Balance is the key

I have been thinking over the ring of invisibility. imagine putting on a ring which desolves of you of all punishment, would that give you a licence to do evil?

In the present day context, I would imagine that we would do some evil. But not do continuous evil because then we’d get tired of being so evil. Human psychology need a balance between good and evil. we need to be well rounded human beings. there is a time for joy, and there is a time for reflection. there is a time for everything, for in essence we strive for a balance.

the reason people want to do evil when they put on the ring is because they have been deprived of evil. the lack of evil in their lives have put them off-balance, only replenishing evil can restore their minds and put them in harmony with their body and mind again.

Life is not about poverty, not about riches, but a balance of both.

What are you thinking? You really are babbling for the sake of it now. Who has been deprived of evil? It looks as if you have been deprived of your common sense.

A

liquidangel

Hint: try using your brain.

There is this misconception about balance. I need a little of this or a little of that in order to have a balanced life. ‘The middle way’! It’s not true. I need to centre myself in Truth - in God - in order to live a balanced life. Good and evil are constructs - in the ultimate sense they do not exist. If I am centred in Truth, all my actions are based on Truth, seeing directly and acting directly. Looking for balance in good and evil is a distraction - a trick. If a man looks for evil to attain balance, he will destroy himself and any goodness in him.

A

Pnnacle: no, balance is not your key, the bible is…

why is bible the key, because the bible is good and I am evil. I need a balance between the two.

when you are tired, you rest, when you get bored you exercise, when you get tired you rest…
a cycle of pros and cons

liquidangel

you can’t be good all the time, there is no such thing as good but a lack of evil.

we need suffering and we need peace
we need joy and we need reflection
we need energy and we need quite moments

what makes life the way it is, is a combination of the good and bad.

The bible is not to be compromised in anyway, so basically - you don’t talk about the balance between you and the bible - you just read the bible and follow the dogmas, like every good Christian else. And really, deep philosophy is not very approriate for you…

Really? You’ve stated here on ILP that you yourself never sin. :unamused:

Yes, life is subject to duality. Yet these are simply opposites they are not good and evil. The sun and the moon represent day and night. Are you telling me that day is good and night is evil? Day is day and night is night - they are not good and bad. Suffering is suffering. It is not bad. Your intentions, how you behave yourself when you suffer could have a negative outcome or a positive outcom. Life is suffering, it is not evil. Suffering has a purpose, for us to grow. Growing pains if you like. I don’t see how if I’m in pain I’m embracing evil.

Incidentally, reflection is not the opposite of joy. Sadness would be the opposite of joy. Reflection is a tool to observe our sadness and our joy.

I think you should go back to wherever you heard this piece of ‘teaching’ from and clarify what they mean, self reflect on its validity and apply it in your own life - then come back to us and share your findings. If you can’t filter out what is unreasonable and false you certainly cannot expect to save us all.

A

POR,

You’re assuming goodness in opposition to badness. There is no opposition. One can say that goodness is simply the absence of evil, or the other way around. Both are always present, in that as concept, each defines the other. There is no good without evil, but it is a false premise to suggest the I must do equal amounts of good and evil in order to be ‘balanced’. Where did you get such an idea? It may be true that even those who are good occasionally do evil, but balance isn’t even an agenda in this equation.

Well, I’ve fulfilled my quota of goodness, so now I think I’ll rape the next woman I see. Must do my part to be balanced.

To co-opt LA’s question, What ARE you thinking?

JT

PoR, I think I see what you mean but may be just reading into it. I don’t know.

It would seem that since we are just placing labels on reactions, neither could be satisfying by itself.

I agree that we have fears that prevent us from doing what is defined as good or evil yet they are attractive to us. These attractions to what we regard as good and evil are not seen for what they are because our fears give them an importance only outgrown by experience

Spock’s right again. This “want” to do one or the other is never truly satisfying since this captivation is masking the human desire itself that transcends this duality.

Matthew 13: 45-46 refers to this realization that the human truth is above the continual movement of this pendulum often divided into “good” and “evil”.

Selling all one has is giving up their attachments to these preconceptions so as to objectively and consciously experience life in pursuit of this pearl of great price…

Balance is preferable to obsession. Perhaps balance resulting from experience as opposed to suppression, can lead to a new quality of imbalance and struggle for balance which is not just animal in nature but instead uniquely human.

Aw Nick, for hell’s sake. It ain’t that complex. Choose the way of light or darkness, it’s a CHOICE. It doesn’t need to be wrapped in language to understand. Good is good and bad is bad. You’ve known the difference since you were in diapers.

JT

JT

Aha! switching to plan B and trying to appeal to my better half. :slight_smile:

It may be a choice but who can choose? If we are as St. Paul described himself: the “wretched man”, we really don’t have choice as we imagine ourselves.

But in-between good and bad lies this"middle" filled with details. And the problem is that “The Devil is in the details”.

I agree with the value of simplicity but its value is related to a sense of conscious direction. Without recognition of this direction, simplicity can easily become naive escapism.

Consider what LA posted. It gives direction, It doesn’t deny the scale of values it describes.

