Mizan: When Limits Are Lost, Balance Is Disrupted

1 October 2021

More Possibilities, or a Lost Sense of Measure?

Question: Is possessing many things exhausting us, or is it not knowing how much is enough?

We may have a home, a car, food, and technology. Possessing these things is not wrong in itself.

The real problem is losing the line between needs and wants. Mizan helps us think about limits and balance in many areas of life.

A person cannot eat without limits. When they eat too much, their body experiences the consequences.

Our actions also have consequences when we work hard, exercise, spend money, and form relationships.

Today’s Pleasure, Tomorrow’s Cost

We may enjoy something very much in the moment. But the pleasure we initially feel does not reveal its overall outcome.

Excessive spending may bring comfort today. When the debt comes due, that same decision may become burdensome.

The excitement at the beginning of a relationship does not guarantee that it will continue rightly and in balance for many years.

Question: When making a decision, do we see only the present, or also the consequences that will arise tomorrow?

Helping Others Also Requires Measure

A brother or sister may be in difficulty. Helping is a valuable act. But acting without thought while ignoring our own family’s basic needs may lead to new problems.

A person first needs to recognize their capacity and responsibilities.

Giving without limits can sometimes appear to be goodwill, then turn into resentment and hostility.

Balance does not diminish love; it makes love sustainable.

How Do We Form Our Awareness?

At first, a person performs a newly learned task with great care. When driving for the first time, they think through each movement individually.

As time passes, some actions become habits. The same can happen with patterns of thought.

If we repeat a mistaken idea for years, we may come to regard it as normal without realizing it.

Then, when we encounter problems, we may always blame others.

Question: When the same problem recurs, is there a behavior of our own that remains unchanged?

Placing Everything on Someone Else

Sometimes it seems easy to explain what we experience by saying, “Because of my mother,” “Because of my father,” or “Because of my boss.”

Other people’s injustices may be real. But if we never see the point we ourselves can change, the problem continues.

Mizan is not only the order outside us. It is our measure in the face of our own desires, anger, fear, and needs.

Let us consider one of our decisions today: Is need speaking here, or ambition?

When measure is lost, abundance does not bring peace; when balance is established, what we possess finds its place.