Balance is absolutely crucial if an individual wishes to achieve his or her’s fullest potential as a spiritual being, worthy of God’s acknowledgement.
This means that we cannot possibly curtail all of our baser needs and desires. We also should not endeavor to eliminate emotions that are perceived to be destructive or anti-thetical to the furthering of one’s development. For one cannot perceive darkness if the sun shines continuously.
This juxtaposition of morality is an essential building block in getting to understand the nature and complexity of eternal truths such as justice, morality, love, despair, hope, hate, greed, lust, and so forth.
The true sinner is one who does not feel remorse by his actions, or chooses simply not to dwell on such matters. This is the true crime for which we must pay penance.
To be ignorant, is to disrespect our humanity. It impedes spiritual enrichment.
This is why self-awareness is the first attribute any seeker of truth must endeavor to develop. Knowing how one’s mind reacts to adverse testimony or situations that inspire strong emotions; is as important a step towards God as would a child speaking their first words.
One cannot learn by becoming ignorant. All things must be considered. No doors shall remain locked to a seeker of truth. No flags must be waved.
And of this greater awareness of self, shall come humility.
One must never presume their personal philosophy to triumph over any other man’s set of beliefs. For the truth often resides in contradiction, and to the untrained eye -- it can be skimmed over with unintentional carelessness on the part of the student.
What one man describes in direct observation of a known phenonmea; another may choose much different words or phrases to convey the exact same meaning. Others may simply choose to disregard a description at all, conceding that such an attempt cannot be done adequately through words alone.
We all have our ways of analyzing the world before us. Some may use logic as a rule of thumb, others rely upon their intuition. Certain people favor an aggregation of popular opinion; fewer still, choose not to speculate at all.
In whatever method is used to apply a greater understanding of the world around us; balance must always be paramount to one’s study of ontological matters.
Consider perception as being a series of posts joined together by long, wooden boards. A psychic fence constructed for the purpose of containing a theory or belief. We divide information into chunks that are corralled into pastures that complement whatever new discovery we’ve learned. The desire to close off these new ideas by refusing to analyze contradictory information -- is tempting because we are creatures of habit. We often do not care to incorporate ideas that threaten to unravel the certainty gleaned from our years of experience and learning.
Yet, for an individual to move forward and evolve, he/she must know that the truth is an elusive animal. It cannot be captured and made to languish under the carelessness of the thinker. Truth is a flexible and extremely difficult concept for one’s mind to properly comprehend. The infinite wisdom the exists within the universe, shall never be completely assimilated inside of any one brain.
Seeking the truth means walking a path that twists, turns and doubles back on itself, only to lead to a fork in a road that may eliminate all ideology that has come before it. Truth is ever-changing and what one may perceive as down, may actually be up.
In addition to balance, self-awareness and humility; comes a forth essential attribute.
Compassion. One cannot learn from this life without empathy, respect and an understanding of other people. Genuine compassion comes from a desire to listen without judgment, to become sympathetic to one’s situation and being willing to offer assistance whenever need is demonstrated for such.
If one’s mind is like a garden where seeds of ideas are planted and weeds removed over the course of living; then compassion can be thought of in much the same way. It is the pollination that occurs between us which is responsible for the state of the world in which we live. Compassion is a sympathetic form of empathy who’s underlying motive is simply to further the betterment of mankind. And oneself.
With compassion also comes tolerance, the ability to not become emotionally affected or feel threatened by opposing doctrines. This is the armor one must wear in pursuit of knowledge.
Ultimately, to align ourselves with reality; we must pursue wisdom acquired from both ends of the spectrum. Good and bad. These experiences contribute immensely to a fundamental understanding of human nature and it's weaknesses. One cannot sympathize with a womanizer, if he/she is a chaste virgin -- and vice versa. People need to see what exists on both sides of the fence before they are qualified to speak in favour of, or against the lifestyle in question.
Once all the facts have been assimilated, we will then achieve balance.
