You want to catch that Emotional Self in action. For this purpose, you must reflect on how you operate under stress. What particular weaknesses come out in such moments—the desire to please, to bully or control, deep levels of mistrust? Look at your decisions, especially those that have been ineffective—can you see a pattern, an underlying insecuri

Look at the Russian writer Anton Chekhov, one of the most fiercely rational people who ever lived, as the model for this.

As long as there are humans, the irrational will find its voices and means of spreading. Rationality is something to be acquired by individuals, not by mass movements or technological progress.

Make your acceptance of human nature as radical as possible. This will calm you down and help you observe people more dispassionately, understanding them on a deeper level. You will stop projecting your own emotions on to them. All of this will give you more balance and calmness, more mental space for thinking.

The way to recognize this in yourself and in others is by noticing behavior that is suddenly childish in its intensity and seemingly out of character.

Being able to tame the Emotional Self leads to an overall calmness and clarity.

it brings powers that are immensely satisfying and pleasurable, much deeper than the more manic pleasures the world tends to offer us.

Love the rational.

Know yourself thoroughly.