people that disagree with us. In the real world we know that the best things often come from compromise and discussion. Sometimes we even realize that even better ideas than our own are born out discussion with the people that we campaign against every few years.

Of course that’s me and maybe it is just my romantic imagination of how I would like the world to be. But we all know that we need both romance and reason to be fully human.





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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


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Reflection