ARE WE RULED BY REASON OR EMOTION?
The Influence of Emotions In Our Actions and The Role Of Reason In Decision-making
Emotion as an Experience
Emotion is a core element of the human experience. It is defined as a conscious mental reaction, such as anger, fear, joy, or sadness, that is subjectively felt as a powerful inner state. Typically triggered by an external stimulus and directed toward a particular object or situation, emotion is often accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes.
But emotion is not merely a feeling. It is a potent force, an energy, that shapes our thoughts, guides our decisions, and drives our actions.
The Journey of Emotion
Every emotional experience begins with a stimulus: something we see, hear, remember, or undergo. This stimulus could be a compliment, a loss, an insult, or even a perceived threat. The brain processes this input, particularly through the amygdala, an area of the brain, crucial for emotional evaluation, which quickly assesses whether the experience is positive, neutral, or threatening.
From there, the subjective experience unfolds. We may feel anger when treated unfairly, fear in the face of danger, or joy upon achieving something meaningful. These emotions are not abstract, they manifest physically: a racing heart, clenched fists, a sinking feeling in the stomach.
This stage is largely automatic, a biological signal that something in our environment demands attention.
Next comes cognitive evaluation. This is where the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s center for reasoning and decision-making, becomes active. We begin to assess our emotional response: Why am I feeling this? Is my reaction justified? What should I do with this feeling?
This is the turning point, where emotion transitions into intention and action. Our response can be constructive (e.g., resolving conflict, offering forgiveness) or destructive (e.g., lashing out, withdrawing, or worse).
At this stage, our moral compass begins to take effect.
Emotion and Moral Responsibility
Emotions themselves are not inherently moral or immoral; they are natural responses. However, how we respond to them can be. We then judge in terms of our responses to them.
Moral Response: Acting with self-control, empathy, and responsibility. For example, channeling anger at injustice into peaceful advocacy.
Amoral Response: A neutral or passive reaction, which may not harm but also does not promote the good, such as indifference.
Immoral Response: Allowing emotion to justify harmful actions, such as responding to jealousy with violence, or to fear with hatred.
Unchecked Emotions: A Moral Risk
Intense, unregulated emotions can override rational thinking and lead to destructive behaviors. In these moments, emotion becomes a moral hazard.
To navigate this, we must cultivate emotional maturity, the capacity to experience strong emotions without being controlled by them.
Key Strategies for Emotional Mastery
Mastering your emotions doesn’t mean controlling or ignoring them, it means understanding, regulating, and expressing them in a healthy, intentional way. Here are key strategies to develop emotional mastery:
Pause and Reflect
When a strong emotion arises, the first step is to pause. Take a breath. Create space between the stimulus and your response. In that space, reflect.
Name the emotion: Am I angry? Sad? Anxious? Embarrassed?
Then ask: Why am I feeling this way? What triggered this emotion?
The goal is regulation, not suppression. Suppressing emotions can lead to internal tension, resentment, or even physical symptoms over time. Regulating, on the other hand, allows for emotional clarity and healthier outcomes.
Healthy forms of emotional processing may include, journaling your thoughts to untangle complex feelings, physical exercise to release built-up energy, engage in open and honest conversations with someone you trust, or, when appropriate, with the person who triggered the difficult emotion, even prayer and meditation can help ease the burden, especially if you're spiritually inclined.
The more you practice identifying and reflecting on your emotions first, the more control you gain over your reactions.
Engage Reason
Emotional mastery requires balancing feeling with thinking. Before reacting, especially in intense moments, filter your emotions through logic, values, and long-term goals.
Ask yourself:
What are the likely consequences of my response?
Will this choice help or hurt me, or others?
Is this action aligned with my core values and moral beliefs?
By slowing down and thinking critically, you avoid impulsive decisions and instead act with intention and integrity.
Practice Empathy and Perspective-Taking
One of the most powerful ways to regulate your emotional response, especially in conflict, is to step outside yourself and consider the other person’s perspective.
Ask:
What might they be feeling right now?
What pressures or fears could be influencing their behavior?
This shift in perspective softens emotional reactivity and fosters understanding. It also builds emotional intelligence, which strengthens your relationships and diffuses tension.
Seek Support
You don’t have to manage your emotions alone. Sometimes, talking with a trusted friend, mentor, coach, minister, or therapist can help you make sense of what you’re feeling and why.
Outside perspective often provides clarity, comfort, and actionable insight. It also reminds you that vulnerability is not weakness, it’s part of being human.
