Among all creatures on earth, we have unique capability for rational thought. Judging from the disposition of the average person, you would never guess it.1 Most people suffer from severe impediments to rational thought, suffering from underdeveloped critical thinking skills, unfounded confidence, and an inability to notice what is different or better than what they already think, desire, have, or do.
If these rational limitations were the only problem impeding the use of reason, society would be in a much better state than it is. The bigger problem is that those with the abilities to think critically and notice what is different or better willfully decline to use them. Most people today are so possessed by their emotions that they rarely exercise reason at all, except to rationalize their emotional actions after the fact.
The search for joy requires you to develop your rational capacity and learn to subordinate your feelings to reason. The benefits of preferring reason to emotion are not limited to the overarching purpose of maximizing joy, but cascade throughout your entire life.
Footnotes
- 1. Churchill once quipped that “the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” ↩