Dynamic Tension

Dynamic TensionThink About It.  Dynamic Tension.  The concept has interested me for many years.  Admittedly, in my youth I may have co-opted the verbal combination from the back page of a comic book.  Recently I was reminded that Charles Atlas, perhaps the world’s most famous body-builder, used them in advertising that taught young men to repel bullies as he had prepared to stop them from kicking sand in his face.  Now it’s called isometrics.

What keeps the oceans from spilling out as the earth spins?  What prevents our flying off into space propelled by centrifugal force?  Gravity?  Unless of course we deliberately build a projectile powerful enough to break through the barrier into a continuingly expanding universe. These are among the many imponderables that muddy my mind.  You too?

More down to earth, consider the gravity of marriage.  It begins with the promise of love, honor, etc., but half the time “until death do us part”  becomes until debt do us part.  Goodness knows there are stresses in the ties that bind a loving marriage.  Change of life.  Crisis of midlife.  Temptation.  Distance in mood and space.  Certainly all create tensions.  But are they dynamic?  By the way,  fifty percent of unions are not torn asunder but rather remain in more or less wedded bliss. Why?

You may think that you are the center of the universe, but there’s great doubt that even your earth is. It’s not even true that the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west.  As I understand it, the earth rotates around the sun while the moon slowly circles earth.1 Once in awhile they seem to block each other, prompting young scholars to learn the meaning of eclipse.  What sustains that interstellar circumnavigation?

Coming back down to earth, the subject phrase is used loosely in performance measurement, motivational empowerment theory and the attempt to balance production with profit.  Aren’t you glad you asked?

What maintains some semblance of equilibrium as we toss about this “stormy sea of life” or march ant-like down the road?  What keeps us from falling when all seems to fail.   If all goes well, we experience those equal but opposite forces that create rather than destroy.  As for me,  I call it Dynamic Tension.  Think About It.

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