Balance


36

Balance.



There are many ways in which the artist can make something look brighter and more vivid, you put a contrasting colour beside it. Before you can make something look lighter or brighter you must first grasp the reality of dark and heavy.

Before you can dilute something, you have to fully grasp the strength of that which you wish to dilute. 

Lao Tzu says, " To have a true understanding of anything you have first be able to perceive the nature of things." 

In Tai Chi the practitioner learns first how to be aware of the balance of being, to know exactly where the weight of your body is poised either on the right or the left. Only then can one find the centre of balance. Having begun to grasp this for self, we realise it is the same for all others. The exponent of Tai Chi needs to use no force to unbalance another because this knowledge of balance can turn the force back on itself.

In all things, including the creative process, the struggle against the many things that can go wrong can be set aside by fully knowing the nature of both the tools of craft and nature of materials whether they be paint or wood.

Before anything can be done well first there has to be a sound knowledge of what can go wrong. Being aware of this, things will go wrong less frequently, and a balance will be yours.

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