moderation =/= balance

You're sitting at a table with six, empty cups of identical capacity and shape.

Alongside these cups is a glass jug, containing exactly enough water to completely fill three of the six cups.

You grab the jug and, starting with the cup on the left, begin to pour water into each cup, such that they are all filled to exactly half their capacity. When you finish, the jug is completely empty, and the water is equally distributed among the six cups.

This is moderation.

Now, you take the rightmost cup and pour its entire contents into the leftmost cup, making the leftmost cup completely full, and the rightmost cup completely empty.

Then, you take take the second cup from the right and pour half its contents into the second cup from the left, making the second cup from the left three-quarters full, and the second cup from the right one-quarter full.

Finally, you leave the remaining two cups as they are.

This is balance.

Moderation between extremism and moderation itself. Moderation on a higher order.