Compress :: Expand :: Temper

Sitting on my front walk this morning, I noticed the pile of three table tops sitting in the yard. I thought of how I had let them sit for far too long, especially those on top, for the rain and sun had soaked and dried them, expanded and shrank them, loosened and cracked them. They should've rather been treated and sealed, protecting them from the elements and allowing strength & structure to be maintained. They weren't, however, and so were weakened, their integrity lost.

We are the same. We have these tabletops within, vulnerable to the earth and rain lest they be treated and sealed. It is a double-edged decision that tempers the identity, confidence on one side, arrogance on the other. There is always the question of what is worth believing, what is actually true and what we are to begin with. With these questions we contemplate temperance. Yet questions give not stability. So there must be a comfort from here to knowing, and a satisfaction from the fact that we seek it.

The contemplation of virtue will lend this to you. The mind is a house of common thoughts, built with mortar of emotion. New additions are constantly made, and this mortar is not yet dry. There must be a portion of this house, however, where the mortar is completely seasoned, where the emotions and concepts are solid and resistant to change. This comes with observation and contemplation of that which arises. Until we take honest measure of the emotions and thoughts we have, they can still surprise us and hijack our awareness. As you watch the crashing waves within you roll, think on the virtues: beauty, mercy, wholesomeneses, tenacity, fortitude, any you choose, and sense them working within you already.

Social thought has grown into a kind of virus, a cult of cool that has seized onto a belief and holds it as prime law. Appearance is paramount, money its dead sister, and this cult worships them as its patron saints. Think on that which is valuable to you long enough so that it truly becomes what is valuable to you. Compassion will prove itself to you if given the chance. A wholesome, healthy body will as well. Any direction that calls, that rings with a lasting resonance, could very well be your direction whispering its way to you now.