A Broader Scheme of Things

“Using a Road as a symbol of life, it isn’t that difficult to see that being mired in either a right ideology, or a left ideology, creates a situation that cannot lead to the peaceful, productive life we dream of. Both one sided ideologies are ditches (extremism)”

At the end of the year 2024 AD, we humans find ourselves in a world of extremes. The interesting thing about extremism is, everyone thinks the other side is extreme, and that they are not…. that they are right, and the opposition is wrong.

The fact is, things are never that cut and dried.

The universe is not cut and dried.
Our world is not cut and dried.
Our lives are not cut and dried.

Whenever our thinking becomes too one sided or simplistic, a struggle arises between the two sides.

I believe the reason for this chasm of understanding, between the way things actually are (reality), and the way we think things are, is due to our foundational worldviews.

We, in 2024, are divided between the left and the right ideologies.

The left feel that what we are missing is compassion, the right think what we need is less compassion and more common sense.

This has created a severe struggle: a tug of war, where both sides are pulling for their respective position, and struggling against the other side. They are enemies.

Both are mired in their respective ideological positions, and need to fight against the wrong thinking of the other side, lest it gain some footing.

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In our justice systems, the scale is the symbol of balance. This scale shows us very quickly when one side is out of balance with the other side.
The scale also shows us that a comparison of both sides is necessary in order to clearly assess the situation. When we compare the two sides, we see which side is too heavy, and we can right that situation by adding weight to the other side to create balance.

Our judicial systems have been given this job of balancing in our legal systems.

From this point of view, it seems clear that we need our worldview to be one that uses some form of balance as our worldview guideline. Without it, the war of ideologies will be endless and heated.

The left hates Trump, because they say he represents power and control. (Note the names he is being called)
The right hates Biden, because they say he represents a softness with no control. (bleeding heart liberal)

There is no meeting of minds in this scenario. The war between them is endless, and will end up with a tearing down of civilization as we know it.

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There are several symbols that we use to talk about balance.

One of those symbols is the legal symbol of the scale as mentioned above.

Another symbol is the coin.
The coin cannot exist without two sides, so while one side is being considered, the other side must be taken into consideration in order for a balanced viewing of a situation to be arrived at.
If only one side of the coin is being considered, the solution will always be one of imbalance or one-sidedness.

The Road
I am thinking here, that the best symbol is a Road.
The Road has a path in the middle, where movement is necessary, and in fact, the purpose of the path in the middle is easy movement.

When ideologies are viewed using the symbol of the Road, it is easy to see if they are in the middle of the Road, on the edge of the road, or in one of the two ditches on the side of the road (extremism).

Using this example symbol, it is easy to see our current situation.

We have very few people on the Road.
Most everyone is in one of the two ditches, with everyone in those two ditches manipulating others to their ditch.

Add to this the fact that both sides have weapons, anyone walking on the road, trying to get anywhere with their life, gets shot at, and potentially ends up as collateral damage. Folks in both ditches consider this collateral damage as acceptable, in their struggle to win the war.

Another way of viewing the Road, is that both ditches are extreme positions, while the middle of the road is the most reasonable and functional position.

Currently, the middle of the road is referred to as “riding the fence”, or “indecisive”. How can there ever be a workable solution to this type of struggle?

Our current situation becomes even more complicated with so many wolves in sheep’s clothing: moles in both sides of the struggle, masquerading as the other sides adherents, and creating mistrust within each group.

Add to this, the media, who are supposed to be unbiased, being paid off by one side or the other, sowing seeds of discontent and mistrust.

Quite the pickle we have gotten ourselves in, and actually a poison pickle, when we add the level to which we have developed our weapons of mass destruction.