Moderation - World Scripture

Moderation is universally regarded as a virtue. Excessive behavior of any kind—stinginess or profligacy, mortification of the flesh or licentiousness, self-righteousness or abject submissiveness—should be eschewed in favor of the Golden Mean or Middle Path.

However, each tradition has its distinctive emphasis. Aristotle’s classic statement of the Golden Mean emphasizes the work of reason in finding the middle and keeping to it.

The role of wisdom to know the mean is reflected in the popular Christian prayer, “God, grant me the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what should be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.” The Buddha’s Middle Path defines religious life as threading a line between grasping at being and taking refuge in nothingness.

Throughout the history of Buddhism, philosophers and practitioners have sought to define this middle way between withdrawal from the world and social engagement, between effort at spiritual growth and attacking the pride that can arise with its attainment, and so on—an enduring dialectic.

The Confucian mean is about personal balance, which is manifest in one’s actions and in the harmony of one’s relationships. These traditional expressions of the mean are about individual behavior.

Father Moon’s description of the mean, on the other hand, has a global outlook.

The mean is achieved when a person’s individual balance is substantiated in harmonious relationships with others and then pursues actions in society to bring together high and low, rich and poor, black and white to form a level “horizon” of life.

Moral virtue is a mean… between two vices, the one involving excess, the other deficiency, and its character is to aim at what is intermediate in passions and in actions… Hence, also it is no easy task to be good.

For in everything, it is no easy task to find the middle. Just as to find the middle of a circle is not for everyone but for him, who knows; so, too, anyone can get angry—that is easy—or to give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right aim, and in the right way, that is not for everyone, nor is it easy. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics II.9 (Hellenism

The servants of the Most Gracious are… those who, when they spend, are not extravagant and not niggardly, but hold a just balance between those extremes. Qur’an 25.67

Be not righteous overmuch, and do not make yourself overwise; why should you destroy yourself? Be not wicked overmuch, neither be a fool; why should you die before your time? Ecclesiastes 7.16-17

In practicing the ordinary virtues and in the exercise of care in ordinary conversation, when there is deficiency, the superior man never fails to make further effort, and where there is excess, never dares to go to the limit. Doctrine of the Mean 13.4 (Confucianism)

With regard to honor and dishonor, the mean is proper pride, the excess is known as a sort of empty vanity, and the deficiency undue humility. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics II.7 (Hellenism)

The master said, “‘The Ospreys!’ Pleasure not carried to the point of debauch; grief not carried to the point of self-injury.”18 Analects 3.20 (Confucianism)

Be generous but not extravagant; be frugal but not miserly. Nahjul Balagha, Saying 32 (Shiite Islam)

Remember, no human condition is ever permanent. Then you will not be overjoyed in good fortune nor too scornful in misfortune. Socrates (Hellenism)

That thing has being, O Kaccana, constitutes one extreme of doctrine; that things have no being is the other extreme. These extremes have been avoided by the Tathagata, and it is a middle doctrine he teaches. Samyutta Nikaya 22.90 (Buddhism)

However hungry you are, you do not eat with both hands.20 Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

Eat and drink, but waste not by excess: for God loves not the wasters. Qur’an 7.31

Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God. Proverbs 30.8-9

Your fame or your person, which is dearer? Your person or your goods, which is worth more? Gain or loss, which is the greater bane? That is why excessive meanness is sure to lead to great expense; Too much store is sure to end in immense loss. Know contentment, and you will suffer no disgrace; Know when to stop, and you will meet with no danger. You can then endure. Tao Te Ching 44 (Taoism)

While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in a state of equilibrium (chung). When those feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called the state of harmony (ho). This equilibrium is the great root from which grow all the human actions in the world, and this harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue. Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish. Doctrine of the Mean 1.4-5 (Confucianism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
What does it mean to live by the norm? A person takes the middle path, seeking harmony by adopting the mean in all aspects of life. The middle path does not lean to one side in its affections.

You can attain it when you do not have a preference for high or low but proceed in harmony with all. Be a person who lives by the norm, by taking the middle path. (120:224, October 17, 1982)

Sin, destruction and evil arise from taking a personal standpoint. If a person’s personal property exceeds a certain limit, it becomes evil. There is a limit to how much of a person’s life should be devoted to personal affairs, and once a person transgresses that limit, his life becomes evil. Then he is bound to decline, sinning more and more. (31:165, May 24, 1970)

God gives each person a certain quota of material substance to consume here on earth. Suppose you were allocated a large amount, but you say, “No, I don’t need that much. I will use as little of it as possible.”

In that case, all the rest of the material wealth that God allocated to you would be transferred to your children and your posterity. Any people or nation with this kind of attitude will prosper. (161:126, January 11, 1987)

A well-rounded person is one who fits the four directions. (Way of God’s Will 2.2)

Let’s say that the white race represents the day and the black race represents the night. Then if white people don’t like black people, it is like the day not liking the night. Can this situation continue?

The cycle of day and night is balanced, half-and-half. Any people that goes against nature will perish.

Does one of your eyes look up and the other look down? No, they are at the same level. When you breathe through your nose, can one nostril point up and the other down? No. Everything on your face is in harmony and balance.

Likewise, people who disregard the balance of the universe will disappear.

Therefore, those WASPs who insist on white supremacy are scoffed at by young people throughout the world; they are in decline. Likewise, American young people are dying and American families are breaking down because there is a fundamental imbalance between the individual and the family. (339:139-40, December 10, 2000)

Something new and great emerges from the union of the East and the West. For this reason, many of the children born from international couples are geniuses. (376:277, April 19, 2002)

Without a horizon, the equilibrium that is conducive to unity cannot last. Hence, we must preserve the horizon and keep it level. To establish a level horizon, we begin by finding balance in a subject-object relationship. Subject and object partners exist to make absolute balance. Next, the balanced subject and object partners make their surrounding horizon level.

We cannot make it level all at once. It requires balancing the high and the low and making adjustments along the way. After making our surroundings level, we attain the standard for eternal settlement. Unity emerges at this point, unity around the [subject and object partners] at the center.

Hence, you should understand that balance, the horizon, and unity form a trinity.

Among these three, where does God abide?

He dwells in the unity. Yet unity requires a level horizon, and a level horizon requires balance. The world of balance, horizon and unity breaks apart if even one of them is lacking. (298:168-69, January 1, 1999)