The Principle of Rhythm: “Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the swing of the pendulum manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.” — The Kybalion.
This Principle is a continuation of the Principle of Polarity. The rhythm emerges from a circular, pendular or sinusoidal movement between the two poles established by the Principle of Polarity. This movement is always performed first to one pole and then to the other, repeating itself countless times, but rarely reaching the limits, the poles.
Permanently fed by physical and mental energy, this movement keeps going on end on. Otherwise, it would recede, and after some time, the physical or mental object would stop and come to rest.
The movement of planets around the sun, as well as the movement of electrons around atomic nuclei or quantum spin, is rhythm. Day and night, winter and summer, flow and ebb, rain and sun, rise and fall all happen at a certain rhythm. Everything comes and goes. Everything is born to die and then to reborn.
There is always an action and a reaction; an advance and a retreat an ascent and a dive. Rhythm manifests on all levels: physical, mental and spiritual.
The person which penetrated this truth, and attained a certain degree of self-control, manage to escape from the action of this Principle, more or less consciously. The Master does it always consciously. Using his will, he reaches a degree of mental firmness almost impossible to achieve by the profane who are carried back and forth by the waves of life.
This Principle of Rhythm and that of Polarity have been studied carefully by Hermeticists, and the methods of counteracting, neutralising and applying these principles are an essential part of hermetic mental alchemy.
In the Hindu metaphor, we can recognise this process as the “great breath of Brahma”, who creates and destroys the worlds in an unstoppable cyclical rhythm. Brahma expires, and the universe is born. With inspiration, the universe is called back to the source and ceases to exist, but Brahma’s act of breathing does not stop. It continues endlessly.
Thus, the Universes are created, reach their extremely material point and then dissolve. It is the same with all worlds and forms, with all movements, philosophies, beliefs, mental states, models, governments and nations. They are born, grow, mature and die only to be reborn. It is a cycle of an eternal rhythm.
By transmuting this Principle at the mental level, one transcends the unconscious, beginning to live a life in consciousness.
Tomorrow will be about how nothing just happens. Any cause has an effect, and there is no effect without a cause. The sixth Principle.
28. December 2019 – by Diana