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Author Topic: Balance  (Read 1936 times)

DomesticWitch

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Balance
« on: February 12, 2017, 10:07:11 am »
It dawned on me last night that I seem to have a fixation on balance. Light/dark, night/day, male/female etc. A basic example is any altars that I create I always want to have it perfectly balanced - say, two statues of the same style/make/material, one to represent the god, the other the goddess, perfectly aligned on either side of the altar.

I've realised it can be quite limiting and I often get frustrated if I can't get this balance. I have no idea why I want this balance, maybe it stems from a lack of balance in other aspects of my life (home/work life balance maybe). Or if it's something I picked up from books etc early in my discovery of Paganism.

Do you feel that balance is necessary? Or what area's do you think it is necessary? (In relation to Paganism etc)

Darkhawk

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Re: Balance
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2017, 06:16:27 pm »
Quote from: DomesticWitch;202566
It dawned on me last night that I seem to have a fixation on balance. Light/dark, night/day, male/female etc. A basic example is any altars that I create I always want to have it perfectly balanced - say, two statues of the same style/make/material, one to represent the god, the other the goddess, perfectly aligned on either side of the altar.


Given the focus on contraposed pairings I would suggest that your interest is in polarity rather than balance.  While balance can be done with two and only two things, of equal weight, in some sort of equal-and-opposite, it is not limited to that.

(Consider, for example, a three-realms model of land, sea, and sky, as one gets in some Celtic systems; this is a system of balances, but it is not polarised the way your examples are.)

Quote
Do you feel that balance is necessary? Or what area's do you think it is necessary? (In relation to Paganism etc)

 
There is no "necessary" without a "for what".  What are you trying to accomplish?  Only when you know what you're trying to accomplish can you judge usefully what's necessary to accomplish it.  Is there some particular thing you are working with there?  Polarities are very useful for some symbolisms and forms of energetic work, and not so useful for other symbolisms and energetics.

There is a particular risk to polarity that's worth noting, by the way: the tendency to conflate them.  People will work with a male-female, and a day-night, and an earth-sky, and a sun-moon, and an active-passive, and an aggressive-peaceful, and then start figuring out how they can turn it into One Grand Axis In Monochrome (like male-day-sky-sun-active-aggressive-....) rather than the full rainbow of possibilities.
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Re: Balance
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2017, 11:51:10 pm »
Quote from: DomesticWitch;202566

Do you feel that balance is necessary? Or what area's do you think it is necessary? (In relation to Paganism etc)


I think most people--and certainly most Wiccan-ish pagans--think balance is a positive value to strive for. It's usually a big component of things we find esthetically pleasing, and a system in equilibrium can be quite dynamic while preserving its essential features. So I'd say a need for balance is a very normal human impulse.
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The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

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Re: Balance
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2017, 01:49:40 pm »
Quote from: DomesticWitch;202566
It dawned on me last night that I seem to have a fixation on balance. Light/dark, night/day, male/female etc. A basic example is any altars that I create I always want to have it perfectly balanced - say, two statues of the same style/make/material, one to represent the god, the other the goddess, perfectly aligned on either side of the altar.

I've realised it can be quite limiting and I often get frustrated if I can't get this balance.

 
As well as what Kiya said, regarding both that it seems to be a fixation on a particular sort of balance - binary polar balance - and 'necessary for what?', I was also struck by the phrases I bolded, which suggest a very strong internal impulse towards having something very precisely just so. So along with other possibilities, it's probably worth considering whether you have an deep-rooted internal need for order/perfection/doing something exactly Right, that might be related to your brain's wiring or to past (possibly, but not necessarily, traumatic) experiences.

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Dynes Hysbys

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Re: Balance
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2017, 05:02:13 pm »
Quote from: DomesticWitch;202566


Do you feel that balance is necessary? Or what area's do you think it is necessary? (In relation to Paganism etc)


I actually strive for imbalance. If a thing is balanced and stable I find it takes much more effort to make a change so even if I'm making a herbal preparation I'll make sure I use an odd number of ingredients.

Both my mentors in the past took this attitude and I guess it rubbed off.

