Today it is very fashionable to use the expression 'my truth' as if there were as many truths as there are people, as if something is right because "I feel that way". On February 13, Alfred Sonnenfeld, a medical doctor, theologian and writer of "The Art of Happiness" and "The wisdom of the heart", he put words to something many of us are slaves to: the basal or 'reptilian' system.
By basal system, Alfred Sonnenfeld refers to Eros: everything that the body asks for, immediate pleasure, a blind director who lacks the head, which is reason. A person who is guided only by eros is someone dominated by the waves of his whims, who seeks maximum pleasure without thinking of the consequences. Can we hold the basal system responsible for our decisions?
The conflict between pleasure and reason
Alfred Sonnenfeld makes it very clear that actions come from the heart, a king that depends on two advisors to make decisions: the basal system and reason. The heart weighs the options they provide and assesses what it finally decides to do. Its duty is to harmonize the feelings and the head. The problem is when one of the two advisors overrides the other. And it is that many times the basal system is the winner.
Getting carried away by pleasures and emotions can be contradictory to values, which surpass the needs of the basal system because they are channeled to something greater, higher than the short-term consummation of small satisfactions. And the spontaneity and impulsivity of the basal system can interfere with the life we want to lead. Alfred Sonnenfeld argues that there are many people who lead a double life because they have not become familiar with their values, they lack the affective connaturalization with the good.
The doctor explains that, fortunately, we are not our basal system. This is only a part of the whole person, so we should not reduce everything to eros. Sexuality is a language of love, which must take into account the heart and reason. "If I only look at the partiality of sex, the carnal, I am like those in Plato's cave: I miss the totality of the person."
Love as surrender
The doctor also differentiates between falling in love and love, affirming that many people in love do not know what is the love of surrender, that which comes from the heart. "Falling in love is idealizing a person without counting on reason, without really putting one's head into it. It remains in eros. Those in love seem to bond completely, but the imagination dominates this stage by projecting desires, emotions and feelings and designing a future of romantic fantasies." In case these emotions come, Alfred Sonnenfeld encourages to ask oneself the following questions: Is it reasonable? Do these actions of being carried away by emotions correspond to my values? What values do I think I should follow?
So that emotions and feelings do not rule your life, making you a slave to your impulses, the writer recommends inner order, setting priorities, being objective and realistic, not deceiving oneself by blaming others, being tolerant and forgetting prejudices. But, above all, he points out the ability to transcend oneself: "to know that I have Someone above me".
The road to true freedom
We must not forget that we have fragile, imperfect hearts. And in the same way, it is not licit to demand perfection. The only one who is perfect is God. Nevertheless, we are called to do good by putting the virtues into practice: "He who does good knows how to enjoy life. When we do good in a habitual way, we are no longer tyrannized by our basal system or by our head, and therefore
we are freer".
Far from a stubborn heart that seeks short-term selfish pleasure and self-deception and a weak heart that avoids deep reflection, Alfred Sonnenfeld encourages aspiring to an open heart, with a firm desire to seek the whole truth, even if it hurts. A heart that becomes strong and overcomes the onslaughts and outrages of the basal system.
