Image of Nik Wallenda crossing the Grand Canyon by Lance Walton

 

Balance is always to be desired

 

Imagine two tightrope walkers. One believes that he can fall; the other has no fear.  Which one has balance? Only he that imagines he is always walking on secure ground, for whom the possibility of falling does not exist.

The next time you stand on a balcony, holding onto the rail and admiring the views, imagine how differently you would feel if the rail was not there. You would not go anywhere near the edge, and you would not be able to enjoy the views. The possibility of falling is introduced by the absence of a rail, and now you are ruled by fear.  You may feel dizzy or even nauseous.

 

 

Balance cannot exist where there is fear. Absence of fear and balance go together. In reality they are part of something wondrous that is larger than each one of them, smaller ideas entwined into a larger Idea. The mind likes to break everything down into parts, and parts again. So everything is partial, since you train your mind this way.

What if you let your mind go back the other way, unifying, unifying, unifying? Absence of fear and unshakable calm are just features of balance, as balance itself is just a feature of something larger, into which it blends as a drop in the ocean.

 

 

All that is good must exist together. Peace cannot be separate from forgiveness. Calm cannot be separate from patience. Stillness cannot be apart from clarity. All must exist together, or each loses its meaning.

 

 

The more connections you make between parts, the more clearly do you see the whole. And thus do we attain balance unshakable in the absence of any opposite. As fears are shed, and then disappear completely, so does attachment to outcomes evaporate, and balance becomes a state so natural you will cease to need a word for it.

 

All that is good co-exists