Reason or passion?
Should I follow reason? Or give way to sensual passions and needs? Or should I follow my ethical duty?
I often asked myself these questions. I sometimes conceive regenerative living, and/or modes of living with less, such as fasting, as a predominantly ethical duty. When it becomes an ethical duty to me though, I know I am on the wrong track. Spinoza in the seventeenth century used the word reason, to describe an attitude toward life in which the mind united the emotions with the ethical goals and other aspects of the “whole man.” Today, we conceive of reasons and emotions as separate. This compartmentalization leads to an undermining of the unity of an individual, and I - in “pieces” within and without - do not know which compartment to follow. Regenerative living then is a re-integration of reason, passion, needs and ethical duties.