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Posts tagged ‘power.’

Time Out From Struggle

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom

contained within the I Ching Hexagram 34 – Great Power.

The yang trigram Thunder is above Heaven, also yang.

Only the top two yin lines provide instability and flexibility.

Great Power follows Withdrawal (33) and leads to Advance (35).

How can any power, let alone great power, come out of

withdrawing from whatever?

Withdrawal is not necessarily acceptance of defeat. There are

times when it’s wise to step back. This can provide us with

a greater perspective and a clearer vision on how to move

forward.

A battle is only a battle if we see it as such. For some it is

no more than a challenge to our commitment to move

forward.

There is nothing personal in struggles, conflicts, or obstacles

in our path unless we believe there is.

A personal message?

Yes. What’s your greatest challenge?

To what?

Moving forward.

Resistance.

Resistance is not necessarily rejection.

The difference?

Acceptance.

Of what?

Me.

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

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Moving Forward

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
concealed within the I Ching Hexagram 35 – Advance.

Hexagram 35 is composed of two trigrams; Fire and Earth.
Fire is over Earth. Fire and Earth each possess yin energy.

Advance develops from Great Power (34) and contributes to
the emergence of Damage to Illumination (36).

We create greater power by exercising lesser power.

The power to do what?

Yes. Without purpose, even great power is vulnerable.

To what?

To inspire others with power and purpose to use their power
to reduce our own.

The message?

Hold on to the power of thought that you have as long as
it makes sense to you.

But, there are times when your ideas seem to make at least
as much sense to me as my own do. What then?

Let them work it out.

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A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, applied philosophy to live by, higher education, Universal laws apply even today

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Manufactured Need

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
contained within I Ching 43 – Removal.

Lake is over Heaven. Lake is Yin and Heaven is Yang.

Yin, in this instance, is as a butterfly on a rock. What
interaction or common ground can the two possibly share;
frail over solid?

A rock is not easily crushed nor moved, but neither can it
move itself; while a butterfly is easily crushed, but it has
power to move itself out of the way of danger – lightness
and mobility over weight and immobility.

Removal follows Increase (42) and develops into Meeting (44).

That’s a curious sequential order.

How so?

I can understand that increase can become clutter and requiring
downsizing, or removal of whatever no longer serves us well, but
how does this lead to Meeting?

Meeting is coming together.

With whom or what?

Awareness.

Of what?

Of whatever is necessary or desirable and useful, and what
is manufactured need.

How can need be manufactured?

Unethical advertising.

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

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We Choose the Rules

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
concealed within the I Ching hexagram 7 – The Army.

The Army necessarily develops out of Contention (6) and then
establishes a foundation for Closeness (8). Earth is above
and water is below.

Why is Water yang when Lake is yin?

Is feminism rising?

Perhaps, but it is curious, since in essence they each are
water.

Lake is usually more submissive and receptive than is the
free-flowing water of rivers. Now, can we return to discussing
The Army?

Please do.

As today follows yesterday into the past, so The Army follows
Contention; and as today reaches toward tomorrow, so does
The Army reach toward Closeness.

I can understand The Army and Contention acting on each other,
but what possible relationship can The Army have with Closeness?

When reason alone fails to solve contention, then power is a
necessary organizing force. It serves a good purpose if it can
bring together contentious groups of people. Then it contributes
to a sense of closeness.

Okay, I can accept that, but how does it relate to me?

Who is contentious?

Perhaps I justifiably am, at times.

Who is The Army?

I don’t know.

Is The Army as a referee in this instance?

That’s possible, but not all referees play by the same rules.

What rules do I play by?

You seem to play by rules of your own choosing.

Yes, and so do you.

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A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, applied philosophy to live by, higher education, I Ching as a path to enlightenment, initiation

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Waiting for an Answer

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
contained within the I Ching Hexagram 5 – Waiting.

Water is over Heaven. Both express yang energies; Heaven as
ultimate power, and Water as flowing downward to reach its
own comfort zone; its own level.

What is Heaven?

Heaven is Life.

But, there are many forms of life.

Heaven is beyond form.

Is it potential form?

It is potential.

Then, it can become …

What?

Whatever it might have the power to become?

It has the power of potential itself.

What does that mean?

Are you waiting?

Yes.

For what?

For an answer.

Yes.

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

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Many Ways Become One

Spirit shares His understanding of the timeless wisdom
expressed within the I Ching Hexagram 13 – Association.

Heaven is above and Fire is below. Heaven represents
powerful yang. Fire is yin, but by no means weak.

