Irrationality, You've Met your Match

I recently attended a fund-raising Banquet for a local organization.

At the event, the evening's Chairman rose to acknowledge his newly-deflated net worth, and then went on to bemoan the economy's devastating impact on charities. The charity’s needs – he announced – compelled him to override his personal concerns and offer a generous donation.

Can you imagine? Someone feels the impact of a weak economy and responds by giving away more money? Does that make any sense?

Some might call his behavior irrational.

I call it super-rational.

What's the difference?

Rational behavior is sound, reasoned conduct.

Irrational behavior is an unreasonable departure from this logical path.

A common example lies in the way we follow our self-gratifying impulses, even as we recognize that they're self-ruinous. Objectively speaking: It's irrational behavior.

‘Super-rationality’ is also a 'departure from the reasoned path', but there’s a world of difference.

Suppose you're busily working at the office on an important project, and it's time for your child's soccer game: Do you leave? What if your project’s success would seem to demand your work on Yom Kippur? What if there's a community need and your stock portfolio is down?

Reason might point in the direction of the choosing the smart career move, but relationships – including the relationship with G-d – aren’t always about reason.

So you sometimes have a choice between the ‘rational and ‘super-rational’.

One might say that irrational conduct usually expresses our devotion to self, while super-rational conduct usually illustrates our devotion to other.

I’m not contending that we always need to act ‘super-rationally’; I’m pointing out that when you go beyond your rational 'best interest' for the sake of a loved one, when you devote yourself ‘super-rationally’, you make a profoundly beautiful statement about your commitment to the relationship.

It's what turns an important relationship into an invaluable one.

In Chassidic thought, the super-rational is a primary antidote to the irrational and it’s what gives even keel to the rational.

It’s about selflessness, commitment and love.

In Chassidic terms, it's what makes the world go round.

Try it.