4 out of 5 dentists recommend this WordPress.com site

Archive for September, 2014

Awareness of Opportunities and How we Respond

Spirit shares I Ching Wisdom.

Hexagram 28 – Great Surpassing follows
Nourishment.

That makes sense.

What makes sense?

When and if we are well nourished,
the better we are able to develop
our physical potentials.

What about our intellectual,
emotional, and spiritual potentials?

Those, too. If parents have the means
to care for their children
as most surely would if they could,
then each new generation would have
the opportunity to develop beyond
where they might otherwise have gone.

How far back does it go?

What does that mean?

We can only do for our children
and our community what we are
able to do, now.

But …

Yes?

What if we are unaware of what
we can do for others, or might have
done for ourselves?

Then what?

Yes.

We each are responsible for how
we live our lives and the choices
we make, here and now.

Yesterday has gone?

Yes, and tomorrow is not yet here.

So, where does great surpassing
fit in?

Great surpassing can refer to
the quality of our attitude
in awareness of what was,
what may yet be, and what
opportunities are available
to us, now, and how we
respond to them.

Note: I must share this post
with readers of jeanw5@wordpress.com

Category:

A wide (33%) middle way., applied philosophy to live by, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, Understanding life's struggles

Tagged with:

Rising is followed by Exhaustion

Spirit explains I Ching 46 – Rising

Rising follows Gathering in the order
of the hexagrams, and whatever is
gathered or gathers together rises,
at least in quantity.

What about quality?

What about it?

I like to think of rising as expressing
an upward momentum.

It does.

But, how could anything increasing in
negativity express an upward movement?

For example?

The rainy season has begun, or threatens to.

What is negative about a rainy season?

My beloved summer season is over.

It, too, rose until it reached
a predetermined limit to its rising.
Rising is and must be followed by
Exhaustion, as will be the rainy season.

Is there a personal message for me?

Yes. You have been impatient.

Category:

A wide (33%) middle way., applied philosophy to live by, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom

Tagged with:

Higher Values Create Their Own Expression

Spirit shares His understanding of the life situation expressed within  HexagramI 22 – Adornment. Mountain is above and Fire is below. Yin over yang.

“Society is as a fire that brings people together; first, for survival and then for other mutually beneficial purposes beyond, but never excluding survival. Culture is as a volcanic mountain that can only develop, as an adornment, around a more-or-less stable society.

Culture cannot develop without generally accepted social rules of relating to different people in different ways. A teacher is not a cook or a bus driver.”

“That’s curious that you would choose a cook and a bus driver
to distinguish yourself as other than.”

“Why?”

“A cook prepares food for eating anda bus driver takes one to his or her
chosen destination.”

“Yes.”

“But, you do neither.”

“That is correct.”

“You seem to neither prepare food nor offer transportation. Perhaps
the spiritual teachings you share, after I struggle to digest them
and walk the path they point to, are as adornments of sacred wisdom.”

“Yes.”

“But, I might understand what you say in a way that differs from others.”

“Relate what I share with your lived experience.”

“But, different people have different lived experiences.”

“Yes and no.”

“How so?”

“Our individually lived experiences are as adornments on the form
within which our shared intelligence feels and thinks.”

“Then there is a finite varietyof emotions and thoughts that we each share?”

“Yes, but there is an infinite variety of quality of thought and emotion.”

“Where does spiritual development come into all of this?”

“All of this?”

“Our shared thoughts and emotions of infinite qualities.”

“Spirituality is in the personal development of higher qualities of thought and emotion.”

“What about action?”

“What about it?”

“How do we express higher qualities of thought and emotion?”

“How do we choose the form or focus of our expression of higher values?”

“Values?”

“Higher thoughts are values.”

“Then, how do we choose to express them.”

“They choose their own expression.”

“As do lower levels of thought and emotion?”

“Yes.”

………………..

Category:

applied philosophy to live by, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom

Tagged with:

Karma is Different than Cause and Effect

Spirit explains I Ching 51 – Thunder

Thunder above and Thunder below, or
As above, so below.

Thunder makes a loud noise. It does not
present itself graciously or even politely.
but on its own terms, and in its own way,
forcefully, so as not to be ignored.

Why does it have to let the world know
that it’s here, when it is here.

Perhaps it is as a messenger being sent
from a high authority, to announce
an immanent arrival.

A storm?

Yes.

That makes sense, weather wise.

It makes sense and is a reality
in any situation.

How is it possible to be warned
ahead of time in situations of
emotional, social, political, or
environmental disasters?

It is a law of life or, as some
prefer, a universal law.

What law?

Causation, or Karma.

Are they both the same law?

Yes and no.

How do they differ?

Cause and effect are sequential.

And Karma?

It might bide its time or …

Or what?

We can change the way we think
and choose to live, and this would
then change our karma.

For better or worse?

Yes.

Category:

I Ching as a path to enlightenment, mystery schools, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, Universal laws apply even today

Tagged with:

A Response-Free Emotion

Spirit explains I Ching 60 – Discipline.

Water is above Lake, and lakes have limits
to how much water they can hold.

To add more water, as in times of flooding,
results in loss of discipline.

Discipline implies limits; self-imposed or
socially determined.

Yang is above Yin in this instance, which
describes thought over emotion.

Then, rational thought should determine
the limits of acceptable emotion?

Yes.

How is that possible?

Self-control.

Self-imposed limits to emotional experience
or to emotional expression?

Yes.

What does that mean?

The role of self-discipline along our path
to enlightenment honours genuine emotions.

