The Balance

I think that in Gulliver's Travels, Swift was tring to show us that, as human beings, we need to have a keen sense of balance in our lives. As Gulliver traveld into the land of the Houyhnhnms, he saw and witnessed many strange things. First of all he thought that the Houyhnhnms were simplly dumb beasts used for labor, as was custom in the real world. When, in fact the Houyhnhnms we're the ones who thought that he was just some dumb brute. He soon discovered that these creatures were very intellegent, orderly, and followed a strict system of living. They even had developed their own language and civilization. But the Houyhnhnms weren't very intimate with one another, even among the families and the married couples. They didn't touch each other often, or even snuggled with each other.
The Yahoos, on the other hand were in fact human beings who gave way to their brutal, wild, and more animalistic side. They were kept as the Houyhnhnm's working slaves. These creatures were untame, and they had long fingernails. They lived according to the emotional side of themselves, kind of like their own instinct. When they just felt like doing somethng they didn't consider the consequences, or whether it was right or wrong, they just compulsively did it. They were disgusting, unpleasant, and very wild.
So as Gulliver traveled, the Chief Houyhnhnm took him into his own house and kind of treated him as a special pet. Gulliver eventually learned thier language, and learned to understand his new Master. He started to see life through the Houyhnhnm's eyes. He learned thier customs and ways. He even saw how their society worked. By the time that he got back home, he was more like a Houyhnhnm, and less like a human. He didn't even like his wife touching him anymore. Despite that fact that touching one another is a sign of friendship or intimacy among humans, Gulliver was more like a Houyhnhnm.
So I think that through his book, Swift is trying to teach us that we, as humans, need to maintain Balance throughout our own lives. We can't be too emotional like the Yahoos, and just go with our feelings. And we can't be overly systematic and orderly like the Houyhnhnms. We must find a balance in between and betwixt the two. We as humans naturally have emotions, but that doesn't mean that we should let those emotions dictate the way that we act. And some of us have a natural sense of order, but that shouldn't dictate our actions either. We need to be able to feel our emotions and passions, and we need to keep them in control and in their palce. And we should also be orderly to some extent, because we were created by an orderly God. But most important of all, we need to have love and compassion toward others as Jesus did.