The Limits of Logic
by Cynthia Sue Larson
September 4, 2000





When I was growing up, I was a big Star Trek fan. My favorite Star Trek character was Mr. Spock, known for his logic prowess. Spock would often say things like:

I loved Spock! I adored him, and wished to possess the brilliant clarity of his mind. I loved the way he could see through the emotional confusion of others, and wished to emulate his ability to cut through to the essence of an issue.

I studied physics, and then business... always pursuing the logical ways to analyze this world. I was fine with this view of logic's supremacy... up until the time that I noticed reality shifting.

One memorable pivotal experience happened to me when I was searching for my friends in San Francisco one day. We'd made arrangements to meet for lunch, but I caught a train twenty minutes late and just missed them. They took off without me, as I discovered when I arrived at our meeting point. I first followed every logical lead... asking for any messages that might have been left for me, and asking what restaurants people typically go to. I then visited several restaurants (finding no messages were left for me), and realized I was wasting my time.

I gave up on logic at this point, and chose to let go of my feelings of sadness and frustration and worry... feeling instead an energized sense of love and joy. What happened next seemed perfectly normal to me at the time, but astonished me later (when I returned to my "logical" frame of mind)... I simply followed my feet to where my friends were. I crossed the street, saw a sign for "Faz", asked the first passer-by if that was a restaurant (it was), and how to get there (there was a hidden elevator to get to it)... and walked right up to my astonished friends.

This is just one of a multitude of such experiences in my life where I've given up on logic, and found myself the better for it. I still love logic, but now realize that there are deeper ways of knowing.









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