The Fine Art of Delicate Balancing

Warning: This post might sound like a philosophical rambling, though it's not.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving  ~ Albert Einstein

The most important point to note from the above post is about "keeping your balance". Balancing is a critical aspect, and required in all aspects of our life, especially for us - the so called evolved and intelligent species on earth!

Balancing, especially Delicate Balancing is required in all situations, and if everyone of us could master it,  there won't be conflicts or war, despite difference of opinions and perceptions.   

Though this may sound odd, we try to perform this art (or exercise) many a times in our daily lives. Starting with learning to balance a bicycle, or driving a car, we do the act of balancing every day, and almost every moment. We require this quality to achieve any objective, and also to keep the wheels of our lives moving.  

Delicate Balancing is present abundantly in nature, as in case of Water - the most basic and essential element of life - we can find a delicately balanced perfect liquid - composed of water molecules that mingle in a perfect way that are neither tightly bonded (solid/ice) nor completely independent of each other (gas/vapor).   Few more examples derived from Nature, Mythology, Philosophy and from real life are given below:

• Planetary System and their orbits that make earth conducive for life 
• Even 'Amruth' - a drink that is supposed to give eternal life, as in Hindu Mythology, is advised only to be taken in the right quantum; excessive dosage will function as a poison - as per a Tamil proverb - (அளவுக்கு மீறினால் அமிர்தமும் நஞ்சு) . 
• The concept of Yin and Yang emphasizes the concept of delicate balancing - as balancing between two opposing forces; balancing between positive and negatives and so on ...  
• Equilibrium between Supply and Demand in a (free) market, wherein both the producers and consumers will benefit (Consumers pay the minimum possible cost or the minimum sustainable profit in the producer's perspective) 
• Balancing between Capitalism (Merit) and Socialism (Need)
• If you are a typical Indian married male, you know that balancing the intellectual (!) arguments between your wife and mother, requires delicate balancing, and you know the results of failure :) 

Yin and Yang is all about Balancing

To put this in a general perspective, let us consider The Internet - a revolutionary tool created by the mankind - that could eventually allows us to connect with anybody in this world, breaking all borders and barriers (Wish this continues and grows for ever) and where all kinds of information can be found, and sometimes one might find information that is provocative or information that is false. 

The Father of Internet, Dr. Vinton Cerf advises on the issue of dealing with such emotional and sensitive information on Internet by applying the Critical Thinking Capability - to know and understand all aspects of an issue or an event or an argument, and this, essentially requires us to develop  a trait - the art of delicate balancing to enable us to move forward.  

We all know that everyone of us are unique and will serve a purpose in this big Universe. Hence there will be frictions and arguments due to difference of opinions and perceptions, but there will be some valid point in all sides of an argument. To gear up ourselves and to move forward, we need to equip ourselves with abilities to achieve the delicate balancing without without which we shall remain stagnant and vanish. 

Delicate Balancing is like balancing a coin without taking sides - of the head or tail, but understanding them - and only such a delicately balanced coin will be able to move swiftly .

Though we are capable of practicing this art of delicate balancing, we tend to ignore it when we are under emotional stress or when we want to willingly disconnect from this quality of ours to achieve a emotional high. We often tend to loose this quality when we deal with situations that provoke us. 

It's difficult, but not impossible, for us to practice this art at every small step that we take in our day-to-day lives, and like every art, this too requires persistence, patience, and practice.

P.S: Well, I understand preaching is easy, while practicing is difficult. I hope and wish I will master it one day and will be able to figure it out in every situation.