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Archive for the ‘Potential consequences’ Category

How High is High Enough?

Spirit’s lesson for today relates to I Ching Hexagram 47 – Exhaustion.

The yin trigram Lake is above yang Water.

 

“They say the road of love is rocky and it’s rough, but if this road

don’t start to get smooth, then I’ve traveled it long enough”

is part of an old song that I can relate to regarding my ongoing

struggle with my spirit teacher as he guides me along the way

to enlightenment. But, what if He’s just luring me down

a garden path that never ends?

 

That’s exactly what my intentions are.

 

But, why?

 

You were ready.

As in “when the student …”

 

Yes.

 

Why didn’t I know there would be so much painful,

experiential content to the lessons?

 

Struggle is necessary.

 

But, I’m exhausted. Can’t we rest a little.

 

No. To rest is to lose ground.

 

I’m losing touch with ground moving.

 

That’s not possible.

 

Why?

 

The ground beneath us will always be there.

 

Where?

 

Within you, in one form or another.

 

Please explain.

 

Matter is an expression of energy …

 

And where I’m at in my mind determines the density?

 

Yes. It’s as simple as that.

Category:

A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, applied philosophy to live by, cause and effect, Potential consequences, Power comes from within

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Movement Has No Purpose of its Own

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom

Contained within I Ching 56 – Travel.

In the order of the hexagrams, Travel follows Abundance (55)

And transforms itself into Wind (57), or has the potential to do so,

If we only travel because of restlessness.

The trigram Fire is above Mountain. Fire is Yin energy

Mountain is yang.

 

Isn’t that curious?

 

What?

 

That yin Fire moves while yang Mountain is placid.

 

Mountains are never placid. A calm exterior can contain

Dynamic energy. Now can we continue with the reading?

 

Please do.

 

Fire moves, or at least has potential to move

Mountains are generally known for their stability.

If we travel from and then return to a mountain,

We can usually be confident that it will be where we left it.

A fire may have moved on and created destruction.

 

What general message would this reading seem to suggest?

 

Travel is only movement if it has no purpose.

 

Category:

A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, applied philosophy to live by, higher education, lifelong learning, Potential consequences

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Awareness of Potential Danger

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
expressed within the I Ching hexagram 41 – Reduction.

Reduction emerges from Solution (40) and develops into
Increase (42).

Mountain is above Lake. Mountain is Yang and Lake is Yin.

Mountains have height while lakes have depth, and yet
we measure deep and high from our own unique perspectives.
That’s curious.

Why?

One mile or kilometer up or down is still the same distance.

It can make all the difference if you applied the same
measure to progress along the way; any way.

Our life as a way?

Yes, a chosen, more or less, way to live. And as mountains
and lakes, the ground beneath is rarely even. It dips and
climbs in irregular intervals and to irregular degrees.

But, in a boat on top of the lake?

I think you know from personal experience how an ocean
surface can become dangerously unpredictable.

Yes, terrifying so.

So it is with mountains. There is always a risk of uncertainty.
Landslides, mudslides, rock slides, and avalanches, to name
a few possible dangers that may present themselves with little
or no warning.

You’re going to relate all of this talk to Reduction. How?

Knowing possible risks and still choosing to follow a path,
any path through life, is only foolish if you do not first
prepare for whatever you might have to face along the way.

How can I know?

What?

How to possibly prepare for what hasn’t yet happened?

Awareness.

Of what?

Awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses, based on …

study and experience?

Yes, and that awareness will reduce the potential danger
along the Way of Life..

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A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, applied philosophy to live by, Potential consequences, spirituality without intelligence is not intelligent spirituali5y

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Case Closed

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
contained within the I Ching Hexagram 61 – Settled.

Water is over Fire.

It’s curious to me that Water is Yang and Fire is Yin.

Why?

I would consider Fire to be more powerful than Water.

How so?

Fire can rage out of control.

Water seems to be able to control Fire more easily
than can Fire control Water.

Fire can heat Water.

Not without human help to control it.

I’ve distracted you from the reading.

No. You’ve distracted yourself, alone.

So, Water over Fire settles or calms Fire?

Settled refers to closed, as in, this issue has been …

What issue?

Whatever issue.

Our discussion?

Yes.

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A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, male domination, Potential consequences, spirituality without intelligence is not intelligent spirituali5y

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Tomorrow Will Come

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
expressed within the I Ching hexagram 51 – Thunder. Thunder
is over Thunder, expressing a form of yang that has double
its normal potential of active energy.

