Still choosing...

What is the best choice? What is the best path?

Trying to logically look at it, but as always, aiming an increase of spiritual perception how can we ascertain which path to take?

I truly believe that in order to be happy and to be able to deal with our own dilemmas, we must find balance. While searching for it I've always found as a good exercise to look at extremes to figure out what lays in the middle. Going ahead, please don’t get me wrong: extremes are a matter of perception without rights nor wrongs. Below are my extremes (would a monk eat a slice of Pizza??? Sounds pretty extreme to me).

This is just a general way I have to look at life trying to balance our worldly choices with our spiritual ones.

Worldly: very self centred point of view in which we prioritize the “I” amongst anything else, of course, aiming for material success. This view will dictate that we must / need to do everything we can, sometimes can’t, to satisfy our ego, desires, wants, pleasures and so on. It will usually indicate choices that have little or no concerns for others and the aim is only personal gains.

Having the satisfaction derived from the fulfillment of such achievements will probably be exciting and amazing even though it happens for a short period of time, usually defined by the moment we move to the next item on our desire list.

Spiritual: eastern religions dialogue constantly on the ephemeral aspect of matter. Hinduism calls it Maya, the illusory world we live in, this world of perceptions, built by our brains with our censorial organs, that will eventually fade and die.

Moreover, both Hinduism and Buddhism talk about the continuity, infinity and eternity of our soul.

If world as we know is assured to fade (from dust to dust) and all we got is our soul, why not focus all our efforts on it, getting rid of all attachments?

“That is impossible! How can I just leave everything behind? Family, friends, possessions?” someone will shout!

Some will need to meditate in a cave all day. Others will need to experience family life. It is up to each one of us to find our own extremes and within those limits find the best way to live our own lives. To try to accommodate all of our choices in that zone of comfort in which we know for sure that our needs are taken care of.

Our monk friend from before don’t find an extreme to release it all and meditate all day long. For me, that is something pretty impossible. I think I found my middle path. What worries me, is that it seems to be changing...