Words from the Hai Druid

Duality and Balance

December 28, 2016

When we start talking about duality, the majority of human animals think of the conflict between good and evil, the conflict of light and dark, the conflict of their male and female energies, the conflict of love and hate, and many other extremes vying for balance within one's self. While, yes, these are all references to duality and balance, one must seek to obtain peace and tranquility in oneself. We can also look at it in another way. Let us look at it through the eyes of the pessimist and optimist. While the total pessimist always sees the gloom in a situation, they only see the wrong, never even bothering to see what is right. They view life in a totally negative fashion where there is no hope, no real joy, no... no... no. Then there is the total optimist that always sees the joy in a situation. They only see the right, never bothering to see what is wrong. They view life in a totally positive fashion where there is always hope, there is always a silver lining, joy, love, and bliss. We all know people like this. The world is full of examples of both of these people. The true pessimist ridicules the optimist for being blind to what is wrong while the true optimist pities the pessimist, for they will never know joy let alone be able to love themselves. Again, these are cases of the extreme, but they are very obvious in our society. I recently had an interaction in communications with just such a pessimistic group. They ridicule certain members of society because they believe something that is not proven. They scorn them because they believe the members of that society blindly follow their charismatic leaders, yet they, too, are nothing but charismatic leaders themselves. They, too, are caught up in the power of the feelings that they are always right, just like the humans they scorn. They, too, rival in the worship of those people in the audience before them, staring up at them in a star struck fashion, that deer in the headlight stare of sheer wonder. They feel the power of the admiration and accolades of the thunderous applause that they receive from their followers. They collect money from these followers just like the people they scorn so they, too, can promote the beliefs that have made them famous, using those funds to continue the fame and spread their word of righteous truth. It is amusing since they preach that they are right and not to accept the word of others; yet the first thing a cult does is tell you that everyone else is lying to you. How can you find out what is right if you only look for what is wrong? Interesting no win pessimistic situation, isn't it? Yes, they are against the other end of the spectrum—the people that see the love, happiness and hope in the day to day life we know as human animals; the people that always find something in their life that gives them the sense of meaning and purpose in a world that is fraught with dangers and hatred; the people that draw strength from looking for the good so that they can overcome the evils that have befallen them. But this outlook, too, has its drawbacks. They can become easy prey for those that just want to take advantage of the kindness and unwavering trust that is part of the optimistic point of view. So who is right, and who is wrong? Well the pessimist thinks they are right because the others are wrong, while the optimist thinks the others are wrong because they are right. Interesting situation, isn't it? But who is right, and who is wrong? Well just like a previous writing where I wrote about the cup with water—both, yet neither. There is no set answer for they are both right, and they are both wrong. We as human animals must achieve balance to both our pessimistic and optimistic sides. How can we see what is right if we always look for what is wrong, and how can we see what is wrong if we always look for what is right? That is a balance that we have to achieve in our own existence. To live life always seeing the good in everything, we become blissfully ignorant of the evils that surround us. To live life always seeing the wrong in everything, we become cynical and skeptical of everything we encounter. We must attempt to find the perfect balance so that we do not become blissfully ignorant sheep nor the cynical skeptic who hates life itself. But that is a journey that we all have to travel to become one with ourselves. We surround ourselves with those who believe and try to obtain the same things that we hold to be true. But those we do keep as our company in life's journeys change and shift as our own views and lessons in life are learned. Be those people friends, lovers, relatives or charismatic leaders, we all choose who we want to choose. We all believe what we want to believe. Yet all we really should do is step back and consider that to achieve balance, we need to choose who we need to choose, and believe what we need to believe to survive this incarnation before we move on to the next. So do this by making good choices and using good judgment, both of which I have already written about. Just remember this. Balance is achieved by obtaining inner peace, never by obtaining inner hate.

So says the Hai Druid.