Recently I experienced an unusual weariness; indeed, a kind of mental strain. I had begun to find it difficult to concentrate heavily on anything without feeling pressure on my head. This experience reminded me of the astute observation G.K. Chesterton makes in his book Orthodoxy:
"Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion... To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain. The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.
Let no one draw the false conclusion that GKC has no use for reason. Not so. But he is making the point that reason has limitations and the healthy mind needs a balancing dose of imagination, poetry, mystery, and mysticism as well. GKC is one of a group of writers who have been extraordinarily influential in my life.