"Love ceases to be a demon only when it ceases to be a god"
-Denis de Rougemont
I can't seem to get any sleep tonight because for one, my pillows are in the dryer, and I have so many thoughts buzzing around in my head. I have been recently thinking about how we tend to unknowingly entangle ourselves in emotional bondage. This can manifest itself as hanging on to someone's word or some hope stemming from a far-fetched reality. We become slaves to these false hopes and promises, compromising our good judgment on the improbable possibility or impossible probability. It can be devastating for sentient creatures such as ourselves. Longing, unmet expectations, pining, false hope--all these are descriptions of when our emotions go terribly wrong. I do believe emotions comes from something pure and good inside us, but when we live solely for our emotions is when it grows sour and perverse. When we exalt emotions above all else it drives us to do the most unreasonable things (think crimes of passion). It puts into perspective the shear power of our emotions. A mere crush grows into liking, into Eros, into infatuation, into dangerous obsession.
Our mental processes are a balancing act between reason and emotion, between the mind and the heart. It begs the question, "When the mind and heart agree can man truly can be happy? or at peace?" And I am sure we can agree, moments when our minds and hearts agree are far and few between. Too much reason makes you animatronic, dull, stoic; on the other hand, too much emotion makes you impulsive and reckless. It is really impossible to quantify how much reason and how much emotion we should utilize in our everyday lives. And to undergo such a task is ridiculous. So I think a sound, balanced mind can be better obtained by this simple maxim: "All things in moderation." For it is a fine line between a sound mind and total oblivion.
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