Thunder develops out of the situation expressed by The Cauldron
(50) and, in turn prepares the foundation for the experience
referred to as Mountain (52).

Every situation we experience today can help to prepare us for
whatever tomorrow will bring to us. We develop skills and
increased awareness of what skills will best serve us in
whatever particular situation.

Tomorrow will come, whether or not we prepare for it.
Yesterday helped us, more or less, to prepare for today’s
challenges and, as life is an endless series of situations
and experiences, how we live today will determine, at least
to some extent, how well we’ll cope with whatever tomorrow
brings our way.

Life is a Master Teacher, and provides us with experiences
that offer incentives to master personal skills and coping
strategies. How we cope with whatever challenges that
tomorrow brings will depend very much on how we live today.

Wow! I’m glad that message applies to people younger than me.

It applies to everyone, always.

Category:

A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, applied philosophy to live by, cause and effect, Potential consequences

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Progress Requires Organization and Supervision

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of
the wisdom represented by I Ching 19 – Overseeing.

Supervision of work in progress is necessary
if the work is to proceed in an organized way,
way, according to a pre-determined outline and
desired outcome.

It sounds like organizational behaviour.

Progress requires organization of time, effort,
and supplies.

What about people?

What about them?

Do they also need to be organized?

By whom?

By whomever is supervising their time and work.

Can they not supervise themselves?

For personal projects, yes. But, if they are
participating in work that requires group effort,
then how would this be possible?

It not only is possible, it is the only way
toward a successful outcome.

But, we each might have a different opinion
on how to proceed and even whether or not
to continue whatever project is in question.

Why is it in question?

Perhaps we each have different opinions.

Why?

Are you suggesting that if individual members
of a group are not in general agreement of
how or why, then these individuals are in
the wrong group?

For whom?

For whoever is in serious disagreement with
their supervisor or leader.

Yes.

Are we getting personal?

Does the shoe fit?

More or less.

Yes.

Category:

A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Potential consequences, Understanding life's struggles

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Some Can Recognize Detour Signs

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom.

Today’s focus is on Hexagram 28 – Great Surpassing.

How does one greatly surpass?

What?

Anything.

Or anybody?

Oh!

Yes, we greatly surpass those whom we do.

For whatever reason?

No.

We have a reason to go beyond?

Yes and no.

Please explain.

We go beyond where we once were, not necessarily
to pass another, but ourselves.

Great Surpassing follows Nourishment (27). Why?

Something has fed our need to move on.

Experience?

Yes.

But, the same experience doesn’t seem to have
the same effect on everyone.

Inspiration …

Inspiration is an experience?

Yes.

And we each respond to experience,
or inspiration, in our own unique way?

Yes. It is the same as with food.

Please explain.

If we allow our natural taste for specific foods
to become corrupted by a desire to please others,
then our socially conditioned body’s response to
specific foods will influence our choices and
we will develop eating habits that may not be
healthy for our particular body type.

Then, great surpassing may suggest success
in resisting the temptation to follow
where some others might lead?

Yes.

What about Double Pitfall (29)? Why or how
would resisting temptation lead to problems?

No situation described within the I Ching
circuit of life experiences necessarily
follows or leads to any other specific
situation or experience.

Then, how can it be described as a circuit,
or endless loop of situations or experiences?

Because it is.

Please explain.

Those who have eyes to see can recognize dangers
ahead of them, and take action to protect
themselves, by changing their plans, or
path of travel.

Detour signs?

Yes.

Category:

Potential consequences, Power comes from within, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, spirituality without intelligence is not intelligent spirituali5y

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Co-operation Is Mutually Beneficial

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom.

Wisdom, awareness and enlightenment each reflect
the other two, from a unique perspective.

Our current position, along the path through life,
which we have chosen, more or less, is expressed by
the I Ching Hexagram 50 – The Cauldron.

Fire is over Wind, creating heat as fire and wind
co-operate with each other.

This situation of working together to achieve
a common goal develops out of Revolution (49).
Revolutions are necessarily violent confrontations
of differing goals, as expressed by Water over Fire,
a mutually destructive situation.

Why do we seek to improve our relationships
after the battle?

The battle serves a socially useful purpose.

What purpose?

Mutual respect.

How is that possible if the revolution is successful?

Revolutions are never successful, except …

Except what?

Except when.

When they result in a change in power?

No. That would only result in a change at the top.

