the dialectical swing of the universe

First formally introduced to this concept as a sophomore in college...in a class held in the basement of a chapel...at 8:30 in the morning...with a very intelligent, very monotonous lecturer...YAWN...I felt an instant connection, a sympathetic vibration of truth. "Ah!" said I, trying to keep my note-writing legible, "this is Truth." And I still think so.

Throughout recorded history, mankind has swung back and forth, from one extreme to another, like a pendulum. Of course, being a three-dimensional world, this is a three-dimensional pendulum. Every swing and back-swing goes in a slightly different direction--forward, sideways, back a little toward Jupiter. As this was a literature class, I first connected the concept to major literary and societal movements: Enlightenment to Romanticism to the Age of Reason. (Don't question me too closely--much of that knowledge has faded from my conscious brain.)

Once I'd absorbed this concept, and gotten a happy mark on that particular written exam, I waited for the idea to fade away...but it hasn't. Another place to see evidence of this swing can be found in the Old Testament--the book of Judges, for example. Check out those Israelites, yo! They praise and worship God, they fall away from God, disaster strikes and a hero is sent, they come back to God...they fall away from God...they come back to God...tick-tock, tick-tock.

The American political scene: tick-tock, tick-tock.

This could be very depressing but for the relentlessly optimistic idea I hold that each time we swing, each time we hit a new extreme and then run from it, we learn a little something. We're not just repeating history verbatim.

I don't know why I think of this now, except I've just had a moment of self-witness: I personally do this too. From one end to the other, swing swing swing. It sounds depressing, but it's not--if you can recognize that ol' pendulum swing. "If I just ride this out a bit," I say. "I'll balance." Voila!

Well, life and history are not quite that simple. I know. But I hold out for the learning of a little something-something. A little more awareness. A little more balance. And a little less of taking our extreme self-moments so seriously.

Now, if I could only stop my brain of thinking of "swings" and get back to business. But they flood my mind. Dance styles. Fashion. The Middle East. The popularity of espresso. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Ahh. Balance.