Many things should never be compromised; things such as honesty, truthfulness, and compassion. These are basic virtues, and when they are absent, disagreements result. When virtue is absent, a solution will be difficult to find. For example; if one or more parties are greedy, hateful, or can't see the situation clearly, polarization will be the outcome.
Seeing clearly is a rarity. Our vision is usually skewed by an agenda of some kind, which involves something we either want badly, or already have and want to hold onto. If it weren't for desire, conflict would be the rarity, instead of seeing clearly being the rarity.
Current divisive issues are good examples of strong wanting - wanting things to go our way. Typically, we see only one side of a disagreement simply because of the strength of our convictions. The question is; are our convictions truths, or merely opinions? If we see them as truths, how can compromise be possible?
Therefore, in order to compromise, we must sort out what is opinion and what is truth, and whether or not truth is something that we can define. Is truth static, that is; is our truth something we can count on regardless of circumstances? If it is, then how can there be disagreements, unless, of course, someone else's truth is different from ours! Then, we must question truth itself.
Are there different truths? Perhaps we are deceiving ourselves if we think that truth is a commodity we can capture for ourselves, something not always moving. The truth is; truth is slippery! Perhaps the truth doesn't exist as a concept, and only exists in the circumstances of each moment.
A blanket disavowal or acceptance of something as a truth cannot react to an immediate situation. What is happening at this very moment will always beg for clear action outside the parameters of concepts and conclusions. If we are shackled by our truths and convictions, by our past conditionings that are no more than our thoughts and opinions, we will never be able to react appropriately. Seeing clearly in each moment, moment to moment, might just be the ultimate truth, but that's why it's so elusive; it's ever changing. You cannot lay a hand on it.
Right action results from seeing each moment clearly, and each moment is different from the last. Therefore, each moment requires its own type of action. Living in the past or considering the future takes us out of the moment and catapults us back or forward into ideas, and ideas are much too slow to react in the immediacy of the moment. Then we find ourselves paralyzed, confused by concepts because thought is always after the fact; only truth is immediately in sync with the fact.
When we are unable to live each moment, laws and rules become necessary. Natural virtue; compassion, honesty, and truthfulness arise in each moment, but when we are not in that moment with them, when we are caught in our mind games of thought and concept, virtue becomes lost. Then we need decrees and commandments, because we are too confused and paralyzed to react from our hearts. Unlawful acts never come from the heart, always from confused minds; minds that are neurotic and obsessed because the criminal mind believes in thought, and believes that thought is the truth, that thought is actually himself or herself, and their actions always follow the dictates of these thoughts.
All thought is dead. Thought happens after the immediacy of each moment and is merely a record - not the creativity of aware beings. Creativity is too alive, too engaged to stop long enough to dwell in the past in thought, which is much too slow. Thought is not only slow, but thought is the past, and the past projected into the future. Therefore, thought is never real, thought is unreal, it distances you from the reality of the moment, even though this is where most of us spend our entire existence; lost in thought.
This explains why compromise and finding the middle ground is so difficult; we are caught in concrete cement jackets of concept and thought without any possibility of a live interchange of immediate experience. We talk at each other instead of with each other, and instead of finding new creative solutions; we fight over things that have happened years ago, never seeing that this is all in the past and that things have changed. We do this because we believe in our thoughts, no different from the criminal, and because of this, we are capable of neurotic activity. It only depends upon how far we are pushed or how much we want things to go our way.
Look at the world; Christians fighting Muslims, Hindus fighting Buddhists, and all because of concrete opinions about who's ideas are truth, or who will dominate a piece of geography. God forbid that someone who believes other than us would move in next door!
Would the world be a better place without strong religious beliefs that only seem to separate us? I don't know. Is religion what keeps people in line, or do people keep in line because of a basic human element, a natural virtue that separates us from the animals? Does religion therefore only divide us and cause bloodshed? These are questions that any free thinker should ask, because when we are in the moment, without the burden of the past or fear of the future, none of these concepts exist. In the moment, religion doesn't exist. Religion is only an afterthought, after the ineffable is touched for a moment.
Touching that which is called God, or Reality, or Universal Truth, or whatever we wish to call it can never be done outside of this precious moment. If we are caught up in our concepts and thoughts, we will never experience the only thing that truly changes lives.
The possibility of this experience belongs to all of us, and if we ever are able to understand this universality, the world will become a more peaceful place. It all begins with each of us finding the middle ground.
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