4 out of 5 dentists recommend this WordPress.com site

Posts tagged ‘individual’

Abusive Disrespect

A Spirit Teacher shares His understanding
of I Ching hexagram 44 – Meeting, and how
it can be expressed in our individual life
and collectively; here and now; wherever
here and now are.

Heaven is above Wind.
Heaven is yang while Wind is yin.

First; Chela, tell me your immediate response
to our chosen reading.

Forty-four is not a number I would choose.

But, you did.

Perhaps it chose me.

Why?

Possibly because of my resistance to
the disrespectful attitude it seems to
express toward women.

Social order requires certain restrictions
to individuals.

I can understand that, but when women
are, or seem to be, classified as less
than men, then …

You rise to their defense.

I am a woman.

Yes.

What does that mean?

It means that your response suggests
that you are defending the position
of women in an earlier culture
simply because you are a woman.

Men don’t seem to need protection.

Protection and not defense?

Protection from abuse of rigid patterns
of social organization.

And, who would defend them?

Perhaps we must learn a way
to defend ourselves.

Individually or collectively?

Perhaps both.

How?

Awareness and understanding of
how and why we are abused.

Abused?

Disrespect is abusive if it is
based on gender.

Yes.

Category:

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

Tagged with:

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

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:

Spirit’s I Ching way – 59 Dispersal

Wind over Water
Dispersal develops out of Pleasing and dissolves with Discipline.

Dispersal results in both disconnecting from the past and connecting to the future, without necessarily understanding either, or the destiny that moves within us, as the wind moves around us.

How can there be any stability and a feeling of being here and now in such a view of reality?

It isn’t a view of reality. It is as it is.

But, I need to hold on to my past while reaching for my future.

My as in individual?

Yes, and even if it proves to be an illusion, I need it, now.

Yes.

Category:

applied philosophy to live by, enlightenment, Inspirational reading

Tagged with:

Tranquility is a Vulnerable State of Mind

Spirit shares His understanding of the wisdom contained within Hexagram 11 – Tranquility.

“Earth is over Heaven Solid yin over solid yang.  Every line has a complement, but lines two and five are in reverse situations. Yin is on a yang line and yang is on a yin line. Tranquility follows Treading (10) in the order of the hexagrams, and leads to Obstruction (12).

There is order in our lives, individual and collective. Treading expresses walking our individual path through life, our way; our chosen way. No other can do it for us. No other can live our life but us.”

“Where does Tranquility come in?”

“Tranquility is a state of mind.”

“How can we move forward, or even backward, in a state of tranquility? We would surely be vulnerable to control by someone or something less tranquil.”

“Yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“What do  you think it might mean?”

“That vulnerability is a risk that we necessarily must choose to take if we intend to achieve tranquility?”

“Yes.”

……………

Category:

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

Tagged with:

Spirit’s I Ching 8 – Closeness

Closeness follows The Army

 

Spirit explains:

 

Closeness expresses personal attachment, whether the person

We feel close to is near or far away.

 

The Army describes a large group of individual soldiers who

May or may not feel close to each other but are trained to

Work closely with each other, under the direction of a leader.

 

The message?

 

What is our relationship?

 

To whom?

 

To each other.

 

I feel personally attracted to you as my teacher and mentor of choice.

 

Whose choice?

 

We each must choose.

 

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

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

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud