Balance

Now, if we look at the light and the dark, obviously in the dark you are blind, but what if we look into a bright light, perhaps the sun, can you see anything then? No. All you can see is light. You are just as blind as the dark, so we see here that the interplay between light and dark, in fact, makes all  things visible. We can’t have the light without the dark any more than we can have up without down, or in without out. Without cold, we wouldn’t know what hot is.  without getting wet, we wouldn’t know what dry is. This interplay is in all things, so how do we proceed?

Some of us are so off-center that we are in a constant state of reactivity to stimuli. I’m sure you’ve met people like this, this may be you. This is a protective instinct. It is like an obsession with safety. We think these impulses are important. We have an emotion, and we attach meaning to it, like it has any larger truth. SPMI patients are this way too, but it’s more difficult because it seems that we feel powerfully. My family and friends seem to be in working order mentally, they don’t make these mistakes as much as i do. It could be mental illness or obsessions that cause this in a lot of people. We are so powerfully obsessed by the ego that we think that pride, or worse yet shame, is a virtue. Either we’re supposed to bow down to each other, or pity each other on some tragic level. Some people really do deserve pity, and sometimes deep respect, but most people are just “normal.”

We don’t have balance when we ignore everyone else for our own thought obsessions.  We don’t have balance when we force our opinions on others, or our religions. If we wanna share something we have to allow others to not accept it. It does no good to prove something that can’t be proven, because all of our proof is personal and subjective in our experiences. What we can do is spread peace and loving kindness. This is hard because many people are damaged, and will reject the notion that there can be peace. What we have to do then is continue to show and embody love and peace. I’ve said before that these are the foundation of the enlightenment; I still believe that is true.

We can’t have balance when we accuse others. When we put our insecurities onto someone else’s “Image” in our minds. it is judgment. Of course they don’t live up to our expectation of frankly a god, because they are human like us and truly we are just as flawed as they are. Judgment and projecting our insecurities is a very nasty habit. We will spend our whole lives, criticizing people who are just doing their best like the rest of us. We can’t do this. it’s not healthy. We will find later in life that we are alone and desperate. How can we live this way? Is this any kind of way to greet eternity? We must think of others as our partner buddhas in awakening. Some are still young. Some are more advanced, nevertheless every soul will wake up eventually. It may take many lifetimes, but we will all get there.

All of this to say that we truly need balance in this world and our situation. We’re together in this, and the only way forward is to learn and to put our learning into action. Meditation has always helped me. Peacefulness, kind action, and sincerity will go a long way to help.

Peace...