The Arcane Teaching · 21 of 21

Lesson XXI. The Secret of Balance

Let us now consider the Law of Balance, the mastery of which constitutes one of the Arcane Secrets. This Law may be considered in its three phases of Counterbalance, Compensation, and Poise, respectively. Let us now consider the first phase, viz., Counterbalance. Listen to the Aphorism: Aphorism xxiv. Know ye, that in the Cosmos every thing is Counterbalanced. Every thing is set‑off and offset by other things. There is always Check and Countercheck in every manifestation, on every plane, of the Cosmos.

This first phase of Balance, which is known as “Counterbalance,” is a law, the operation of which is evident to every investigator of physical science. “Balance” in the Arcane usage may be defined as: “Equipoise; equilibrium; and equality of weight or force.” “Counterbalance” is defined as: “Compensating balance; weight or force opposing equal weight or force.” This phase of the Law of Balance, like its other phases, arises from the existence and operation of the Law of Opposites, or Polarity. Everything in the Cosmos is dual. There is always something opposed to, counterbalancing and checking something else. The Manifest Cosmos could not exist and remain operative without this law. Just as the watch or clock requires a nicely adjusted system of counterweights, countersprings, and counterbalances, in order that their opposing action may render the movement of the timepiece uniform and regular, so does the Cosmos require, and possess, an equally nicely balanced and counterbalanced system, in order that its activities may be uniform and regular. The regular and uniform movement of the planets around the sun is made possible only through the operation of the counterbalancing forces of centrifugal and centripetal gravity, the former manifesting in the tendency of the planet to fly from the central point, the sun; and the latter manifesting in the tendency of the planet to move toward the central point, the sun. The counterbalance of these two opposing tendencies produces regular and constant movement in the elliptic orbit.

In the same way the two phases of Force or Energy oppose and counterbalance each other—one tending to build up, and the other tending to tear down. Some authorities have adopted the use of the term “Force” to designate that form of Motion which tends “to bind together two or more particles of ponderable matter, and which retards or resists motions tending to separate such particles”; for instance, Gravitation, Cohesion, Chemical Affinity, etc. The same authorities use the term “Energy” to designate that form of Motion which tends “to separate two or more particles of ponderable matter, or of the ethereal medium, or which resists or retards the Force tending to bind them together.” Clodd says: “If Force had unresisted play, all the atoms in the universe would gravitate to a common center, and ultimately form a perfect sphere in which no life would exist, and in which no work could be done. If Energy had unresisted play, the atoms in the universe would be driven asunder and remain forever separated, with the like result of changeless powerlessness. But with these two powers in conflict…the universe is the theatre of ceaseless redistributions of its contents.”

All through living Nature is this same law of Counterbalance in force. The plant‑life nourishes the animal‑life, and the latter by means of its waste matter and its disintegrating forms nourishes the former. Moreover, the very breathing of the two great forms of life, tend to support life in each other. Animals breathe in oxygen in order to support life, and breathe out carbonic‑acid gas, the latter being poisonous to animal‑life. At the same time the plants, under the action of the sun’s rays, break up the carbonic‑acid gas, absorbing the carbon which nourishes plant‑life, and releasing the oxygen needed by animal life. Thus the refuse element of the plant is the life‑giving element of the animal; and the refuse element of the animal is the life‑giving element of the plant. As Emerson says: “Whilst the world is thus dual, so is every one of its parts. The entire system of things gets represented in every particle. There is somewhat that resembles the ebb and flow of the sea, day and night, man and woman, in a single needle of the pine, in a kernel of corn, in every individual of every animal tribe. There action, so grand in the elements, is repeated within these small boundaries. For example, in the animal kingdom the physiologist has observed that no creatures are favorites, but a certain compensation balances every gift and every defect.”

