32. Areas of rationalism and realism

In the previous chapter, I graphically presented the areas of basic psychological functions, namely, Intuition, Sensation, Thinking, and Feeling. These functions come from Carl Gustav Jung’s book—“Psychological Types”.

Besides distinguishing four psychological functions, Jung also divided these functions into two groups. To one group belong rational functions and to other group belong irrational functions. Specifically:

• RATIONAL functions are:
  — THINKING, and
  — FEELING.
• IRRATIONAL functions are:
  — INTUITION, and
  — SENSATION.

In my opinion, the above division is fascinating. This is because of two concepts of “rationalism” and “irrationalism”. These concepts helped me develop the Mandala of Characters. Among others, I will talk about how these concepts have been helpful in this and the next two chapters.

When I was using the terms “rationalism” and “irrationalism” in my considerations, I decided to make one modification as well. It means I decided to replace the term “irrationalism” with the term “realism”. After this change, the above division will look like this:

• RATIONAL functions are:
  — THINKING, and
  — FEELING.


• REALISTIC functions are:
  — INTUITION, and
  — SENSATION.

In the diagrams, these divisions look as follows.

First, I present rational functions.

Above we can see that:

• On the right side is RATIONALISM, which is related to the basic psychological function—THINKING.
  In the area of Rationalism associated with Thinking, there are types:
  — Dry Fire,
  — Fire, and
  — Hot Fire.
• On the left side there is RATIONALISM, which is related to the function—FEELING.
  In the area of Rationalism associated with Feeling, there are the following types:
  — Wet Water,
  — Water, and
  — Cool Water.

The next diagram shows realistic functions.

Above we can see that:

• At the top is REALISM, which is related to the basic psychological function—INTUITION.
  In the area of Realism, which is associated with Intuition, there are types:
  — Hot Air,
  — Air, and
  — Moist Air.
• At the bottom, there is REALISM, which is related to the function—SENSATION.
  In the area of Realism associated with Sensation, there are types:
  — Dry Earth,
  — Earth, and
  — Cool Earth.

So, above, we can see the division into Rationalism and Realism, which I use in the Mandala of Characters.

As I mentioned above, I replaced the term “Irrationalism” with the term “Realism”. Below, I explain why I decided to do so?

Rationalism is a quite well-known concept, and we can explain it to ourselves in some way. For example, we can associate Rationalism with the word ration or right. It is actually great simplification and generalization if we think about it from a philosophical point of view. However, the word ration in some way can guide us to the Rationalism.

In turn, when we think about Irrationalism, there is no such simple association. Admittedly, Irrationalism, we can associate with Rationalism, but this association is actually not intuitive.

Of course, we can simply think that Irrationalism is the counterweight to Rationalism. This conclusion is logical and rational. However, in principle, we have only one concept here, namely, Rationalism. Whereas about the second concept, that is, about Irrationalism, we know mainly this, that it is not Rationalism.

So, what we can do with it?

As I mentioned above, Jung connected Irrationalism with two basic functions. That is, with Intuition and Sensation. And, it came to me the idea that it would be better if the concept representing Intuition and Sensation will be more connected with these two basic functions.

Why do I think so?

For example, suppose we simply associate Rationalism with the word—ration. In that case, we can argue that it is the ration that results from:
— Thinking (e.g., logic, deductions, deliberations, considerations, etc.), and
— Feeling (e.g., morality, ethics, valuing, comparisons, estimations, arguments, predictions, etc.).

And now, if we came back to the concept—Irrationalism, we can think, what we can associate with it?

From what I wrote above, for now, we know this, that Irrationalism is the counterweight, inverse, opposition … to Rationalism.

— Oh, but what does it actually mean? What can this be associated with? What can it suggest?

These are simple or even childish questions, but I think it is worth asking them.

So, if we ask what Irrationalism actually means, it is hard quickly to come across something concrete.

We know already that we can associate Rationalism with the rations resulting from logic, thinking, reasoning, feeling, ethics, morality, etc. In this case, we could logically say that Irrationalism is associated with “ir-ration”, “ir-logic”, “ir-thinking”, and so on. Such words are obviously not used. Anyway, the word—Irrationalism is used seldom. It means Irrationalism is much less used than Rationalism.

Besides, Irrationalism can be a bit negative. For example, if someone tells us that we are irrational, we can take it like this:
— that Irrationalism is worse than Rationalism,
— and consequently, Irrationalism somehow lowers the value of what we say, or, even lowers our value at all.

Among others, because of what I said above about Irrationalism. I think that instead of the word—Irrationalism, we could use another word. The word that gives us direct and straightforward associations. As it is in the case of Rationalism.

I think a good candidate for this word seems to be—realism.

Realism, simply put, it is something real, actual, genuine, concrete, etc.

Realism, apart from being real, has the advantage that it has many meanings. Realism is a term used in philosophy, literature, and other areas. We have many types of realism in both philosophy and art. In philosophy, for example, we have these kinds of realism: scientific, metaphysical, ontological, critical, direct, etc. In literature and art, the kinds of realism are such as in the following quote:

Besides, we still have, for example, abstract realism, which is the concept related to photography. We also have legal realism, which is divided into psychological and sociological realism. There is also realism regarding international relations.

So, the word realism is widely used.

Realism also sounds better than Irrationalism. Besides, as I mentioned earlier, Irrationalism can be viewed negatively. Well, maybe saying that Irrationalism is perceived negatively is going too far. Anyway, Irrationalism can be seen as something less serious, important, significant … than Rationalism.

I think now it is worth asking the question, why in the Mandala of Characters realism will work better than Irrationalism?

It will be easier to answer this question if I remind the diagrams in which we can see the area of Realism.

Now, in the diagram above, Realism combines a pair of basic functions. That is Intuition and Sensation. So, Realism is similar to Rationalism because it combines Thinking and Feeling. Then, we can say that:

• Rationalism concerns both Thinking and Feeling. For example:
  — Thanks to Thinking, we can have some “rations”. It means we can be rational, we can be right, we can have a point, reason, etc.
  — And under the influence of Feeling, we can also be rational, we can do something right, we can have a reason, etc.
• Realism, in turn, concerns both Intuition and Sensation. For example:
  — Sensation tries to discover and follow what is real,
  — And Intuition tries to discover and direct to this what is real.

So, Realism can be (like Irrationalism) the counterweight to Rationalism.

In that case, if we think that Realism is appropriate, then we can further ask, why is it appropriate? It means why Realism will match both Intuition and Sensation?

Let us think about Sensation first.

Below is a set of words that accompany the function—SENSATION. We can find this set of words at the bottom of the Mandala of Characters.

EARTH
(autumn—existence and sense)
position, SENSATION, benefit  
(stubbornness / defend)

Let us see why we can associate Realism with the words above:

• EARTH—because it is real, concrete, practical, clearly-defined, established, stated, etc.
• SENSATION—because what is “earthy”, we can easily see, touch, keep, measure, estimate, etc.
• position—because on the earth, we can have certain, stable, concrete, specific, grounded … position.
• benefit—because what is “earthy”, useful, handy, helpful … is beneficial.
• autumn—because it brings mature, ready and specific fruits.
• existence and sense—because “existence and sense” are real, genuine, meaningful, substantial, etc. “Existence and sense” can be specifically defined.
• stubbornness / defend—because stubbornness and defense may be, for example, related to our position and benefit, which we should stubbornly stick to, and which we should defend.

Therefore, Realism, we can associate with the Sensation function, and with the whole above set of words. So, we can say that Realism fits the Sensation. In that case, let us think about whether Realism matches Intuition.

Likewise, as above in the case of Sensation, now, I remind the set of words accompanying the INTUITION function.

AIR
(spring—source and purpose)
compromise, INTUITION, balance   
(anger / attack)

At first glance, Realism fits more to the Sensation, Earth, and the whole set of words accompanying them. It is a fact. However, Intuition and the concepts that are accompanying it are also real.

So, in the set of words accompanying Intuition, Realism we can associate with:

• AIR—admittedly, we cannot see Air, and usually, we not notice its existence. However, the fact that the Air still surrounds us is something "really real". Air also gives us many specific sensations. Like, for example, the fact that we inhale and exhale Air all the time. We feel atmospheric moisture. We feel whether it is cold or hot? We also feel the Air movement, that is, wind. So, despite the fact that Air seems less real than Earth, Air is all the time reality that continuously surrounds us.
• INTUITION—often works in such a way that it brings to our mind some images or ideas. They are either specific images, or some associations, or catching some connections, relations, similarities, analogies, etc. It is tricky to define what actually is Intuition and how the intuitive perception works? All in all, there are often images and ideas. And here comes to my mind association that I really like. This is the association of Intuition with Realism in art, namely, in literature and painting. Especially Realism in painting is, so to speak, very illustrative. I also like the fact that Intuition, if we imagine it as Realism in painting and literature, is actually a counterweight to Rationalism. Because the Rationalism is reasoning or the feeling of something right or rational. In turn, Realism is an intuitive perception of realistic images, or it is the Sensation of a real, specific reality.
• compromise—often, to achieve it, we have to have great Realism.
• balance—maintaining balance requires a realistic assessment of reality and our abilities and skills. Striving for balance requires constant observation of reality and prediction, what can happen? Therefore, it requires using the experience that we got in the past, and realistic prediction of the future to avoid losing balance. All in all, we need here a very realistic assessment of reality.
• spring—if we imagine flower buds or flowers on a tree, then in a sense, we can say that they are real ovules or seeds of the future fruits. So, spring symbolically is something that has some hidden (or undeveloped) real potential.
• source and purpose—if we refer the source and purpose to the previous concept—spring, then the knowledge and experience from the past are useful. It is because, thanks to this, we already know what the buds or flowers will turn into? And further, in the future, we will know how to take the best care for trees, on which there are buds and flowers. As a result, we can expect that they will turn into large and tasty fruits. Therefore, to determine the source and purpose, among other things, we need to answer a very realistic question—where does something come from, and where is it going?
• anger/attack—I think that anger and attack we can associate with Air, or, in general, with the atmosphere around us. The Air for us can be both quiet and peaceful, and, angry and attacking.
  The difference between these two kinds of wind behavior we can see, for example, thanks to a strong wind. When the Air is is calm, usually, we do not even notice it and do not pay attention to the fact that Air exists at all. However, when the Air is angry and is attacking us, then it is a very strong and very realistic experience for us.

From the above considerations, we can see that Realism at first glance, we can quite easily associate with Sensation and the set of words that accompanying it. When it comes to the association of Realism with Intuition, at first glance, it is not so obvious. Realism is not associated with Intuition directly, but indirectly. Indirectly through images, associations, similarities, metaphors, comparisons, etc. Besides, Intuition has a broader horizon. It means, this horizon stretches from the past to the future. The Sensation, in turn, focuses much more on the real present. And if the Sensation focuses on the past and the future, it does so to a lesser extent than Intuition. Sensation in the past and in the future is more interested in some real tangible, concrete things and hard facts, which can be used now or shortly. Intuition is more interested in discovering hidden possibilities or potential that can bear some specific fruits in the near or distant future.

Here, we could make such a point that Intuition focuses more on some ideas, in which some potential is hidden. So, is Intuition characterized by idealism? And now, we enter the area of philosophy. Although the concepts of idealism and realism have many variations in philosophy, can we draw some essence out of it?

In that case, let us ask the question—what is the relation between Realism and idealism?

To answer this question, I will use the following quote:

In the above quote, I noticed the following fragment:

Realism assumes the objective existence of a reality that is independent of the mind getting to know it. So if idealism assumes the objective existence of ideas, then there is no contradiction between the concepts of realism and idealism.

I think that this fragment answers the above question—how does Realism relate to idealism?

Besides, to our considerations about the connection between Realism and Intuition, we can use this, that idea is realistic. I think that if the idea is realistic, then we can also consider that Intuition can also be realistic. Because Intuition often has a great impact on the creation of various ideas.

In conclusion, I think that Realism is the proper candidate to replace Irrationalism. It also seems to me that Realism, in its meaning, is more intuitive and speaks better to our imagination than Irrationalism. The concept of Realism does not quite match the concept of Irrationalism. Realism, however, is much broader in meanings. And, in a sense, Realism also includes Irrationalism.

In that case, I decided that I can put Realism to the Mandala of Characters.

Bibliografia