Looking For A Label

A) Labels are good.
B) Labels are bad.
C) Labelling is good.
D) Labelling is bad.
E) All of the above.
I choose E - all of the above.

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Like most everyone, I have a tremendously long list of labels that I and others have attached to myself. I also have a pretty good sized pile of discarded labels that at some point reached their expiration date and naturally fell from the aggregation or were just snipped from the grouping by some slick, hot, new, jazzy label. This being said, I want to quickly jump in here and inform you that the purpose of this blog is not to analyze the fine, or even, gross points of labels and/or labelling. No, this blog is about my looking for and finding a new label for myself.

How I came to have a need and want to find a new and, hopefully, appropriate label rose up out of a moment of self-recongnition that, in the two highly exalted label categories of RELIGION and POLITICS, I did not have a label! And I realized that I had been unable to acquire a suitable label because when it came to these two categories, I was all over the freakin place. I am a mozaic of beliefs, opinions and points of view gleaned from all extremes and everything in between. And to not have, at least some sort of label, with regards to the practically deified categories of religion and politics, just isn't good for social intercourse. And if it's not good for social intercourse it's not good for survival. Furthermore, there is this tacit law of the universe that requires, upon such an incident of a person not being able to offer up a political or religious label for which to categorize themselves for the benefit of others or self, others are free to arbitrarily assign whatever damn label they choose to the most unfortunate individual.

If one allows their environment to arbitrarily pin a label upon them, it might work out okay. However, "might" in that sentence translates to: not a snowball's chance in hell. No, I sure didn't want to dawddle around and wait for a messanger from the universe to arrive with my new label. Therefore, I took matters into my own hands.

As I have no desire or inclination to bore you with the immense details involved in my label quest, I will venture to describe a key point in the process. While engaged in a moment of quiet undisturbed observing I happened to make an observation, whereby, a door opened up into a point of view that, once entered, initiated an expansion of intimate understanding. As a result, I came into possession of the "Holy Grail" of all labels. And, I wasn't even looking for it. I suddenly had in my mind, a label so fundamental in its essence that it instantly went to the top of the class and all other labels came into line underneath it.

As I sit here writing this blog, I do not recollect why I had come to assume a point of view way out in space where I was just being there and looking. There was nothing else happening, no pondering, analyzing or doing anything other than just looking. Certainly one of those rare moments. While I am unable to recall why in the hell I was engaged in this process, I can though, assure you that I was most definitely not there to look for a label. However, here is when and where I stumbled upon the door, mentioned earlier, that became that "key point" I spoke of.

I don't know if you have ever assumed a point of view way out in space and far away from Earth or not, but if you haven't, I strongly encourage you to do so. It can be a wonderfully freeing experience. Before the memory moves me to digress, I can share with you that while I was "out there" just looking around, I was struck with something enormously profound. I noticed that there was not ANYTHING that stood alone. In other words, I clearly viewed that EVERYTHING was connected to EVERYTHING else.

As I'm sure you know, understanding occurs on myriad levels. Indeed, for all I know, understanding just might occur on an infinity of levels. For example, as a man, I can have an intellectual understanding of the process of giving birth that a woman experiences. I can have a incredibly detailed understanding of every little biological and physilogical mechanic involved in the process. But, as much understanding of the process as this represents, I will never be able to understand the birth process the way any woman who has ever given birth does. Similarly, I can have an analytical, intellectual and personal understanding of the interconnectedness of life, energy, matter, space and time yet still not really "get it." So when I, "I" meaning a fraction of my awareness, was out in space looking around, and I recognized that there was not one single stand alone thing in the universe (duh), I experienced this huge expansion of understanding. I got this "everything being connected" thing on a whole new level. And here is where I become cognizant of "the" label.

If EVERYTHING in the universe is connected to EVERYTHING in the universe, then what is key to the enduring operation of the universe? What is key to universal integrity? Answer: OPTIMUM BALANCE.

Optimum: the greatest degree or best result obtained or obtainable.

Balance: a state of equilibrium i.e., equal actions of opposing forces, powers, influences, etc.

From the microcosm to the macrocosm and any "cosm" :) in between, there is a potential point of optimum balance that can be attained for the entire universe as we don't know it (yeah, you read that right - as we don't know it). In other words, there is a condition of "just right", not too fast, not too slow, not too high, not too low and so on and so forth for every single system that exists throughout the universe. And whenever a component of any system moves away, even if ever so slightly, from that extraordinarily super fine point of optimum balance, the action instantaneously acts to throw the system it's a part of out off balance. But when one system falls away from a state of optimum balance, other systems closely connected to the now abberated system, will move off balance in opposition so as to maintain balance, although, not optimum. You see, one system moves off balance on the minus side and to prevent a ripple effect, other connecting systems will then reactively move away from optimum balance to the plus side as an effort to maintain a balance and prevent the destabilization from expanding out into other systems. And the driving force behind this intent to achieve optimum balance is the desire to endure - to survive. EVERYTHING in the universe is hooked up to this desire to survive. Or another way to put it is, EVERYTHING in this universe is seeking to attain a state of optimum balance because at optimum balance there is optimum survival. Infinite survival.

This is just a mere scratch on the surface but I have found my label. I am an OPTIMUMIST. And I believe that for every single thing there is a state of "just right" i.e., the state of being in optimum balance.