Heart or mind?

Hi. It's me again. The silly-named philosopher cat. Okay, I'll stop complaining about my name by now. In fact, the silly name helped me come up with a new philosophical issue. It made me think about the battle between heart and mind.

Before we go to the heart and mind matter, let me tell you the difference between wishing and wanting. I can wish about anything, but wanting it means I´m prepaired to acept the consequences. These could be anything, like going through effort, taking chances or loosing something else. The heart is in charge of the wishing department, but the mind keeps repating these bloody consequences. If mind and heart agree, wishing becomes wanting and you should go for it right away! But what if they don´t?

There are no compromises in the conflict between heart and mind. One of them has to win. You will have to choose whom to listen to. As long as you haven´t chosen, you´ll be torn apart. I can´t tell you which one to choose. I can give you a guide though.

The basic choice is the choice between regretting your actions and regretting not having acted. Your mind knows damn well what you'll loose if you do and your heart keeps telling you what you won't gain if you don't. No easy cost benefit analysis here, as both heart and mind exagerate the losses and fear is a bad advisor. Complicated? Well, that's why I'm a philosopher and you are not.

I'll simplify it for you: it is the choice between gaining what you wish (heart) and keeping what you have (mind). The latter is clear: You know what you got. You might not be entirely satisfied with it, but it works okay. That's safe and comforting. You don't know the thing you wish for though. Could be as great as your heart tells you, but you can´t be sure untill you tried. It's got RISK and EXCITEMENT written all over it. So if you´re the adventurous type, listen to your heart. If you´re just plain boring, listen to the mind.

It's just a matter of logic.

More resources:
by Roxette
by Saga
by Tröckener Kecks (in Dutch)