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Posts tagged ‘community’

There is a Place For Everyone in an Ideal Community

Spirit shares I Ching Wisdom.

Today’s I Ching situation is 10 – Treading.

Treading follows Small Development and
Leads to Tranquility.

Small Development refers to building
community with others.

This is not possible without each member
understanding and accepting certain rules
of relating to others within the community.

We share responsibilities and work
according to our individual nature and
abilities, and yet everyone requires
a sense of dignity and self respect,
knowing she or he is valued for whom
they are and for their contribution
to the harmony and productivity of
the group.

Treading is the outcome of resisting
the temptation to focus on doing
our own thing, but choosing to serve
our unique role within the community.

How could one relate to oneself in such
a community?

In what way?

Surely we each need to develop our own
ideas and create our own vision
of what and who we want to become.

It would require an awareness of how
those personal desires fit into and
serve the community, and how well
one’s energy resonates with the role
chosen by or for us. The role chooses
us as much as we choose the role.

But, what if I am well suited to
the role that somehow chose me,
and yet I prefer another?

Someone else may be doing what you
would prefer to do, so your service
in that role is not needed, whereas …

Duty?

Yes, but you could play the other role
in your spare time, as a hobby.

But, if I have a passion for
a certain role …

Then, perhaps Universal Laws would
consider that role for you,
at another time.

What Universal Law?

The Law of Attraction.

I thought that law attracted people

It does.

I mean specific people to specific
people.

It does that, too.

Then, where and how does it attract
me to a specific role within
a specific community?

You would be attracted to a community
in which you felt comfortable, or
tranquil, within.

And then I would seek to find how
I might contribute to that community?

Yes. If you are of no use to them,
then how could you feel valued?

What if I have no special skill
but I require assistance from
that community, for whatever reason?

Then your personal needs would provide
other members of the community with
an opportunity to express sharing and
caring for those who are unable or
less able to care for themselves, and
sharing and caring are forms of
applied love.

So, there is a place for everyone
in an ideal community?

Yes.

Category:

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

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We Need Help to Overcome

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom.

I Ching 13 – Association With Others follows
Obstruction and leads to Great Possession.

Obstruction suggests that something is blocking
our way.

Or someone?

It is never someone unless that someone is
our self, and it usually is.

We need help in overcoming whatever seems to
prevent us from following our spiritual path.

What if the community we now associate with
is itself the means of obstructing
our spiritual development.

Isolation is not the answer.

Isn’t meditation a form of isolation?

No.

How is it not?

Meditation is time out to reflect on
the situation and seek higher guidance
to develop awareness.

Develop awareness of what?

Of how to best contribute to our own
spiritual development without
unnecessarily obstructing the
development of others.

Looking at it from that perspective …

That is the only perspective.

Then, we could be obstructing those
who seem to be …

Yes.

Then how to overcome obstruction in a way
that leads to community?

Meditation.

And then?

Follow your heart.

And mind?

No, not in this instance.

Why?

Mind will overwhelm you with reasons
to stay.

To stay where?

Not where, what.

Then what?

Obstructed.

But, if obstruction is the problem …

Obstruction is a challenge. It doesn’t
exist in a material or physical form.
Not everyone would see the same
situation as an obstruction. We need
to change the way we see.

How?

By looking within for the answers
to life’s challenges.

What about community?

For that, too.

Category:

higher education, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, mystery schools, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, Understanding life's struggles

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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

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Blessings may not last

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom

14 – Great Possession

Great Possession develops out of Community and leads to Humility, if we accept the blessing that associating with others is, when we are fortunate and wise enough to develop close ties with people who share our way of life.

What is our way? Is it a shared world view? Or a specific goal? Or what? And, how can we ever know who is really with us, and why?

So many questions.

They seemed to appear in my mind, one after another, in a continuous stream.

Without pause?

Without pause.

Then, how can they be answered separately?

Perhaps their answers would all be as one.

As companions and community?

I guess.

Then enjoy and be thankful to Life for whatever blessings come, while they last, and accept that whatever comes may go, for whatever reason.

Category:

A wide (33%) middle way., applied philosophy to live by, Inspirational reading, Spirit shares I Ching wisdom

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Free will and community

Today’s I Ching is 60 – Discipline.

Water over Lake.
Discipline follows Dispersal in a continuous order of events.

Spirit explains: When a river flows into a lake the water overflows onto surrounding land, unless it is restricted
from doing so.

Dispersal suggests an unorganized scattering, such as seeds
or dry leaves by a wind.

There is no free will choice, no sense of freedom involved
when we have no self-control concerning where we are going
with our life.

Self-discipline determines what we will do with our potential; how it will be directed. Without self-control we risk being controlled by others.

How to have it both ways? I need to be free and still be a contributing member of a community. I need to think for myself and still learn from You and others.

Yes, we need both.

Then how do we work both sides of the street?

We don’t.

Then what?

We compromise; we find an acceptable middle ground between the extremes of individualism and group control. But, we must always be aware of the price we choose to pay, or we risk losing choosing.

Category:

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

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Community is a Valuable Resource

Spirit shares His understanding of Hexagram 14 – Great Possession

“Great Possession follows Association (13)  in the order of the hexagrams, and in the order of our lived experiences, and leads to Humility (5). Fire is over Heaven; yang over yang. The only yin line in this hexagram is on the fifth line of leadership; in a very weak position among five yang.

Community is a valuable resource if the people we choose to associate with express values similar to our own. Even within such a community, there is always a danger when anyone possesses something of great value There are always some others who would, if they could, and they sometimes do, when opportunities seem to allow, pretend friendship with those with great possessions, with  intent to exploit that association for their own benefit, alone.”

“What great possessions are we talking about?”

“We?”

“Then, what great possessions are you talking about?”.

“Great possessions are potential or realized resources and may include one, some, or all of material, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual energies.”

“If this is a personal reading…”

“And it is.”

“Then, what great possession do I have that could or would attract false friends?”

“Yes.+

“I don’t seem to have anything that most everyone else doesn’t have.”

“You have a relationship with me.”

“How could that be taken from me?”

“You could, perhaps, be persuaded that I don’t exist.”

“Is that possible?”

“What?”

“That I could be persuaded that you don’t exist?”

“Yes.”

….

Category:

A wide (33%) middle way., enlightenment, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Inspirational reading, Understanding life's struggles

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I Ching 14 – Great Possession

Today’s I Ching reading by Spirit

Water over Heaven (water refers to emotion, while heaven

suggests creative energy).

 

Great Possession follows Association with Others.

 

Spirit explains:

 

Community is an integral part of Life’s purpose.. The need or

Desire to associate connects us to others. This serves basic

Survival needs, as well as providing emotional satisfaction.

 

Association with others is a great possession or it isn’t,

Depending upon whom we choose to associate with.

 

How can we know with whom to associate?

 

For what purpose?

 

A sense of community.

 

What kind of community?

 

A community of like-minded souls.

 

In the same way we learn anything, through experience.

 

That could take a lot of time and pain.

 

Yes. Some learn quicker than do others.

 

 

Category:

enlightenment, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Inspirational reading, Understanding life's struggles

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I Ching 14 – Great Possession

Today’s I Ching – 14 – Great Possession

Fire over Heaven.

Great Possession follows Association with Others.

 

Spirit explains:

 

We were not designed to be always alone.

We need community; to give to and to

Receive from, sharing and caring.

 

The greatest possible possession is to

Be as one with all, and yet be unique.

 

Category:

enlightenment, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, Inspirational reading, Understanding life's struggles

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