In Nature there is always the operation of the “Check and Countercheck” mentioned in the Aphorism. Each life‑form is kept in check by some other life‑form. If this were not so, particular life‑forms would overrun the earth. Darwin says; “There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally increases at so high a rate, that, if not destroyed, the earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair.” Clodd adds; “If all the offspring of the elephant, the slowest breeder known, survived, there would be in seven hundred and fifty years nearly nineteen million elephants alive, descended from the first pair. If the eight or nine million eggs, which the roe of a cod is said to contain, developed into adult cod‑fishes, the sea would quickly become a solid mass of them. So prolific is its progeny after progeny that the common housefly is computed to produce twenty‑one millions in a season; while so enormous is the laying power of the aphis, or plant‑louse, that the tenth brood of one parent, without adding the products of all the generations which precede the tenth, would contain more ponderable matter than all the population of China, estimating this at five hundred millions.”

It is the same in plant life. If any single species were to remain unchecked, the entire globe would be covered with it inside of less than twenty years. The fungi, and other lower organisms, multiply so rapidly (some a billion‑fold in an hour) that they would cover the earth in a year, if not counterchecked by nature. But the countercheck is always there. Each animal, plant or fungus has its natural enemy which preys upon it for food. Every living thing lives upon other living things—each according to its kind. This is one of the forms of Nature’s counterchecks. This law is brought forcibly to mind when certain plants or animals are transported to other regions, without their natural enemies accompanying them, the result being that they speedily become a danger to the land, and their natural enemies have to be brought to the new region to keep them in check. Students of Evolution see in Natural Selection, and other laws of Evolution, many phases of Counterbalance and Countercheck in the Cosmos—the working out of the law that “Everything is set‑off and offset by other things,” as the Aphorism says.

And now let us consider the second phase of the Law of Balance—the phase of Compensation—the Debit and Credit phase of the Cosmic Activities. Listen to the Aphorism: Aphorism xxv. Know ye, that there is always a Cosmic Debit and Credit. In the Cosmos there is Absolute Compensation. The Cosmic Accounts are always evenly balanced. There is nothing furnished Free— No thing given for Nothing—in the Cosmos. The Equivalent is always demanded and rendered. The Price for Every Thing is always fixed— and Paid.

The truth embodied in the above Aphorism is recognized by the world’s greatest thinkers, although the average person endeavors to deny it, and refuses to look the Truth in the face. That wonderful essay upon “Compensation,” by Emerson, carries the truth to every open mind. All true philosophers have recognized the principle as in existence. Any one may see the fact, if he will stand apart and view the world‑picture in the proper perspective. The idea of Compensation is based upon the phases of Counterbalance and Countercheck—upon Set‑off and Offset. In short, it is always a matter of “Paying the Price.” We cannot have the cake, and keep our penny, at the same time. We must always give up one thing to obtain another—we must always relinquish to attain—we must always die to live. Life is a continuous “Pay, pay, pay!” As the Aphorism informs us: “There is nothing furnished Free—No Thing given for Nothing—in the Cosmos”; “The price for Every Thing is always fixed—and Paid.” For every advantage gained, another must be surrendered. This is the Law of the Cosmos, as all wise men know it. It does one no good to deny or ignore it—it is Law, fixed, constant, immutable.

