Elevating Existence: How Reason Shapes an Excellent Life

Logic is precise, cold and rigid, and following its rules perfectly might still lead you down the wrong path. In today's episode, I talk about how to go beyond pure logic to use reason effectively in creating an excellent life.You'll discover why the most important decisions in your life require more than just logical thinking and how to combine logic with virtue, purpose and connection to make choices that truly matter. Welcome to Live well and Flourish, where I help you understand what it means to live a flourishing life. I'm your host, Craig Van Slyke.If you're ready to think beyond material and external success, if you're ready to take control of who you are and the kind of life you live, if you're ready to flourish, this is the podcast for you. The use of reason, your ability to think logically when making decisions, is critical to living an excellent life.When I first learned of what Aristotle had to say about excellence, or what he called eudaimonia, or however you pronounce it, I was kind of puzzled. Aristotle can be that way. Basically, he believed that an excellent life is one that's lived according to human nature as guided by reason.My first thought was, what in the world does that mean? Through more reading and conversations with my philosopher friend Andrea, I started to understand what Aristotle meant.I'll save the nature part for another day. Today, I want to focus on reason. Reason, to me, is beyond just the application of logic, although logical thinking is certainly part of it.But it's only part of it. Logic alone is not enough. Other factors need to come into play to turn logic into reason.Since this podcast is about living an excellent life, let's look at the connection between logic and reason in that context. If this sounds a little esoteric, I promise you what I'm about to say is not esoteric.It's extremely practical to those who seek excellence in their lives. That includes you, right? In an earlier episode, I talked about the four pillars of living an excellent virtue, reason, connection, and purpose.These are all intertwined in interesting ways. Today we're going to focus on reason. Logic is cold and well logical. Logical doesn't have a goal other than logic.It's precise and doesn't care about anything but the rules of logic. In fact, when I took a logic class. In class, we typically used symbols rather than words.It didn't matter what we were being logical about as long as we followed the rules of logic. Logic makes sure the mechanics of your thinking are sound. But that is not enough to guide an excellent life.You need something to apply logic to that goes beyond the rules of logic. You need an end game, a goal. That's where the rest of the pillars come in. They provide the targets for your logical thinking.In an excellent life, virtue guides all. The excellent life is one lived in pursuit of virtue, those characteristics that mark an excellent person.If you're trying to decide between two courses of action, the task is to figure out which one most closely aligns with virtue. That is task number one. Logic can help you make that decision. But virtue provides the overriding goal.If logic determines that action A is better aligned with the virtues you seek than action B, then you go with A. Sometimes, though, both actions are equally aligned with virtue, then you need a new goal. This is where purpose enters the game.Again, using logic, try to figure out which of the alternatives best allows you to serve your purpose. You take the course of action that best allows you to pursue your purpose. It's that simple.Remember, in this scenario, you've already determined that both align with virtue. Both of the alternatives align with virtue. So purpose is the new guide for your decision. Well, let's take this a step further.Suppose that both alternative actions serve your life's purpose equally. In my experience, this is pretty rare, but let's just go with it. In this case, connection, the fourth pillar is your guide.Use logic to determine which alternative will strengthen your connection with others. Then go with that alternative. If both are equal in this respect, flip a coin. You can't go wrong either way. Hopefully all of that makes sense.Logic gives you clear, correct thinking. But virtue, purpose and connection guide the practical application of the logical thinking. I want to make two additional points before closing.First, I've used the word pursue a few times today. That word is critical to living an excellent life. That's something I say or write quite a bit. Living an excellent life.Both pursue and living are words that imply an ongoing activity. That's the nature of excellence. It's a never ending journey, not a destination. To quote Steve Jobs, the journey is the reward.Second, all of this might seem exhausting. The good news is that with conscious practice, you will start to make these decisions without conscious thought.Because you will simply be a person who applies logic to live a life of virtue, purpose and connection. You'll make the hundreds of tiny decisions that guide daily life without much conscious thought.You'll just act kindly as second nature now, not a second nature, as your true nature. Until next time, keep using that reason, my friends.