This post may seem unusual coming from a "blogger," but I was thinking about this concept the other day and thought I would share.
So this past year I took a class called Eastern Religions. It will probably be my favorite class I will ever take. Every day we would learn about different religions situated in South East Asia, and it was so interesting I didn't even want to take notes because I thought I would miss something while I was writing.
One of the religions we studied was Buddhism, and a key part of Buddhism is embracing the idea of "the middle path." For those who don't know a lot about Buddhism basically Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha before he became the Buddha, went out on his journey to find some greater meaning to life, essentially to be enlightened. For a little while, he stayed with Jainism monks. Jainism focuses on living the least violent life which sounds simple, but they do everything from sweeping the ground before they walk in order to not kill bugs as well as not eating foods that grow under ground because it kills the plant and micro-organisms around the plant. Jainism has a strike diet, so while Siddhartha was staying with them he became extremely skinny and weak from eating a few grains of rice a day. One day he fell into the river and almost drowned because he was so weak.
This event lead him to the idea of "the middle path." He believed that living an extravagant life, like the one he lived while in his palace, was pointless and would lead to death, but so was depriving yourself of basics necessities like food. The middle path is essentially balance. Americans invest thousands of dollars into books on happiness and gaining time management skills, but what it really comes down to is balance.
If you were to live with the concept of the middle path in mind your life and mental health would be rejuvenated. This concept would keep us from being on our phones 24/7. It would lead us better balancing our time with our family, friends, and ourselves.
Some people mistake the middle path and balance for being "neutral." Neutral is one of my least favorite words because it makes it seem like you don't have a stance on anything, essentially your "being" is pointless. That sounds harsh, but it's the truth. The middle path however is having a balance of very different areas of life. If the middle path was "neutral" you wouldn't have any areas of life you would need to balance.
You don't have to be Buddhist to practice this, and your not going against your religion because the middle path is more of "a way of life" rather than a religious practice. It just blows my mind how much western societies, especially the United States, could benefit from embracing this practice.
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