Emerson, in his essay on “Compensation,” says: “The theory of the mechanic forces is another example. What we gain in power is lost in time, and the converse. The periodic or compensating errors of the planets is another instance. The influences of climate and soil in political history are another. The cold climate invigorates. The barren soil does not breed fevers, crocodiles, tigers, or scorpions. The same dualism underlies the nature and condition of man. Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good. Every faculty which is a receiver of pleasure has an equal penalty put on its abuse. It is to answer for its moderation with its life. For every grain of wit, there is a grain of folly. For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something. If riches are increased, they are increased that use them. If the gatherer gathers too much, nature takes out of the man what she puts into his chest; swells the estate, but kills the owner. Nature hates monopolies and exceptions. The waves of the sea do not more speedily seek a lever from their loftiest tossing than the varieties of condition tend to equalize themselves. There is some leveling circumstance that puts down the overbearing, the strong, the rich, the fortunate, substantially on the same ground with all others. Is a man too strong and fierce for society, and by temper and position a bad citizen—a morose ruffian, with a dash of the pirate in him?—nature sends him a troop of pretty sons and daughters who are getting along in the dame’s classes at the village school, and love and fear for them smooths his grim scowl to courtesy. Thus she contrives to intenerate the granite and feldspar, takes the boar out and puts the lamb in, and keeps the balance true. The farmer imagines power and place are fine things. But the President has paid dear for his White House. It has commonly cost him all his peace, and the best of his manly attributes. To preserve for so short a time so conspicuous an appearance before the world, he is content to eat dust before the real masters who stand erect behind the throne. Or do men desire the more substantial and permanent grandeur of genius? Neither has this an immunity. He who by force of will or of thought is great and overlooks thousands, has the responsibility of overlooking. With every influx of light comes new danger. Has he light? he must bear witness to the light, and always outrun that sympathy which gives him such keen satisfaction, by his fidelity to new revelations of the incessant soul. He must hate father and mother, wife and child. Has he all that the world loves and admires and covets?—he must cast behind him their admiration and afflict them by faithfulness to his truth, and become a byword and a hissing.”

As we have said in a previous lesson: The greater the capacity for joy, the greater the capacity for pain. The swing of the pendulum of Rhythm between the two poles of the Opposites measures our relative happiness and unhappiness—comparative satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The capacity for pain is the symbol of advanced Evolution. The tramp has nothing and desires nothing beyond his immediate wants. His arc is small. Another will have much, but desires still more. His arc is large. Each, and both, fall a little short of what would constitute happiness for them. Query: which of the two is the happiest, or the most miserable? The answer of Compensation is: “They are equal in their degree of happiness and unhappiness—in satisfaction and misery. They are twin‑brothers of equal heritage.”

A financial panic which makes the millionaire writhe in fear and terror, passes entirely over the tramp. The more one has, the more afraid of losing it is he; and the harder the blow if the loss occurs. Many ancient philosophical writers insisted that the measure of pain and pleasure is equally distributed between persons—although the degrees of each vary greatly. The man who makes two dollars a day and is able to save a half‑dollar out of it, is possibly happier and better satisfied than he who makes a hundred and spends half as much more. What would bring happiness to a savage would bring misery to a college professor. Happiness is comparative, and so is unhappiness. We find happiness where we least expect it—and unhappiness where it surprises us. Just as “to know all, is to forgive all”; so, to know all, is to understand the relativity of satisfaction and happiness. It is said that the “back is always made strong enough to bear the burden”—we do not assert this, as a fact, but we feel that the back gets used to the burden, and feels it not more than other backs feel lesser burdens. And while the proverb that “God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb” may not be scientifically correct, still it is true that the shorn lamb becomes tempered to the wind, and “gets used to it.”

Clodd says: “The simplicity of the simplest forms has been their salvation. A high organization brings with it many disadvantages, for the more complex the structure the more liable is it to get out of gear. We cannot have highly convoluted brains and at the same time digestive organs simple and renewable like those of the sea‑cucumber. Death is the price paid for complexity.” And pain is the natural consequence and counterbalance of complexity in life, knowledge, and possessions.

