Alan in times past showing equilibrium (7)
I believe the answer is:
balance
'equilibrium' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'alan in times past' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'times past' becomes 'bce' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'alan' going inside 'bce' is 'BALANCE'.
'showing' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for balance that I've seen before include "State of equilibrium" , "Libra - amount in account" , "the unstable may lose before fall" , "It weighs - the remainder" , "Equipoise" .)