Sefiru

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Re: Balance
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2017, 07:27:58 pm »
Quote from: SunflowerP;202590
I was also struck by the phrases I bolded, which suggest a very strong internal impulse towards having something very precisely just so. So along with other possibilities, it's probably worth considering whether you have an deep-rooted internal need for order/perfection/doing something exactly Right


I'm going to bounce my own answer off of this. My personal understanding of 'balance' comes through my experience with art and graphic design. In that context, symmetry is a (very small) subset of balance, in the same way that a square is a certain type of rectangle. The thing I've noticed is that making a composition (be it a shrine, a drawing, a seating arrangement or what have you) that is harmonious without being exactly symmetrical is actually quite tricky. My eraser gets a lot of exercise.

I don't like too much order, in my life or in my artwork; it's too dull for me.
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Voren

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Re: Balance
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2017, 08:07:29 pm »
Quote from: DomesticWitch;202566
It dawned on me last night that I seem to have a fixation on balance. Light/dark, night/day, male/female etc. A basic example is any altars that I create I always want to have it perfectly balanced - say, two statues of the same style/make/material, one to represent the god, the other the goddess, perfectly aligned on either side of the altar.

I've realised it can be quite limiting and I often get frustrated if I can't get this balance. I have no idea why I want this balance, maybe it stems from a lack of balance in other aspects of my life (home/work life balance maybe). Or if it's something I picked up from books etc early in my discovery of Paganism.

Do you feel that balance is necessary? Or what area's do you think it is necessary? (In relation to Paganism etc)

 
Balance is a necessity in many aspects, and to be able to get past this need, is extremely difficult. I have been struggling with it for at least a few years now. I believe it may be bread into our very DNA at this point, which could be why it's so hard to NOT have balance.

Just my thoughts though.
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DomesticWitch

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Re: Balance
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2017, 12:40:47 pm »
Thank you all for the replies!

Quote from: Darkhawk;202576
Given the focus on contraposed pairings I would suggest that your interest is in polarity rather than balance.  While balance can be done with two and only two things, of equal weight, in some sort of equal-and-opposite, it is not limited to that.

(Consider, for example, a three-realms model of land, sea, and sky, as one gets in some Celtic systems; this is a system of balances, but it is not polarised the way your examples are.)


I see what you mean, I hadn't thought of it that way but yes, it is more about polarity for me.
 
Quote from: Darkhawk;202576
There is no "necessary" without a "for what".  What are you trying to accomplish?  Only when you know what you're trying to accomplish can you judge usefully what's necessary to accomplish it.  Is there some particular thing you are working with there?  Polarities are very useful for some symbolisms and forms of energetic work, and not so useful for other symbolisms and energetics.

There is a particular risk to polarity that's worth noting, by the way: the tendency to conflate them.  People will work with a male-female, and a day-night, and an earth-sky, and a sun-moon, and an active-passive, and an aggressive-peaceful, and then start figuring out how they can turn it into One Grand Axis In Monochrome (like male-day-sky-sun-active-aggressive-....) rather than the full rainbow of possibilities.


I haven't worked out why I want the polarity, I need to figure this out to decide whether or not it's necessary for me, or what instances it is necessary.

This, I think, is why I find it frustrating. When it comes to people, I feel/know that there are a lot more than the binary male/female. I'm involved in the LGBTQ+ and kink communities so know a lot of non-binary people. For some reason it doesn't set off the 'need for polarity' part of my brain.

 
Quote from: Altair;202577
I think most people--and certainly most Wiccan-ish pagans--think balance is a positive value to strive for. It's usually a big component of things we find esthetically pleasing, and a system in equilibrium can be quite dynamic while preserving its essential features. So I'd say a need for balance is a very normal human impulse.


I remember reading about a study (or an article about studies, can't remember exactly) that said something about humans finding symmetrical things beautiful. For example, the more symmetrical a persons face, the more beautiful they are perceived to be. I'm a very visual person and have a love of art, I wonder if my desire for balance and/or polarity is linked to that.
 