Each one has his troubles and his joys. Each his pains and his pleasures. If we knew all the inside facts concerned with others’ lives we would not be willing to exchange with them, providing we had to live exactly their same lives. Who would wish to exchange his personal life with that of another—taking all that goes with the other’s, and giving up, completely, all that composes his own? Each man’s “cross” is fitted exactly to his particular shoulders—and each man’s “crown” is adjusted nicely upon his particular brow. It takes a philosophical mind to realize this—the tendency is to consider one’s own lot the very worst of all—and the other man’s lot much the better. The other man is probably thinking the same about your’s. Neither would exchange, if he knew the full facts of the case—all the counterbalances and counterchecks. Each has his own “character,” and all that goes with it. Each has his own arc of happiness and satisfaction—with their opposite poles. As the old Egyptian proverb ran: “‘What will you have?’ said the gods to man. ‘Take it, and pay for it!’” And now, let us consider the third phase of the Law of Balance—the phase of Poise. Listen to the Aphorism: Aphorism xxvi. Poise is Power. Poise results from Balance. Balance is secured by adjusting and maintaining the Centre between the Poles of the Pairs of Opposites. By Balanced Poise the Master neutralizes Polarity and Rhythm, by resolving them into Unity. In the Heart of the Storm is Peace. In the Centre of Life there is Poise and Power. Seek it ever, O Neophyte—for in it thou shalt find thy Self.

In this Aphorism is contained the seed‑thought generated in the centuries of thought and experience of the Arcane Teachers. Do not pass it by because of its simplicity. Poised Balance is the aim and goal of the Arcane Initiates. It is the Secret of Mastery. There is always a Center of Everything. But the Center exists only because of the existence of the Circumference. There is always a Point or Poise between the Poles of every Pair of Opposites. But that Point exists only because the Extremes exist. And in the Central Point is always found the Power of the Whole Event or Thing. In the Center of Gravity of the Earth, one would be able to remain in a position of Perfect Poise, unsupported except by the Concentrated Gravity of the Whole Earth. So nicely Poised that a mere effort of the Will would exert sufficient energy to propel him in any desired direction. The Power of the Opposites are concentrated at the Central Point. There is all Power to be found—and there only. The axiom: “Action and Reaction are Equal” indicates a Central Point in which exists the True Lever which will move the Whole. At the Center one is enabled to use Action and Reaction without being subject to either. The Arcane Initiate strives to attain this state of Equilibrium and Absolute Poise. He yearns to master the art of traversing the Razor‑edge Wire of Life, balancing himself perfectly, like the trained mental athlete that he is, by the Balancing Pole of the Opposites which he has firmly grasped. Pitting the Opposites against each other—neutralizing Pole by Pole—balancing Law by Law—the Master traverses the slender thread which separates the World of Desire from the World of Will. Oh, Neophyte, in the Center of Life shalt thou indeed find Poise and Power. In the Heart of the Storm shalt thou find Peace. In the Center of the Cosmos shalt thou find thyself. He who finds the Center of Himself, finds the Center of the Cosmos. For, at the last, they are one.

Vale! Supplementary Books. I. The Arcane Formulas: or Mental Alchemy. II. The Mystery Of Sex: or Sex Polarity. Bibliography Anonymous [William Walker Atkinson]. The Arcane Teachings. Chicago, IL: The Arcane Book Concern, 1909. Copyright 1909 by The Arcane Book Concern. Anonymous [William Walker Atkinson]. The Arcane Formulas or Mental Alchemy. Chicago, IL: The Arcane Book Concern, 1909. Copyright 1909 by The Arcane Book Concern. Anonymous [William Walker Atkinson]. The Mystery of Sex; or, Sex Polarity. Chicago, IL: The Arcane Book Concern, 1909. Copyright 1909 by The Arcane Book Concern. Anonymous [William Walker Atkinson]. The Cosmic Laws, Being Volume Two of the Arcane Teaching or Secret Doctrine of Ancient Atlantis, Egypt, Chaldea and Greece. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1911. Copyright 1909 by The Arcane Book Concern. Copyright 1911, by The Library Shelf. Anonymous [William Walker Atkinson]. Vril or Vital Magnetism, Being Volume Six of the Arcane Teaching: Secret Doctrine of Ancient Atlantis, Egypt, Chaldea and Greece. Chicago, IL: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1911. Copyright 1911, by The Library Shelf.