Chukim And Rationality

“My own view is that chukim are commands deliberately intended to bypass the rational brain, the pre-frontal cortex, and for an extremely important reason. We are not fully rational animals, and we are capable of making momentous mistakes if we think we are… In general, the non-rational parts of the brain are faster acting and more powerful than the rational ones… A moral system, to be adequate to the human condition, must recognise the nature of the human condition. We are not perfectly rational beings, and if we tried to be, we would be found to be lacking in certain essential human qualities. We could not love or be moved to compassion. We would find it difficult to understand the nature of loyalty. We would not understand other people’s fears or hopes, or anxieties or distress. We would lack “emotional intelligence.””

Judaism’s Life-Changing Ideas, p. 218