Balance Pt. 1
I want to push a bit more detailed into my current life philosophy. The one I am still developing and has likely been developed by those much older than me. My stubbornness and ability to only learn through my own experience and thought process, however, dictates that I lay these ideas down from my own mind as I work through them.
Taoism speaks of balance, the yin and the yang, light and dark. Western culture inherently encourages overindulgence. Here in capitalist USA we are encouraged to gorge. We're barraged with messages of, "You won't be happy until you buy this." We're constantly told that we aren't happy enough for have enough. I think we are happy enough, if anything we're obsessed with happiness to the point that it cannot be achieved.
All emotions are important. Emotions are to the brain what pain/pleasure are to the body. We cannot see how another person thinks or their frame of reference for viewing the world and their perception will be entirely different than ours. Emotions help to provide a common ground where we may meet and understand a bit better what the other person is seeing. Pain is the body's way of saying "Hey, something's wrong in this area here, should probably get that shit checked out." While pleasure is the body saying, "Do this way more often! I want this to happen all the time forever!" Ultimately, the overindulgence of either leads to numbness. As those who cut themselves know, pain must be escalated to remain painful. As those with drug addiction know, pleasure must be escalated to remain pleasurable.
Unless there is balance
Taoism speaks of balance, the yin and the yang, light and dark. Western culture inherently encourages overindulgence. Here in capitalist USA we are encouraged to gorge. We're barraged with messages of, "You won't be happy until you buy this." We're constantly told that we aren't happy enough for have enough. I think we are happy enough, if anything we're obsessed with happiness to the point that it cannot be achieved.
All emotions are important. Emotions are to the brain what pain/pleasure are to the body. We cannot see how another person thinks or their frame of reference for viewing the world and their perception will be entirely different than ours. Emotions help to provide a common ground where we may meet and understand a bit better what the other person is seeing. Pain is the body's way of saying "Hey, something's wrong in this area here, should probably get that shit checked out." While pleasure is the body saying, "Do this way more often! I want this to happen all the time forever!" Ultimately, the overindulgence of either leads to numbness. As those who cut themselves know, pain must be escalated to remain painful. As those with drug addiction know, pleasure must be escalated to remain pleasurable.
Unless there is balance
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