This morning on awakening I saw the Scales of Libra before my still closed eyes. Libra for Liberty....and Justice. Tarot 11 - the 2011 symbol just for me! This signified so clearly in my mind's eye the fine balancing act that allows freedom to come forth. The 'from building' or destruction/superimposition/annihilation of what is to create what will be.

Then I though of one of the most profound things I have read.

The Russian psychiatrist Olga Kharitidi in her book 'Entering the Circle' has this to say:

“We have the task of building two things while we are in our physical lives:

Our first task is to construct the physical reality in which we live.

The second task is the creation of ourselves – of that very self that lives within this outer reality.

Both tasks require equal attention. Keeping the balance between them is a very sacred and demanding art. As soon as we forget one task, the other can capture us and make us its slave forever.…”

This is how I have come to realize my life – it is an even seesawing between construction and creation, like a swinging pendulum marking out my allotted time. Balance is a chemical process of what happens between the two states.

Construct is “together + pile up;” create means “to beget or bring forth.”

This is like making daily bread: First piling up all the raw ingredients in a bowl, mixing them together, then kneading them, letting them rise and then rise again at the right temperature....then putting this ball of dough in a baking pan.  Lastly baking the loaf in a hot pe-heated oven. Finally, after a period in the oven, it is bringing forth the crisp crusted bread to cool off before tasting its deliciousness. The baking is the balance - the chemical process that links the risen raw ingredients (my experiences of life) to the finished product (me and what I have become through this life).

I intend that what I construct should nourish my soul in some way. But not only my soul…. I am passionately involved in keeping the balancing between construction and creation in the lives of others through my art and counseling work. I have planted hundreds of trees from seed that I collect each year to help compensate a fraction for those that have been felled. (These trees, now well over 3 000, are hopefully going to be planted soon by Carbonworx in a venture to reestablish areas in my country - South Africa -that have been totally denuded through ignorance and greed.) New forests of new trees will grow! With each death comes new life…. (This years number is 13 2+11~ the number of Death and Resurrection!) Working at constructing my nursery feeds my essence at the same time.

As my daughter once remarked, “Mom, love is a balancing energy.” Love is our Creator’s power - God's grace - inherent in us all, set free. With an open heart we can construct a glorious physical reality.

On an artistically set table out in the garden we can serve delicious marmalade and fig jam for spreading on our newly baked bread. By going to a bit of extra trouble we can change things. This in turn inspires us to better create ourselves. What we construct should bring us joy. The two go hand in hand.