by Brett Stevens on October 29, 2011

A good deal of our lives can be wasted raging against the imperfection we perceive in life. It seems that for every good thing, there is an equal and opposite reaction that is just as bad as the good is good.

For example, we are born; thus we must die. To love something means to eventually lose it. Each day seems like two steps forward, one step back.

We are tempted by imperfection to declare life bad, and begin compensating. When we compensate, we become selfish and hoard the rest of our time and objects because we assume the world is bad and more will not be forthcoming. Today is the best it gets; tomorrow, we die.

I like to think of life like the puzzle to the right. Imperfection is the empty space that allows us to move the pieces around, making unique combinations or patterns that help us achieve what we find to be beautiful. Without empty spaces, no motion can exist, and stagnation destroys the whole game.

Although good and bad seem balanced in equal or near equal proportions, life has one final trick she has pulled out of her hat. While the bad and good are both quantitatively similar, life has thrown quality on the side of good.

For equal amounts of good and bad, we accept the bad as a cost of being alive, like getting mosquito bites in the park. But the good we remember above all else and cherish; it has a higher degree of quality that bad never can have.

If nothing else, this is a reason to trust life and its goodness. There are many things we cannot know, but we should assume that they, too, are balanced toward the good. Any life-force clever enough to make us such a delightful puzzle surely wishes nothing but good for us.

Tags: existential, metaphysics

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