The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Love the rational. It is important to not see the path to
rationality as something painful and ascetic. In fact, it brings powers
that are immensely satisfying and pleasurable, much deeper than the
more manic pleasures the world tends to offer us. You have felt this in
your own life when absorbed in a project, time flowing by, and

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experiencing occasional bursts of excitement as you make discoveries
or progress in your work. There are other pleasures as well. Being able
to tame the Emotional Self leads to an overall calmness and clarity. In
this state of mind you are less consumed by petty conflicts and
considerations. Your actions are more effective, which also leads to less
turmoil. You have the immense satisfaction of mastering yourself in a
deep way. You have more mental space to be creative. You feel more in
control.
Knowing all of this, it will become easier to motivate yourself to
develop this power. In this sense, you are following the path of Pericles
himself. He envisioned the goddess Athena embodying all of the
practical powers of rationality. He worshipped and loved this goddess
above all others. We may no longer venerate the goddess as a deity, but
we can appreciate on a deep level all of those who promote rationality
in our own world, and we can seek to internalize their power as much
as we can.
“Trust your feelings!”—But feelings are nothing final or original; behind
feelings there stand judgments and evaluations which we inherit in the
form of . . . inclinations, aversions. . . . The inspiration born of a feeling is
the grandchild of a judgment—and often of a false judgment!—and in any
event not a child of your own! To trust one’s feelings—means to give more
obedience to one’s grandfather and grandmother and their grandparents
than to the gods which are in us: our reason and our experience.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

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