Senses and Intelligence

Some great points from The Element:

"The other pillar of the Enlightenment was a growing belief in the importance of evidence in support of scientific ideas-- evidence that one could observe through the human senses-- rather than superstition or hearsay."

"The influence of logic and evidence extended beyond the 'hard' sciences.  They also shaped the formative theories in the human sciences, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, and medicine."

"So it is that we came to think of real intelligence in terms of logical analysis:  believing that rationalist forms of thinking were superior to feeling and emotion, and that the ideas that really count can be conveyed in words or through mathematical expressions."

"Robert Cooper, author of The Other 90%, says that we shouldn't think of intelligence as happening only in the brain in our skulls.  He talks of the 'heart' brain and the 'gut' brain.  Whenever we have a direct experience, he says, it does not go directly to the brain in our heads.  The first place it goes is to the neurological networks of the intestinal tract and heart.  He describes the first of these, which is 'independent of but also interconnected with the brain in the cranium.'  He says that this is why we often experience our first reaction to events as a 'gut reaction.'  Whether or not we acknowledge them, he says, our gut reactions shape everything we do."

These quotations are going to change me.  I've taken a lot of pride in my rational thoughts and gotten very indignant when people let their emotions guide them.  But that third quotation is really getting to me.  Feeling and emotion can't be brushed under the rug.  Rational or not, I have three children with HUGE emotions that overcome them on a daily basis.  I constantly wonder when they'll learn how to be rational human beings, yet at the same time I try to practice emotionally intelligent parenting where I teach them that all feelings are valid - it's how you respond to them that matter.  So there is a rationality in there, but it's not in getting rid of the feeling altogether.  Even though I "knew" that, I still wanted them to grow out of the emotions and into rational people.  But is that even possible (or even good?) 

And gut reactions.  Oh boy.  There are certain things that happen in my life that trigger an automatic response in my intestines.  Yes, specifically right there.  A middle of the night cough will tie me in knots over possible throwing up to come even though no one has had the flu here for over two years.  How could I say that my reaction to a cough is rational?  I can calm myself down and not let it overcome me, but the feeling of anxiety always comes first.  How does that relate to intelligence though because it certainly doesn't seem smart to fret over a cough.  There are positive internal reactions too.   Sometimes I feel a soaring sense in my chest when I'm happy.  Once or twice I've felt like I'm expanding to connect with everything in the universe.  How can that be explained logically?