Moderation


Moderation is the process of eliminating or lessening extremes. It is used to ensure normality throughout the medium on which it is being conducted. Common uses of moderation include:

Ancient Greece

Moderation is also a principle of life. In ancient Greece, the temple of Apollo at Delphi bore the inscription Meden Agan - 'Nothing in excess'. Doing something "in moderation" means not doing it excessively. For instance, someone who moderates their food consumption tries to eat all food groups, but limits their intake of those that may cause deleterious effects to harmless levels.
According to the historian and sociologist of science Steven Shapin:

Christianity

Similarly, in Christianity, moderationism is the position that drinking alcoholic beverages temperately is permissible, though drunkenness is forbidden.
In the Book of Wisdom moderation is listed among the greatest virtues.

Islam

Wasat, also called wasatiyyah is the Arabic word for best, middle, centered, balanced. In the Islamic context, it refers to the "middle way" or "moderation", a justly balanced way of life, avoiding extremes and experiencing things in moderation.
Moderate Muslims adhere to the concept of contextual relativism as a way to grasp meaning from the Quran.

Taoism

Moderation is considered a key part of one's personal development in Chinese Taoist philosophy and religion and is one of the three jewels of Taoist thought. There is nothing that cannot be moderated including one's actions, one's desires and even one's thoughts. It is believed that by doing so one achieves a more natural state, faces less resistance in life and recognises one's limits. Taken to the extreme, moderation is complex and can be difficult to not only accept, but also understand and implement. It can also be recursive in that one should moderate how much one moderates
Moderation as a principle of Taoist philosophy turns up in all three of its main texts.

Others

Moderation is a characteristic of the Swedish national psyche, more specifically described by the Swedish synonym Lagom.
In an internet forum a moderator is one who enforces the rules.