ISN'T IT SOMETHING WE SEEK?
I watched an 85 year old tennis player step lively to hit a shot played to his side. He was out of balance as he swung and he struggled, in an instant, to maintain his upright position. Another player, 80, who toddles a bit as he walks approached a ball dead on the court so as to retrieve it. It was a slow, painful process to bend, reach and lift it so it could be put in play on the next serve, all the while maintaining balance.
Babies struggle to find balance as they begin to walk. Age robs some of balance late in life. It is an odd thing, neither this nor that, but it is a place of precision in an infinite manner of places. In humans, it is a relationship of our brain and neuromuscular structure. In nature it manifests in exquisite and changing ways and as with all living things, someplace between light and dark, depending on the nature of the life.
"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light."
Theodore Roethke
IS OUR PATH A BALANCED ONE?
Societies struggle with balance; the rights of the individual and of social units, the balance of power, beliefs and values and the balance between civilization.
"Civilization itself is a certain sane balance of values."
Ezra Pound
PEACE AND MIND
Finding peace of mind is a product of seeking balance, is it not? We seek a balance in our emotional and spiritual being.
Winemakers must balance the elements and then find a balance between oak and grape and time and taste.
We wonder about the balance of humanity and planet earth.
Susan Sontag wrote that the white race "...with its ideologies and inventions...has upset the ecological balance of the planet..."
After chasing around the planet, witnessing all manner of human endeavor, it seems balance is both a physical principal and an innate longing or pursuit. When things are out of balance, we suffer.
Keeping a balanced perspective was something my father taught.
Being balanced between work and play was something he and my mother stressed. Being balanced in the gathering and presentation of information was the mandate of editors, news directors and publishers.
Finding a balance seems good advice to all of us, in whatever. But perhaps I'm a little out of balance, or out of bounds, and that is another matter isn't it?
NOW HERE IS A MATTER OF BALANCE AND SOMETHING YOU MAY NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF OR SEEN-
I don't care what you say, those guys are UNBALANCED!
ReplyDelete