Then, when can revolutions be considered to be
successful?

When both sides accept that co-operation is
mutually beneficial.

A win-win situation?

Yes.

Category:

cause and effect, higher education, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Potential consequences, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom

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The Slippery Slope Of Small Excess

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom.

The experience we now focus on is represented by
the sixty-first Hexagram – Sincerity, expressing
self-awareness. This is not simplicity.

Awareness of oneself can only develop in harmony
with awareness of others, and to expect everything
and nothing of everyone other than self, but,
to expect from self the best that we have; that
we are.

And so, it makes sense that Sincerity follows
Discipline. Self-discipline is a necessary
prerequisite to a satisfied mind.

But, why does Sincerity lead to Small Excess
(Hexagram 62)?

What is small excess?

Brown sugar on my porridge.

Why is it so?

It’s not a nutritional necessity.

Then why do you do it?

A teaspoon of brown sugar seems to give
my cereal a more appealing taste.

Yes.

Then, simple personal pleasures are acceptable
forms of small excess?

Yes, until they become more than just a simple
pleasure.

Wouldn’t simple pleasures be different things
to different people?

How is that possible?

If I am used to a simple lifestyle, then
a small excess of whatever would not greatly
change my simple life.

But if I already enjoyed …

Would you enjoy more?

Who wouldn’t?

I wouldn’t.

Why?

Enough is enough.

And more than enough is excess?

Yes.

But, many never seem to get enough.

Yes, and some never seem satisfied with
however much of whatever they get.

Perhaps it’s in human nature to always
want a little more than we have of
whatever we seem to need.

To have?

Or to do or be.

Yes, our energy moves our mind in
whatever direction our mind desires to go.

You slipped in the word, desire.

Yes.

Why?

Anything we desire for our own pleasure
is excess; small or large, or somewhere
in between.

Then, small excess is as a direction –
as in going down the wrong road?

Or as a slippery slope.

Just a teaspoon of sugar can do that?

Yes, quantity is only a variable of
the addiction.

Addiction?

Yes. Anything unnecessary to life
can become an addiction.

Pleasure?

Even pleasure.

I’ll accept the risk.

And also accept responsibility for
any and all consequences?

Yes.

Category:

applied philosophy to live by, cause and effect, higher education, Potential consequences, The Way of I Ching

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We Each Need to Learn To Be Self-Directed

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom.

The situation that we now must cope with on our
journey through life is represented by
Hexagram 19 – Overseeing.

Overseeing follows Degeneration and moves into
Observation. This may seem to suggest
a more-or-less orderly sequence of situations
through the sixty-four hexagrams, but life
was never designed to move seamlessly, or
smoothly for long periods of time.
Seasons progress in a predetermined order
but each Spring is in some way unique, as
is each of the yearly seasons.

And so it is with our individual lives.
We may encounter a regular progression of
situations but we must be alert to their
potential for uniqueness.

Since nothing can happen without preconditions
for its happening, nature always provides us with
early warning signs of imminent danger, if we
would listen. But, we grow complacent when life
is moving smoothly, forgetting that nothing
is without limits, or potential limits.

Why does Overseeing follow Degeneration?

If we are aware that a particular situation,
such as crops approaching their ideal stage
of growth for harvesting, then we can move
to harvest them before they degenerate.

It is the same with material possessions
and public utilities, such as roads, power,
and water resources, to name a few. If
our leaders are aware of weaknesses that
require repair or replacement, and act
on that awareness, then degeneration to
the point of collapse, can be prevented.

A stitch in time?

Yes. Some situations develop as a direct or
indirect consequence of human carelessness,
or lack of sufficient foresight. It is
then that overseeing would follow
degeneration. There is not always an
absolute order of events throughout life.

Could degeneration also refer to attitudes
as well as to diminished quality of work
or structural degeneration?

Specific situations do not necessarily
develop from any single cause. Life is
too complex to allow for such a
simplistic explanation.

How could potentially destructive
situations be prevented if specific
causes could not be identified?

History teaches Wise leaders to observe
what is happening and to be aware of what
potential dangers might be prevented.

How does this situation relate to
daily living?

It’s the same.

In what way?

Preparing meals requires paying attention
to what is happening to the food you are
preparing. Overseeing does not necessarily
refer to one person observing what another
is doing. We each need to learn to become
self-directed.

And, that’s the lesson?

Yes.

Category:

applied philosophy to live by, cause and effect, enlightenment, Potential consequences, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom

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