Principle 4 Proportion – Week 1 – 2023

March 30, 2023 

Principle 4. Proportion. First Week. 

Things Are Well When They Move Together Not In Isolation.

Last time: Death, Time, and the Future.

This time: Priorities, Something from Karina, and a Tale of Four Magicians

Here’s some ideas to consider this week. Our next meeting will be a chance for an interchange about your thoughts, insights, examples and questions about this month’s principle and related matters. 

You’ll receive a reminder the day before the meeting. We hope you can join us. 

This Week:

We are beginning our exploration of the “The Principle of Proportion” the fourth of the principles of valid action (all twelve can be found in chapter XIII of The Inner Look). This principle says: “Things are well when they move together not in isolation.”

This week we consider the structure, sense and scope of the principle, and take a first pass at understanding it in general terms. To help with that you will find below a story that illustrates some of its aspects.   Over the next weeks we’ll consider its application to past, present, and future situations.

Process and Structure:

As for the structure of the principle it is perhaps interesting to note that with principle four, we discover a group of principles that have a different focus than the first three. Those earlier ones seem to be about dynamic forces, and how to position yourself in terms of them. Now we encounter one of the principles that seem more focused on relations between parts, rather than forces in movement - a shift to considering how things fit together.

Unlikely and Indirect:

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. For example:

Here’s my attempt from last year at restating at least one aspect the principle of proportion. Let’s call it:

The principle of Harmony

It says:

Harmony arises when you know what you value and give each situation the appropriate attention.

Our friend Karina in the Philippines recently shared her summary of the principles. She said of this one:

The principle of proportion. It tells us to set priorities on the different aspects of our lives, spending more time and energy on the more important areas but not to neglect the others. In short, not to get too obsessed over one thing and forget the others or get too sucked into the less important ones that we end up neglecting the more vital ones.

General Considerations and Personal Reflections:
I hope these reflections might be useful raw material for your own meditations and they are being shared in that spirit.

Most of us will not find it difficult to remember, or  imagine a situation whereby being overly focused on a goal many other things in our life were not given the care and attention they required. These kinds of situations often result in “accidents” that can even make the attainment of our goal more difficult or even impossible. Worst of all, if we do reach it – on the way having wreaked havoc in our life as a whole – we may find ourselves with the bitter consequence of discovering that our all-important goal is much less rewarding than we imagined. 

Which one of us hasn’t encountered experiences like this in their daily life, as well as in fiction: a person sacrifices love, friendship, or family in the pursuit of fame and fortune (or whatever it is they consider important, valuable, or “prestigious”)? As a consequence they sacrifice their health, their loved ones, and the values they once held sacred. Even if they attain their goal, they don’t have the health to enjoy it, or loved ones to share it with, or values that give our lives meaning.

Things are well when they move together not in isolation is a sort of tautology. That is, it’s true almost by definition like saying: all bachelors are unmarried. Its truth seems to follow from the fact that one’s life is a whole and requires overall, not just partial, balance and development. 

That doesn’t mean that everything should move in the same way or the same time or considered to have the same value. On the contrary, everything doesn’t have the same importance and so we need to prioritize in a way that reflects that truth. In fact, it is only by having clear priorities and acting accordingly that things will truly move together. 

The origins of the following story are unclear but regardless of its pedigree, you may find it casts an interesting light on this principle. 

The Four Magicians

There were four magicians who were friends. Three of them were very learned but lacked wisdom. The fourth didn’t know as much as the others but had excellent judgment. One of the others said to her: “What use is judgment without knowledge. You might understand whether something is good, or bad, but not know how to attain one situation or the other. 

The youngest of them added that they could illustrate this in action. “Tomorrow” he said, “we must be in Persepolis but it’s a long way. In fact, a distance our camels could never make in one day. But thanks to our learning we can shorten the path.” 

They asked their wise companion to bring the camels while they consulted their books. When he returned, they began to cast their spells. One cast a spell that stretched the camel’s legs to an amazing length. Another enlarged its whole body so four of them could sit between its humps. And the next, made its neck so long it could raise its head over any sandstorm and see the most distant points.

The next morning however only 3 of the magicians mounted this extraordinary steed. The wise magician only said, “Better three rather than four when the problems multiply”. The others laughed at their fearful friend and raced off to the distant city.

They started their journey at a great clip but soon slowed down to a crawl. Belatedly they discovered that this giant camel needed much more food and water than they had brought. Its long neck could no longer support its massive head and now it had to run along its neck on the ground like a serpent slithering after its prey.

Finally, weakened, and off balance, the monster collapsed like a tower built with a weak foundation. So it was that they did not arrive to their important meeting and the business opportunity they were pursuing was lost. Happily, their friend was waiting for their return with food and drink already laid out.

On another occasion the four were walking along and came across the body of a dead lion. Wanting to prove for once and all the superiority of their knowledge the learned ones said: “Not long ago this once noble beast moved with grace and strength its body full of vital force. Let us do something for this poor animal. But this time let us agree beforehand so that all the parts agree and coincide in their action, forming a reasonable whole. The problem with that business with the camel was not a failure of our individual ability but of our not working together. And so, they agreed on a plan. 

The first one said: “I know how to unite the skeleton”. The second said: “I can heal skin, muscle and blood.” The third added: “I can give it life.”

Before they could begin their wise friend interjected: “perhaps this isn’t the best of ideas. After all it is a lion.” “Idiot” cried the one who could join bones: “what kind of magician fears a lion?” “Yes” said the one who could heal the muscles, bone, and blood: “who ever heard of a magician who needed to fear anything?” And the one who knew the secret of life added: “we will reduce your judgment to nothing”. “In that case”, said their friend: “wait a moment while I climb this tree.” 

With that the others proceeded with their plan… Of course, the lion ate them all. When it had padded away the wise magician climbed down from the tree and walked on.

Coming up:

Next week we’ll look to the past and explore how applying, or ignoring this Principle of Proportion has impacted our lives, and the lives of those around us.

A Question Worth Repeating:

Can you sit with eyes closed and go deep inside to discover the source of inner peace, vital force, and and real joy? Can you open your eyes and discover how to transform daily life into your spiritual path?

Remember

For things to move together things means I need to recognize that not everything has the same importance. Things need to be prioritized. In fact, it is only by having clear priorities and acting accordingly that everything will truly act together.