Imagine one day, waking up to find yourself being turned overnight into a robot.

No feelings, just auto-pilot.

No reasons, just input.

No purpose, just programmed.

Every day becomes a habit of waking up and completing your tasks. There is no meaning to it. One day, your program shuts down and that’s the end of it, of you!

How does it feel? You don’t know because you were a machine with an on-and-off command button.

That’s how your journey may look like if you simply do things because you were conditioned to do them a certain way.

It’s time to reboot the meaning of your life.

While your habit of waking up every day is ingrained, there must be a reason to look forward to waking up. More importantly, is the reason fueled with passion?

Drawing inspiration from Kahlil Gibran’s quote, “Rest in Reason, Move in Passion”, one can realize the meaning behind it. His quote calls for a balance between two important forces of life: Reason and Passion.

When we say, ‘Rest in Reason’, it means to consider the consequences of one’s actions, weigh the pros and cons, and make sound decisions.

At the same time, ‘Moving in Passion’ conveys the point of connecting with one’s emotions to fuel their actions.

However, those with a Spiritual Quotient (SiQ) that is not well developed find themselves either lacking reason or passion. Therefore, these two forces must balance out each other where reason is the foundation for thoughtful decisions and passion drives motivation.

What is one without the other?

Now imagine if you had to use either reason or passion in any aspect of life, which one would it be?

Do you think either of the two would work in silos?

With passion alone, there is no focus. It is like a path without direction. For instance, if you love to break things open like a lava lamp and see what they’re made of, that’s great! However, your passion for breaking things apart and studying them needs a reason. If there’s no reason for your actions then what are you doing?

Furthermore, with reason alone, passion remains incomplete. So, if you know that your job is to develop software for a company, that’s great too! However, if you don’t have passion for it, you work without putting any heart into it.

Therefore, these two contrasting forces (reason & passion) must work together to help you identify your purpose.

In the book called – The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, the reader encounters two main characters, the philosopher and the youth. There is constant dialogue occurring between them. It starts with the youth listening to the philosopher talk about Adlerian Psychology, and then, throughout the book, getting into constructive and sometimes stubborn conversations.

Here’s a short reference:

Youth: According to you, there’s no such thing as trauma, and the environment doesn’t matter either. It’s all just baggage, and my unhappiness is my own fault, right? I’m starting to feel I’m being criticized for everything I’ve ever been and done.

Philosopher: No, you are not being criticized. Rather, as Adler’s teleology tells us, ‘No matter what has occurred in your life up to this point, it should have no bearing at all on how you should live from now on.’ That you, living in the here and now, are the one who determines your own life.

Youth: My life is determined at this exact point?

Philosopher: Yes, because the past does not exist.

Youth: All right. Well, I don’t agree with your theories one hundred per cent. There are many points I’m not convinced about, and that I would argue against. At the same time, your theories are worth further consideration and I’m definitely interested in learning more about Adlerian Psychology. I think I’ve had enough for tonight, but I hope you won’t mind if I come again next week. If I don’t take a break, I think my head might burst.

Youth: Great! One last thing, if I may. Our discussion today was long and pretty intense, and I guess I spoke rather rudely. For that, I would like to apologise.

Philosopher: Don’t worry about it. You should read Plato’s dialogues. The conduct and language of the disciples of Socrates are surprisingly loose. That’s the way a dialogue is supposed to be.

The philosopher tells the youth that as per Adlerian Psychology, the past does not dictate the future. He goes so far as to say that one’s unhappiness cannot be blamed on their past or environment. At this, the youth who poses most of the questions is compelled to feel like he is blamed for being unhappy and that it is his fault.

However, my point is not to drive you to the conclusion of what this book conveys. This short passage from the book showcases how the youth is driven by passion and reason to pursue the philosopher and deep-dive into a conversational interrogation of his theories about life.

If you see, the dialogue between them ends with the youth requesting the philosopher to excuse his manner of speaking or being rude. At the same time, the philosopher says that constructive dialogue can happen in no other way.

In a deeper sense, the conversation they have represents how deeply passionate the youth is about finding answers to his questions. The reason is simple; he disagrees with the philosopher’s point of view and seeks to prove him wrong, but with the progress of every conversation, he finds himself transforming from the point of ignorance to wisdom. The youth finds reason and passion to hold onto while seeking the answers to life and more so about himself.

To give you a bit of hindsight, the youth is characterized as having plenty of insecurities and past grievances that have not been addressed. So, in a way, the philosopher provides him with a deeper sense of introspection and a way forward through his theories.

This itself is reason enough for the youth to keep coming back for more conversations, questions, and arguments. It is almost as though their conversations become the youth’s passion for understanding life, healing, and more importantly, understanding himself.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

~Lao Tzu

Going beyond Purpose

When the purpose is borne from reason and passion, it will progress toward building one’s identity but only when one’s values are aligned with their purpose.

Reason (Why) + Passion = Building one’s Purpose

Purpose (What) + Values (How) = Establishing one’s Identity

One’s identity is realized when their purpose aligns with their guiding principles or values.

In a nutshell, Values, Identity, and Purpose (V.I.P.) are determined in an organized approach.

• The Reason refers to the ‘Why’ behind the action.
• Passion refers to the ‘What’, as in, what must be done to achieve transcendence of sorrow and achieve peace.
• The Values refer to the ‘How’ or the guiding principles that help in defining the method applied to transcend sorrow and attain eternal peace.

We are all driven to gain peace while driving away sorrow which is where the V.I.P. approach is critical to anybody’s quest for the same.

While you work on building your V.I.P., your Spiritual Quotient (SiQ) is what will help intensify these forces at play within.

Therefore, as Kahlil Gibran says, Rest in Reason, Move in Passion. His words may help you realize your V.I.P.!

To help you further reflect, here is a short verse from a poem called Finding Purpose by Fatahillah AL

In the search for meaning, we set our sail,

On life’s vast ocean, where destinies unveil.

Finding purpose, a quest profound and true,

A journey within, to rediscover you.