Homeostasis: A Musing

“[Homeostasis is] the fundamental property of life that governs everything that living cells do, whether they’re living cells alone, or living cells as part of a tissue or an organ, or a complex system such as ourselves. Most of the time, when people hear the word homeostasis, they think of balance, they think of equilibrium. That is incorrect because if we ever were in “equilibrium,” we would be dead. Thermodynamically, equilibrium means zero thermal differences and death. Equilibrium is the last thing that nature aims for.” Dr. Antonio Damasio

“Where, then, are your heavens and hells?”

~The Great Heart Sutra

If you are thinking of Serenity...

Of perfect light...

Of Awakening...

...and you are conceiving of these things as "a state of perfect balance," are you not, then, unbalanced with reality?

Is true balance not a place where tides roar, heavens crack, people die, loved ones leave, and old ages murders all our most cherished possessions?

If perfect equilibrium is the last thing that nature aims for, why do we long for it? What happens if we just exist with what is happening, here, and now.

The rumble of gas in our gut. The feeling of sunlight or cooling shadow upon the skin.

The fragrance of fresh grass after a gentle rain. And the wildness, the raw undulations, and tribulations of our regretful and anxious mind — is this, too, not the way?