The orientation spectrum

The tension between the “left” and the “right” is simply the tension between idealism and realism.

Being practical and realistic means compromise and balance, and detracts from any kind of idealistic position. However, pure practicality tends to become boring while pure idealism tends to become too exciting. There has to be a reasonable balance between realism based solutions (science) and idealistic based solutions (religion, culture, beliefs).

My feeling is that 15% idealism is about right. Much more than that and one becomes entangled in too many conflicts between the ideal vision of how the world is supposed to work and how it really works. In reality, in the history of western civilization, the mix of idealism and realism has varied a lot, sometimes for the better, sometimes not.

For the details on the tension between idealism and realism, this is the best book I’ve found that traces the history of how philosophy has influenced the development of western culture. Basically a detailed treatment of the influence of Plato (Idealism) and Aristotle (Realism) on many of the major cultural, political, and religious events in Western History. There are similar tensions in most cultures, for example the idealistic Taoists vs the realistic Confucian approach. Not exactly the same kind of tension, but similar.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18770061-the-cave-and-the-light

Where does your favorite philosopher, guru or other influencer fall on the spectrum between idealism and realism? Are you more of a realist than an idealist? What sections of your thinking are realistic and which are purely idealistic? What is the source of your idealistic beliefs?

The Perfectly Balanced Path through life requires balancing your own idealism with your own realism; and balancing that balance with the local, national and global balances between idealism and realism.