When to Choose Intellect & When to Choose Emotion?

A battle inside you that won’t gonna end before you die.

I chose the word battle for a reason. It’s really a battle, and more strangely, a battle of one person. That person is you. And the battle that’s going on is inside you.

But what are the two opposing forces? That’s what you thought here, right?

The two forces are the powers that make you either a villain or a hero in this world. These powers are

1. Emotion

2. Intellect

You have noted in the leadership seminars and other related workshops that a leader is intellectually and emotionally sound. It’s true, but the usage of these powers decides whether a person becomes the hero or the villain at the end. And the consistent outcome of this battle decides your fate.

Why I Call it the Battle?

Because it’s between the two powers, and one power tries to dominate the other. The special thing about this battle is there is no tie. You will have a result every time. If we consider the ideal approach, everyone wants to win the battles without any kind of loss.

It’s human tendency to dominate without losing anything. But since no perfect human exists today, the repercussions become inevitable once the situation is passed.

Now, one thing is clear that; You can’t keep a perfect balance between emotion and intellect. It’s something near impossible. Therefore, it’s high time to accept the fact that every decision we make affects others one way or another. Regardless of the magnitude, every decision has its positive and negative sides. No matter how hard you make an effort, there will be someone unhappy just because you made the best decision possible.

If you think too much about the consequences, you will suffer. It’s like following the Divine Law and living with a religious ideology but thinking about others will think of you. This way, anxiety will haunt you.

What Should You Do in This Never-Ending Battle?

You have faced many similar battles in the past and saw the results. I am optimistic about the life you are living. Just like this battle has no end before death, psychologists are continuously doing research on this topic. So far, the most helpful conclusion drawn is this:

EMOTIONS drive our individual life, relationship, and our response action.

INTELLECT promotes us in academics, career, and collective thinking.

While the debate is infinite, it’s too early to judge someone’s decision. The faculty of emotion and intellect varies from person to person, and it’s futile to point the finger at someone’s personal decision.

From the perspective of a behavioural science expert, the author of Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman,

If you are under the shadow of emotional cloud, you can never have the rays of intellect whatsoever.

This means that if you are emotionally disturbed already, no intellect can help you. The emotional trait of a human being is critical yet powerful. A minor tuning can change the world for you. The intellectual faculty is equally important too, but it is the emotions that possess the driving force in life.

Final Thoughts

At individual level, the emotional faculty plays the biggest role. Your emotions will directly affect every decision at this level. You may never feel it consciously, but it spreads an aura sourced from your existence. When you collectively gather other entities, the intellect will participate more actively than before.

But again, the change factor in life will be emotion.