“Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum- swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.” – The Kybalion

This Principle embodies the truth that everything flows from one end of each pole to the other in all things. This does not mean you will swing from extreme to extreme on each pole, but that you will flow ever “toward” one pole and then the other. All things have a rise and a fall, a beginning and an end; growth and decay. Nothing rests; rhythm is in everything. This Principle, as you may have noticed, is the Hermetic counterpart of the Zen Principle of mujo.

Just as the tides rise and fall, we move from mood to mood, and from mental state to mental state. By being conscious of the Principle of Rhythm, one can use the Principle of Polarity to avoid swinging back into negative states by polarizing to the positive pole. Polarizing to the positive pole, you avoid the backward swing of Rhythm and thus its influence over you. Understanding this Principle, one can avoid being carried back and forth from pole to pole by feelings, emotions, and moods.

This does not mean that you can destroy the Principle of Rhythm nor that you can end its influence, but that you can counterbalance its effects by the use of other laws, thus creating equilibrium. In regards to self- improvement, one can use the Principle of Rhythm to understand that the ups and downs of life are a natural process and that one can choose to polarize and rise above the backswings of Rhythm, instead of letting moods, feelings, and mental states control oneself.