Today’s upload talks about a recent realization I had in regards to handling decisions and how it can help lead you to a more enlightened and happy life. The idea is that there are three levels of opinion or truth that you can hold about something. The first level is your initial assumption or observation that forms your opinion or belief. This could be the worldview you held when you were younger. As you grow up you begin to realize the world works in a much different way than you first suspected and thus are forced to update your beliefs. This often results in an emotional response because it unravels something you thought was a foundation in your life. It forces you to ask questions like, “how could I have been so wrong? What does this mean? Does this change anything else? What else in my life is wrong?” It can be a very difficult to deal with questions like these, and thus many people will simply ignore them. I consider these two viewpoints to be extremes. One is naivety, the other an emotional reaction that pushes you to the other end of the spectrum. But there exists a third level, and it’s the realization that there is “middle ground”. It isn’t that gay marriage should be banned or legalized, it’s that it doesn’t exist in the first place. There is no such thing is gay or straight, there is only attraction. It’s not that guns should be legal or illegal, that’s not really the problem. The problem is why those people feel compelled to kill in the first place.
In my personal life, I experienced this with money. I used to dream about being rich and famous when I was young, but as I grew older I realized that those dreams were not my own. They were instilled in me through media and this urge to compete and prove myself. So I moved to the other spectrum and found myself rebelling against the system and hating money and all it stood for. But eventually the realization hit me that there is middle ground. Money can exist simply as a tool, not a necessity. Another example might be confidence and how that evolves with age. When we’re young, we’re insecure and scared of being judged. We blush and feel embarrassed, and we fear public speaking. As we grow older these fears diminish and we gain confidence. But even this is only the second level, for confidence itself is still a metric and limiting factor. The enlightened mind would realize that the act of simply measuring it, creates it, and thus you will be servant to it. Instead, realize that it is a mere fabrication of your mind and you can exist without it. There is always a third level you can move to. Seek it and adopt its views. For I once read that if you know the solution, or how you’ll think in the end, then you’re already there, and it would be foolish to think any other way.