B is for Balance

I've been a Pathworker for a long time- over two decades, consciously, and for my whole life, without always realizing it. In recent years, one theme that's cropped up repeatedly, in many different guises is Balance.

Looking at the world today, it's painfully clear that we're badly out of balance. The current crises (is that the correct plural for crisis?) in Japan is a poignant reminder of how easily and quickly all of our "Great Works" can be swept into a smoking, broken, bleeding pile... and how scattered and pointless our reactions can be. Many people have expressed admiration for how the Japanese have responded to the horror that's been visited on them... but even the Japanese themselves have begun to grumble at the unbalanced response of those "in power." They're battling feverishly to mitigate the disaster that's brewing in their nuclear facilities... while the survivors of the effects of the tsunami struggle almost without help.

I'm not picking on the Japanese, here, not at all. This just happens to be the grandest and most recent flagrant demonstration of how out of touch we are with our world. There are countless other examples out there, some bold and brightly colored, like the conflict in Libya, and others drab, grey, and all but unnoticed, like the homeless that flutter, tattered, on the fringes of our culture. There's been a theme to my vitriol lately- the Haves, and the Have Nots, and right now, I can't think of a better way to express and concretize (sp?) how badly out of balance we are as a culture and as a species.

When something is wrong in the world, whether on an individual level or a global one, the world will tell us so. At first, those messages from the world tend to be quiet and polite- a gentle nudge, to point us in the right direction. When we ignore that nudge (and we usually do), it becomes firmer, more direct, more pointed, and, eventually, it becomes loud, rude, and even painful. We're long past gentle, polite nudges, and soon, loud, rude and painful will no longer be on the table, either. What is the next step? Fatal? Catastrophic? Apocalyptic?

When will we begin to listen? When will we awaken to the reality that a world out of balance is a world falling over?

Not soon enough, I fear. Not soon enough.