Then Susanna Tamaro got involved and the mess was complete. \u201cGo where your heart takes you\u2019<\/em> it has become the official mantra of anyone who wishes to justify a wicked choice with the excuse that \u201che felt it inside\u201d<\/em>. It is a pity that the heart, from a purely anatomical point of view, is a hydraulic pump<\/strong> who has never made a decision in his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The brain always makes decisions, for better or worse. It just sometimes relies on the emotional circuit, sometimes on the rational one, and in most cases\u2014when things are working properly\u2014it activates both in unison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For as long as I can remember, I've been entangled in this discussion. There's always someone, at a bar counter, at a dinner party, or on social media, ready to explain to you with an enlightened air that \u201cthe head deceives, the heart doesn't\u201d<\/em>. Only to then realize, after years of debate, a basic truth: anyone who staunchly defends one side or the other is making the exact same mistake. He's using his brain halfway.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let's start from an inconvenient fact for the supporters of the \u201cpure feeling\u201d<\/em>: the heart never tells the truth, simply because it does not speak.<\/strong> What we call \u201cfeeling\u201d is actually a lightning-fast processing performed by the brain through archaic circuits\u2014the limbic system, the amygdala\u2014programmed to make us react instantly to a threat, not to choose a life partner or a professional trajectory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These circuits are formidable when you have to determine in a fraction of a second whether a noise in the shadows is a broken branch or a hungry predator. They become quite disastrous when used to abandon a stable job and \u201cchase the passion\u201d<\/em> without having done some basic calculations. In that case, the emotion isn't whispering a cosmic truth: it's screaming \u201cI want this, now\u201d<\/em>, with the same maturity of a three-year-old in front of the candy shelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Studies on the so-called System 1<\/strong>, the rapid and intuitive thinking encoded by Daniel Kahneman<\/strong>, highlight how this method is full of useful shortcuts but also of systematic errors, the famous cognitive biases<\/em>. Instinct is not a mystical revelation: it is statistics applied quickly<\/strong>, calculated automatically without our knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, before the hardcore rationalists pop the champagne: even isolated reason isn't doing so well. The illusion of a cold, sterile mind, capable of weighing every crossroads of existence on an Excel spreadsheet of pros and cons, is another myth to be dispelled. And thankfully so, otherwise we'd turn into hyper-efficient sociopaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most emblematic example of modern neurobiology comes from the patients analyzed by Antonio Damasio<\/strong>: individuals with lesions in the brain areas that connect logic and emotion. People with perfectly intact cognition, memory, and language skills, but completely incapable of making basic decisions\u2014even choosing what to order for lunch\u2014due to the lack of an emotional cue that would value the alternatives. Without emotion to provide weight, color, and urgency, pure reason spins in an infinite loop.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A rationality completely disconnected from feeling doesn't guarantee better decisions; it produces lucid and inhuman calculations. In the worst-case scenario, it creates individuals capable of arguing any atrocity with unassailable logic. Let's face it: hyper-pure reasoning, devoid of any empathetic restraint, would end up landing us all in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reason and emotion are not two rival entities locked in an internal control room, arguing. They are two integrated systems, with distinct operating speeds, hardwired within the same neural architecture. The network connecting the prefrontal cortex (the seat of analysis) to the amygdala (the emotional center) is their physical connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When an external stimulus arrives\u2014a provocation, a knowing look, a passive-aggressive email from the office\u2014the brain processes it on two parallel tracks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fast path constantly sends signals to the slow path. This means that whatever thought we believe to be "rational" is already imbued with an emotional undertone. The idea of immaculate, sterile logic is pure science fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here's the crux of the matter: both the fanatics of pure instinct and the priests of blind logic reject half the toolbox at their disposal, exhibiting the same calm arrogance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At both extremes, giving up half of one's mental potential is laziness masquerading as a philosophy of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concrete solution lies in a constant and collaborative dialogue<\/strong> between the two decision-making hemispheres, where neither assumes tyrannical control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scholars of the so-called somatic marker<\/strong> They have extensively demonstrated that integrating emotional memories and logical processing is the true secret to effective decisions. Knowing how to choose means listening to your instincts, critically examining them, and allowing both components to forge a solid synthesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Training your mind doesn't mean stifling your emotions; educating your sensitivity doesn't mean disconnecting your critical judgment. These are two complementary muscles that require daily exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who learn to make them cooperate cease to experience a fictitious rift. Head and heart have never been enemies: they are two climbing partners, separated only by an old tavern debate, perhaps sparked by a French philosopher on a rainy day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It's all Pascal's fault. It's all Pascal's fault. And it's a fundamentally sensible quote of his, though probably expressed under the influence of some substance: "The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing about." From then on, entire generations have brandished this maxim as a universal pass to turn off the brain...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kb_optimizer_status":2,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[711,159,709,119,210,959],"class_list":["post-1288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pensieri","tag-filosofia-quotidiana","tag-il-rickyverso","tag-intelligenza-emotiva","tag-pensiero-critico","tag-psicologia","tag-ragione-ed-emozione"],"yoast_head":"\nThe myth of the infallible heart<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The myth of pure (and cold) reason<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Two speeds, one brain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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He who uses his brain halfway (and boasts about it)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The ongoing dialogue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Vignetta](\"https:\/\/ilrickyverso.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/collaborazione_perfetta_testa_o_cuore-edited.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTrain your mind without freezing your heart<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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