IN this first week of advent, we look at some deep and forgotten magic.

As people moved out of the countryside since the industrial revolution, and moved to the cities, the next generation forgot the deep magic of keeping the balance.

Imagine a pair of old type scales with a weigh on each side.

It doesn’t matter how heavy each side is if in balance the scales will stay level and in balance. But if you put just a few grams on one side only, the scales will bump down on the heavier side. The idea of balance is built into the universe, including the magical, the physical and the spiritual.

The magical world says, we must keep the balance of life, or disaster will be upon us. The spiritual life says, ‘we can’t live on bread alone, but on every word of God.’ The physical realm shows how it works.

Just a few examples from medicine – our bodies’ must keep within one degree of 37 C to be well; our insulin must be in balance, the acid in our stomach must be kept with in tight boundaries or burn a hole in it; the list is endless.

Physically, the world systems must be kept in balance or crash. Co2, in the atmosphere should be around 280 to 330 ppm (420 ppm now)  to run well without getting too hot or too cold.

The acids in soil, the sea and the air, all must be in tight boundaries. In fact every eco system on earth must be in balance to sustain life. In the famous words of Mumble, in the film, Happy Feet, ‘the world is out of wake!’

Every indigenous tribe today, still knows the old magic, and would know how to keep the balance of life and sustain it.

As most people today live and work in big cities and towns, unfortunately, we did not get the teaching pasted down from our parents on the deep magic – which is: keep the balance of all life, both spiritual and physical, or as the book of magic says, a life, or lives will be needed to bring back the balance.

Until recently, we would have thought this type of thinking was, ‘mumbo jumbo.’ But now as we look into the deep understanding of how life and even atoms really work, we better pay attention to the deep magic of the circle of life and keeping the balance of Earth’s eco systems or perish along with them.

It’s a good job Christmas is a time for rethinking about what life is really all about and how to live in harmony with nature and the planet.