Q&A: Sensitivity and Rationality
Sensitivity and Rationality
Question
From the Rabbi's many articles, one gets the impression that the Rabbi sees himself as an extremely rational person.
Observing people who declare themselves to be rational human beings shows that there are usually two areas in which emotion operates in them no less, and perhaps more, than in ordinary mortals –
- In their close surroundings – simple anger over lateness / damage / loss and the like.
- And in general – an aspiration for publicity and admiration, and an excessive sensitivity to injury to their honor.
Of course I have no idea how the Rabbi conducts himself at home with his family and friends. But the aspiration for publicity and admiration, and the refined sensitivity to injury to honor, are very evident from the Rabbi's many writings on the site and elsewhere.
How does that fit with distilled rationality and purified thinking?
Answer
My impression is different, but let the judge judge. It seems to me that I completely absorb various injuries, and I even write about the right and duty of writers to criticize me and even hurt me (or what others perceive as hurt). Including this delusional letter.
Discussion on Answer
Yaakov Abraham,
My impression of Rabbi Michi is different, but I can understand where your feeling comes from. Rabbi Michi's expressions are indeed sharp toward views that seem to him incorrect. You identify that as personal hurt that he feels and then attacks back because of injured honor, but that interpretation seems mistaken to me. This is "the heat of Torah," not an act of personal emotional aggression.
In addition, in my impression, rational and thoughtful people are usually lacking in the area of emotional intelligence (being attentive to the emotion that the things they write may arouse), and therefore sometimes Rabbi Michi phrases himself in a style that could be insulting, but it's clear to me that this is not the intention.
You can see an example of this in the last sentence of his answer, "including this delusional letter"; some people will see that sentence as a personal insult, but I don't think there was any intention to hurt here.
Another point: one has to distinguish between emotion in personal life and "thinking from the gut." There are people who are very emotional in their personal lives, but when they think, they try to push their emotions aside and think in a clean way, free of psychological bias.
With God's help, 24 Elul 5779
Indeed, there is an opinion that a "rationalist" is supposed to be an "Asperger" devoid of social sensitivity, who doesn't care when people disparage him and also doesn't care about disparaging others insofar as he thinks he is right (see column 218).
However, in the chapter "Acquisition of Torah," the objective intellectual person, "one who studies Torah for its own sake," is described as a person full of sensitivity to others, "loving people and making them happy"; while regarding his own honor he is not exacting, but rather he is "modest, slow to anger, and forgiving of insult."
With a blessing for writing well and with a good eye,
R. Zion List
On the contrary, these are necessary traits.
Anger is necessary for developing the intellect; without it, self-criticism is impossible.
And the desire to become known is a central driving force in a person who wants to have an impact.
Without it, a person will have no interest in learning a lot.
On the opposite side are the slackers.
To the commenter "Obviously,"
Many character traits can be directed toward positive ends, but that doesn't mean that in order to achieve the positive thing (in our case, the investigation of truth) one must use דווקא them. It's possible to use good traits in order to achieve the desired goal, and there is no obligation to use bad programming.
For example, instead of using competitiveness, one can use love of others in order to advance in the investigation of truth (for the sake of example: to impart the truth to the public).
Yaakov Abraham—not only are you mistaken in your judgment about the Rabbi, but your very question is absurd; do your pure rabbis not sometimes kneel to relieve themselves? What connection is there between intellectual rationality and emotionality or physicality? A person is a sack of phenomena, and reason does not rule without limits, just as holiness and purity do not. And if Rabbi Michi was ever angry (and he wasn't), then he decided not to decide. And that too was done rationally.
Shai,
I wouldn't be concerned about Rabbi Michael's emotional intelligence. There are plenty of examples here on the site where, when sensitivity was required, it was evident. Here's one example: https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%d7%9c%d7%a1%d7%91%d7%99%d7%95%d7%aa
Beyond that, your hint that the Rabbi is emotionally obtuse is dismissive and out of place. And as I said, factually incorrect too.
When no special sensitivity is required, he speaks in his style, which he elaborated on in column 63, and therefore there is no reason to be offended. And as the saying goes, "If it doesn't suit you, good day to you."
(And apropos psychological biases, I have a feeling you have a psychological bias to find—or think there is—something that you have and the Rabbi doesn't. It gives a good feeling. But here it's simply not true).
N,
I didn't claim that Rabbi Michi lacks sensitivity to others; on the contrary, I explicitly wrote that my impression is different from that of the writer, who is not interpreting the matter correctly.
I wrote that certain sentences may be interpreted as insulting, but that is not correct.
Shai,
Without self-criticism and criticism from others, you are not engaged in the investigation of truth. Without putting your words before the criticism of others, you are not engaged in the investigation of truth.
Contrary to what they teach in schools: one who hears a false report and does not get angry transgresses the prohibition of "You shall not bear a false report."
Contrary to what the Mussar movement, which is foreign to Judaism, teaches, God does not recoil from wrath.
Contrary to what most people think, Ecclesiastes says: "Anger is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the face the heart is made better."
Obviously,
That sounds like a pretty harsh approach to me. I prefer to live my life מתוך enjoyment.
Yaakov Abraham, you're simply a first-rate babbler. I'm ashamed that the Rabbi had to resort to responding to such nonsense.