Today we were talking about some issues over lunch and it seemed that we were getting to no conclusion. Then my friend tried to force me to take a stand. Yes or no?
It seemed that my friend sees 'sitting on e fence' as a sign on indecisiveness. Probably thanks to some neorolinguists, phrases like 'yes, but...', 'perhaps', 'maybe' have become a big nono in e commercial world. Ppl must always have a stand! and sound so.
but things have always been in shades of gray and it is important to recognise so. not recognising this fact is rather dangerous.
one pitfall was pointed out by edward de bono. in the 1980s, he pointed out that our education system tends to focus on teaching one to think logically, but not perceptively (a way of thinking such that one considers different perspectives). hence, there’s a tendency for pple to state an hypothesis and find facts to support the argument in a logical manner. one exercise which ‘trains’ this tendency is the debates that a teacher usually involve the class in. one even more dangerous tendency is that one uses the argument ‘You’re wrong and therefore, I’m right’.
not surprisingly, many academics and politicians and entrepreneurs have probably fallen into these pitfalls (i use the word ‘probably’ out of due respect). probably, the crisis of the middle east is the result of looking at things in just black and white. not only are the islamic fundamentalists insistent that the west is debauchery and they must leave the holy land, the americans are also adamant that democracy is the only medicine and ‘birth pangs’ are inevitable. such views have resulted in the suffering and deaths of many. ironically, the deaths are also viewed from both sides as inevitable, and even necessary.
probably, buddhism teaches the wisdom of the Middle Way, where we do not accept wholly nor reject totally either view of the opposite polarities. this was reflected in shakyamuni’s path to enlightenment. shakyamuni wanted to alleviate the suffering of mankind and bring about happiness. when he was the prince, leading a luxurious life, he found that he could do nothing. then he abandoned his life as a prince and led an austere life. and inflicted a lot of pain onto himself. starving, freezing, etc... until he came to a near death incident, he also realised that austerities were not the answer. then he led a life of moderation and soon came to the enlightenment.
actually, the Middle Way has always been the logical way to go. you need no rocket scientist to tell you so. but somehow we have a tendency to go towards one way so as to achieve faster results, and to assimilate with others. learning to balance is a difficult act but we must learn to do so.
so, remember, no stand is a stand.
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