Over the years I have forgotten so much of what my teachers and professors taught me. One of the things that any number of my professors in the seminary stressed was “The Golden Middle Way.” This I have not forgotten and have reflected on again and again for many years.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, called it the “Meden Agan”. It is the desirable middle between two extremes, the one of excess and the other of deficiency. For example, in the view of Aristotle, courage is a virtue, but if it is taken to excess, it would manifest itself as recklessness, and if deficient, as cowardice.
With all that is happening in my own life and especially in the world around me, I often find myself searching for “The Golden Middle Way”, the “Meden Agan.” — A God Provide
A person who calls himself frank and candid can very easily find himself or herself becoming tactless and cruel.
A person who prides himself on being tactful can find eventually that she or he has become evasive and deceitful.
A person with firm convictions can become pigheaded.
A person who is inclined to be temperate and judicious can sometimes turn into someone with weak convictions.
Loyalty can lead to fanaticism.
Caution can become timidity.
Freedom can become license.
Confidence can become arrogance.
Humility can become servility.
All of these are ways in which strength can become weakness,
And weakness can become strength.
