On Balance – Mind Talk

Balance is all around us, but as a whole, we forget our own balance in this infinite scale. I’ve always been intrigued with nature. But when I was young, I moved up into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with my family, and I fell in love. Nature is the greatest teacher we know. And she works in a divine paradox, tender and cruel, give and take. Outside isn’t just a thing beyond our walls, and nature isn’t just outside! We are nature. These same lights and darks live within. She’s medicine to us because she reminds us of what we are already connected to. By denying nature we deny our own nature. With the growth of technology and the powerful tide of the industrial era, human beings have been swept further and further from a customary connection to the planet. A connection our ancestors carried forward for many generations. We’ve created objects and tools we couldn’t have even imagined two hundred years ago, skyscrapers and planes and the internet! They have given us much and are a monument to our genius, but what exactly are they taking? We are at an all time high for disease and health care crisis in our race.

Why do we grow sicker? We were given the potential of fire and in this relationship, also, our fate. Fire saved us in our early days, when it was our only source of light, heat, and protection. Now we have exploited that power, governing this energy given to us by the planet in such a way that we are now burning the very source it was gifted from. What we fail to realize is that we aren’t separate entities, when we burn nature, we burn each other and ourselves. It’s a deep universal satire. The more advanced we become as a species, the more controlled we become as individuals. “Plugging in,” has become a popular term in this day and age. We are plugged into “life” by all the conveniences and devices and social media networks we have created, but in a way, we’ve been unplugged from actually “living.” Slowly, we become a lot like the machines we obsess over. We have been indoctrinated into believing that progress is defined by two points, behind you and in front of you, which makes our expectation of development more or less linear. This has been powerful because it’s driven us as a race.

When we think of life in terms of lines, point A to point B, we are perpetually achieving something as a whole. But are we truly attaining anything as individuals? It may be cliche to say, but the small things…they aren’t so little. Lay next to a river and you may learn a lot. These veins of the earth operate much like the veins in our own body. Carrying nutrients and life all over the landscape. We exist on this body of earth as a microorganism, just like the microorganisms that exist within us. When in balance with our micro neighbors, we are healthy and full of life. When out of balance, they steal the very life we cohabitate with them. In nature we witness cycles, life played out in circular evolution. The seasons balance each other and rotate our world in a balance of hot and cold, death and rebirth. Machines are the only thing on this planet that exist in a linear modem. When we switch our perception from this linear industrial model of progress to natures cyclical model of evolution… an interesting truth arises. If we aren’t just leaving things behind and constantly moving foreword…then the actions we take and the choices we make have a much more definable weight. Suddenly we are the soul procurers of our reality, and everything we act upon has an ongoing effect on the communities, environments and people that we cherish. This is a heavy thought for many. Total responsibility? The past isn’t something we can put on the back burner and turn away from, we are the past and the present and thus the future, and our choices are connected to all categories. The balance has been tipped by this addiction to our creations. Instead of understanding the body as a reflection of the deeply intricate and connected ecosystems around us, we treat it like the machinery we are surrounded by. We have systematized most aspects of our existence, trying to monopolize in all our endeavors. It’s how we grow our crops, and treat our livestock and even live with each other. Sacred is a feeling that is lost among many. And now we are poisoning ourselves with all the chemicals we use to maintain control of our environment and keep us “safe.”

There is one word that makes our world continue. “Difference.” Without variety nothing would live. Without variety there is no unity. Humans are creators by nature, and we shouldn’t stop! But this truth needs to be brought closer to home. The next handful of years are going to be big ones in the history of man. The deeper these words can reach, perhaps the more respect we can gain for what exactly we choose as creators. We can have all the toys and still be part of this balance. But we must remember the bigger picture. As soon as technology separates us from the whole of creation, we in truth, become separated form ourselves and this life.

By Rainer Jundt