THE PRINCIPLE OF RHYTHM TAUGHT BY THE KYBALION

The chapter 11 of the book The Kybalion details the fifth hermetic principle, which is the principle of rhythm.

 

"Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right, is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates"—The Kybalion.

 

The great Fifth Hermetic Principle—the Principle of Rhythm-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 a low- tide; between the two-poles manifest on the physical, mental or spiritual planes. The Principle of rhythm is closely connected with the Principle of Polarity described in the preceding chapter. Rhythm manifests between the two poles established by the Principle of Polarity. This does not mean, however, that the pendulum of Rhythm swings to the extreme poles, for this rarely happens; in fact, it is difficult to establish the extreme polar opposites in the majority of cases. But the swing is ever "toward" first one pole and then the other.

 

There is always an action and reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking; manifested in all of the airs and phenomena of the Universe. Suns, worlds, men, animals, plants, minerals, forces, energy, mind and matter, yes, even Spirit, manifests this Principle. The Principle manifests in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life history of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man.

 

Beginning with the manifestations of Spirit—of THE ALL—it will be noticed that there is ever the Outpouring and the Indrawing; the "Outbreathing and Inbreathing of Brahm," as the Brahmans word it. Universes are created; reach their extreme low point of materiality; and then begin in their upward swing. Suns spring into being, and then their height of power being reached, the process of retrogression begins, and after aeons they become dead masses of matter, awaiting another impulse which starts again their inner energies into activity and a new solar life cycle is begun. And thus it is with all the worlds; they are born, grow and die; only to be reborn. And thus it is with all the things of shape and form; they swing from action to reaction; from birth to death; from activity to inactivity—and then back again. Thus it is with all living things; they are born, grow, and die—and then are reborn. So it is with all great movements, philosophies, creeds, fashions, governments, nations, and all else-birth, growth, maturity, decadence, death-and then new-birth. The swing of the pendulum is ever in evidence.

 

Night follows day; and day night. The pendulum swings from Summer to Winter, and then back again. The corpuscles, atoms, molecules, and all masses of matter, swing around the circle of their nature. There is no such thing as absolute rest, or cessation from movement, and all movement partakes of rhythm. The principle is of universal application. It may be applied to any question, or phenomena of any of the many planes of life. It may be applied to all phases of human activity. There is always the Rhythmic swing from one pole to the other. The Universal Pendulum is ever in motion. The Tides of Life flow in and out, according to Law.

 

The Principle of rhythm is well understood by modern science, and is considered a universal law as applied to material things. But the Hermetists carry the principle much further, and know that its manifestations and influence extend to the mental activities of Man, and that it accounts for the bewildering succession of moods, feelings and other annoying and perplexing changes that we notice in ourselves. But the Hermetists by studying the operations of this Principle have learned to escape some of its activities by Transmutation.

 

The Hermetic Masters long since discovered that while the Principle of Rhythm was invariable, and ever in evidence in mental phenomena, still there were two planes of its manifestation so far as mental phenomena are concerned. They discovered that there were two general planes of Consciousness, the Lower and the Higher, the understanding of which fact enabled them to rise to the higher plane and thus escape the swing of the Rhythmic pendulum which manifested on the lower plane. In other words, the swing of the pendulum occurred on the Unconscious Plane, and the Consciousness was not affected. This they call the Law of Neutralization. Its operations consist in the raising of the Ego above the vibrations of the Unconscious Plane of mental activity, so that the negative-swing of the pendulum is not manifested in consciousness, and therefore they are not affected. It is akin to rising above a thing and letting it pass beneath you. The Hermetic Master, or advanced student, polarizes himself at the desired pole, and by a process akin to "refusing" to participate in the backward swing or, if you prefer, a "denial" of its influence over him, he stands firm in his polarized position, and allows the mental pendulum to swing back along the unconscious plane. All individuals who have attained any degree of self-mastery, accomplish this, more or less unknowingly, and by refusing to allow their moods and negative mental states to affect them, they apply the Law of Neutralization. The Master, however, carries this to a much higher degree of proficiency, and by the use of his Will he attains a degree of Poise and Mental Firmness almost impossible of belief on the part of those who allow themselves to be swung backward and forward by the mental pendulum of moods and feelings.

