Riding the Pendulum

“Life is mainly froth and bubble
But two things stand like stone
Kindness in another’s trouble
And courage in your own.”
Anon

Last time I wrote this Blog I discussed working with cycles which turned out to be quite prophetic as it began for me a period of busyness that hasn’t allowed me to get back to this until now.

Hermetic Philosophy has seven principles, number five of which is ‘The Principle of Rhythm’

"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides;
all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in
everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the
measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."
The Kybalion

Within Western society though, our emphasis on science and it’s rational, often linear, take on the how the world works leads us to believe that we can project the past forwards into the future in a simplistic cause and effect way. Something that our basic hard wired brain structure supports as we subconsciously look for patterns in everything so we can make sense of the world and link what we are experiencing in the present moment to an anchor point from the past.

But is this real? And does reality truly manifest in a logical linear way?

I think not and I believe that it is often the inherent belief in a linear, rational world that brings us emotionally undone.

You see although we are growth seeking beings we inherently seek certainty and reason, rationality and logic provide that for us. If one plus one equals two then we figure that one plus one will always equal two. A change away from this unsettles us and throws us off balance.

Accepting that the workings of the world do not reflect our desire for safe comfortable linearly projected creation is a good starting point for embracing uncertainty and beginning to work with cycles.

If you can see the rhythm in things and accept that the world ‘flows’ – more like a tide rather than ‘rolls’ – like a ball down a hill – then you can begin to let go of trying to control the flow and instead begin the climb up the pendulum to the pivot point.

It’s not emotions and strong feelings that derail us – we should all seek to be fully emotionally expressive. Rather it is the reaction to our emotions and feelings that derails us. Recognising the beauty in uncertainty and the gift of being able to feel strongly is something that can be gained from a view point that takes in the whole of the pendulum rather than simply what is immediately in front of us.