Personally I find it hard to live by a forumla. Like " the middle path between extremes" or whatever. I just live, and do what I do. Having some good friends, and a healthty lifestyle is good, but I have a weak will so if i were not in this position I may struggle to achieve this goal. I think that's (i.e. weak will) called "akrasia" in Greek philosphy.
I am opposed a priori to the idea of the middle way I think. Moderation may be good by definitoin, but is sounds so uniform and boring. Also a lot of my peak experiences come from non-conceptual decisions. Going with intuition,
feeling ones way through life, meditaiton etc.
Like Bruce Lee said, (more or less quoting form the Taoist sage Lao Tzu I think) "Don't think, feel. Like a finger pointing at the moon, don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory"...
I dont want to advocate martial attitude though, I prefer to peace out in my old age...
I have sparred with champions and come out worse for wear.
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
As opposed to the Middle way Jesus said enter through the narrow gate, for the wide path (of many ) leads to destruction. I interpret this as individualistic and a self centered virtue. Trying to ethicize for whole populations and come up with precise results is a scientific nightmare. Life and politics are soooo complex.
Theres national interest, economic intererests, group interests etc.
So the "narrow gate" is to look after ones self, because this is more certain epistemically and in terms of access. We access our own life, and results as easier to calculate from close range and a known context.
