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In juggling, he saw a way to share the same feeling of accomplishment and self-worth juggling had brought him, and a way to retain control over "an action program that would have impact."

'It represents virtues that I hold dear, like creativity and silliness and perseverance and communication and not taking yourself too seriously. When juggling equipment outsells GI Joe and Rambo dolls, we will have passed the cusp from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age."

Finnigan speaks of "learning theory. " "You break the pattern down into the smallest possible steps and you build it up again step by step," he says.

Finnigan hammers away at this one-stepat-a-time philosophy until you are ready to believe him, because it makes sense. "A dropped ball is a sign of progress because you are on the leading edge of your capability, taking a risk. A touch is as good as a catch." These stock phrases instill confidence in the students.

He has aimed his Jugglebug Company - the supply side - at the middle market of juggling with high-quality, mass-produced props with detailed instruction, marketed as widely as possible. He speaks of a synergy among a gym full of learning students and implies the same thing about his competition. He tips his hat to all the others. "We have all put tens of thousands of dollars into molds and materials that rebound to the benefit of each individual juggler," he stated.

He has aimed his instruction, the "demand side," at school kids eight or nine and up. In gyms full of Scott Joplin music and scarves, he has personally taught countless thousands of people to juggle. His "Joy of Juggling" book, scarves and videotapes are reaching thousands more.

And now Finnigan has published "The Complete Juggler," which is a definitive manual of juggling, teaching juggling and being a juggler.

The question of cause and effect in the explosion of popularity in juggling - was it propmakers or a public demand for props - is impossible to answer.

Ask any 35-year-old juggler today what got him into juggling and he'll probably answer, "I dunno. It just seemed like a neat thing to do."

So the answer is, no one gets the credit. Juggling was just the right tonic at the right time. Zen philosophy would say "Don't give the credit to the juggler, give it to the balls." Which is to say, the balls always juggle, it is just our job to keep things out of their way.

(Thanks go to Andrew Schwartz, publisher, and Nancy Raynolds, author, for permission to incorporate portions of her article on Harry Lind in "Juggling Magazine", No. 1, 1980.)