and it may be that they also need a talking to. Our internal philosophers chatter incessantly, spinning out all manner of hypotheses and pronouncements, and lying, like guard dogs, in wait to spring on any would-be solicitor of our passions and commitments. These learned guardians of the heart communicate largely by invective, by counterexample, and by implied insult. Our friends do not like them; nor do we much of the time. It is because of them that we refuse a second glass of wine and sometimes need to count to ten before we speak. So why put up with them? We too have a horror of being duped. We are doubly afraid of being duped about things that have to do with the way we live our lives, with whom we fall in love, and to what we commit ourselves. Our internal philosophers do our security checks for us, counsel patience, and advise us to look before we leap--or not to leap at all. Above all, they tell us that if something seems too good to be true, it is in fact too good to be true.
But there is something our internal philosophers cannot afford to know, given their job description. You can miss out on things by waiting too long, by thinking too hard, by floating one too many hypotheses, by confusing grumpy thoughts with intellectual integrity. In trying to protect us, our internal philosophers sometimes talk us out of the deep longings of our heart.
from Forgetting Ourselves on Purpose
Posted by mike at May 4, 2006 10:08 PM