The Principle of Rhythm

This Principle embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion - a to-and-from movement; a flow and inflow; a swing forward and backward; a pendulum-like movement; a tide-like ebb and flow; a high-tide and low-tide.

There is always an action and reaction; an advance and retreat; a rising and sinking. This manifests in the affairs of the Universe, suns, worlds, men, animals, mind, energy, and matter. The Principle manifests in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life of all things; and in the mental states of Man.

"The measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates." The swing in one direction determines the swing in the opposite direction - the one balances the other.

A man who enjoys keenly is subject to keen suffering; he who feels but little pain is capable of feeling but little joy. The capacity for pain and pleasure in each individual is balanced. Before one is able to enjoy a certain degree of pleasure, they must have swung proportionately toward the other pole of feeling.

The Hermetic Masters discovered two planes of consciousness - Lower and Higher - which enabled them to escape the swing of the Rhythmic pendulum. By rising mentally to the Higher Plane, the swing manifests on the Lower Plane, and they are not affected.

This is effected by polarizing on the Higher Self. The Master "refuses" to participate in the backward swing - standing firm in their polarized position, they allow the mental pendulum to swing back on the unconscious plane. This is the Art of the Hermetists: attaining Poise and Mental Firmness while others are swung backward and forward by moods and feelings.