The earth is bi-polar with a North and a South pole. The human body is likewise bi-polar with head and gut. And some people are considered bi-polar because of alternating depression and mania.
Might I suggest that bi-polar is, in fact, two poles: one that we hold onto for dear life and another that we dance around.
Those near the North Pole deal with the harshest conditions and need to rely on their wits if they are to survive. Cold and calculating is the necessary approach to life. Those in the southern regions find the gut to be their guide as the heat of day renders their heads too heavy for use. They follow the sensations of the body and are hot-headed negotiators.
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Indeed, life has its ups and downs that are better negotiated with equilibration. Equal parts head and gut, controlled and attuned, depressed and manic.
Rather than fly the flag of victory one day and the flag of surrender the next, learn to honor the flagpole and be content at half-mast. For blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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The winds of change bring as much disturbance as they do relief. Today's "Arab Spring" may usher in tomorrow's winter of discontent. Planned strategies will succumb to the forces of unplanned consequences.
Truth will be the judge of us all. So I send up and salute the admonition found on the Shaker barns of old:
A person of kindness, to his animals is kind,
brutal actions show a brutal mind.
Remember, the One who made the animals
formed them mute, they can't complain.
But God's omniscient eye beholds thy cruelty,
He hears their cry.
They were destined thy servant and thy drudge,
but know this - their creator is thy judge.
