Balance

January through February 2015

Materials

Molded thread and stones.

Concept (from Wikipedia)

balance

(bal-uh ns)

noun

a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight,amount.

something used to produce equilibrium; counterpoise.

mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behaviour, judgment.

a state of bodily equilibrium: "He lost his balance and fell down the stairs."

an instrument for determining weight, typically by the equilibrium of a bar with a fulcrum at the centre, from each end of which is suspended a scale or pan, one holding an object of known weight and the other holding the object to be weighed.

the remainder or rest."He carried what he could and left the balance for his brother to bring."

the power or ability to decide an outcome by throwing one's strength,influence, support or the like, to one side or the other.

In the metaphysical or conceptual sense, balance is used to mean a point between two opposite forces that is desirable over purely one state or the other, such as a balance between the metaphysical Law and Chaos — law by itself being overly controlling, chaos being overly unmanageable, balance being the point that minimizes the negatives of both.

More recently, the term "balance" has come to refer to a harmony of power between multiple opposing forces.

Lack of balance (or power) is generally considered to cause aggression by stronger forces toward weaker forces less capable of defending themselves.

In the real world, unbalanced stronger forces tend to portray themselves as balanced, and use media controls to downplay this, and to prevent weaker forces from coming together to achieve a new balance of power.

In constructed worlds, such as in video gaming, where nearly all-powerful corporate interests strive to maintain a balance of power among players, those players tend to be extremely vocal about what they see as unbalanced mechanics, providing the unbalance negatively affects them.

And though the strong and unbalanced (or "overpowered") players commonly are vigorous in denial of any lack of balance, the comparative media equality among all player brings change quickly, to further a sense of balance.