1. Our usual interpretations of balance. Finding and keeping balance, in our minds, is somehow like reaching steadiness. We think about balance as if somebody being in balance does not move anywhere but floats. But we often forget that levitation is only seemingly steadiness. Levitation actually is a balance of gentle movements made in all directions. All balances are dynamic. Even the balance of the peace of mind is dynamic – but in a different way (I will write about this at the end of the essay). (If you would like to know more about this, please read my essay here.)

2. Balance as an important element of wisdom: especially today when life is slowly getting back to “normal” after the epidemic. It is especially important to find a new balance when the circumstances are fundamentally changing. It was “easy” to find a new path at the beginning of the corona virus epidemic when the compulsory behavior was ordered by the previous fate of unlucky countries and the central regulations resulting from that. It is so much harder now for us to “get back to normal”. Back to there exactly where we were, really? Well, this would be a big problem… It would mean that we have not learnt anything… Are we sure that everybody has to open up her life with the same speed? The elderly and the sick, too? Shouldn’t we generally hold ourselves back even if “everything is allowed” again? Balance used to be one of the basic categories of ancient wisdom. Balance of the golden mean is refraining from extremes. Extremes do not have to be interpreted only in an absolute sense. An extreme can also be where the crowd is going right now. The wise does not drift with the herd. He keeps his head above the herd, looks around and starts to go in another way – if it is necessary. (If you would like to know more about this, please read my essay here.)

3. The real balance. How does the soul reach its balance? Balance of the soul does not come from that it learns and follows the rules of the game. Balance of the soul is in another dimension. If we let Jesus touch us and if we feel the Totality of God, our soul will fly to such a dimension in which there is the peace of eternal life. And as a beautiful bonus, the soul becomes refreshed, purified and recharged near to God. (If you would like to know more about this, please read my essay here.)

1. Our usual interpretations of balance

Let me start this essay with a personal story. I seem to be born with an underdeveloped sense of balance. I will never forget when my mother asked for seven boxes of sour cream at our summer house at the Lake Balaton for some cooking and they all got caught in my bicycle spokes on the way back home. Even my head got from the sour cream… I also remember when I was riding a motorcycle for the first (and last…) time in my life because our “practical life” class teacher organized a motorcycling practice lesson at Apáczai Csere János primary school. Since I always had mistakes to identify my right and left hand, I applied the “gas” handle instead of the “brake” handle and I landed on the monkey bars of the playground with the motorbike. It was a heavenly luck that nobody was climbing on it because I would have become even a murderer… Finding and keeping balance, in our minds, is somehow like reaching steadiness. We think about balance as if somebody being in balance does not move anywhere but floats. But we often forget that levitation is only seemingly steadiness. Levitation actually is a balance of gentle movements made in all directions. All balances are dynamic. Even the balance of the peace of mind is dynamic – but in a different way (I will write about this at the end of the essay). For dynamic balance let me bring the example of Jack Nicholson who was often able to present an unforgettable character-balance in his films while he himself was not in a balance for a single moment.

2. Balance as an important element of wisdom: especially today when life is slowly getting back to “normal” after the epidemic

It is especially important to find a new balance when the circumstances are fundamentally changing. It was “easy” to find a new path at the beginning of the corona virus epidemic when the compulsory behavior was ordered by the previous fate of unlucky countries and the central regulations resulting from that. It is so much harder now for us to “get back to normal”. Back to there exactly where we were, really? Well, this would be a big problem… It would mean that we have not learnt anything… Are we sure that everybody has to open up her life with the same speed? The elderly and the sick, too? Shouldn’t we generally hold ourselves back even if “everything is allowed” again? Balance used to be one of the basic categories of ancient wisdom. When I say this I am not thinking only on stoical serenity by far. Balance of the golden mean is refraining from extremes. Extremes do not have to be interpreted only in an absolute sense. An extreme can also be where the crowd is going right now. The wise does not drift with the herd. He keeps his head above the herd, looks around and starts to go in another way – if it is necessary. If everybody just “undo” in what his life changed a couple of months ago – is it surely the right way? Shouldn’t we go into a different way?

3. The real balance

How does the soul reach its balance? Does it stay on the ground and step right if the pressure comes from the left? And then does it step left if the pressure arrives from the right? It is a risky dance. And it is not sustainable in the long run either. Balance of the soul does not come from that it learns and follows the rules of the game. Balance of the soul is in another dimension. The soul has to be able to fly out of the returning cycles of everyday effects. It has to be able to rise above the unpredictable maze of life. If we let Jesus touch us and if we feel the Totality of God, our soul will fly to such a dimension in which there is the peace of eternal life. Our soul gets out from the earthly mess and from above it can see with the eyes of God where we have just been in the maze of our lives below. From up there the right path can already be seen. And as a beautiful bonus, the soul becomes refreshed, purified and recharged near to God. Let me finish this essay what I started with: a personal story: but not from my early years but from yesterday. I was preparing for theological exams during the weeks of writing this essay. It happened that I got very exhausted – and also that I became distressed, too. It was too much… And then suddenly, as a mercy, the Taizé song came to my mind that we were singing at Manreza spiritual retreat house in Dobogókő, Hungary: “The goodness of our merciful God, I sing forever.” (listen to the beautiful song in Hungarian language here) Suddenly I remembered the unbelievable purity of the spontaneously developing eight tones. And I flew to the House of the Father: where all of us are at home in total and final balance. Always. Forever. I wish You to reach this real and eternal balance!