Thoughts on... Balance

I wanted to let the dust settle from things in the news before I made my first official post here. A lot has been on my mind, a lot of projects, a lot of thoughts, ideas, discussions I'd like to talk with others about, and was trying to decide how I wanted to organize it all. I used to do these things on Facebook and it was only easier because I could jump on right after the event happened, or respond to someone else's thoughts, but I could see then that my goals of what I wanted to do were being shaped, and I want to continue this here.

It was difficult to figure out where to start, so I had to do some comparison with all the various stuff I wanted to talk about to see if there was a common thread through everything. My fragmented thoughts kinda reminded me of the series Black Mirror, how that show is the modern day Twilight Zone, where none of the shows connect to each other, but the underlying thread through them all was the futuristic tech and society (The irony of me using media as an example doesn't escape me, and that will be a topic of a future post). As I stated earlier about my posts being shaped on Facebook, a lot of how I have recently viewed life and everything around me in the past few years is what prompted that change, and the common thread for me, in virtually everything I do in my life is Balance - recognizing balance, finding balance, accepting balance... learning to live with it.

I'm not some rock-licking, tree-hugging, hipster free-bird that is trying to align my chakras during Jupiter Ascending in the 7th house while sun gazing at the ass-crack of dawn. But I also don't discredit any of that. I don't look at someone who does all that and think they are some crackpot. Just like I don't look at someone who is devoutly religious (which I am not), and think they are stupid for believing in what they do. I do believe in science and the improvements in our technology, but I also don't think science is the be-all, end-all of humanity. I believe that truths always lie somewhere in the middle, and that what we as humans seek lie between the balance of spirituality and science. I think both can work together to achieve more. The moment I started to view the world around me like that, I found that my life wasn't so much a struggle for myself, and I was able to be more accepting of others. Doesn't mean people still don't piss me off, because there are a LOT of idiots out there, but there are a LOT of good people too. See? Balance.

Balance is in everything and it took me a while to recognize that, and even longer to accept it. Sure we all want to live our happiest lives, zero stress, everything we want... but when that happens, how do you grow as a person? If you are content where you are, then great, but don't go complaining when you see the perceived success of others and wonder why it's not happening to you. You have to have bad times with good times, you need to make mistakes to become successful. It's how you learn, grow, and better yourself as a human. And as you better yourself, you better those around you - it just propagates naturally. I've gotten into philosophical discussions like this over time, and going back through all the things I've learned from others, I notice that people want to think that humans in general are inherently good - some think that humans are inherently bad (especially today with all the self centeredness going on). Once I started to apply my own thoughts of "where's the balance", I've decided to adopt that we are neither. That each day when we wake up, we need to decide how we are going to treat ourselves, others, and respond to the stimuli around us. Every day is an internal struggle within us, and it should be. The other day I blew up over the dumbest thing in the kitchen - I chose to react a certain way and I could see it was sending me down the path of a shitty day. My wife, while justifiably mad at me for responding the way I did, diffused the situation and then helped me see from the perspective that it was no big deal, and to not let it ruin my day. I then chose to listen and accept that I was wrong, let it go, and not let that insignificant event dictate how my day was going to be.

I decided to talk shortly about balance today because this is going to be the core of my posts when I talk philosophical topics. There will be a connection to everything, it will all build on each other not only to continue to help me, but hopefully help others whoever may read these. Just like in a pub, there will never be a shortage of topics to talk about, and that is the purpose of this blog - to be the virtual pub where we can gather and release steam, get ideas, ask questions, and get answers.