(A Metaphorical Question About Life)
Here is the question: Is the glass half empty or half full? No one seems to know the origin of this phrase. But its various versions have been around a long time in many cultures. What it acknowledges is that we discern options and make choices which determine how we view reality. It affirms that we are meaning-makers who, to a large measure, determine our own destiny by how we choose to explain existence. Following are some implications of these observations.
About Life
The measure of the glass’s content reflects how we see life in general. If it is half full then there is more to be had. If it is half empty than we need to save all we can. This sets up a posture toward our living. We are either liberal and reflect generosity and openness or we are conservative and reflect frugality and closedness. The liberal looks toward the future while the conservative looks toward the past.
The moderate is caught up in both/and, unable to decide which view is the preferable choice. Thus, the moderate wants to slow living down so there is time to acquire a sense of certainty. The moderate wishes to entice the liberal to tone down and the conservative to tone up and modify into embrace. The moderate’s story is a cautionary tale.
The liberal and conservative views of reality are definitive life postures. The problem with these views is that they can become fundamentalisms.
The moderate’s view of reality will fluctuate. The problem with this view is summed up in a Russian proverb: If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.
Lifestyle
Everyone may be liberal, conservative, or moderate at any given moment depending on what the circumstance calls for. However, each of us makes a dominance of choices that becomes our lifestyle. And that lifestyle will be essentially one of these three views of reality postures.
It is also possible that we live a lifestyle of contradictory views. We do this by compartmentalizing major components of our existence. A typical compartmentalization is to separate our view of reality about everyday living and our view of reality about religion. For example, in our everyday living we may believe that our self-worth is incrementally earned by what we do while in our religious experience we may believe that we are born worthy. These radically different views of our worth can exist side by side without being in contention because we have the ability to wall off their realities within our mind to safeguard against contradiction.
We are extraordinary creatures whose capacity to create meaning makes it possible for us to protect our creations from any threat. Compartmentalization is one of these protections. We can live a schizophrenic life which may be viewed as sane by our peers who practice the same schizophrenia.
The Lesson
We have no choice about the givens of our birth. Our choices have to do with how we use these givens. Our tendency is to stay within the boundaries of the view of reality which was the cradle of our birth and up-bringing. However, we remain choosers and we are constantly immersed in new knowledge and alternative perceptions of reality. We can change our view of reality and be what we wish. We create who we are. Here is the lesson:
The water in the glass will be
what I choose it to be.
Whichever you choose, drink deeply, for therein is found all satisfaction.
Robert
