Introduction

As humans, we’re always running away from the perennially present threat that looms above our heads: the nature of our reality.

Afraid of the many truths out there, we are prone to keep ourselves imprisoned in a cage of our own making. Rife with illusions, delusions, and idealisms

As a society, we built heavy stone walls to keep ourselves safe; and as people we build ourselves a web of illusions to keep us comfort – we often fall victim to our own tangled webs. In some way, we’re all guilty of this. After all, our very reality as it exists today, is an illusion created by ourselves.

Our conscious minds are filled to the brim with logic and reason and bursting with rationality. With these faculties at the forefront of the mind, we seek to harmony, order, and ultimately comfort. Although these values are desirable, they represent but one side of the coin. Sooner or later, harmony turns into apathy, order into boredom, and comfort into stagnation.

In contrast, the opposite principle of rationality – irrationality, represents upheaval, dynamism, and ultimately chaos. To most these attributes might seem undesirable, and yet, they are necessary principles that must be sought and balanced throughout our lives.

Relying too much on our rationality has the potential to keep us away from our real, deeply-held beliefs and values. Although some might consider it sensible to live a lie in order to maintain peace, many cannot ignore the deep gnawing that is palpable under the surface. In many ways, our rational and irrational selves are at constant odds.

Whereas many choose to embrace the comfort and order of daily life, it remains crucial for every person’s individual development to embrace the antithesis – we are often beckoned to heed the call to adventure but rarely do so. We fear chaos and uncertainty, and yet it is precisely these elements that lend themselves to uncovering and understanding the hidden truths of life.

In this post I’ll briefly touch upon the nature of chaos, and why we should embrace irrationalism and uncertainty more often in our lives.

The Apollonian principle

One might say that the unshakable confidence in [the principle of individuation] has received its most magnificent expression in Apollo, and that Apollo himself may be regarded as the marvellous divine image of the [principle of individuation], whose looks and gestures radiate the full delight, wisdom, and beauty of “illusion.”

NIETZSCHE – the birth of tragedy

Apollo, the ancient Greek god of the sun, light, truth, and order, represents the very essence of logos par excellence. Indeed, logos is the very foundation upon which our lives are built, and we could not do without it.

Logos, or rationality, have been revered by wise men of all ages. We are all familiar with sages the likes of Plato, Aristotle, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius; all of whom were advocates of this faculty. After all, it is by virtue of our rationality that we have overcome our great struggle against nature and asserted our dominance in the form of civilisation. It’s no wonder then, that we’ve championed rationality throughout the ages.

Structure and order – principles that are the direct consequence of logos – allow for the mutual cohesion and harmony of a society at the expense of each individual’s natural right to freedom, as per Rousseau’s social contract. Thus, as civilians, we are law-bound, duty-bound, and ultimately society-bound to regard the principle of conformity as the highest virtue. Conformity in a rational society forces us to become remain continually rational people.

The dark side of logos

However, despite what advocates might have you believe, logos has its dark side, too. Reasoning and rational thinking represent cognitive functions that are incongruent with emotional thinking and feeling. And yet, the latter represent powerful essential drives that must be exerted.

Analytical and unfeeling, we use our rationality to suppress our instinctive drives, dismissing them as irrational and useless. And yet, rationality is often used to subvert our reality. Thus, we shroud ourselves from attaining deeper truths; the ‘rational’ illusions, delusions, and idealisms that we conjure up end up consuming us.

Dostoyevsky reflects the above sentiment in notes from underground:

“But man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic.

Indeed, all of us are aware of the numerous atrocities that have been committed in the name of twisted logic, both historically and in the modern day (read more about it in a previous post).

Unlike what we have been taught from a young age, reason and logic should not (and cannot) overshadow the other faculties of the mind. Logos and rationality stand opposed to chaos and irrationality; all must be balanced in equal proportions.

After all, these ‘destructive’ instincts remain an essential part of us and serve as necessary remedies to the reality of our existence. They hold valuable clues and serve as indispensable keys for our understanding of this world and the nature of reality at large.

The following passage from notes from underground summarises this notion:

“To care only for well-being seems to me positively ill-bred. Whether it’s good or bad, it is sometimes very pleasant, too, to smash things.”

