Hello everyone. Today, I would like to share some thoughts about proportionality.
In daily life, we may encounter many situations. For example, when walking on the street, we may see someone asking for money or needing help. Many times, when I give money or help the right person, I feel very happy and peaceful.
However, there are also many cases where people pretend to be in need in order to touch our compassion, making us give money or spend a lot of time helping them. If we later discover that we were deceived, we may feel very upset because we helped someone who was not deserving.
Therefore, I think we need to know how to help the right people.
In general, the money or effort we use to help others can be understood as time, because our time can create money and effort.
Each person living in this world has a limited amount of time. Therefore, when we help someone, it also means that we have given a part of our life time to that person. For that reason, help also needs proportionality.
If someone needs an amount of money or help that is very small compared with our ability, we may be able to give without regret. That is giving within our capacity.
However, if it is a large amount of money, many material resources, or a type of help that requires much effort and time, then we need to calculate and consider carefully so that the help is proportional.
One way to create proportionality is to help people who are deserving.
Deserving people are those who have tried their best but still cannot solve their problem and need help from others. If I can see their effort and struggle, then I may choose to help them.
There are many cases where someone asks for money or asks for help, but I do not know how much effort they have made. In that situation, helping may be 50-50: maybe I am being deceived and may later feel upset, but maybe that person truly needs help.
Therefore, if I do not know whether someone is deceiving me or truly needs help, I can apply a second kind of proportionality: giving only a very small part compared with my ability.
In that way, if I later discover that I was deceived, I will not feel too regretful.
That is proportionality in material giving.
As for proportionality in the spiritual or mental sense, in life we may admire or idolize a person or an organization.
When I idolize someone, I may spend a lot of my life time thinking about them, observing them, or learning about them. Therefore, this also needs proportionality, so that I do not waste the time of my life.
In any field that we love, such as music, art, belief, religion, or many other areas, there are always levels from low to high.
It is similar to a student progressing from grade 1 to grade 12.
If I am at a lower position, for example grade 1, then when I see someone at a higher position, such as grade 5 or grade 6, I may admire that person very much.
However, from my position, I may not know for sure whether that person is truly at grade 5 or grade 6, or whether they have reached grade 11 or grade 12.
When I am at a lower position, I may only know that the other person is higher than me. It is very difficult to know whether they are truly at the highest level.
Therefore, all idolization or respect for another person should stop at a certain level. I should not quickly judge that someone is already at the highest position.
I should spend time evaluating and experiencing things, while also making effort myself so that I can move toward the highest level.
I can rely on others to learn, but I should not idolize them too much. If I later discover that the person is not truly in the position I once imagined, I may feel disappointed.
Therefore, in life, I think we should try to evaluate proportionality, so that our actions and choices are worthy of the time of our life.
In this way, we may have fewer regrets, because we have spent our time on the right people and the right things, making the time of our life more valuable.
Thank you for reading.