‘Moderation’
CAERS Substack Article #84
I have frequently referred to the idea that most things in life lie along a spectrum. Either end tends to be rather extreme: droughts and monsoons, heat waves and cold snaps are good examples when it comes to weather. Nassim Taleb, in his popular book ‘The Black Swan’, relates that the overwhelming majority of losses on the stock exchange occurred on only a few very, very bad days, rare ones referred to as ‘black swans’. As a general rule, the middle ground tends to be the most common and, for good reason, often the most welcome: extremes tend to carry with them greater risk and danger.
Although the extremes can be terrifying, they can also be exhilarating; the safer middle road is often deemed to be boring and predictable. When we are young, full of energy and curiosity, we tend to be more interested in pushing the outside of the envelope. As we age, we have a tendency to be more cautious, in part because we have had our fill of adrenaline rushes so they are less enticing, and in part because we are all too aware of the price to be paid when we push limits a little too far and crash and burn. Experience will often remind us of our vulnerability, as well as how precious and transient are the gifts bestowed upon us, including life itself.
The passage of time can help us to realize how unpredictable the future can be, and how limited our ability to even recognize, let alone comprehend, the myriad variables involved in making predictions. If we nurture true humility, we can begin to accept the fact that we are less sure of so many things, not just those in the future but even those in the present. If we go too far, we can find ourselves slipping into a cynicism where we feel that nothing can be trusted or counted upon. However, that can be largely avoided if we stay grounded in the middle by acknowledging the possibility but not the inevitability of adverse events and retain a healthy skepticism instead. As we overcome our fear of the unpleasant, we develop the courage to see life more accurately, warts and all. In the process we have the opportunity to realize that that which does not destroy us can make us stronger.
It is interesting that humans are a very binary species when it comes to our reflex responses; we tend to start at extremes, fight or flight, rather than in the middle ground of sober reflection first. That may seem maladaptive, but because rare events can be quite disadvantageous to us, perhaps it is best for our survival that we at least start by recognizing and preparing for the extremes first—feast or famine. However, problems can arise when we get stuck at the extremes or fail to appreciate the potential wisdom of the middle ground. The ideal balance may require the initial acknowledgement of the edges of the spectrum, followed by the exploration of all of the places in between without completing forgetting about the risk and danger of the opposite poles.
Age and experience do not guarantee an appreciation for moderation, but they can help us to acquire it if we are sufficiently humble during our life journey. As they say, the advantage of age is not that we are necessarily smarter, we have just been to more rodeos, so to speak. Letting go of our sense of invincibility and acknowledging the mystery and complexity of the universe are good places to start. The principle of moderation can help us to recognize offers that are too good to be true, as well as learning how much trust we should place in specific individuals. There are people who will try to take advantage of us and the better we are at being able to ‘read’ people the more likely we are to avoid the painful extremes of excessive pain or excessive, and addictive, pleasure.
One spectrum of being human is our degree of emotionality. At one pole there is psychopathy where individuals experience little emotion, in particular empathy for others, and the other pole where individuals are exceptionally sensitive and have difficulty controlling their emotions, especially sadness and fear. Most of us will have a more balanced and satisfying life if we can juggle our rational, non-rational and emotional elements within boundaries of moderation. We may not be able to change our nature or how we are ‘wired’, but I suspect that we can to some degree learn ways to ‘even out’ these parts of ourselves by having our various strengths and weaknesses offset one another.
I have become more interested in studying history as I age; I want to learn from our collective mistakes so that we don’t continue to make the same ones. So, I must admit to considerable disappointment as to how history was taught when I attended school; it was too much about dates and details. Studying history should be about trying to understand human behaviour and by doing so help us to develop a better understanding of ethics, how we ought to treat one another, not just how we have treated one other.
And if there is any field of study that can teach us moderation it should be the study of history. Almost invariably when things have gone off the rails, it was because people, ideas or events at the extremes dominated excessively and we lost our balance. It is heartbreaking to read of the incredible cruelty we have perpetrated on one another when we have lost sight of the middle ground.
In your experience, have you found that in situations where you were living too much at the edges, largely ignoring or rejecting moderation, that it has been problematic for you? Was there any evidence of that during the pandemic? Have there been other times in our history when lack of moderation contributed to disappointing results?
Adrenaline is a double-edged sword—it can exhilarate and it can devastate, so it must be sought after wisely. It might be best if we acknowledge that moderation is often a good starting point from which to view our world and make our plans despite its lacklustre image.
J. Barry Engelhardt MD (retired) MHSc (bioethics)
CAERS Health Intake Facilitator
It has been said if we don't know history, we are doomed to repeat it. That's ironic, because we can't know it from bare-bones facts, which is all we learn in school. To understand any event, we have to know the prevalent beliefs of the time and the motivations and characters of the people involved. Then, hopefully, we can grow beyond it.
Beautifully written. As I get older I find myself yearning for peace and I recognize that taking things in moderation and with a grain of salt is incredibly helpful for that.