“Hanging in the Balance” is usually a reference to being held in a precarious state, not knowing what the outcome might be.  The phrase is often illustrated by a balance scale weighted heavily on one side or the other… the unknown having the potential to be really good …. or really bad.

Balance is a desired state of being receiving a great deal of attention in the self-help realm with book, CDs, on
line courses, and health and wellness recommendations; all designed to help you find balance in your life.  In spite of the numerous suggestions of how to find it, many people find balance to be an elusive state of being.  With lives filled with social commitments, inherited values systems, and an ego that continually strives to win, many people find themselves in a continuous loop of doing, striving, fixing and wishing for more balance in their lives.

What is interesting to note in the balance scale illustration however is the center beam of the scale.  The hanging plates are designed to be equalized by identical weight on each side. When one side or the other holds a significantly higher weight, the plates hang out of balance, but the center beam generally stays stable. It would take an enormous amount of weight on one side or the other to pull the center beam off balance.

Clearly the center point, the stable beam is where we want to be.  This core structure is the place of balance not greatly affected by what is placed on the plates.  Discovering the core of being strengthens our ability to maintain a balanced state regardless of what shows up on our plates.

What makes up this core of our being? What is this stable place in consciousness? And how do we access that place when outer conditions threaten our state of balance?

Immersed in this human experience and inundated with the manifestation of thoughts, feelings and actions of our own making as well as those of the collective consciousness it is easy to forget that we are Spiritual beings having a human experience. To live from a balanced state of being, we must recognize that we are individualized spiritual beings each of us inheriting all of the aspects of the whole. Whether you call this wholeness God, Allah, Brahman, the Force or simply the life energy underlying our human experience, we each replicate the entire whole.

The powers or faculties of Faith, Love, Wisdom and more are innate in each of us.  Placed evenly on the scale, these attributes may offset potential imbalances that show up in life.  We could focus on one spiritual faculty or the other to continually offset and balance whatever shows up.  However, a more stable approach would be to recognize their natural placement in the center beam; in the core of our being.  Our spiritual faculties are designed to work together. Distributed throughout the center beam of consciousness, fully functioning as one team, our spiritual powers draw all things into perfect balance.

“Hanging in the Balance” does not have to be a precarious place of not knowing. “Hanging in the Balance” can be a centered place in which we choose to “hang our hats”. It can be a place of choosing to live from a place of divine balance, a place of knowing our spiritual essence and knowing that all things come together for Good. Hanging in the balance can be a place where you choose to be the stable core of who you are regardless of what shows up on the plate of life.

© Rev. Eileen Patra