Analysis of a quote a mind all logic is like a knife all blade. it makes the hand bleed that uses it

A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it. – Rabindranath Tagore

Logic, they say is quintessential to what we do in our daily lives. It is said that each action of ours should have a valid reason behind it. We humans have a power or should I say a tool that no animal in this humongous world possesses and that is the ability to think, which results in the ability to act. We as a society have come far and how! It’s the era of Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence which has made our lives easier. Kudos to LOGIC as it has been a catalyst for technological superiority and advancement. But have we gone too far?

Let’s try and break down what Rabindranath Tagore had to say. He came up with a brilliant analogy which I personally adhere to! There should be two powers ruling the constantly working human CPU called Mind. Logic and Emotion. They are like the two tyres of a bike. One is not its worth without the other. Inseparable! Tagore correlated the same with a knife. As much as the blade has its importance, the handle of knife gives us a smooth path in doing the needful. No sooner you pick up a knife without handle, than you will need a tissue. It’s the exact same with our minds. Our minds need an oil, christened emotion as much as logic. Agreed the balance could be uneven between the two but emotion should get its fair share. The world in which we reside is complex and not always will logic prevail. Take another example. A child will mature better in the tutelage of both parents, not one. This is because he’ll learn from a combination of TWO different minds and come out in the real world, a better person! There’s something about emotion that’s aesthetic and unparalleled. Something, even the most logical person will struggle to define. I’m sure all of us have benefitted some or the other time from the phenomenon called Intuitions. What exactly are intuitions? They represent the clan of emotions. But they are not to be ignored. They represent data processed too fast for the conscious mind to comprehend. In such a situation, logic will suffer and won’t even have a chance to express itself.

Too much logic can be painful. After a point of time, you will be tired of yourself. You would need fresh air and I don’t mean physically. Logic makes you more of yourself while Emotion has the ability to bring you out of the pain already suffered. If one always reasons his decision without a tinge of emotion, he’ll become dull. Predictable to say the least. Emotion brings colour to life and with it comes a bright spot. Let’s make the discussion lighter. Imagine there are two sellers in your neighbourhood. One is a departmental store and the other being just a small one commodity shop. The owner of the departmental store is living a life full of leisure while the latter struggles to make two ends meet. You want to buy a certain something but the small shop sells it for 5 Rs more than the bigger one. Logically, you should buy the same from where it’s cheap but if emotion transcends, one will do the right thing and not bother about the 5 Rs. We go through such similar situations everyday and should sometimes look at the broader picture which emotion tries to depict.

Too much of anything is harmful. One should be rational and practical and base his decisions on a tangible theory but will a drop of emotion do any bad? We will always have the butterfly effect to counter where there’ll be a tug of war between the protagonists we are discussing. A right proportion according to the situation will live long on how our lives shape up!