Quote from: SunflowerP;202590
As well as what Kiya said, regarding both that it seems to be a fixation on a particular sort of balance - binary polar balance - and 'necessary for what?', I was also struck by the phrases I bolded, which suggest a very strong internal impulse towards having something very precisely just so. So along with other possibilities, it's probably worth considering whether you have an deep-rooted internal need for order/perfection/doing something exactly Right, that might be related to your brain's wiring or to past (possibly, but not necessarily, traumatic) experiences.

Sunflower


I am a perfectionist, in all aspects of my life. I have managed to dial that down massively and it's made a huge difference to my life. I love to paint but gave up about five years ago because nothing I did was 'quite right'. I *then* suffered a trauma of sorts and it put my need for this perfection into perspective. I now paint what I want, embracing perceived mistakes, enjoying the process and loving my final pieces, ones that I would have previously hated.

Until now I hadn't connected my desire for balance to my perfectionism, but it makes a lot of sense. It's the 'just so' attitude again.
 
Quote from: Dynes Hysbys;202603
I actually strive for imbalance. If a thing is balanced and stable I find it takes much more effort to make a change so even if I'm making a herbal preparation I'll make sure I use an odd number of ingredients.

Both my mentors in the past took this attitude and I guess it rubbed off.


When gardening I always plant odd numbers. It was something I picked up from a TV gardener when I was a child. I must try to do this in my magic workings, see how it feels and effects my results.
 
Quote from: Sefiru;202615
I'm going to bounce my own answer off of this. My personal understanding of 'balance' comes through my experience with art and graphic design. In that context, symmetry is a (very small) subset of balance, in the same way that a square is a certain type of rectangle. The thing I've noticed is that making a composition (be it a shrine, a drawing, a seating arrangement or what have you) that is harmonious without being exactly symmetrical is actually quite tricky. My eraser gets a lot of exercise.

I don't like too much order, in my life or in my artwork; it's too dull for me.


I wonder if it's that harmony, that 'flow' is what I'm really striving for, in respect to magic. I need to work on creating the harmony without the need for polarity that I need to work on.
 
Quote from: Voren;202616
Balance is a necessity in many aspects, and to be able to get past this need, is extremely difficult. I have been struggling with it for at least a few years now. I believe it may be bread into our very DNA at this point, which could be why it's so hard to NOT have balance.

Just my thoughts though.


Glad - and relieved - I'm not the only one who struggles with this!

Thank you for the replies everyone, you've given me a lot to think about and brought different ways to view things to mind!

SunflowerP

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Re: Balance
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2017, 03:43:19 pm »
Quote from: DomesticWitch;202730
Thank you for the replies everyone, you've given me a lot to think about and brought different ways to view things to mind!

 
I neglected, in my earlier response, to say it's good to see you around TC again!

Sunflower
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Re: Balance
« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2017, 12:49:58 am »
Quote from: Sefiru;202615
I'm going to bounce my own answer off of this. My personal understanding of 'balance' comes through my experience with art and graphic design. In that context, symmetry is a (very small) subset of balance, in the same way that a square is a certain type of rectangle. The thing I've noticed is that making a composition (be it a shrine, a drawing, a seating arrangement or what have you) that is harmonious without being exactly symmetrical is actually quite tricky. My eraser gets a lot of exercise.

I don't like too much order, in my life or in my artwork; it's too dull for me.

 
My sister and I are both artists, and because we live together and therefore have to share common areas we have had many discussions on how to decorate a room. The thing we've noticed over and over is exactly what you say - the composition of things matters. We both tend to dislike perfect symmetry, but we crave harmony in a space.

So that said, I feel harmony is the perfect word for what I personally require in spiritual practice rather than balance. For me, balance never lasts anyway. (I'm a Libra, so, you know. Tipsy scales.)

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Re: Balance
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2017, 07:14:38 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;202914
My sister and I are both artists, and because we live together and therefore have to share common areas we have had many discussions on how to decorate a room. The thing we've noticed over and over is exactly what you say - the composition of things matters. We both tend to dislike perfect symmetry, but we crave harmony in a space.

So that said, I feel harmony is the perfect word for what I personally require in spiritual practice rather than balance. For me, balance never lasts anyway. (I'm a Libra, so, you know. Tipsy scales.)


This is one of the many reasons I think that everyone should study art. The skills you learn have much broader applications than one might expect.
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