Second Coming the novel: Extending the Entertainment

In the novel, ‘Second Coming,’ balance is
the operating principle of the universe

What's the big idea? In a word, balance. Balance is the simplest of all concepts and perhaps the easiest to understand because it is intertwined with every aspect of our lives. We would not exist were it not for balance between the sun's gravitational forces pushing in and its nuclear forces pushing out. We could not walk except for a sense of balance, and if our body fluids get out of balance, we die. We balance our checkbooks, strive to stay on an even keel, and worship the Golden Mean. And, of course, there's Newton's third law: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Is balance everywhere, and in everything, and operating at every level?

In the fictional universe of Second Coming, balance is the operating principle. In the real world, science has yet to discover the operating principle. Might the real world and the fictional world of Second Coming be the same? Paul Genet, the main character of the novel, says they are the same. Paul thinks the only difference is point of view: it's all in how you look at it, or, what you look for is what you find. Of course, Paul would be the first to acknowledge that he may be insane.

Insane or not, Paul has no doubt. He says there are only two possible ways to view the world: as One or as Many. View the world as One—all at once—and you see nothing because everything, balanced by everything else, cancels out like a mathematical equation. View the world as Many, that is, as separate things with unique individual identities, and the conventional real world of space-time is manifest.

The balanced universe of the novel is non-local…a circle rather than a straight line. Every point (event) is both the beginning and the end, and every point contains all points and no points at all. Paul says we cause the world to show itself when we change our view from the circle to the line, from the whole to the part. Or, as Paul's friend Preacher John puts it, “In the Garden of Eden, all creatures beheld the beatific vision—all things as one. Then one creature, Adam, broke the symmetry by viewing things separately.”

Balance as the non-local ‘hidden variable’ of quantum physics | The strange, strange universe of Paul Genet

References to balance in ‘Second Coming’

“No, you can keep objective reality, but it has to be non-local.”
“Every event the cause of every other event. How can that be?” said Villa.
“It goes back to Professor Schwartz’s idea of a non-physical principle.”
“Really? Werner is clueless, but I suppose a man of letters, like yourself, knows of such a principle,” said Nelson Ulundi.
“The most ubiquitous…balance.” Chap 9

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“All things at once through balance.” Chap 8

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“The key is balance. If everything is in harmony with everything else, past and future disappear.” Chap 7

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“There’s only one possible outcome if everything is balanced.” Chap 4

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“You can’t change events if, as you say, all events are set by balance.” Chap 12

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“Two worlds in perfect balance with each other and within themselves. Apart they equal everything. Together they cancel out and equal nothing.” Chap 14 & More

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“When we view everything at once, we see nothing. When we view things sequentially, we see only a part of the whole, but at least we see something.” Chap 8

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“Each of you has a moment of balance. At that moment, your personal center will coincide with me. When that happens, you will experience me outside of time and space, and I will invite you to merge with me.” Chap 13 & More

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“This afternoon, I experienced balance. I stood at the center of existence.” Chap 12

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“There are two symbols that graphically represent your idea of balance—yin-yang* and the hexagram. Which best represents your idea?” Chap 11

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“The last shall be first, and the first last. Balance is divine justice.” Chap 12

* In the novel, the balancing within Many (individual objects with unique identities) is due to “gathering” and “scattering,” and is symbolized by the opposing equal triangles of the hexagram (more here). The Chinese Taoist yin-yang symbol, is exactly the same. The choice of hexagram or yin-yang is personal preference only. —Editor