______ ______ ______________ | | | | \ | \ / \ / ____ \ ______| | |________| | / \ | |____ | ________ | ( {} ) | _____) /~~~~~~~~~~~ | | | | \____/ | |______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ | |~~~~~~~ / \ / \ / | ~~~~~~~~~| | | | |______| |______| /_____________| | | | | | | | | Hogs of Entropy Text Files Present... | | | | | | | | "The Meaning of Life and How to Hack it" | | | | | | | | | | | | By: Mogel | | | | | | \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last week I was watching TV. This is something I rarely do. I was doing the ultimate symbolic action of my generation: channel surfing. I figured, if I was going to be doing something with a pre-requisite of Short-Attention spanedness, then I'd might as well go all out with the channel-flippin' action. Anyway, it had been about 2 years since I had actually sat down and just WATCHED television. I saw a speech being given to the press on CNN. Some politician, didn't catch the name (didn't care), but he was a blatant Republican babbling the usual Republican doublespeak. Not that the Democrats don't do it either, but this time it was really bad. His speech actually consisted of him mouthing off to the press about how "this" person said that and it was "wrong," and "Clinton was wrong", and the media was "too liberal"...and so went the speech. In the midst of this speech, the _Campbells Chicken and Rice_ I was eating, suddenly sent a bolt of pure indigestion to my brain that made me realize what everything in the world was about. I think. It all seemed to suddenly make sense. Have you ever had those brief moments where you are sitting alone and out of nowhere you get some incredible thought and for that brief moment in time.. everything in the world seems to make sense? This has happened to me more than once, but this particular time, I remembered the point of it. The Lefts, the Rights, the Republicans, the Democrats, the Ups, and the downs -- The all had purpose. If I needed to pick one idea, or if there were one central truth in the entire universe that I could search out and understand in the world that we live in, full of billions of competing ideas, it would have to be balance. EVERYONE in the world has a truth to speak and deserves to be heard, but without a discerning ear we can easily get lost in the babble and either fail to hear an important corrective from an opponent or blindly follow a guru into his personal fantasy. We all need to know how to find the balance. The ancient Greeks sensed this when they said that virtue was the balance between opposing traits and called it the Golden Mean. Jewish and Christian thinkers saw the need for Balance in relationships when they said "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." And they called this the Golden Rule. Our Founding Fathers saw that proper government required a "balance of power." And Justice is portrayed by our judicial system as a blindfolded woman with a balancing scale. Taoism claimed that all creativity springs from a balance between the female and the male principles of Yin and Yang, Buddhism calls this the law of Cause and Effect, Hegel the Philosopher saw this as the search for the ultimate truth and the dynamic process resulting from a balance between thesis and Antithesis. It seems that no matter where you look, the same theme of balance permeates our experience and our knowledge. Whether it is the "balanced budget", or a "balanced approach", or a "balanced line", or the balance of the human body, everyone speaks of the value of balance. This idea is neither my creation, nor my insight. And even now in modern psychology there has been a new twist to the concept of a "balanced personality" with its revelation of the different and somewhat opposing modalities of thinking that emanate from the left and the right lobes of the brain. The left lobe with its linear, logical, literal, verbal, matter-of-fact approach is in direct contrast to the right lobe's spatial, intuitive, figurative, non-verbal, once-upon-a-time approach. Neither halves of ourselves is capable of being a full person by itself because each contains a point of view that the other needs to remain balanced. Balance within ourselves, balance with others, balance in politics, and balance in the universe. Once we understand this great truth, we begin to understand that we need our opponents, even more than our friends, to help us keep our balance. In a world of competing difference, we will never find peace until we understand that the differences that are around us, are part of a dynamic tension that results in balance or harmony. We should be happy for the differences in others and we should and often in history do, honor those who exemplify and strive to keep a balance around us. I hunger for more balance in my life. This idea is a path that someone could not-so easily live their life by, but THIS is the message that we should pass to the Extremists...that the need for balance is what keeps the earth intact. Literally. One might say that this idea is obvious and simple, but at the same time it is indepth and complex. It is, as many things in life...simplex. If we go through life keeping our motives loving and our methods wise, there is nothing wrong we can do. Except, of coarse, watching the _Power Rangers_. |=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=| | _____ Call Goat Blowers Anonymous for the LATEST HOE! _____ | | 6/ ^..^ (215) 750 - 0392 ^..^ \9 | | \_____(oo) This Issues Featured Support Board is: (oo)_____/ | | WW WW ]<-RaD )<0dE / 02/04/95 All rights Reserved.