One of the keys to sound decision-making is a greater awareness of our emotions and those of others. Emotions are not just present when we fly off the handle or jump for joy, but are omnipresent in the most subtle ways in all our acts. At present, the emotional education of our children is left to chance. Academic intelligence has little to do with emotional life. Based on rationality, school pays little or no attention to emotions lest they disrupt the class.
Academic intelligence offers no preparation for the emotional turmoil of life.
Many of the natural abilities of children are not in handling complex mathematical calculations or memorising ancient history but rather in perceiving and understanding inherent emotional situations. Others are naturally gifted in handling relationships. In a world increasingly centred on the unbridled satisfaction of individual needs, many people feel entitled to let free reign to their emotions without paying the slightest heed to the impact on those around them. Cut off from others in their individualism, some are victims of melancholy from which they can only escape with the help of cigarettes, drink or drugs. All of us are subject to ever increasing pressure as change accelerates and more and more aspects of life become uncertain.