Finding Balance In A World of Extremes

A balance is a beam that is supported freely in the center and has two pans of equal weight suspended from its ends, an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady, equal elements in correct proportions.

Proverbs 11:1 says “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.”

Proverbs 20:23 says “Divers weights are abomination to the Lord, and a false balance is not good.”

From these verses of Solomon, we can conclude that false balances of extremism in beliefs, actions, and treatment of people has its roots in deceit and trickery, there are underpinnings of fraudulence. An abomination is anything that is disgusting, detestable, that involves vicious actions with the intent to hurt and harm people. Divers weights refer to stones being too light or too heavy on a scale that creates imbalance. Some truths can be overemphasized at the expense of neglecting or de-emphasizing other truths especially when it comes to societal and cultural issues we face in the United States and around the world. Anything extreme is furthest from the center or a given point, outermost, going to great or exaggerated lengths, where the pendulum swings too far to the left or too far to the right. A just weight is the delight of divinity, those who constantly and consistently practice their faith and spirituality. The word just is shalem in Hebrew which means complete, safe, perfect, whole and peace. The word delight is ratsom in Hebrew which means pleasure, acceptance, and goodwill.

I believe that spiritual people should be balanced in their spirituality, people of faith should exhibit balance in their faith and should avoid extremes and fanaticism. You can draw truth and perspective from various schools of thought. All do not have the right answers and all do not have the wrong answers.

A false balance, deceptive character or extremism is not good according to the proverb, it is not agreeable t the senses, nor pleasant to the higher nature, nor prosperous to our sensuous nature. Extremes do not promote the welfare of human society because they are destructive in nature. When I am extreme, I cannot entertain any other beliefs but my own, I cannot associate with any other group of people unless they believe exclusively like I believe and practice the customs that I practice.

Lord David Cecil said “All extremes are error. The reverse of error is not truth but error still. Truth lies between these extremes.”

Karl Wilhem Frederic Schlegel said “Combine the extremes and you will have the true center.”

Our national and global issues we face politically, socially, economically and racially are taking a turn for the worse in many instances all resulting in beliefs and philosophies that are taken to the extreme. The majority of wars we’ve had in human history are all a result of extreme beliefs. Religion has been the greatest extreme of all, as a result, we’ve had slavery, segregation, lynchings, the Klu Klux Klan, White Nationalism, Governor George Wallace, Bull Connor, David Duke, ISIS, and the Jihad to name a few. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and President John F. Kennedy as well other global leaders were all assassinated by perpetrators that exhibited extreme beliefs. Mass shootings and police brutality are all a result of extreme beliefs. When you lose balance, you lose reason and sensibility.

Our faith and spiritual community often contributes to the problem instead of being a solution to the problem. Evangelical leaders such as Robert Jeffers, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jr. and the like support a Federal Government and a Commander In Chief that promotes an agenda of hate, bigotry, racism, and discrimination against the poor, middle class, African Americans, Hispanics and Hispanic Americans, Immigrants, Muslims and Muslim Americans and the LBGT community. The question is How do we find balance in a world of extremes? I believe it begins with three things we have to de-emphasize which is to reduce the importance or prominence of a thing.

#1. We must de-emphasize our beliefs. We have to ask ourselves what do we really believe and why we believe it? Do those beliefs add to or take away from the quality of our lives. Are you more intelligent or have acquired more wealth or changed more lives for the better with the current beliefs you ascribe to? It that is not the case, those beliefs aren’t as important to you as you’ve thought even though you may have held them for most of your life. Your beliefs should evolve as you choose to get involved in the lives of others improving their quality of life because you acquire beliefs based on investigation and not inheritance based on someone’s else experience that shouldn’t determine how you choose to live your life.

#2. We must de-emphasize our belongings. We place too much emphasis on our associations and affiliations with groups and organizations to such an extreme until we allow this part of our lives to shape our identity. You were who you were before you belonged to a particular group or organization. When we become so bold to express our affiliation with a group or organization whether it be religious, social, or cultural, we automatically exclude or limit people that can enter our lives and we we enter into theirs for mutual spiritual benefit. We alienate people because we define our importance and status by who we affiliate with and who we think we are. We have to remember that status can be removed but significance can remain. We create boundaries, limitations, restrictions and boundaries. If your belonging doesn’t increase your intelligence, health and wealth, it isn’t as important as you deem it to be. There is always a danger and destruction in taking things too far.

#3. We must de-emphasize our behavior or the way we act or conduct ourselves especially towards others, our response to a particular situation or stimuli. It’s easy to be critical of other people’s behavior and lifestyle without having a clear understanding of the root causes of the behavior and why they do what they do. Cultivating relationships with others different from us is so important because we foster environments to help people grow and change into who they were always intended to be. No one person is the standard for top notch moral and spiritual behavior, we learn from each other. So as long as you’re not the standard, I don’t have to contend with the pressure of trying to be like you.

Extremism can be neutralized when we no longer focus so much on what we believe, where we belong, and how we behave but our focus should be geared toward our being. To be is to function in your true inner identity in your outer experiencing. It there is no being, there can consequently be no doing  and having. It is at the center of who we are is where we find balance and avoid extremes because your heart determines what you believe, where you belong, and how you behave. That’s balance.