Friday, April 24, 2009

JUDGEMENT

Black and white it should be, 
But shades of grey are the colors I see.
- Billy Joel (Shades of Grey)

Western philosophies and religions are based largely on the duality of nature. Good versus Evil. Heaven and Hell. Good Cop, Bad Cop.

But the world is never that cut and dry, is it?

The Yin/Yang symbol reminds that there are no absolutes. It's not half black and half white. The two colors flow into each other in a constant, revolving state of motion. Even when one color is most dominant, there's a spot of the other color smack dab in the middle of it.

Everything flows into the other. Both "sides" need each other to exist. EVERYTHING is relative.

We like to think the world is black and white because it would be easier for us to understand - and control (there's that bad word again). But life just doesn't work that way.

Good and evil co-exist in everything. Which means there is no REAL good and evil.

One man's right is another man's wrong. And definitions are relative, depending on where you live and when you lived (it used to be "good" to burn a witch at the stake, with evidence of nothing more than the person being left-handed).

Live your life as best you can - and see the world through the eyes of compassion, not judgement.

The Tao doesn't take sides;
It gives birth to good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
She welcomes both saints and sinners. (v. 5)

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