How can I know if my emotions are genuine?

Are they self-determined?

They are usually responses to outside
influences.

Then, you have answered your own question.

What emotion can be free from outside
influences.

Unconditional love.

Category:

applied philosophy to live by, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, The Way of I Ching

Tagged with:

Truth is Appropriate in Any and All Instances

Spirit explains I Ching 58 – Pleasing:

As the text expresses, pleasing is beneficial
if correct.

How can we ever know ahead of time how correct
our pleasing is?

Your purpose in trying to please is a clue.

I want everyone to be happy.

Why?

Why would I not want everyone to be happy?

Even if they have caused you to feel
unhappy?

Then, pleasing them, or attempting to,
would seem to reward them for their
unpleasing behaviour?

Exactly.

Then, please explain the purpose of
pleasing.

Pleasing should have no purpose.

Then, why do I seem to need to please.

Whom do you seem to need to please?

You, among others.

How have I, among others, rewarded
your attempts to please?

Negatively, it seems.

Why do you suppose that is, or seems
to be?

I don’t know.

Perhaps you know more than you pretend
to know.

What does that mean?

You and many others have been socially
conditioned to fear displeasing some
others, and so you have developed
a pattern of pretending to attempt
to please.

Why?

As a defensive strategy, to attempt
to reduce or escape confrontation.

Then, you approve?

No.

Why?

Confrontation is necessary and
an honest expression of one’s truth.

Truth is a powerful word.

Yes.

How is it appropriate in this instance?

Truth is appropriate in any instance.
Whether we choose to express it or not,
we should always be aware of it.

Is that possible?

Yes.

Category:

applied philosophy to live by, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, mystery schools, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom

Tagged with:

Receptivity to Inspiration Provides Opportunities

Spirit explains I Ching Hexagram 4 – Immaturity.

The journey of our life begins with creation;
individual and collective.

Creativity (hexagram 1) is an essential attribute
of our unique essence.

Receptivity (hexagram 2) to inspiration, both from
without and within, provides us with opportunities
to express our individual uniqueness.

Difficulty (hexagram 3) in the early stages of
our development is to be expected.

Immaturity (hexagram 4) never lasts forever.
Sooner or later we each progress in our
chosen direction.

Who chooses our direction, and to where?

Our chosen direction chooses itself.

How is that possible?

It is the only way possible.

Please explain.

Why did you not ask about the role of
so-called free will?

I have learned enough from you to accept
that free will is limited to available
options and that even then we my not be
aware of future choices each option
may require of us.

Yes.

So, please explain how our chosen direction
chooses itself.

The future is as the past in that it develops
from how we live here and now.

There always was a here and now?

Yes.

Then, the direction we think we are choosing,
if we do consider the choices we make, are
a direct result of how we got to where
we now are?

Yes.

Then, how can we begin to intentionally choose
where we want to go?

First, by intentionally choosing to be where
you now are.

What choice is there to make?

Accepting responsibility for how you arrived
where you are.

Then, what?

Determine to develop a more mature outlook
on life in general, and your own life,
in particular.

And, to let go of all that we know
holds us back?

Yes.

And those who seem to hold us back?

No, never.

Why?

Unhealthy relationships hold us back,
not unhealthy people. They need us
to accept them as they seem to be,
without pretending that we are where
they are or that they are where
we are, or need and intend to go.

How does one do that?

Release your hold on the past;
not the people in your past.

Then, we move on without necessarily
rejecting them?

Yes.

It doesn’t sound too easy.

Life isn’t meant to be too easy.

Category:

applied philosophy to live by, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, Understanding life's struggles

Tagged with:

The Road Ahead is Only in Your Mind

Spirit explains the I Ching hexagram 61 – Sincerity.

Sincerity follows Discipline in the sequential order
of events and situations experienced along the I Ching
Way to enlightenment.

When discipline and sincerity travel together within
the mind of the seeker of wisdom and truth, then
progress is certain.

What if they’re both going down the wrong road?

Then, progress is still assured.

Then, discipline and sincerity are not sufficient
to progress in the desired direction?

Yes, they are not.

What else is required?

Awareness.

Of what?

Not of what?

Where?

Yes.

Then, a map and a guide are required?

Yes.

My mind would resist.

Why?

A certain sense of personal responsibility for choices
of directions taken or forms of discipline accepted
and followed would require me to question myself and
any teacher, regardless of how much I might admire her
or him.

Yes, and that is as it should be.

Then, why do I regret not being able to completely
accept your way as my own.

My way should never be accepted as your way.

Why?

It would not be unique.

Must it be?

Yes.

Then, how can all ways merge into one and still
remain unique?

They merge into the one that is beyond uniqueness.

How can anything be beyond uniqueness?

We each are a unique aspect of Life and each are
contained within Life.

Then, what is the purpose of my struggle along
a unique way if I am already within what would be
the destination of my unique way?

A simple purpose; to develop awareness of what you are.

And then?

And then to expand your awareness.

To include what?

To include the awareness of all otherwise unique
aspects of Life.

Otherwise unique aspects?

Yes. They are only unique until you absorb their
awareness into your own.

Then your way becomes mine?

Yes.

It looks like a long road ahead.

Yes, but that’s just the bad news.

There’s good news?

Yes. The road ahead is only in your mind.

Dear readers, if you enjoy witnessing my struggle with Spirit on this blog, we invite you to join us
at jeanw5.wordpress.com where Spirit shares more of his wisdom in a different format.

Category:

I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, Understanding life's struggles, Universal laws apply even today

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud