Principle 4 Proportion – Week 2 – 2023

April 6, 2023 

Principle 4. Proportion. Second Week.

Things Are Well When They Move Together Not In Isolation.

Last time: Priorities and a Tale of Four Magicians. 

This time:  Proportion, Harmony, Equilibrium

This Week:

Last week we looked at the overall structure of this month’s principle and tried to understand it in general terms. We considered its implications, whether it might be useful, and in what ways. 

This week we will look at how I applied it, or at least how I could have applied it in the past. Over the next weeks we’ll consider the potential application to present, and future situations.

General Considerations and Personal Reflections:

Here are some personal reflections. I offer them in the spirit of dialogue and exchange, and look forward to hearing your musings about, and experiences with, this principle.

Thinking about the principle I realize that for me the “register” (the direct experience as experienced) of things moving together, or being proportionate to each other, is a register of harmony and equilibrium.

 In trying to deepen my understanding of this principle and its applications, I once again begin by asking myself some simple questions, things like: what kind of relations, or actions, give me a sense of things being in harmony with myself and the situation? For example, in general when it comes to others, do I isolate myself from them, or do I get along with them? What does “get along with them” mean? Does it mean to “go along to get along”? If not, how do I find a harmonious way of being in a very non-harmonious world? 

Around the same time that Pythagoras was discovering the underlying harmony in us and around us, others were talking about harmony in very human terms.

 In the Analects (e.g. 13:23) Confucius is quoted as saying:

The Master said, a person with true power acts in harmony with others but does not seek to be like them; the small man seeks to be like others and does not act in harmony.

His older contemporary Laozi had this to say about harmony and various aspects of our behaviour:

Standing on tiptoe balance is soon lost.

Run and you’ll quickly be exhausted.

Seeking the spotlight is not enlightenment.

The self-righteous are far from righteousness.

The boastful gain no credit.

Braggarts reveal their weakness.

These are unsatisfying like crumbs from a meal,

or unnecessary baggage.

Those who follow the way leave all that aside.

(chapter 24 of the Tao Te Ching)

Proceeding in that way I discovered that I had lots of questions but few answers as pithy or insightful as those. Finally, I got practical and asked myself if to try and recall three occasions where I applied this principle successfully? What difference did it make?

Coming up:

Next week we’ll look at our present situations and explore how applying, or ignoring this Principle of Proportion might impact our lives and those around us.

Worth Repeating:

Sometimes meditation require you sit down and close your eyes but that’s less than half the story.

The principles of valid action should not be treated as an external moral code, or rule book. Nor are they are not meant as slogans or prefabricated answers. Their potential is realized through sustained effort and contemplation. In that way they are revealed as a framework for a dynamic meditation, a discipline that you can practice in every moment of your life with your eyes wide open.

Remember

Silo explained that idea of “moving together” did not imply that all my activities should get the same time, or energy. Rather that it was a matter of being clear about my priorities. Things are moving together only when each activity, each ambit (family, friends, work, etc.), and each project gets the attention it needs according to how I have prioritized them.  

That means I need to get my priorities right. That in turn means I need to make my aims, goals, and purpose clearer.

Game of the Week:

It may seem strange in the context of studying the principles to emphasize stories, jokes, games, and other things that seem far from most people’s ideas about how you gain understanding. But sometimes, these indirect paths can help us uncover unlikely relationships and gaining new insights that might otherwise elude us.

Similarly, taking a principle and synthesizing what strikes you as the central idea, or recasting it in a new form, can be very helpful. Even where that new version only captures a particular aspect of the original it can at the least helps us better grasp and remember that part.

Perhaps after meditating on these general aspects of the principle, you can provide us with a new version of the principle or some aspect of the principle and name the captures its essence. Let us know what you come up with.

Next Time…