The Middle Path is the diamond of Eastern wisdom. I know of no wisdom finer, sharper, or more useful.

The Middle Path is not religious in nature and is entirely in keeping with current Western academic philosophy and science.

The Middle Path is spiritual, when “spiritual” means the unconditional acceptance of all creation.

At the heart of the Middle Path is “both/and” thinking, rather than the “either/or” way we ordinarily see things.

In our ordinary human experience, things stand fundamentally divided—either/or.

For example, in our usual view of vertical direction, something is either up, or it’s down-- obviously.
In our ordinary reality generally, something is either "this" or it’s "that"-- simple.

Our usual reality is simple and obviously divided--hardcore, either/or.

When things are simple and obviously hardcore either/or, conflict rules.

On the Middle Path, things are not simple, obvious or hardcore.

On the Middle Path, things divided also come together--both/and.

When things divided come together, peace is a natural result.

The Middle Path is about reconciliation and peace: Peace within you, among us, and with our Earth.

Kumbaya, baby!

The Middle path is also about social and economic justice--peace at any price is not peace on the Middle Path.

Right on!

The Middle Path is about playing hard in life, and having fun! 

Rock on!

I will now demonstrate "both/and"--how things divided can also come together, can be peacefully reconciled on the Middle Path.

Our greatest divide is between polar opposites, like up and down.

In our usual experience of up and down it is, obviously, up versus down and never the two shall meet.

We shall see.

Please take a few moments to close your eyes and imagine the direction “up.”

Next, imagine the direction “down.”

Lastly, imagine “up” without “down,” or “down” without “up.”

As I hope you can see with this little mind experiment, there is no up without its apparent antithesis, down.

Actually, it is impossible to even imagine up unaccompanied by down.

Thus,
On the Middle Path, differences are not only different, like in our common experience, but are also part of each other, are in each other, are united.

On the Middle path, in reality, up is both different and united with down—both/and.

What we did with up and down we can do with all great divides, like in and out, right and left, winning and losing, good and bad, and beautiful and ugly. 

Let’s see.

If everybody was beautiful, it would get ugly because beauty would cease to exist and sameness would prevail.
If there wasn’t out, how could we ever get in?
Without a right, where would left be left?
It would be a bad day when every day became a good day because life loses all meaning when sameness prevails.
If every time you shot you scored, winning would lose all its fun before it ceased to exist.

If things were really and truly separate and disconnected,  just like they appear in usual experience, then any single object could stand alone in the universe.
Any stand-alone universal object, let us say a copper penny, would be without any relationships, because alone means without relationship; alone in the universe means that there is nothing else for our little orphaned universal penny to be in relationship with, not even empty space.

Now,
Here is the rub: If any one thing--like our universal penny--has no relationship to anything else, because there is nothing else to be in relationship with…that one thing disappears.
Our penny vanishes, because it would have no boundaries, and boundaries exist only in relationship.

Everybody say,
“Wow!” Or at least, "Not bad."

But seriously, that disappearing penny was no illusion.
Existence is only possible in relationship. Nothing stands alone, however it appears.
As the great thinker Gregory Bateson put it, “It takes two to have one.”

On the Middle Path, our simple and obvious everyday experience is deconstructed and what unfolds is another view, a holistic way of seeing things.

In this holistic view everything is, fundamentally, in relationship--The Big Picture. 
It’s like what some astronauts have said about viewing the Earth from space: What looks totally divided down here on Earth, looks entirely united from space--The Big Picture.

The Big Picture that arises on the Middle Path does not negate our usual experience of reality, the reason it's called, "The Middle Path."

Experientially, we still have a distinct “up” and a distinct “down,” ten little toes, one nose, and all the regular facts of life to concern ourselves with--what makes life, life.

The Middle Path is analogous to riding a bike.
While racing along on your bike, it looks and feels like pure straight ahead motion. In fact, you’re continually balancing—vibrating--between two opposing directions, right and left (try sitting still on a bike). 

On the Middle Path you also vibrate between two opposing forces—ordinary perspective and experience, and the Big Picture.

The Middle Path shares space with the primal Tao, where Yin and Yang--opposites--join in the miraculous, throbbing dance of creation.
The Middle path is like Sufis, who express the mystery of creation by whirling.
The Middle path is like the French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s theme of difference in relationship as a universal creative paradigm.
The Middle Path is like the nineteenth century philosopher Hegel’s dialectic, where opposing forces end up meeting in the middle, creating reality anew, and anew, and anew.
The Middle path is like the newest physics model, Super String Theory, where packets of vibrating “energy,” so small they may defy actual detection, create…well everything.

The Middle Path is practical. 
 
On the Middle Path, it’s easier to relax and bring some serenity into your life. 
On the Middle path, when bad things happen you feel bad and do what you can to make them better.
For example, if your car breaks down you get it to a mechanic, hopefully a good and honest one.

On the Middle path, when bad things happen, you also know that in the Big Picture, in life, bad things will happen.
The Big Picture is like a palliative substance that has no down side.

Understanding, accepting, and integrating the Big Picture into daily living dilutes emotional pain, lightening things up.
When you acknowledge and accept reality--that both good and bad are necessary to life, that life is, by its nature, the best to the worst with no guarantees--then bad is not quite so hard to take.

In Twelve Step recovery groups from Vancouver to Moscow, you hear the phrase, “Life on life’s terms.”
Living life on life’s terms means the acceptance of all creation—the good and the bad.
Acceptance is the key to peace of mind and serenity, what recovery becomes about once you stop the addiction.

You don’t need to be in recovery to lack peace of mind, you just need to be awake and breathing.

On the Middle Path, the Big Picture leads naturally to living life on life’s terms, existential and spiritual acceptance, and serenity.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Shakyamuni, the man they called “Buddha,” created the Middle Path.
Madyamika, as it is called in the ancient language, Sanskrit, was named and codified almost two eons ago by the monk Nagarjuna.
Nobody knows if Nagarjuna was a real man, but real or unreal the work attributed to him is the best. 
While nobody owns the truth, we should acknowledge and honor our sources.

On the Middle Path are warriors... for peace.

On the Middle Path, warriors are distinguished from street fighters.
As warriors, even as we fight to win, when we must,  we accept our enemies’ perfect humanity, because we are, each and every one of us, part of a perfect whole.

Welcome to the Middle Path!