I probably learned this at an early age reading Kerouac. It was the first place I found a quiet love for the still outdoors rubbing right up against the frenetic, manic, not to mention drunken, race through the city. And whether I missed it or not, I don't recall the glue sticking these two opposing sides together to be guilt. And boy howdy, off I went.
The idea is to get in touch with both--both are extremes, they aren't a safe middle road and they aren't one or the other--they're both. Point being, you get something like a balanced self, not by staying to the center of the road, but by having even parts extreme on either side. Now I'm not suggesting you become the quintessence of manic depressive and go out drinking all night and lash yourself in the back of the hair shirt in the morning. Non. What I'm saying here is that you should pick an activity on each side that is something you really feel. It might be a little silly to form your whole life around, but maybe it could be a good part of your whole being.
So like, I very much enjoy drinking a bottle of wine straight out of the bottle and perchance breaking some glass objects and flipping over couches. And I also enjoy a little cross-legged meditation. Now you, you may have two other sorts of things that seem radically opposed, but could totally live together in harmony if you don't try to base your life totally on one or the other. All I'm saying is there is a time and place for both parts and they can be expressed to their fullest without causing a teleological breakdown for the other side. Dig?
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so are you down for a little hang gliding on our two year field trip to the dominican republic? i can lead us through a guided trance afterwards.
you know that epicurus, creator of Hedonism, in fact was a proponent of balance. food for thought.
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