Dr Shannon Sauer-Zavaia, for whose work and thinking I have the greatest admiration, has written a challenging piece on “The Myth of Work-Life Balance” (‘Why you’re still struggling to “have it all” ‘). As you know, I believe that life itself is a balance. Graphically, this concept is beautifully expressed in Sanddorn Feather Balance. Almost a religion for me. So this is not a challenge to Shannon, more a question. The more we discuss our views, the less we dogmatise them. You don’t have to look far in today’s world to see what a good idea that is.
Of course, there is no suggestion that life will be balanced from minute to minute. The rough and tumble of fortune, the misadventure of accident, the desirable search to improve, the wit of invitation are the bones of a good society. None of these is a balance, all are chance mixed with opportunism. A good meal is composed by the chef’s instinctive feel, not by a pair of scales. Life itself is an imbalance so any achievement of balance is an accomplishment.
What is it that makes the rough-and-tumble stages of life so important?
The rather vulgar and irritating expression ‘kick-start’ at last finds a place to work. The vicissitudes of life kick-start our minds to think and create.’Stimulate’ is a more conventional word for it but this is where we want to kick over the traces of convention and trigger novelty. Great creativity challenges convention, so the greatest creators may be unconventional. For those of a religious outlook on life, it makes sense for them to ask if unconventionality in humanity may be, even within their belief, the product of an unconventional Deity. I’ve never before heard the word ‘unconventional’ applied to God. Is this a suitable time to test it?
“To think is simple; to concoct, divine.” No, I’ve never heard that said or seen it written. But I think it might be a mantra that we should introduce to the young, now that AI is starting to think (or apparently think) as well as we can. As the fashion industry so ably demonstrates, daily appearance and reality are often clearer in the mind than in the book of truth.
Human uniqueness is the ability to relate the concoction to the practical. The transformation is a balance after the rocky, unkempt, jolting journey to it.
Who risks a lot, learns a lot. Even when it’s a harsh lesson.
But all lessons are priceless.
Good morning
John Bittleston
Please do send your views to [email protected].
Be as unbalanced as you like!
28 July 2026
