Passion and Delusion

What does it mean to be passionate; to really, I mean REALLY believe in something? When someone is passionate about an issue, are they deluded into believing that what they do and think will change things? Is what they fill their thoughts and time with based on an irrational belief that isn't the reality for anyone else?

I suppose we all know people like this. Sometimes, we call them 'zealots', 'ideologues', 'fundamentalists'. We may refer to them as 'idealistic' or suggest that they are 'unrealistic' or 'impractical'. To understand what it means to be passionate about something one has to understand what drives the passion. Everything we do - our behaviors, attitudes, beliefs - is rooted somewhere in our past. Even if our past is twelve minutes ago.

My experience with beliefs and behaviors is that we tend to operate at the level of fear. Wait! don't leave yet, it's not all about negativity! Humans have tens of thousands of years of evolutionary experience crammed into our brains. Much of it had to do with survival - that fight or flight impulse. This is not something we are bound to overcome with only a couple of hundred years of modern-era living. We used to operate in survival mode - much of humanity still does (if you are reading this, you are one of the precious few humans that don't have to be concerned about day to day survival - you, are wealthy and privileged). This mode of existence is ingrained in us. We can't escape it.

But, we can adapt. And adapt is what we do best. So, those of us that are passionate about issues, beliefs politics, science etc are typically trying to make the world a better place. Why? Because we fear a world without the benefits of what we are passionate about. We don't want to see things to stay the same - we want less pain, more convenience or greater equality. Or, for my more conservative friends, we want to ensure our life and society remains more or less predictable. So, out of fear, we get fired up - this is not a bad thing. It is what has driven human kind - we have great civilizations, technologies, insights and, yes, social interventions to show for this instinct.

In the end, it seems that having passion does not mean one has delusional tendencies. But what is important is tempering that passion to coincide with our present reality. Understanding that it is rooted in fear of something and fear is not a healthy way to operate every day - even though so much good has come out of people being passionate.

It's all about awareness of ourselves and balance.