Stony Brook University - SUNY Digital Repository

iochemical workings of the human body and, deeper still, the
very atoms of creation, as “balance,” in the end, is simply not
a natural thing.
At least how it is commonly defined, “balance” is not
natural. It does not exist. Yes, if a box level is put upon a
shelf that is being hung, the bubble within the little yellow
window will indicate where it should be so that things placed
upon the shelf won’t slide one way more than the other. It is,
technically, “balanced.” And a checkbook, a diet, or even a set
of tires: these can all be “balanced” too. But beyond these
superficialities, this definition that would portray “balance”
as static, continual and unchanging once struck, does not hold.
It is not so simply achieved - not even with a box level. As
Andrew Weil states, “Balance is truly a mystery” (49) and, from
out of his alternative medicine perspective, he would offer a
very different definition. To that end, he writes: “In […]
complex systems, equilibriums are not static but dynamic, forged
anew from moment to moment out of constantly changing
conditions” (50). About the concept of “dynamic equilibrium,”
he continues:
The rates of [dynamic equilibrium] depend on
the nature of the substances, their molecular
concentrations and physical states, as well as on
temperature, pressure, and the presence or absence of
catalysts. Once equilibrium is reached, the
concentrations of the reacting substances remain
constant, but this situation is not static. Rather,
the forward reaction and the reverse reaction are
taking place at equal velocities, with compounds
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