 

The importance of this will be appreciated by any thinking person who realizes what creatures of moods, feelings and emotion the majority of people are, and how little mastery of themselves they manifest. If you will stop and consider a moment, you will realize how much these swings of Rhythm have affected you in your life—how a period of Enthusiasm has been invariably followed by an opposite feeling and mood of Depression. Likewise, your moods and periods of Courage have been succeeded by equal moods of Fear. And so it has ever been with the majority of persons—tides of feeling have ever risen and fallen with them, but they have never suspected the cause or reason of the mental phenomena. An understanding of the workings of this Principle will give one the key to the Mastery of these rhythmic swings of feeling, and will enable him to know himself better and to avoid being carried away by these inflows and outflows. The Will is superior to the conscious manifestation of this Principle, although the Principle itself can never be destroyed. We may escape its effects, but the Principle operates, nevertheless. The pendulum ever swings, although we may escape being carried along with it.

 

There are other features of the operation of this Principle of Rhythm of which we wish to speak at this point. There comes into its operations that which is known as the Law of Compensation. One of the definitions or meanings of the word "Compensate" is, "to counterbalance" which is the sense in which the Hermetists use the term. It is this Law of Compensation to which the Kybalion refers when it says: "The measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."

 

The Law of Compensation is that the swing in one direction determines the swing in the opposite direction, or to the opposite pole-the one balances, or counterbalances, the other. On the Physical Plane we see many examples of this Law. The pendulum of the clock swings a certain distance to the right, and then an equal distance to the left. The seasons balance each other in the same way. The tides follow the same Law. And the same Law is manifested in all the phenomena of Rhythm. The pendulum, with a short swing in one direction, has but a short swing in the other; while the long swing to the right invariably means the long swing to the left. An object hurled upward to a certain height has an equal distance to traverse on its return. The force with which a projectile is sent upward a mile is reproduced when the projectile returns to the earth on its return journey. This Law is constant on the Physical Plane, as reference to the standard authorities will show you.

 

But the Hermetists carry it still further. They teach that a man's mental states are subject to the same Law. The man who enjoys keenly, is subject to keen suffering; while he who feels but little pain is capable of feeling but little joy. The pig suffers but little mentally, and enjoys but little—he is compensated. And on the other hand, there are other animals who enjoy keenly, but whose nervous organism and temperament cause them to suffer exquisite degrees of pain and so it is with Man. There are temperaments which permit of but low degrees of enjoyment, and equally low degrees of suffering; while there are others which permit the most intense enjoyment, but also the most intense suffering. The rule is that the capacity for pain and pleasure, in each individual, are balanced. The Law of Compensation is in full operation here.

 

But the Hermetists go still further in this matter. They teach that before one is able to enjoy a certain degree of pleasure, he must have swung as far, proportionately, toward the other pole of feeling. They hold, however, that the Negative is precedent to the Positive in this matter, that is to say that in experiencing a certain degree of pleasure it does not follow that he will have to "pay up for it" with a corresponding degree of pain; on the contrary, the pleasure is the Rhythmic swing, according to the Law of Compensation, for a degree of pain previously experienced either in the present life, or in a previous incarnation. This throws a new light on the Problem of Pain.

 

The Hermetists regard the chain of lives as continuous, and as forming a part of one life of the individual, so that in consequence the rhythmic swing is understood in this way, while it would be without meaning unless the truth of reincarnation is admitted.

 

But the Hermetists claim that the Master or advanced student is able, to a great degree, to escape the swing toward Pain, by the process of Neutralization before mentioned. By rising on to the higher plane of the Ego, much of the experience that comes to those dwelling on the lower plane is avoided and escaped.

