Balance (Break off from How to Resist the call to the dark)

To not derail the other thread, here's Steam's original post

steamboat28 wrote: Why resist?

Balance is not maintained solely by neutrality. Balance is also maintained by periods of light and periods of darkness.

I've never really thought about it this way. I've been very frustrated with being unable to maintain the balance I feel I should be, and then when I do feel like I have that balance, I get frustrated with not being able to get excited over things. Being caught in that neutral deadness.

I guess I've had this thought that balance was linier. Maybe it's not?

Ah! I forgot a bit!

I've been watching a lot of swings in myself in the last few years. I'll go from a happy, bouncy, bright, go-get-'em, helpful, and giddy girl, to a disgruntled, tired, withdrawn, broken and dark hermit. I think I've had this idea in my head that if I was a 'better' (person/Jedi/whatever) that I wouldn't experience these. Maybe I've just been looking at balance in too constrained of a view?

Have you ever watched a tightrope walker? They are, to my mind, the ultimate example of balance.

They don't stand perfectly straight up the whole time they walk. Sometimes they need to shift a little right, a little left, maybe their hips move one way and their shoulders another. That's what balancing is, not staying perfectly in the center, but moving around it.

This is one of the reasons that the taijitu symbol contains both the yin and yang in a circular form, balancing the efforts of both instead of hindering their action upon one another. We are beings of both; ignoring one is detrimental. Ignoring both is deadly.

Kit wrote: To not derail the other thread, here's Steam's original post

steamboat28 wrote: Why resist?

Balance is not maintained solely by neutrality. Balance is also maintained by periods of light and periods of darkness.

I've never really thought about it this way. I've been very frustrated with being unable to maintain the balance I feel I should be, and then when I do feel like I have that balance, I get frustrated with not being able to get excited over things. Being caught in that neutral deadness.

I guess I've had this thought that balance was linier. Maybe it's not?

Balance for me is like the waters of a river... the tides come in and out, the water can flow smoothly or rough.. but the river is still the river.

Opinion, not scientific:
My idea on balance mostly came from the predator-prey curve. To me it is a very direct example of life and death in balance. Life is motion, up, down, again. Death is a flat line.

ive always been nice to kittens - theyre just so durn cute and fun to play with

ive probably been nice to like 100 kittens over the course of my life

now i suppose i shall have to drown at least a dozen in order to maintain my balance :evil:

eh we need an angel smiley ... for...balance

OB1Shinobi wrote: ive always been nice to kittens - theyre just so durn cute and fun to play with

ive probably been nice to like 100 kittens over the course of my life

now i suppose i shall have to drown at least a dozen in order to maintain my balance :evil:

eh we need an angel smiley ... for...balance

I think this is a joke...but it actually brings out a good question. Are the negative things in life necessary to maintain a balance? Is it sometimes better to do something "bad" for the sake of maintaining some form of homeostasis?

Someone else brought up the predator/prey balance and I think that's a good example of necessary brutality. We need predators as much if not more than we need prey animals. When too many predators are killed off the entire balance of a given ecosystem is ruined and nature suffers. I'll have to find the link to that video that showed the effects of reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park because it was truly amazing, even the rivers and trees became healthier.

EDIT: Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

In the EU comics, the Je'daii (precursor to the Jedi) would send away people who were too Dark or too Light to reflect on their other half until they were back in perfect balance. I think that's a bit harsh, but I like the idea of reflection on that other half.

I'm a bit Yin Yang and think light and dark pervades everything, though more in terms of potential then anything else. Once something is manifested it defines its own identity by its manifestation and thus attributes of light and dark become subjective interpretations rather then inherent 'side' of the Force. So exercising light and dark then becomes analogous with trial and error, quite distinctly for me. #randomthinking