Urges precede Reasons

If we did not have urges we would be dead. They are what guide us toward what we need. Everyone knows the urges to drink, eat and sleep. These urges compel us to action. And as we become more emotionally sophisticated these turn into broader and broader goals.

No matter how much we train each other to be reasoned, logical thinkers, we can not sidestep these emotions and urges, nor should we want to. They come first. It is a fact of human existence that we are always in some emotional state, and our emotions are always guiding our behaviors, even if we cannot place them. There is no other motive that we have for action. Logic and reason can help us determine out how to do things, but they can never tell us what to do. In the world of survival, logic can’t respond to the question of what to do next.