The antidote to order

Nietzsche, the self-proclaimed immoralist, has long since presented us with the antidote to the  toxins of order, structure, and rationality. He advocates for the embracing of the Dionysian principle.

Indeed, life by its very nature and its infinite ways of expression cannot be controlled absolutely. Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility, fully embodies the randomness of life. He himself is uncontrollable and his disciples, intoxicated and dancing, embody this.

Nietzsche has long since predicted the degradation (i.e. décadence) of modern society, blaming idealism – that very Apollonian principle – as one of its main culprits. Whereas the illuminated Apollonian ideal seeks to instate order, harmony, and control by virtue of the triumph of logic and reason, the chthonic Dionysian principle calls for a descend into the depths. The dark labyrinth of the mind affords a necessary refuge to the exasperated individual. Here, necessary psychological instincts reign – they prove an oasis to the man dying of thirst in the relentless desert heat.

The Dionysian principle unearths the reality of life. Dark, moist, and visceral, it stands in stark contrast to lofty Apollonian ideals. As such, Nietzsche urges us to pursue a new kind of health, one not rooted in the soothing illusions of the mind, but rather, one that makes us infinitely resilient to the numerous twists and turns of that are thrown at us by life itself. He calls this amor fati.

Through embracing the Dionysian, we are no longer burdened by the weight of existence, we are able to perceive life in a less taxing and more natural way. No longer obsessed with the future and what to do next, we are able to experience the here and now in all its glory.

An appreciation for Dionysian principles relieves us from the existential burden that many of us contend with – thoughts such as: what am I doing with my life, or what is the point of life lose their power when one shifts their frame of mind to the instinctual realm.

Similarly to modern mindfulness, the Dionysian principle disregards the moral dimension of values. Instead, they are approached from a vigorous naturalist standpoint – that which Nietzsche calls his Zarathustra.

A price to pay

As with everything, however, reliance on this subterranean principle isn’t without its costs. In Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground, the protagonist represents an anti-hero and embodies strong Dionysian values. Like many other cynics, the underground man sees individuality as the ultimate good and is consumed by his drive for destruction, be it physical or psychological. As such, he is spiteful, contrarian, and offensive, and goes out of his way to put others down; his character can be summarised in the following sentences:

“At that time I was only twenty-four years old. My life then was already gloomy, disorderly, and solitary to the point of savagery.”

Likewise, in The book of Disquiet, author and philosopher Fernando Pessoa mirrors the reflections of the underground man:

“I suffer from life and from other people. I can’t look at reality face to face. Even the sun discourages and depresses me. Only at night and all alone, withdrawn, forgotten and lost, with no connection to anything real or useful — only then do I find myself and feel comforted.”

The Dionysian principle, by its very nature, seeks out the shadow and the night. From a Jungian perspective, the shadow aspect of our personality contains our less desirable traits – those which pertain to the instincts. The key, of course, is not to let these instincts reign the entirety of our being, but rather allow them to act in conjunction with our rational side. Only then are we able to achieve a state greater than the sum of its parts.

Conclusion

Civilisations are reliant on the principles of reason and logic in order to function. So, as its citizens, we are taught to think and act rationally. Logical thinking and reasoning allow us to sacrifice the here and now for a better tomorrow. Thus, we become sensible people, do what we are told, and make sure we meet our deadlines when we are expected to.

In return, we are sold a comfortable life, with numerous creature-comforts to boot. We’re told there is nothing to worry about as long as we continue to be rational and productive members of society.

However, sooner or later we experience getting stuck in a loop of rational and sensible thinking. Unfortunately, modern remedies to this issue rely on the same sources that cause the problem in the first place. In order to combat the existential burden brought down on us through a over-reliance on rationality we must embrace its opposite – irrationality.

Our capacity for logic and reason should be contrasted and balanced with our natural instincts, impulses, and desires. A taste for adventure, danger, and destruction are as valid as our ability to put up with a full-time job and fulfilling our commitments.

Indeed, rather than leaning too heavily on Apollonian principles, we must seek out Dionysian ones, too. Sooner or later, we are all bound to feel the beckoning of the depths of our minds. As long as we are resilient enough, their call will only serve to make us more stronger people.