Moderation

It's been too long but this will be my final post pertaining to assumptions I have made concerning existence. Don't worry, I will still post but it may be less focused. That's probably how you like it though so I'm sure you don't mind.

I don't normally drink beer but, when I do, I prefer Guinness. No offense to the most interesting man in the world and Dos Equis might be a great beer (I've never tried it) but I like to drink some that has a lot of good flavor to it. Much to the chagrin of the larger breweries (like Budweiser and, my hometown favorite, Miller), I don't like drinking beer that tastes like it's already been through someone's digestive track.

Why is one drink so much better than another? Personal preference, potentially but I think it has to do with content of the brew itself. There's going to be a certain percentage of the drink that's going to be water, hops (or maybe even rats though I find that hard to believe) along with other ingredients that make the beer distinct. However, for our purposes of simplicity and my points, let's focus on the water. In order to not immediately turn your blood immediately into alcohol or in order to appreciate the taste or maybe even in order to sell less product at a higher profit, brewers will add water. However, adding too much water will ultimately destroy the product. At some point, the beer tastes more like water than an alcoholic beverage or it won't fulfill the true intent, which, as everyone who's truthful with themselves, knows that it's to either take the edge off or go to the point of not feeling feelings (a state of being I do not recommend).

What am I getting at? Certainly not my preferences in alcoholic beverages. They can be good at times, don't get me wrong, but I really don't care that much at all about them. The point I'm driving at here is moderation. Yes, drinking in moderation and being responsible is important but it's also important, from the brewer's perspective, to be moderate with the amount of poison that's put in the brew by watering it down.

And now for something completely different and one of the two theses of this blog post:

You are a one-of-a-kind person but you are not, in any way, special in a general sense.

This is a concept that I believe, to the core of me, but wrestle with constantly as it applies to my own life. As I must, let me explain.

You are unique and you should never doubt that. However, so is everyone else. This is, all too often, taken to two extremes.

Extreme 1: Overdose - The philosophy of "if you aren't special at all, then your life doesn't matter" is a dangerous one. It leads to destructive behavior, both towards others as well as yourself. If life doesn't matter, then your actions don't matter and you can do whatever you want because, in the end, there's nothing to care about that isn't artificially constructed.

I take issue with Nihilism, if you couldn't tell but not on the logical arguments that it makes. It's quite difficult, if not impossible, to argue with nihilism based on arguments alone because, in the end, you can't prove anything from foundations. A foundation must lay upon some other foundation and I don't think it can be turtles all the way down. It's no way to live. Even if we cannot find some root to sprout from, we must grow our knowledge in some fashion, even if our seeds and soil are assumptions. However, let's not forget about the last people who attempted take fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Everyone needs to take precautions against being banished from the great Garden and be willing to sacrifice that Tree, if the need arises.

Extreme 2: Watered Down - I am a professed Christian. I may not have expressed that here and the fact that I'm taking about drinking may detract from your belief in that statement but, nevertheless, I stand by claim. I attend a church regularly and, last Sunday, my pastor spoke to the children about how each and everyone of them was special. He pointed to their fingerprints for evidence of that. He told them that God loved them and sent them on their way. He did the exact same thing today but with bubbles instead of fingerprints. This is what originally got me thinking about this part of the blog post. That and my increasing frustration with my pastor's theology but that's another story for another time. It adds greatly to my point.

I take issue with everyone being special because, if everyone is special, then no one is really special. I don't want to sound like a bitter old man (believe it or not, I'm still quite young) but special used to mean something. According to my definition of special, one must stand out. A red rose among a dozen white, a cygnet among ducklings, or a pacifist among warmongers, these are special. Individuals, as they are alive and walk among us, are not special in and of themselves.

Moderation: Ideal elixir - You have an opportunity here to be great. Don't mess it up. If you do, sure, there will be more opportunities to redeem yourself and leave an impression on those who go before you. That's ultimately what you want to do though, isn't it? If you believe there is nothing you can do to be special, you will do nothing to be special. If you believe there is nothing you can do to escape being special, you will do nothing to be special. The key here lies in a sermon that my pastor preached that I actually do agree with. That one is that you need to take action.

If you are to be remembered for generations to come, if you have any hope of immortality beyond the mortal coil you shuffle off, you must make efforts towards maximizing the measure your life has on the remainder of reality. Here in lies my final assumption in this series and my final these:

The best way to maximize the effect your life has on the remainder of the universe is to align your actions with reality.

I could go on a tangent about how Christianity is the way to go with this. I could tell you about how I believe that the will of God is the true reality but, if you really want my theological stance, write me a message in the comments and I'll shove religion down your throat as much as you'll let me. That's not my point here. My point is that you have to find something to believe and align yourself to the best of your abilities with it. If it's a divine father figure, then obey your parent as best as you can. If you believe that the ultimate reality is uncover all of the knowledge in the universe, then pursue it wholeheartedly.

In sum, don't drink. If you do, do it in moderation. Then again, as Petronius supposedly once said, "Everything in moderation, including moderation." With a name like Petronius, who can argue with him?