February 26, 2017: The Borders We Need

Having an internal governor to rein in the stampede to solve problems born of neurotic fear or the need for personal power is the cheapest and most effective border. Hoo-nōs

There are, indeed, (who might say nay) gloomy and hypochondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bodies, disgusted with the present, and despairing of the future; always counting that the worst will happen, because it may happen. To these I say, how much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened! My temperament is sanguine. I steer my bark with Hope in the head, leaving Fear astern. Thomas Jefferson

Perhaps temperance is the border we need—the internal governor not born of fear, but of clarity, even though new clarities come into focus. Perhaps part of that clarity is how much of reality, both subjective and objective, is created by our intent, not by our discovery. Perhaps part of that clarity is a civility born of asking how we trespass, not just protecting ourselves from trespass.