Reason has its own place in the evolutionary scheme of things. Its right place is in controlling the vital animal instincts and also in giving form to things by segregating them into distinct categories and groups. The problem is that people mistakenly take this faculty to be the highest, or even an instrument of knowledge. That it is clearly not. But that is a long subject. However, people who have achieved some kind of material success in life through the use of this faculty of Reason and analysis, come to easily believe in its superiority and thereby, erroneously start believing that they are in some way superior to others. Due to this sense of false pride and vanity, they do not develop or even care about other faculties, the powers of the right brain, such as holistic thinking, art, music, poetry and most importantly qualities of the heart and psychic qualities such as love, sympathy, kindness, courage, truthfulness, care, affection, tenderness, compassion, humility, faith, bhakti, Godward aspiration etc which make man truly superior and his presence upon earth meaningful and worthwhile. It is not so much due to reason that these people go mad. In fact, if they are truly rational, it would itself help in keeping the balance. It is rather due to a lack of these psychic elements, which they have failed to develop, due to vanity and a misplaced sense of the superiority of the analytical mind. Hence, they trip and tumble over.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
