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Matters
of Balance
Sometimes
at night, when I can't yet sleep, unbidden images dance
around in my head. Probably it happens to you, too.
Usually these minimovies are enjoyable, and lead to a
peaceful frame of mind ... and sleep. But we live in a
real world, facing real worries, which can assert
themselves during these unguarded moments of
semi-sleepiness. If the messages are scary, perhaps about
vague potential dangers we have little control over, it
can be disturbing. Either way, you might gather insights
of a surprising kind. Let me describe one recently
example, a parable for our times.
Complex issues,
involved dynamic systems, are generally easier to study
by distilling out the essential components. Assume we
were interested in analyzing an involved, gradually
changing human organization, a microcosm of human culture
and civilization. You might initially observe the many
conflicting opinions and views, which upon scrutiny fall
into two broad sides, like the right and left sides of
our symmetric bodies, the two handedness we, and much
else in the natural world embody. It looks as if one half
of us were reflected into a mirror to create the opposite
side. Sort of like the two hands shown next:
Left
and Right in Balance
Here you see not one
hand resting upon a reflective wall, but two hands, in
fact my own two hands, raised and pressing against each
other towards the center with equal force. The resulting
configuration is extremely stable, a case of equilibrium.
Gravity doesn't reduce the stability, but actually causes
it to hold together firmly, left and right, mutually
supportive. Similar forms are often found in architecture
(the arch), engineering (zero-sum vectors), and most of
the other arts and sciences. It also forms an apt
metaphor for social balance, including the
interdependence of human thought, including political
thought and opinion. The Left is supported by the Right;
the Right is supported by the Left.
Eliminating
One Side
To an extent, there's an
unexpressed tolerance, both as each side tolerates each
other, and as weight and attention shift dynamically over
time, responding to external forces and attitudes. First
it favors one side, then the other, but averages out
again, maintaining the equilibrium. Many people
instinctively sense this even-handedness as natural and
beneficial, and they're quite correct. But what if only
one hand were given full attention, the other ignored,
allowed to fade-out and play no active role in the
system? One side might even believe, with hubris, that it
actually didn't need
the other side -- that it was self-supporting!
No
Mutual Support
Time would pass.
Unchecked, the balanced system would become only half a
system. Remember, each hand had pressed against the
other, and was buoyed back in place. Equal and opposite
forces resulted in stability. It might also happen that
one dominating side simply moved itself away from the
center, to far over on its own side. Then the other hand
could no longer touch it, to press back against it. The
balance that was once taken for granted would become
sacrificed, and what remained, one force pressing
unchecked, could no longer hold.
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