BALANCE

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3555, 8 December 1934, Page 9

BALANCE

ANALOGIES OF NATURE AND SCIENCE. The cosmos is 'based on perfect equipoise; the movements of spatial bodies are rhythmical. The ultimate meaning l of the universe seems certainly spiritual, but to the extent that its manifestations are mechanical they represent the apotheosis of balance. Despite the bewildering variations within the seasons the latter maintain a steady .average in their broader aspects. The human body is amazingl|y cclmiplex, and what we call sickness largely means that some part has become over or under-bal-anced in its action. Science is the miother of many inventions which minister to human need, and annihilate physical drudgery. But their miarvellous efficiency is due to the fact that they are ingeniously adjusted in accordance with Nature's principles. The analogies of Nature and of Science emphasise the importance of balance in all aspects of human life. Without it social harmony is impossible, even social stability is in peril. Upon every normal individual there rests the obligation to hold the scales of his ideas evenly. The process is by no means easy, butt it is absolutely imperative that it be maintained if we are all to live together in anything like harmony.

Mental concentration has occasionally been practised so intensively that because of it genius has been able to confer some great boon on mankind. Much more frequently the man of the idea is an intolerable bore. His idea has no intrinsic worth, and simply serves to irritate those upon whom he insistently and tactlessly thrusts it. To the reflective person temperate treatment of any controversial subject is impressive. Yet most people have encountered the individual who vainly strives to cover up the feebleness of his arguments with his verbal vehemence. It is the aim of every choir master to, have the musical parts in proportioned volume. When, however, the choir is one he conducts but does not absolutely control his life is a perpetual struggle with the strong-lunged, strong-mind-ed female who makes every piece the choir sings a mere accompaniment to her unsolicited solo. •'Mr Gladstone once observed of a certain person that his mental inv ports did not balance his mental exports ! For that " conference which maketh a ready man" there is essential that " reading which maketh ;a full man." Society and solitude must be taken in carefully-measured doses. It has been said that to endure solitude it is essential to be god or beast. But the alleged pleasures in which some people are constantly indulging seem to fill the days mainly with fever and with fret; the peddling of social small wares, which is their staple occupation, does not appear to bring them a rich return in real happiness. There are periodsi when the Arts have their spasms of ill-balance. From time to time each branch produces a crop of eccentrics. Jazz masquerades as. music; chopped, meaningless, lines seek recognition as poetry; distortions in stone make a burlesque of sculpture. In the end, however, sanity may always be trusted to prevail and to restore the eternal correlation between Art and Truth.

That early discipline which youth so often finds hard to .bear is; at least designed to teach the importance of balance in all of life's relations. If the process is often a strain on adult patience, it is not less so on the victims. They are engaged in a perpetual straggle to keep their rebel impulses in alignment with social traditions. Only with increasing years do they realise that a safe and sntecessful voyage through life is dependent on an even keel. In the &acred domestic circle happiness is ultimately dependent on mental and emotional poise. Temperamental inequalities are responsible for the great majority of conjugal tragedies. '

It is histoi-ically true that absence of large-scale social balance has caused numberless revolutions. In these tpresent times it is clear that much is about to depend on a more balanced distribution of those blessingsi which science and invention are making available. There has been a discarding of the old, vain cry for social equality; the demand to-day is for economic equity. Thoughtful men and women having no personal end to serve are awake to the fact that numerous anomalous forms of illbalance exist and are operating to humanity's hurt. Industrial phases of the problem are familiar, but emphasis has recently been added from the standpoint of the scientist. In a striking presidential address to the British Association at Aberdeen recently Sir James Jeans observed that scientific research has two products of industrial importance ventions which displace labour and the more fundamental discoveries wbich originate as pure science, but may ultimately lead to new trades." These are rich gifts from science. The labour-saving devices lead to emanciioation from soul-destroying toil; the new inventions lead to the pleasure, health, and wealth of the community. "If," continued Sir James Jeans, "a perfect balance

could be maintained between the two, there Would be employment for all, with a continual increase in the comfort and dignity of life." This radiant vision is, however, accompanied by a grave admonition. "As I see it," the speaker added, " troubles are bound to arise if the balance is not maintained. The steady flow of labour-saving devices, with no accompanying steady flow of new industries to absorb the labour which they displace, cannot but lead to unemployment and chaos in the field of labour."

The great scientist is not concerned Avith political triumphs or with the ascendency of parties. But, from the pure, impartial altitude of science he signals his warning to the world's statesmen; and the essence of his warning is that both for men and for nations great dangers lurk in absence of balance.