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The more I grow, the more I really understand that there is no “right” or “wrong” (outside of obvious things like murder, stealing, etc).
Not only do I feel like there’s no right or wrong, but I feel it’s WEAK to use those labels. I think it’s more about your own personal journey versus anything else.
Take making money for example. Most of my friends are really great at ASKING for money. They have no problem telling people how much they think they’re worth, what they feel they deserve, etc… and it works out very well for them. I, on the other hand, have never been that great at it. Good things (including money) always seem to just float my way.
Many of my friends have mentioned to me that I should have more confidence, I should speak up more, assert my value… and I agreed with them for a long time, thinking something was wrong with me that I needed to “fix”.
Then, I realized that’s just stupid.
Insert adage here: “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”
Alcohol is another example. I have a friend that parties a lot. She loves it. Some of my other friends have made negative comments about it, as if she’s doing something “wrong”.
Maybe it’s “wrong” for THEM, but this particular friend happens to be in amazing flow when she drinks. She handles her alcohol extremely well (so if you were thinking this “friend” was actually me, that part disproves it ;)), is more intuitive than usual when drinking, and can get her work done better than ever.
The vegan lifestyle is another thing. Some people NEED MEAT. NEED it. I remember reading one story about a devout raw foodist who helped hundreds of people cure tons and tons of diseases by eating all raw. Throughout the process, his wife got very sick. He went to cure her with raw food, and it wasn’t working. For YEARS he tried, and she was getting worse and worse, with very little predicted time left to live. People kept telling him to give her meat but he didn’t want to. The thought disgusted him. However, he eventually gave in when it was literally “do or die” – AND IT WORKED. The wife ended up getting better.
I don’t think ALL people need meat, not at all. I think everybody’s body is different. But I think renouncing people who eat meat, judging them, etc… is a sign of weakness and laziness.
(And for the record, I’m not referring to super-huge amounts of it.)
Sure, it would be easier to make general labels – such as “Drinking excessively is wrong” – because label making helps tidy things up. It helps give us a nice, clean view of the world so that no extra thinking is necessary.
It helps so that we don’t need to go through the work of journeying ourselves and figuring out what’s right or wrong for us.
I think that’s why everyone thinks they’re better than everyone else, too. It makes things easier.
Internet Marketers think they’re luckier/smarter/more willing to “think out of the box” than 9-5 folk because they don’t work for the man. Many of us try to “help” people we know in jobs.
Vegetarians think they’re healthier/more compassionate than non-vegetarians.
Some religions go so far as to say all non-believers are “sinners”.
Schools have rivalries, each thinking they’re the better one. It goes on, and on, and on… when the end reality is that different people have different truths, and nobody is “right” or “wrong”.
Obviously this post encompasses things I’ve done/said in the past and things I will probably do again, but I’m going to continue to do my best to remember when I come up in situations where I try to judge “right” or “wrong”, “bad” or “good”.
Many, many writers find that they write better when drinking.
Attaching success to someething which is, basically, a poison (alcohol) is a bad idea.
Would you say the same thing if it was heroin? Or pot? Or prescription drugs? Or cigarettes?
I have my disagreements with “western” medicine — but the evidence of the harm that nicotine & alcohol can do is “generally” is pretty well-established.
The author of Sophie’s Choice, the late William Styron, discusses the hazards of alcohol and writers in his book “Darkness Visible” (an excellent description of the struggles people with depression, as Styron had, have.).
And many people think that Ernest Hemingway’s suicide was enabled by alcohol.
We won’t even talk about the “27 year old rock star” curse that has taken the lives of people like Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain & others.
The problem with alcohol is — a person may be “immune” to its physical harm — but by the time they know, it’s “too late” if it does.
There ARE some things that wisdom does enter into the equation, and that wisdom comes from the depths of human experience.
Ahhhh the end of duality…and the beginning. :O) Right, wrong? All of a matter of perspective! Can’t have one without the other yet neither exist! ;o) I enjoyed reading your post and hearing you discover another level of awareness.
I agree though..different strokes for different folks! Some like to drink and some don’t or do in different levels…meat for some non for others….lots for many! :O0 As far as murder and stealing…to some even those are “ok” or “right”.