What is the meaning of balance?

Every day, we face conflicting priorities and tasks that divide our attention and make us long for something. The word "balance" resonates empty in the projection of a simulated awareness and superficial spirituality that make us believe we are naked in front of a mirror. In reality, we don't know where we stand.

Design is where the quest for balance is shaped. Bi-lanx is how Latins referred to the scale pans, an instrument also used as a symbolic representation of justice. If the subjective interpretation of a duality reaches the balance, would design ever be just? Is asking about balance defeating the purpose of finding the meaning of self-awareness by spoiling our actions? We are looking for an impermanent centre that moves without us knowing.

Compassion is not balanced; it's unilateral yet just, and when it's practised, it elevates our collective perception of "being in," as Heidegger refers to it.

The "right" balance influences all aspects of our existence as an illusory notion that there must be a measured way to live, and it will lead us to better "they-selves". Design is proportion, symmetry, and scale, yet good design infringes the concept of balance, where creativity is free. Harmony becomes an artificial balance of pre-defined rules. Deconstructing the notion of balance and going back to its origin, perhaps the visual representation of two plates that need to match to measure equality is far too simple to address the complexity of the design.

Ise Jingu is a 2000-year-old sanctuary designed to balance and centre ourselves between our spirituality and terrestrial needs. Jingu is the architectural representation of harmony. The Shogu represents our quest for answers that we cannot reach through terrestrial means. The Shogun is not open to visitors; it symbolises what we cannot access in our conscience.

Any Kami can be interpreted as a ritual to find a balance that we have lost in our daily routine, the inharmonious self that needs to be addressed by a cleansing process.

Design as a creative process is illustrated in The Wind Rises by Hayao Miyazaki as a delicate balance between dream and reality. Jiro often finds answers to his material challenges by 

accessing an enlightened mystical approach to engineering and dipping his feet in the unconscious state of creativity. Jiro also lives in constant compassionate behaviour towards strangers, implying a greater balance in how he loves and demonstrates his commitments.

If balance exists, it cannot be objective. Designing for balance is tuning our creativity to understand ourselves first. Self-awareness is the ultimate goal that helps us understand where we fit. Like a juggler, there will always be multiple things in the air at any moment of our day, and we need to ensure we are able to let things fall gracefully if needed.

Alessandro Floridi