Balance

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Life requires a certain balance such as in nature when our environment goes off kilter nature will start to work hard to return the balance. Everything in life, everything in nature and everything in the Universe requires balance. Our personal balance is critical to survival and we must discover, develop and maintain our balance in order to survive and live long to prosper. 

We who study the martial arts already know about balance and that balance is often a very narrow interpretation such as in the goku-i, i.e., "while a person's balance is the same as a weight." The assumption is about how the body remains in balance in order to act, to perform the appropriate methods and methodologies to get-r-done in conflict with violence. Limited and because there is so much more to balance then maintaining the body upright or overcoming the tendency to fall like a rock, weight, if unbalanced. 

Balance is also about a balance of attitude, a balance of character, a balance of personality, a balance of the body internally, a balance of the body externally, a balance of the mind as to mind-set and mind-state related to the rest of this list, a balance in our spirit as well with a definition of what is meant by spirit later in this article. 

First, we must achieve self-balance; second, balance in our relationships both family and other; third, we must achieve a balance to our environment; fourth, we need a balance in our social system with its culture and belief systems meaning a balance between our own personal concepts, culture and beliefs when they interface, sometimes conflict, with the social conditions, culture and beliefs. This is a starter list of what is meant by balance. 

You see, if we take a look at just that one line in the goku-i, i.e., "while a person's balance is the same as a weight," we can find more than merely the literal meaning of body balance and we can readily begin to visualize, as you already know from your training and practice, how all of the starter-list, and more, can be interpreted and implemented into our training, practice and especially application in all that we do with emphasis in martial arts. 

Can you see how balance in nutrition is also about balance in body, mind and spirit. What we consume is fuel and that fuel must be optimized in order for the body, mind and spirit to achieve its most efficient state of being that promotes productivity, effectiveness and most important long-term survival. 

Additional Reading:

Nutrition, etc.

Finding Balance in Martial Practices

Secret Line of Balance

Martial Arts Function Because of a Balance of Forces

Harmonious - Integrated - Balanced

If you take a moment and do a search of the term balance in any Japanese language translator you will find a list very long with the different characters/ideograms, etc., along with English translated meanings that will help visualize the depth and breadth of balance as it could, will and does apply to not just everyday life but especially to our training and practice and application of martial arts. 

i.e., “balance; difference; margin; equilibrium; striking a balance; equity; scales; symmetry; proportion; uniformity; not much - too much; even scale; equalization; condition; hard-n-soft; heaviness-n-lightness; ebb-n-flow; yin/yang :-) ; averaging; standardization; center; middle, heart; core; modulation; variety; mean; harmony; synchronization; and more are all English terms related to the various forms of balance in the Japanese language, culture and way of things." 

You already know of one that we use in our culture, i.e., Work Hard and Play Hard. There are even more out there in each and every culture both past and present that depend on a culturally social balance for the survival of said social communities and that is how nature balances out things so that until the Universe returns to its origins of the Big Bang, back to the one thing and then to the nothing of how it all began then the balance simply ceases into a void. 

Just one term to study, "Heikin [平均]" translated into english the two characters or ideograms mean, “average; mean; balance; equilibrium." The first character translates to English to mean, “even; flat; peace,” while the second to mean, “level; average.” Figure that one out, the divergence of overall meaning to the two characters let along if we broke down each character to its collective different parts or characters/ideograms. 

Example Words: 

For reference and sources and professionals go here: Bibliography (Click the link)