The Quest For Balance

The Quest for Balance

• The Pattern.  ‘Two truths seemingly at odds’

 The Quest for Balance is marked by two or more seemingly opposed realities both being true at once.   In the world of thought patterns it is no longer ‘this or that’ but rather ‘this and that’.   Two things that are true at once.  It seems necessary to visit both ends either in the mind or the body or both in order to properly move forward.   In-fact, wherever we find movement in the earth, sky, water and air and all living things,  the underlying cause for that movement is the quest for balance.  

Wherever living things identify their need and seek to meet that need, this is the quest for balance.   When the sun rises and warms the earth, hot air rises creating a vacuum and in rushes cooler air and we call that wind.  This is the quest for balance.  When carbon dioxide in your bloodstream elevates too high it sends a signal to your diaphragm muscles causing your diaphragm to expand.  This creates a vacuum inside your lungs compared to the atmospheric pressure outside of your body and we take a breath in the quest for balance.  More examples…..

 In all of the created order of things, balance is never static.  It is always dynamic and on the move in the sense that wherever there exists a void that draws on something to fill it or to offer counter balance to, another void is created.  Without this continual draw, life stagnates.   When the need is great, movement or the processes of life are sped up.  Examples…

 Not only is this Quest for Balance the premise for movement it is also the backdrop for how we give definition to all things.  Nothing can truly be defined without being in the presence of its opposite or counterpart.  Examples of definition…..  

• The Principle.
  • For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Not every reaction yields the same effect though. 
  • Every action meets a need and creates a need, fills a vacuum and creates a vacuum.
  • The search for balance is the premise for movement.  
  • Two seemingly opposing poles and a center.  A two for one.
  • Nothing is meaningful if it is not measurable and it's not measurable except in the presence of its opposite.  Anything isolated from its whole or out of context is not the real thing.  Nothing has value if it can not be defined and nothing can truly be defined when isolated from its opposite or removed from context. 
  • Balance is sought but never truly satisfied but for a moment. 
  • Living things are dynamic.  They are not static. 
  • Wisdom has two truths
  • Two opinions are better than one
  • All things, whether in the natural or in the spiritual, are subject to the principle of, ‘The Quest for Balance.’
  • ?If you perceive a certain truth you must recognize that there is an opposite that is equally true and generally they connect on a spectrum.    Most other principles seem to break along these lines.   If you were to only recognize one end of the spectrum you would have a truth that is 100% true and yet only half of the truth.  Most of us live our lives fully entrenched in half truths.  Might need additional context or moved to pattern section….
  • One truth without the other is not the real thing.  At best it is a half truth. 
  • Taking the right path is not probable without exploring the wrong path. Exploration is accomplished both in thought and being physically present.

• The Practice
  • We pursue balance as a moving target and not something to hold on to once we’ve found it.
  • We aim to hold a posture of recognition that at any given moment we are likely operating with half truths.  We seek to train ourselves to continually explore what else may be relevant and true that we may be missing.
  • When we take a course of action we try to imagine what vacuum we are actually filling and what void we are creating. 
  • When working with definitions investigating both ends is a must…