No, it’s not a new Harry Potter book – although it sounds like one, doesn’t it! It’s my reflections about the presence of universal laws in the Harry Potter books, and particularly two favourites of mine, The Law of Polarity, discussed in The Mastery Club, and The Law of Conservation, introduced in The Hidden Order.
When I began reading the Harry Potter series to my son 11 years ago, I was bothered by the emphasis on ‘evil’ – the whole series is about resisting/fighting/defending against evil. At one level the books are a great demonstration that ‘what we resist, persists’ (this thought gave me an idea for another novel for youth that I’m currently writing), however the more I studied Dr Demartini’s work, the more I realised that while the ‘resist persists’ idea might be true, there will always be an element of evil in the world, whether we like it or not.
The Law of Polarity states that life is an equal balance of positive and negative; we will always have both because life itself emerges from the combination of opposites, and so a one-sided world of just light and peace and abundance is a physical impossibility for life on earth.
The Law of Conservation states that nothing is created or destroyed, it merely changes form. This includes physical and metaphysical phenomena. Speaking physically, when our bodies die, they are turned to dust and the atoms take other forms. Speaking metaphysically, all of our traits and experiences are ‘conserved’; we can never get rid of pain because we’ll always have pain in some form or another, whether physical, financial, familial or in some other form.
And when this Law is combined with the Law of Polarity, it indicates that we will always experience an equal balance of pain and pleasure in our lives, just in changing forms. This blend of support and challenge is the true meaning of love, which is not just the unending support and comfort (and ‘passion’) that our popular social consciousness believes love to be.
JK Rowling reveals her understanding of these principles in her very wise portrayal of Dumbledore, for instance. Professor Dumbledore is the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and he is a formidable wizard in his own right. He is dedicated to the individual realisation of potential, and he is fully aware of the darkness within his own character; he has grappled with it and been humbled, and he subsequently owns all of his traits, which is a true sign of mastery.
The idea that there is a ‘hidden Order’ to life despite its apparent unfairness and chaos is also borne out in the Harry Potter books. Sometimes it’s difficult to see this order in our own lives because we aren’t seeing a big enough picture. As the HP books unfold over a period of seven years, we see that the apparent tragedies and challenges that Harry has had to endure have made him strong, courageous, independent and very determined. It’s not hard to recognise that, if he’d been brought up in the loving and secure nest of his family with no strife, he would probably not have developed the leadership qualities that his unusual circumstances have catalysed.
I recently watched a beautiful, moving film called ‘Soul Surfing’, the true story of teenage surfer Bethany Hamilton whose arm was bitten off by a shark. She returns to her loved sport despite the difficulties, and when a reporter asks if she would wind the clock back and not go swimming on the day of the attack, she says no: “I wouldn’t change what happened to me because then I wouldn’t have this chance, in front of all of you, this chance to embrace more people than I ever could have with two arms.” How inspiring; her statement very elegantly reveals the purpose and gift of adversity.
Harry Potter’s friends, Hermione and Ron, bring strengths and weaknesses that perfectly complement his – almost as if their friendship was designed… He ‘happens’ to meet Ron on the first day of his new life as a trainee wizard, and Ron’s family ‘happens’ to be members of ‘the Order of the Phoenix’, a secret society that defends the freedom and integrity of the wizarding world. In our own lives, so many people turn up as if by accident or coincident, and yet they play perfectly orchestrated roles in our lives. The challenge is to find the Order!
I hope you’ll join me at the launch of my new book, The Hidden Order, on Sunday 15th July in Box Hill, Melbourne. Please contact me for an invitation if you haven’t yet received one.
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