What is reasoning?

2015-01-25

For the last three weeks we’ve looked at reasoning, Objective Reason, and the reasoning process from a number of different perspectives. We’ve had input from Gurdjieff, Wikipedia, Bennett … and yours truly, among others. But are we any closer to really getting a handle on reasoning?

At this point, we can make a few statements about reasoning that appear to have some validity...

  • Reasoning is a skill, and like all skills it improves with practice and better methods.
  • Reasoning requires real courage, courage to walk the paths where reasoning leads.
  • Reasoning is not exclusively about thinking, logic or arguments, even if it uses these approaches. It’s really more about “seeing”.
  • Real reasoning is a three centered process that needs input from heart, mind and body.
  • The aim or end product of reasoning is a transformed ability to effectively ‘do’ on many levels.
  • We might call reasoning, “free and impartial constatation of all true phenomena”.
  • Real reasoning plants a permanent seed that may take years to germinate, but sooner or later we will honestly face the truth of that reasoning.
  • Objective Reason requires a very high level of development.
  • We all have the seed, the germ, of Objective Reason implanted in us.

 

And now at this point you may be asking,

“So why should I spend all of this time, energy and attention on developing a capacity for reasoning anyway? Wasn’t I getting along just fine before? Why do I need more struggle and brain damage?”

As they often say, the answer’s in the question. Even a cursory brush with reason will clearly reveal that we aren’t getting along just fine as we are. On top of that, a small dose of self-observation will reveal that we are reasoning with ourselves a hundred or even a thousand times a day, usually around every little emotional fluctuation that comes our way, and usually very ineffectively. If we turned this around and effectively reasoned with just 10 percent of those events, we’d save enough time, energy and trouble to more than repay the effort needed to understand reasoning.

So the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak. If you’ve read this far, the seed has already been planted and sooner or later you’ll take seriously the need to develop this skill to a very high level. Why wait?