Balance is wisdom

What wisdom does my Higher Power offer today in facing my angers and resentments?

The card King of Wands from Tarot de St Croix features Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice Great). The illustration is clearly based on the one below by Jacques Boissard, 1605. Hermes Trismegistus is credited with writing texts that espouse a system of theological and mystical philosophy that appears to have emerged around the 2nd century, around the same time as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism. He probably never existed, and the texts were no doubt written by various authors over the centuries.

The 7 Hermetic Principles are outlined in a text called the Kybalion:

1. 'The All is Mind' -- All outward manifestations of reality are in fact based on upon mental and spiritual realities.

2. 'As above, so below; as below, so above'. -- There is always a correspondence between the various planes of being and reality. Seems similar to 'for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction', but in the metaphysical sense.

3. 'Nothing rests. Everything moves. Everything vibrates.' Modern science now proves this is indeed true. Our very atoms and the components that make them are in constant motion. Everything is zooming around.

4. 'Everything is dual. Everything has poles. Everything has its pair of opposites. Like and unlike are the same--opposites are identical in nature but different in degrees.' Opposites are only two extremes of the same thing. For example we say love is the extreme on one side, hate on the other, but it is a continuum of the same emotion. Hermeticism holds this to be true of all things.

5. 'Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides. The measure of the pendulum swing to the right is the measure of the pendulum swing to the left.'

6. 'Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause. Everything happens according to law: chance is simply a name for law unrecognized. There are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the law.' There is an explanation for everything, even things that now seem unexplainable. Eventually, the cause will be uncovered.

7. 'Everything has its masculine and feminine principles. Gender manifests on all planes.'

So we see that Hermeticism concerns itself very much with balance in the Universe. And so my advice from my Higher Power when viewing my angers and resentments is to do so in a way that honours the balance of the universe, the Hermetic principles. I am working my way through Step 4 of the 12 Steps, sticking rigorously to the form outlined in the AA Big Book on pages 63-67. The instructions are quite clear and straightforward and I see no reason not to follow them to the letter. The resulting table is written in my journal by hand, but looks similar to that outlined here (please click). The plan helps me to be honest about my angers and resentments, determine where that resentment comes from, and balance it by seeing ways I contribute to the situation that causes resentment and anger in myself. I think Hermes would probably approve of such an approach.