 

The Law of Compensation plays an important part in the lives of men and women. It will be noticed that one generally "pays the price" of anything he possesses or lacks. If he has one thing, he lacks another—the balance is struck. No one can "keep his penny and have the bit of cake" at the same time Everything has its pleasant and unpleasant sides. The things that one gains are always paid for by the things that one loses. The rich possess much that the poor lack, while the poor often possess things that are beyond the reach of the rich. The millionaire may have the inclination toward feasting, and the wealth wherewith to secure all the dainties and luxuries of the table, while he lacks the appetite to enjoy the same; he envies the appetite and digestion of the laborer who lacks the wealth and inclinations of the millionaire, and who gets more pleasure from his plain food than the millionaire could obtain even if his appetite were not jaded, nor his digestion ruined, for the wants, habits and inclinations differ.

 

(This example does not make sense since there are many rich people with big appetites and many poor people with no appetite.)

 

And so it is through life. The Law of Compensation is ever in operation, striving to balance and counter-balance, and always succeeding in time, even though several lives may be required for the return swing of the Pendulum of Rhythm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVATIONS

 

In this chapter, the author of the Kybalion made a lot of jumble with the concepts, as I will show you below.

 

To begin, he makes the mistake of stating that rhythm is an oscillation, which is false, since the dictionary defines rhythm as follows:

 

« Rhythm is the way of succeeding and alternating a series of events (phenomena, movements, sounds, etc.) that are repeated periodically in a certain interval of time. »

 

For example, when you listen to a song, you perceive the rhythm in the melody of that song as the sounds show a cadence.

 

But this song isn't swinging back and forth like a pendulum does. You don't hear the beginning and then the end, and then the beginning again, and then the end again, and so on. Rather, the song begins with a beginning, then makes a tour, and ends with an end; that is, it goes in a straight line, and the rhythm is created by the repetition of the cadence.

 

So the rhythm is not necessarily like a pendulum that goes back and forth as the author of the Kybalion affirms.

 

But on the other hand, an oscillating movement can also have a rhythm, as is typically perceived with a pendulum or a metronome. But also keep in mind that an oscillating movement may not have rhythm.

 

For example, tie a small piece of paper with a ribbon to the branch of a tree and you will see that the paper will be oscillating in the wind, but without rhythm, because its movement will be random.

 

Therefore, the first mistake that the author of the Kybalion made is to have fallen short in his reflection when he affirmed that everything has a rhythm, since as I have just indicated, that is not true. And there are many things in Creation that have no rhythm, such as the movement of clouds, lightning when they appear, and any phenomenon where a certain form of chaos predominates.

 

And the second mistake that the author of the Kybalion makes is to have ensured that every succession of events is oscillatory, when I have just shown you that this is not true either, because there are not only wave movements, but also straight movements, curved movements, staggered movements, random movements, etc. There are all kinds of movements and the oscillatory movement is only one of them.

 

So neither the rhythm nor the oscillation can be considered as universal principles, since in reality they are only part of something that is even greater.

 

 

And what if it is universal?

 

 

IS THE MOVEMENT

 

 

Since everything in the Universe is in movement.

 

Even objects that appear to be stationary on Earth are actually moving with the planet on a larger scale.

 

Everything is in movement and that is why this sixth hermetic principle should not have referred to rhythm, but to movement, and said:

 

« Everything moves in the Universe, both spatially and temporally. »

 

 

And the masters explained that the relevant movements of Creation work through cycles, and those cycles have different rhythms. In other words, the rhythm is an important aspect of this principle, but it is not the principle itself, since this is the movement.

 

And the masters also explained that one of the most important cycles is the cycle of alternation, where periods of activity alternate with periods of rest. And in this cycle it can be clearly seen that there is an oscillatory movement, but we are talking about important aspects of Creation, while the author of the Kybalion wants to put it in everything.

