A concept talked about so often, yet what does it mean? Well to me there are many important balances within a persons life. There is the balance between body and mind, the balance between the inner self and the outer self, the balance between emotions and logic and many more. Each balance has its differences but for me it is important to remember that the balance is not a point directly in the middle between two extremes. A balance in any of these contexts can fall anywhere and has to be a flexible and dynamic equilibrium.
By this I mean that changes happen. I take that as a fact. Hence the balance/equilibrium must be able to compensate for such a change. To illustrate this I can refer to a set of images.
Initial Equilibrium / Unbalanced / Dynamically Adjusted Equilibrium
The first image shows a number of particles in an equilibrium, nice and evenly spread out. Now if we are to add some extra particles, we get the result shown in image two. The equilibrium is lost. So what happens next? Well nature immediately starts to attempt to return to equilibrium state, which results in the third image. Here we have another equilibrium. It is not the same as the first but it is still equilibrium. This is the essence of a 'dynamic equilibrium'. It must be prepared to adjust and compensate for changes, as the addition of those new particles makes it impossible to return to the original equilibrium without removing particles. The images depict the addition of particles and resulting compensation needed to maintain a dynamic equilibrium, but a dynamic equilibrium must also be able to adjust to the removal of particles so that it may remain in balance.
Whilst the images use particles and concentrations to represent the balance I believe the same principals can be applied to the important balances of life. We must learn to absorb, compensate and diffuse our knowledge, our skills and our energies in order to maintain the dynamic equilibrium of existence.
Not that these balances do not refer to maintaining a fine line in between extremes. If is about keep things as the safest and most appropriate level for function.
This dynamic equilibrium will find a level itself, sometimes if that level is detrimental and having a bad effect, it will require action to help it to settle. This will be done either by adding or subtracting to the contents of the equilibrium, however when doing so one must realize that if they add something to one area of their life, it is more than likely they are taking it from somewhere else. Likewise if you remove something from one area it must go somewhere else. This works on a personal mental level and on a universal level. It has been described as a law of physics. Things cannot be destroyed or created, instead their form changed to something else. An example, we make electricity. But to do so we have to harness energy from a source, be it sun, wind, coal or nuclear. It has to come from somewhere and that must be taken into account. You cannot keep taking without consideration, likewise you cannot keep giving without consideration. If you know what is good for you and everyone else, you keep tabs on everything that is effected, or as much of it as possible so that you maintain yourself and others at a suitable level.