1st question why would someone ask me in the first place 'Be realistic!!' (I am starting my theory with the assumption that passion cannot go hand in hand with realism)? 1st thing that pops up is Realism is somewhere driven by fear, a sense of acceptance what we experience with our senses and fearing whats beyond this. Realism is a world known. Realism is the consequences of a certain set of actions known. Attaching probabilities of success with each path. One would choose the path with the consequences most favourable /desirable for future existence.
Coming to passion. Passion is the ever present joy in the complete experience in the moment of achieving a certain goal. The consequences if not achieved doesn't matter. There is a certain sense of loss. But the loss cannot be valued against the joy in struggling for it. The passion can be an objective for something which is known and an inner struggle to go against one's odds. It can be very well for something not known and done by any human being (animals too). The objectives realism is not important in passion. Its a driving force which naturally forces you to calculate , evaluate, take risks.
A vital difference in realism and passion as i can see is
1) The degree of risk.
2) The clear presence of the objective after a certain number of steps.
3) Evaluation of the end package/deal.
Now the question is can realism and passion go hand in hand?
I want to be a ballad dancer. As a realistic person I might go about calculating my constraints as in my age, health factors, family priorities, finances etc. Now all odds are against me, where my probability of success is low. As a person who is passionate enough towards this form of dance, would i still pursue it or abandon it for nothing or another form of dance which is achievable? A realistic person would :
1) Abandon the dream
2) Take another form of dance
3) Become a trainer in this form of dance.
A passionate person would do the following:
1) Still pursue it against all odds
2) Take another form of dance
3) Become a trainer in this form of dance.
As we can see a realistic person can still be passionate and a passionate person can still be realistic. Its only the one who fears and is insecure would take option 1 in realism 'Abandon the dream'. And an obsessed passionate person would go for option 1 "Still pursue it against all odds".
Passion and realism can surely go hand in hand. They are definitely not a disjoint set. A level headed person will always be able to get best of whats in his/her heart. It would only be disjoint in the case of extremism: over pessimistic vs over optimistic. :)