 

For example, beings need to alternate periods where they are awake with periods where they are asleep so that their organisms can function properly. And on a larger level, beings need to alternate periods of incarnation on the physical plane with periods of rest on the subtle plane in order to evolve. Those aspects are important.

 

But on the other hand, if humans keep jumping from one emotional state to another, it is not because the alternation rule dictates it, but simply because humans are not yet in control of their emotions. And all the great instructors I know teach that before you want to connect with your higher consciousness, you first have to learn to be in balance with yourself. Which is not what the author of the Kybalion teaches.

 

Since he says that what you have to do is hold onto the pole of happiness (since we are talking about emotions) and there you connect with your higher consciousness (but he does not explain how) and reject with all your will to be pulled towards the pole of sadness.

 

But if you do that, what is going to happen the vast majority of the time is that you are going to build up more and more pressure, until a day comes when you are going to be pulled with tremendous force towards the opposite pole. While if you seek to learn to be in balance it is easier to be able to carry out the law of neutralization.

 

And we perceive this in physics where objects seek to reach an equilibrium position and are not clinging to extremes.

 

 

 

Another mistake that the author of the Kybalion makes is when he says:

 

« There are other features of the operation of this Principle of Rhythm of which we wish to speak at this point. There comes into its operations that which is known as the Law of Compensation. One of the definitions or meanings of the word "Compensate" is, "to counterbalance" which is the sense in which the Hermetists use the term. It is this Law of Compensation to which the Kybalion refers when it says: "The measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates." »

 

And once again he is confusing concepts because the compensation has nothing to do with rhythm, since as we saw above, rhythm is a repetitive cadence of events, and what he is actually pointing to here is Newton's Third Law which says that "to every action there corresponds a reaction of equal magnitude but of opposite direction."

 

And not content with making this mistake, he still draws a parallel with the ability to feel pleasure and pain by adding:

 

« But the Hermetists carry it still further. They teach that a man's mental states are subject to the same Law. The man who enjoys keenly, is subject to keen suffering; while he who feels but little pain is capable of feeling but little joy. »

 

But this is also false and to prove it imagine a man who was born with a low libido and who is also quite taciturn in character. Well, this man will have little capacity to feel great pleasures, but even so he will suffer and it will hurt a lot when he loses a loved one (such as a son, his wife, a friend, etc.). So it is not true that the ability to feel pleasure and pain have to be the same.

 

And then the author of the Kybalion says that in order to feel pleasure one must first have felt pain, which is also incorrect because many people experience pleasure without the need to have felt pain before, but the author maintains that these cases are due because those people felt pain in their previous reincarnations.

 

And here the author of the Kybalion is losing a lot in his lucubrations, because although pleasure and pain are two opposite sensations, it is not necessary to experience pain in order to later experience pleasure, since these sensations have to do with pleasant stimulation or unpleasant that we receive and not with an oscillation effect.

 

For example: if someone strokes you, you feel pleasure, and if someone hits you, you feel pain. But they do not need someone to hit you in order to feel pleasure later, since it is the caress that causes this sensation of pleasure and it is not an oscillatory reaction due to having been hit before.

 

And the author of the Kybalion ends by saying that by the law of compensation, if one possesses one thing, one must lack another so that the balance is balanced. And once again he is mixing and misusing the concepts, because all the great masters I know say that Nature is abundance and that God is totality, and since we are his creation we are destined to live in abundance too and to be total as well.

 

And if we currently do not experience life in this way, it is because humans are still very immature and get caught up in living in discord with divine laws, but the day we finally learn to live with the divine laws, we will have all that and much more.

 

Conclusion: this jumble of concepts and mistakes that the author of the Kybalion embodied in this chapter shows me that he was not an initiate, but only an student of esotericism who acquired knowledge in some aspects, but was also very lost and confused in others aspects.