This may appear simple until a person tries it and sees how much within their presence struggles against it.

You cannot reject the other by hiding under the bed. A person grows in their perspective to be able retain such understanding by experiencing it for what it is. Otherwise, as soon as you come out from under the bed, it is the same old thing. The trouble is that only a relative few have the courage for such impartial experience

From my experience and studies there is no difference between “good” and “evil”. I discovered this mainly through reading Richard Dawkins’ “Selfish Gene.”

If a mother wants the best of care for her children, she will provide them with as many resources for their survival as possible - an act clearly of good, from her perspective

But as she gathers these resources, she removes them from a system in which other organisms may need them. So her own selfish love has detracted from those others around her - an act of “evil” from the perspective of others

So an example such as this clearly shows that “evil” tends more to be a bi-product of excessive “good”, much like the evangelism of the Crusades and Inquisition. It’s obvious that the difference of “good” and “evil” is solely a matter of perspective, in the natural battle for resources.

Even more recently, I’ve studied the roots of two words closely aligned with “good” and “evil”: “angel” and “demon”. For this purpose we will use the Hebrew root for “angel”: mal’akh; and the Greek root for “demon”: daimon.

mal’akh - an immortal, spiritual being attendant upon God

daimon - an inferior divinity, such as a deified hero; an attendant spirit; a genius

From these definitions, a new interpretation for angel arises: a demon of God.

There is also another word in the hebrew version of the Bible, nephilim, that has been commonly interpreted as “giant”(Gen. don’t remember the ch. or vrs.; I’ll find it later and edit). It says that these “giants”, or “nephilim”, were the offspring of angels and the daughters of man. Many of these nephilim were “evil”, but some were good and became the heroes of lore. Now we refer back to the definition of daimon, specifically “a deified hero”, and we see that the demons of earth were actually the offspring of angels. Again, “good” begets “evil.”

By now it should be obvious of the thin line between “good” and “evil”. It seems to me that the motivating factors for “good” and “evil” are the resentment towards others for gobbling up all of their most prized resource: God’s love.

As my mother has told me many times, “The path to hell is paved with good intentions.”

I thought God was in the details…?

I think we do have a choice - or at least know we have a choice it’s just that the deck gets stacked in the favour of evil some/most of the time. Socrates said something along the lines of “does anyone need anyone to tell them what is right”. I think if anyone sat down and thought for a moment, they’d know if they were on the path of darkness or light. But then you get the people who:

*Never have time to sit down - they’re too busy trying to stay alive. Or are so desparate that good/evil gets reduced to me/them.
*Sit down - but in the end follow the charismatic leader/capitulate to peer pressure.
*Sit down - but do the classic little wrong for a subjective big good later.
*Sit down too late - and realize that they are so far down the path of ‘evil’ - turning back is just too damn scary an option - so they rationalize.
*Sat down a long time ago - but are held to their lives by responsibilities
*Sitting down everyday - but are held into their lifestyle forcibly.

That’s great Liquid. But sadly I think many people are stuck down on the ‘ritual’ level - they go through the motions of life - and if anything try their damnest not to think about it too much. They do not reflect - because just like that painting in the story of Dorian Grey - they don’t want to see what a mean, twisted thing they have become.

And since the majority are always sane… We could say that a tendency to hide under the bed is a survival instinct… Therefore… Good…? :smiley:

Supposing evil was to exist right along with that nifty little ring?

What? You’ve taken two defintions and joined them together to create a third? tsk tsk.

If you look really closely at the two definitions you will see that in actuality, a demon is a fallen angel. One who has turned from God as Lucifer did. Lucifer was the most powerful angel of all, the moment he felt that he could do anything as he was all powerful - he forgot about his relationship with God to do God’s will, he fell. This is simply to show us that if we focus on our own selfish desires (so-called evil) and shun our own inherent goodness - our angel self - we lose.

Too true. If we honestly did self reflect and were able to face ourselves…right here is the key to finding the answers bringing about world peace. But it’s not just that we are afraid to face ourselves, it is that we enjoy the lie. We believe the lie. We have become so accustomed to the lie that to open ourselves up to the truth is just plain too painful.

A

Hi LA

Quite true. I remembered a quotation by Simone Weil that was appropriate for another thread and while reading her again, I was reminded of what a profound human being she actually was. She is definitely one woman I would have very much appreciated the opportunity to ask questions. She is definitely one who faced herself so is free from any artificial cutsey pooh platitudes.

It is a shame more of the younger women trying to find female voices of the past that resonate with them are not made aware of her. So, what the heck, I’ll spread a few of her gems around including one now which relates directly to what you’ve said:

When we are part of the crowd, we are also oblivious of it

And when we act out of genuine sincerity we are oblivious to good/evil and thoughts of ‘balance’.

JT

JT

The trouble is that we don’t really know what it means to be sincere. We can sincerely believe we are being sincere but in reality we are acting from the bias of a deep repression.

There is no reason to be oblivious. What is necessary is presence which allows thought to be put into perspective. Acting from presence requires this freedom of sincerity in order to be open to impartially experience.

Needless to say, we rarely act out of genuine sincerity.