TRANSITIONAL BALANCE

The tempo Adagio is sometimes prescriptive rather than descriptive, the required balance nowhere in evidence. Balance is an interesting concept originating from the Vulgar Latin balancia equivalent to the Late Latin, a pair of scales. When we lose our balance the sight can be truly (vulgar) outlandish.

Balance requires kinesthetic sense placing our foundation -- usually our feet although sometimes the weight distributed in the pelvic area – beneath our gravity centers as we stand or motate. Interestingly, walking requires balance to be shifted from foot to foot while in transition until a new foundation is established, suspending us imbalanced. We don’t think about it until someone pulls the chair out from under us, or our foot is placed wrongly and we stagger, out of balance.

Balance is so important that we carry the concept’s language into interpersonal relationships, mental conditions, family budgets, business relationships, etc. Where do we place our weight?

When dementia afflicts a brain the balance between reality and delusion becomes affected. To varying degrees we each maintain our own psychological balance between fear, need, and satisfaction. When balance remains precarious, we invent compensations that allow us to move forward in living either scherzo, adagio, grave, or some combination. Compensations like eye glasses, crutches, wheel chairs, or even war to remove the impediment.