The Balance Beam Parable for Threefold realization

The story behind the reHJon balance beam goes like this. We wanted to measure our business by adjusting our old conventional measures to measures that would encourage us to be more conscious of being threefold in the day-to-day reality of life. To this effect we developed a reHJon Scale which is a mini version of the balance beam. The scale has three limbs 120 degrees apart. One represents our Liberty (People development in terms of strengthening their consciousness) strivings, one our Equality (Measuring and reporting relevant information accurately as well as keeping track of internal controls, contracts and agreements) and one our Economic. Herman Jonker, our Engineering Manager, built our first scale, and was really interested in making it work. You can now work out where the name came from. How this reHJon Scale all works and the measures we use is for another article. However, from the scale, and the visual impact that it has on human souls, in other words the effect that the imbalance shown in the scale when each sphere of the threefold are not in balance, we decided to see how it would feel to be the very balancing force ourselves by building a larger version, the reHJon Balance Beam. Again, Herman designed and built it.

The physical message:

In order to understand the real message being sent to us by the balance beam, we had to look carefully at what it is, and then link the relevant material concepts that it is, to it, through our thinking and life experience. This would enable us to understand it, the physical balance beam. From this, we would understand what spiritual impulse – concepts – are behind it and revealing themselves to us through the balance beam. In physical terms, we discovered the following:

• There is a pivot point right at the centre.
• There is more and more leverage as one goes further from the pivot point along the beams.
• The more leverage one has, the smaller the movement of mass required to effect change.
• The lever effect is not an opposite lever effect but rather one that affects two others, and two others that affect the original one.
• Balance is the common objective for all three arms – the Balance Beam itself.

The above were distilled out of our attempts to balance on the balance beam. Other realities were that at the centre, large movements have to take place to create any leverage to move the balance beam. When the beam responds to these movements, they are large and so create instability. People had to hang onto each other to prevent themselves from falling off when operating from the centre. They move forward towards the centre as an instinctual response to the instability. However, when people started at the outer edges of the balance beam, they could find balance more easily with small shifts of their weight while communicating with the others, based on the feeling of imbalance or balance that they could feel in the movement of the balance beam. It proved to draw real inner feelings of teamwork, common goal, real communication, while still being able to see and experience the bigger picture happening in the current social environment. Despite being conscious of the fact that balance is achievable from a position of leverage at the extremities of the beams, when people attempt to move from the centre to the extremities, they respond to the instability at the centre by going back towards the centre where there is no chance of stability because they feel secure in being able to use each other as stability. They do not move further way through the ‘area of risk’ towards the extremities where they know that stability is possible.

The Parable message:

From a societal perspective, we are not living in a threefold system. We live in a Unitary State concept where One Person One vote rules in on all three areas of societal key societal realities. We are in the centre where imbalance, dependence, and confusion reign. From the balance beam experience/parable, we know that if only we could get to the outer edges, we could find balance. The problem is that the distance between the pivot point, and the area of stability because independence and leverage are possible, is a high-risk area.

In my view, the above shows us that balance is possible, a viable threefold society is possible, but that we have to think the end result of balance actively and in doing so prepare our place of leverage at the end of the levers, and by doing this, at some point, we will be able to step into this place where our created balance will become a reality through the high risk area between where we are now as a society, at the centre on the pivot point.

Each sphere needs to know itself and be independent in its choices and actions related it its sphere. With this in mind, each sphere must not only focus on themselves, but rather each has to have the position of the others in mind. Our individual focus needs to be that we are as far out as we can be so that the others can also be as far out as they can be for maximum leverage. Thereafter our focus becomes that we leverage the others to bring balance not overbalance or underbalance. When we work on one, we are working on both. Two need to work for me. I need to work for two others. It is clear from this that no alliances are possible with a Threefold Balance beam or withing a Threefold societal structure.

All of the above you can experience for yourself if you build this wonderful balance beam and play on it.

(In order to learn about the key thoughts of each sphere, you could get hold of a copy of the Game Evolutionise by contacting us. You will also get a feeling of how a society, be it a business, town, or a country, could move from a unitary State into a viable Threefold society.)

The Iona Foundation, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, actively promotes the balance beam in Europe. Should you wish to experience the balance beam for yourself, please make contact here.

The drawings required for the reproduction of the balance beam are also made available by clicking on the link below.