This polarity in nature is nowhere better stated than in Emerson’s essay on “Compensation”:—
“Polarity, or action and reaction, we meet in every part of nature; in darkness and light; in heat and cold; in the ebb and flow of waters; in male and female; in the inspiration and expiration of plants and animals; in the systole and diastole of the heart; in the undulations of fluids and of sounds; in the centrifugal and centripetal gravity; in electricity, galvanism and chemical affinity. If the south attracts, the north repels. To empty here, you must condense there.”
What can nature teach us of rhythm that will help us build our lives up into rounded completion? To begin with, we may learn something of the relations which should exist between us and our fellow men. The hermit who withdraws himself from the society of his fellows to live by himself, even though his purpose may be to commune with nature or with nature’s God, is not living in accordance with God’s laws. Man is a social being and is dependent upon intercourse with other human beings for his complete development. No one can cut himself off from his fellow men without damage.
On the other hand, too constant association with others works even greater harm. Wordsworth felt this when he wrote:—
“The world is too much with us: late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”
We may learn from nature’s rhythm of life that we need both society and solitude. To adjust these to each other in proper degree is a problem for each of us. Are you one of the unfortunate persons who cannot be happy for a moment unless in the company of others? If so, you are preparing an unhappy future. If you find yourself so dull a companion, how can you expect others to find you interesting? You are not developing the resources without which no life can be permanently happy. Give yourself occasionally an opportunity to think your own thoughts, to question your own heart, and to get acquainted with yourself. You will be all the better a companion to others for it, and, moreover, you will be better company for yourself, for you will be led to develop inner resources. I once heard an Indian Buddhist priest tell of the custom in his country of requiring each child in a family to spend one hour a day quietly in a room by himself, “thinking good thoughts.” An hour a day so spent by some young people I know would be helpful in arousing to greater independence of mind and originality of thought.
Some of us, however, need to make serious effort to acquire the power of entering easily into cordial relations with others. If you have a tendency to hold aloof, if you are not at your ease with those with whom you happen to be thrown, and find it difficult to enter into friendly relations with them, set yourself earnestly to correct this defect. Such tendencies allowed to go unchecked are almost sure to result in many lonely hours.