Balance and Chaos; Creation and Destruction

    Balance.  All things that exist, exist because of a balance.  All things that die, die because of a loss of balance.  It's a principle governing the universe.   We can see this everywhere, including physics, biology, and human interaction.  

    When apposing forces are locked in a struggle for dominance, their opposing struggle forms a balance, and the right balance will become the catalyst for creation, and success of that creation.  As long as neither side over powers the other the two will exist, and create something from their struggle.  

    Yes, this is another theory, and we should all know that a theory is an explanation that may or may not be true.  It's another idea, I just can't keep out of my head, there is something about it that keeps drawing me back to it.  

    The sun sustains all life on earth. The sun burns because of a balance of forces, the force of gravity pushing inward, and the force produced by nuclear reactions pushing outward. The sun will keep this balance going for a long, long time, but eventually the sun will explode when the forces in the sun loose this balance.

    In order for planets to orbit the sun, the orbit must be at the correct angle, too steep or two shallow the planet would fall into the sun, or be lost into deep space. The planets that we see in the night sky, had the correct angle to their motion, and thus keep their occupation of the sky. Without this correct angle, objects would fall into the sun, or be lost out into space.

    So how long something can exist, is a matter of how long the balance can be kept, before it becomes imbalanced.

    Our bodies require salt, but too much salt, too much would lead to illness or death. We require heat, but not too much heat. Air pressure, but not too much air pressure. We require light to see, but not too much light or we would be forced to shield our eyes.

    I feel, that if we deeply looked around us, we would find that everything requires some amount of balance to exist. Without that balance, it's existence would be brief. All the things that become renewed or preserved with time, keep this balance as closely as possible.

    There are two states in the universe for all things, balance and unbalance. For a thing to be created and for it to last, a balance must be made. For a thing to be destroyed an unbalance must be made.

    Another interesting balance, is the balance needed in human society. A balance of ideas. A balance of views. A balance of power, and one of my favorites, a balance of ambition and modesty. If people can find a balance then success will be created. When a society becomes out of balance, it will create conflict and failure to a point that is eventually unsustainable. So many civilizations have disappeared through time, and I feel like each will have explanations of how one or more unbalances grew too to the point of causing their collapse.

    Even with the thoughts in our minds we must have balance. Conflicting desires are common in humans and all life that has to make decisions. Conflicting desires in our minds must find a balance for us to be capable of sustainable choices.

    While groups of people can debate, we can also have an internal debate in our own mind, and we often do.

    The main reason why I wanted to write about this, is because I feel like one of the balances we over look, is the need for opposing argument in our believe systems. We has human beings have limited abilities to understand things, even things we firmly believe we do understand. I'm not saying we can't be confident, but I am saying we can be confident that we humans are often wrong. Wrong about facts, wrong when judging other people, wrong when judging results from an experiment.     

    If we let ourselves think, we can help to improve our own beliefs and ideas. Ideas are easy to make, and hard to refine. Without using balance in how we consider all points of view, we can't refine our ideas. If our ideas are the lasting ones, the ones that survive despite all the opposition against them, then they can be used as a secure foundation for our systems of belief. New ideas have not had time to work out their imperfections, and may be unsafe to use as a foundation. I use the "may", as there is always uncertainty, but wisdom needs time, it needs experience, it needs to be tested against the oppositions it faces.

    If an idea comes from philosophers of any sort, however new and interesting it may be, until it becomes tested against the stresses of reality, it can't be truly understood. It's the difference between theory and practice. With balance, the things that survive and provide long term success are the ones that find a better balance.

    To make this post more meaningful, and less vague, I will list some of the opposing things, that are important to find a balance with.

• mercy and justice.
• suffering and pleasure.
• new ideas and old ideas.
• kindness and self preservation.
• humility and conquest
• logic and feelings
• sentimentality and ambition
• facts and intuition

    Some of the items I listed may seem very dangerous and negative, like conquest, or intuition over facts. The point I'm attempting to make is that these must be in balance, not on their own. Humility is good and peaceful, but a sense of conquest is needed to make a difference, yet if the drive for conquest is too great, then we may loose perspective on the real good and selflessness of our sense of conquest. Facts are so important, but there are times when using our intuition may lead to something good that the facts couldn't show us. Yet to ignore facts and embrace intuition too much may lead to us knowingly putting ourselves in harms way. An imbalance of obsession with just one of any of these items without it's opposite will create an unrealistic situation which will lead to brief success, followed by destruction, and loss.

    People all the time argue, and debate, that make points and counter points. The struggle to all get along is very difficult much of the time, for most societies. People can get along, they can find a balance of opinions, but that balance is going to have to include a greater balance inside ourselves, in our own beliefs. One extreme temperament must be balanced with another. Otherwise we are at risk of becoming emotionally entrapped by our own unbalanced passions. To embrace a balance of thought would cause us to gain the prize humans seek the most, mental growth.