Emotional mastery is a lifelong journey. It’s not about becoming emotionally numb, but about becoming emotionally wise. By pausing, reflecting, applying reason, showing empathy, and seeking support, you cultivate a strong inner foundation. This allows you to respond to life, not just react to it, with clarity, courage, and compassion.
An Interactive Reflection
Let’s ask a fundamental question: Are human beings rational creatures?
Most would say yes. We pride ourselves on making logical, principled decisions. But how often do we act against reason, say something hurtful, make impulsive choices, or react in regretful ways?
Why? Because more often than not, emotion, not logic, takes the lead.
Let’s be clear: emotions are not evil. They are inherently amoral, neither good nor bad. But like fire, they can either warm or destroy. Love, anger, fear, jealousy, joy, these arise instinctively, often without warning.
The key is not whether we feel them, but how we respond to them.
Try a quick thought exercise. Consider these emotions and reflect on their moral potential:
• Compassion
• Envy
• Guilt
• Gratitude
• Anger
• Apathy
Notice: some emotions, like compassion or gratitude, naturally promote moral action. Others, like envy, guilt, or anger, can go either way. They are not evil in themselves, but if unmanaged, they can lead to destructive choices. And apathy, doing nothing, is often an amoral response.
Emotion in the Real World
Why do people commit crimes? Often, not because of reasoned calculation, but because of intense, unchecked emotion: desperation, jealousy, anger.
Why do people end relationships, quit jobs, or lash out? Again, it’s usually emotion speaking: “I’m hurt,” “I’m angry,” “I’m tired.” Later, they may regret it.
So how should we handle emotion?
Not by ignoring or suppressing it, that’s unrealistic and unhealthy.
Instead, we apply right reason.
A Helpful Metaphor
Think of emotions as children:
You don’t let them drive the car, but you don’t lock them in the trunk either.
They should be acknowledged and heard, but not allowed to steer. We listen, we understand, but we do not let them govern. Instead, we let reason, guided by values, wisdom, and conscience, take the wheel.
What is Right Reason?
Right reason is not cold logic. It is reasoning shaped by truth, virtue, and moral integrity.
For example:
You feel anger at someone who wronged you.
Emotion says: "Get revenge."
Right reason asks: "Will revenge bring peace? Will it restore justice?"
It suggests an alternative: forgiveness, dialogue, just solution, or simply, silence.
The goal isn’t to stop feeling, but to act wisely despite how we feel.
Aristotle and the Golden Mean
Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, taught that virtue lies in the “golden mean”, a balance between extremes.
He believed emotions were not to be eradicated, but trained and moderated.
Such as:
Courage is the middle mean between recklessness and cowardice.
Patience is the middle mean between excessive anger and passive apathy.
Confidence is the middle mean between vanity and self-deprecation.
A virtuous person experiences the right emotion, at the right time, to the right degree, toward the right object, and for the right reason.
That harmony of emotion and reason is the hallmark of moral character.
Who Do You Want to Be?
Think about the wise, the mature thinker, the saints. Are they emotionless?
No.
- they feel deeply, but they are not ruled by emotion
- they feel hurt, but choose forgiveness
- they feel fear, but act with courage
- they feel anger, but still pursue peace
This is our challenge as human beings:
- to feel deeply, but act rightly
- to honor our emotions, but follow our reason
- to live not by impulse, but by principle
A Tale of Two Love Responses: Romeo vs. Jesus
Romeo is often romanticized, but he is ruled by emotion. When he believes Juliet is dead, he lets sorrow and despair lead him to suicide, without pausing to verify the truth. Juliet, in fact, was only sleeping.
Romeo’s love was sincere, but reckless.
It wasn't love that doomed him, it's the lack of emotional discipline.
Contrast this with Jesus on the cross.
Jesus, feeling deep in emotion in the face of betrayal, suffering, and injustice, says, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" And yet, he held his face up and asked God the Father, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
It's his victory on the cross that saved humankind, a kind of love where moral strength lies, guided by wisdom, mercy, and mission.
Holiness isn’t about lacking emotion, it’s about choosing love when hatred seems easier.
The Takeaway
We must grow, not only as individuals, but as a society, into people who feel deeply and act justly.
A humane world is not one without emotion, but one where emotion is:
- guided by virtue
- disciplined by reason
- rooted in love
Let us become the kind of people who master emotion, not by rejecting it, but by integrating it into a life of purpose, conscience, and wisdom.
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." -Viktor E. Frankl, psychiatrist, a Holocaust survivor