Tuesday, January 2, 2024

John A. Widtsoe on the Dangers of Being Reliant upon Emotionalism and the Importance of Reasoning and Rationality

  

Emotional experiences are necessary in a well-ordered life. They break the monotony of the day; they give variety and zest to life; they are impulses to action. They often determine the joy of living. Emotional experiences are really necessary for complete living. Moreover, emotional needs are among the strongest passions of mankind. They can not be ignored with safety. Health and sanity depend measurably upon a well-ordered emotional life. It may be said also that the normal emotions of man, unimpaired by the false conventions of society and under intelligent control, are very safe guides in life. The emotional behaviors of children and savages free from acquired artificialities, are notably sound and correct. On the other hand, uncontrolled emotions are misleading and generally dangerous.

 

Emotion is but another type of manifestation of the interaction of the body and spirit, approaching nearer to the spiritual, standing between the mental and spiritual phenomena of life. Admittedly, while the emotions are real, necessary and powerful, their nature is not clearly understood, and their exploration difficult. The essential consideration about them is that they must be recognized, respected, fed and controlled.

 

The Church recognizes the existence and place of emotions in human life, and seeks to supply the emotional needs of its members. Historically it has always done so. Though on the pioneer fringe during the first century of its history, it has always provided emotional help to the men and women who were toiling to conquer the wilderness or the desert. (John A. Widtsoe, Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Salt Lake City: The Deseret News Press, 1937], 57-58)

 

Need of Explanations. The human mind naturally and properly seeks to understand the reasons back of every experience or requirement of life. Without such explanations man walks in semi-darkness, is unsatisfied, and may more easily fall into evil. Reasonable answers must be found for the many queries and problems of life. A religion which does not supply such explanations, which has no acceptable philosophy, can lead men to happiness.

 

The philosophy of a religion unifies the knowledge of that religion, that is, it shows the coherence under one purpose or principle, of the many and apparently separate and sometimes contradictory events of life which are the concern of religion. That is a fundamental necessity, for without such unification, the countless manifestations of life, the innumerable experiences of living, would overwhelm and confuse the mind. Events and experiences are more easily comprehended when their relationships to one another are understood and when it is made clear that all phenomena are but manifestations of one reality. A sound religious philosophy must explain the phenomena of life.

 

Based upon knowledge and Reason. An acceptable life philosophy must be based first upon man’s knowledge of the universe. The more man knows the more comprehensive and certain will be his philosophy. Knowledge thus used must be accurate and certain, so far as the senses of man and the aids to the senses permit. Inaccurate or false knowledge, based upon faulty observation, is useless and dangerous.

 

A life philosophy depends also upon the reason of man, by which established facts are so brought together as to reveal their relationship. The process of reasoning upon accepted facts must be done with great care, since the chances of error are there multipled. Every man is prone to allow preconceived notions to vitiate the conclusions derived from his thinking. There are no instrumental safeguards in the field of reason of the kind used in physical science. Yet the tests of knowledge and reason the value of a philosophy may be rated. (Ibid., 183-84)