Is the answer really "moderation in all things"?

Only if you apply that answer in moderation.

:-D

Touch?

Er... that's supposed to be Touche'

/second Perchik

Honestly though, I think that's a legit answer. As long as you don't apply it to everything it works.

i was going to write some long-winded response about it, and realized that you're (perchik) answer was the boiled down version of exactly what i was going to say. so /re-second perchik.
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:-)

It is unclear what you mean by a 'balanced' existence. Logically, to have balance, you need a little bit of that and a little this bit of this. So yes, logically, to have balance in your life, you need to do things with moderation.

If by 'balanced' however, you mean a fulfilled existence, this is only possible if you throw moderation to the winds and do things intensely. The really good programmer is not he who knows a little bit of java and a little bit of ruby, but he who knows a particular programming art obsessively.

@max, you had me until the part about programmers. ;^) But, I think generally you're right, in a way moderately similar to Perchik's answer. :^)

Moderation is for nooblets.
Extremes > *!

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Good question. It's been posed since before Plato, so answers will either deteriorate into sound bits and jabs or this could become Fluther's biggest discussion!

Moderation doesn't mean you can't take a risk or you can't "throw caution to the wind". It means that you define an excess (extreme) and deficiency.

Example: I want to be good at playing piano. How should I go about it?

Excess: Doing nothing but piano and neglecting everything else in my life, working my butt off every day and having no time for anything else (a.k.a. workaholic).

Deficiency: Doing nothing and expecting it to work out. Being lazy, kinda hoping, and letting things distract.

Moderate: Set a specific time every day where for 3-4 hours I'll work incredibly hard and stay focused on nothing but piano during that time. And then during the rest of the day, spend time doing other things keeping in mind that piano may be my goal, but it's not the only thing in life that matters.

Now I can take that moderate approach and set myself up so that all my financial income surrounds that (and maybe I'll practice for 6-7 hours a day) and throw caution to the winds in that my energies are focused on this to make it my life. The typical musician doesn't make much money, so that's incredibly risky. But if I'm balanced with it (working very hard to make it work but also remembering the other parts of life) that's a moderate approach.

Being moderate is defining the three aspects of a decision and acting up on that. It's not easy to do, but yes, I would define it as the answer to most everything.

I call it The Middle Way.

It might be a play off of the quotation “too much of anything will kill you.” Also, if you don’t get enough food or water, you might die. Too much pleasure could get you addicted. So you might want to live so that you don’t get too much, or too little of what’s needed or wanted.