One quotation which people like to bring out, usually to justify their bad behaviour, is the quotation from the book, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by the English poet William Blake, ‘The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom’. This is often interpreted to allow one to do too much of things which they really shouldn’t, however, does their excess really lead to the palace of wisdom? The fact the actions are oft repeated would suggest not and it is not really clear that the interpretation of it having to be too much of something really is what it means.
In Buddhism it is thought best not to have excess of anything, to live an austere existence. However, could one not argue that to live a spartan existence, an austere existence is taking self-deprivation to an excessive level? Whether, to use extremes (pun intended), one’s sitting alone in a temple owning nothing but rags and a rice bowl or injecting crap into their arms (kids, never do that, be smart) the actions themselves are meaningless as there is no inherent meaning in anything. Meaning, rather, comes from reflection. Whether doing either of the former leads to an epiphany depends wholly upon how one, or observers, reflect upon the actions which took place. One might see the monk and realise that the excess leads to the revelation that balance between the heavenly pursuits (meditation, solitude) and the earthly pursuits (work and society) is how one can receive wisdom- by being in the world and being apart from the world to reflect. Likewise, for the drug user. Any true wisdom must come from a form of balance but one must not seek balance for the sake of balance, to have a bias towards balance, for if one was to ask, for example, is it better to be kind or cruel? then the answer, ‘a little from column A and a little from column B’, would be absurdly stupid as the balance should always be towards the better, causing an imbalance (kids, always be cruel! I kid). Thusly is seems clear that excess, in this sense, does not come from too much or too little but a balance of experience and an excess of reflection.
We in the West think we understand everything. For example, we think we are experts on food. We have cookery books, shows and people like to speak how they are connoisseurs of food. However, very few (thankfully) know the true value of food. To have too little food (i.e. to starve) and then be given a small piece of bread or cup of water is to understand what food is- food is life, it is not decadence, it is not social standing, it is life and life only, the same with money (as I wrote about previously), the same with so many things. In the instance of food, the excess of not having any food teaches one the true value of food and thusly a lady starving in some poor country we can’t name, let alone point to on a map, some country our leaders let be destroyed for vainglorious reasons (hello Boris, Trump et al), has greater wisdom, born of understanding, than all of the famous chefs of the world combined.
‘till next time
A thought: wouldn’t it be ironic if Brexit goes through on the 31st of October and then on the 5th of November people celebrate by fulfilling the idle daydreams of Guy Fawkes?
thegreaterfool2016 