Two Sides of a Coin

I can not call myself a religious man, but I am not entirely mindless of the spiritual either. I am just of a belief concerning religion, that if triangles had a God he would have three sides. Most people claiming to be religious assign attributes to God in line with their own beliefs. Evidence the vast number of different religions and cults, and the denominations thereof. If there is indeed a supreme being, we have fragmented him along human lines.

Most of these religions and cults are maladaptive and do not take into account that we are human, and that we are tied to the earth by our physical existence. Who among us is without human frailty? Can we thrive when our beliefs deny the fact that we are physical beings and seek to make us guilty for it? Can we survive as a people by acting with impunity in regard to the concerns and welfare of our fellow man? These are the extremes to which our religious doctrines subscribe.

As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The Eastern philosophy of Yin and Yan comes closest to my own personal belief. The physical dimension is inextricably wrapped with the spiritual; two sides of a circle. It is law of physics that nothing may exist with out its opposite. We can evidence this all around us. What is hot, without cold? How do we know far without near? These are quantifiable extremes we can measure, without which we could not define either.

This same principle is applicable across the whole of life. Every emotion, every belief, every action or practice is tied to its opposite. How can we define love without hate? Can there be nurture without harm? Is there any freedom without responsibility? Measure for measure, every amount of responsibility we surrender, we lose that much freedom. We can witness this in our own culture.

This is a country founded on freedom. We talk as if it we still possess it. The trouble is that we have forgotten the other side of that coin is responsibility. We have laid the responsibility for our lives on government and others. Because we have disregarded our responsibility to ourselves, our families, our neighbors and our communities, we have an unmanageable set of laws and regulations, poorly written and randomly enforced. We are no longer truly free to manage our lives or decide what we tolerate. If you think I’m wrong, gather some of your friends and disrupt the business of your local bank in protest. Fail to pay your assigned taxes, fees and levees. See how long it takes for a reprisal. Try to go out and buy a handgun to protect yourself and find out how many hoops you have to jump through.

Our crucible on earth is to reconcile the Yin and Yan of our existence. We could do a better job. When we lean too far to one side or the other, we unbalance the circle of life Nature is such as that it will try to center itself. It is another immutable law of physics that for every action, there is an equal an opposite reaction.

Can we continue to fight against the natural laws of the world in which we live in and survive as humans?