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The more important something is,
The more important it allows itself to be tested.
And that we allow that testing graciously,
Whether or not the test itself was particularly courteous.
“Not knowing is much more interesting than believing an answer which might be wrong.”
- Richard Feynman
The universe is vast and incredibly complex.
We use religions and philosophies,
Approximations of a wider reality,
To reduce it to a manageable shape,
Safer and more comfortable,
For our understanding.
It is all we can do.
But problems come when we deny this to ourselves,
And stop refining our worldview,
Thinking it truly accurate and complete,
As our egos become ever more bound into our perceptions,
And beliefs,
And so we close our minds.
In so doing,
And not admitting to ourselves,
That our perception is distorted by the filter of belief and experience,
We intentionally limit our understanding of the world,
Sabotaging our attempts to interact with it.
The more things change,
Or the worse we feel things become,
The more we isolate ourselves,
Seeking an illusion of safety and security,
Losing ourselves,
Within familiar and certain walls,
Cut off from the wider reality around us.
Do you want a reward for doing the right thing?
For serving life?
Congratulations, honour, an eternal afterlife or a place in the history books?
There are no certain rewards for such service.
There is only more to do,
Always.
Balance must be sought in all things:
Between reason and emotion,
Between the needs of the many and of the individual,
Between a victim’s justice and compassion for the accused,
Between science and faith,
Between our rights and our responsibilities,
Between work, family and self,
And so on.
Balance is difficult to find,
For matters are often simpler, more certain, at extremes,
And we must be wary of such.
Even when you think you have found your balance,
Test it,
Time and again,
To ensure it remains.
Words are clumsy, inelegant things,
When it comes to describing the universe.
They are easily distorted,
Twisted so their original meaning is all but unrecognisable.
Some claim to know without doubt or question,
What this teacher, that prophet,
Or even their chosen divinity,
Truly meant by their words.
What foolish arrogance,
To claim their interpretation above all others as the only possible truth,
And denying even the merest possibility of error.
So, be careful that a healthy confidence in your beliefs,
Does not harden into dangerous fundamentalism.
If you wish to respect and keep to a tradition,
Then do so.
But neither complain about or berate,
Those who do not,
Nor smugly congratulate yourself for adhering to tradition,
As neither achieves anything worthwhile.
You may be utterly certain you are not wrong,
But, nevertheless, that possibility does exist.
To pretend otherwise is arrogance,
Stiff and proud.
To admit the possibility of error,
Does not necessarily demonstrate a weakness of faith,
But rather a comfortable strength.
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