Association follows Obstruction (12) in the order of
the hexagrams that unfold the stories of our life, both
individually and collectively.

Fire has power to consume, but Heaven, representing
cosmic energy, or cosmic consciousness, has the power,
and uses it wisely, to subsume all inferior powers
within itself.

And, all other powers are inferior?

Yes.

I sense that you have chosen number 13 knowing that it
also represents the Death card in Tarot.

Yes, and yet the so-called Death card in Tarot
expresses change.

Death to an old way of thinking?

Death to an old way of being, or, rather, death to
a non-way of being.

How can there be such a thing?

Not a thing; a way.

As in going down the wrong road?

Yes, but there are detour signs all along the way.

How does this relate to me, personally, when I try
to understand Your way.

Not my way, alone.

Then, whose?

Not whose.

Then, what?

The only way.

How can there be many ways and also an only way?

Not possible, and yet necessarily so.

Please explain.

All ways are subsumed within the only way.

Then, why would detour signs be necessary?

They allow for different ways to merge
with others, along the way.

So, saying that all roads lead to wherever does
not necessarily mean they remain separate,
all the way?

Yes.

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A spirit teacher shares His I Ching Wisdom, applied philosophy to live by, destiny, enlightenment, The Way of I Ching

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A Third Option

Spirit shares His understanding of I Ching wisdom.

Hexagram 7 – The Army. Earth is over Water.
The Army develops out of Contention and move
toward Closeness.

Spirit explains: When enough people are discontented
about whatever social conditions exist, then they
develop closeness with each other and protest,
hoping to pressure the authorities to listen to
their concerns.

When this happens, and it does, then authorities
may feel threatened; perhaps not personally, but
their vested interests in power and wealth may seem
to be at risk.

To appease the protesting masses or to suppress them?
This is a traditional either-or-simplistic solution
that never really works to solve the problems that
caused the discontent.

A third option is needed?

Yes.

But, what?

A willingness by both sides to compromise and try
to understand the causes of the situation that
developed into general discontent, and to develop
ways and means to develop harmony.

This sounds more like group therapy than a personal
message.

There is no difference.

So, then, what does it say to me, today?

Are you at peace with everyone in your life?

Only on the surface.

Yes.

What does “yes” mean?

It means, in this instance, that I agree you are
in serious need of …

Mediation?

No. Meditation.

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

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Resistance is Necessary to Life

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom.

Today’s situation on our journey through human
existence is designed to develop the attributes
of Hexagram 2 – The Receptive.

Earth is both above and below, and represents
Mother Nature, or for those who see Nature
as disconnected from themselves, the environment.

Nature is both flexible and firm. Though it
generally accepts directions from Universal Laws,
and both adapts and contributes to the needs
of other life forms, it also maintains its own
personal essence, and lives to express its own
purpose and desires, resisting any form of abuse.

It sounds like me.

It is you, and everyone else, both individually
and collectively.

But, Nature is surely much more than people.

As in kind, or power?

Both.

How?

We each are part of Nature and yet Nature is
much more than all of us together.

Yes.

What is the message?

What could Nature teach you about yourself?

To be flexible, yet firm, and to seek to express ..

Not to seek to express.

Then, to express my own purpose and desires,
and to resist abuse in any form.

Yes.

That’s fine and noble, except …

Except what?

It can be so wearying.

And easier to give in to abuse?

Yes.

What effect does that have on the abuser?

It seems to encourage more abuse.

Yes.

Then …

Yes. A certain low level but constant
resistance is necessarily a part of
the Game of Life.

Get used to it?

Yes.

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

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Male-Dominated Sacred Books

Spirit shares I Ching wisdom.

Hexagram 1 – The Creative. Heaven is over Heaven.

Why isn’t it just called, Power over Power, or
Yang over Yang.

It is called what it is called for a reason.

But, it isn’t possible to be creative just because
it is the most powerful card.

A feminist attack?

No, a simple truth. A feminine, or yin contribution
is necessary to any creative process or project.

Why?

Desire and passion are necessary inspiration, and
they are yin characteristics, while, as you know,
yang is more structural.

Structural? When did thought become structural?

It always was.

There is no mention of that in the wisdom history.

It went without saying because men wrote the books.

Yes.

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Spirit shares I Ching wisdom, The Way of I Ching, Understanding life's struggles, Universal laws apply even today

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We Share the Choice

Spirit shares His understanding of the  I Ching Wisdom expressed by Hexagram 18 – Degeneration. Mountain (Yin) is over Wind (Yang). Degeneration follows Following (17) and leads to Overseeing (19).

Spirit explains:  “The 2nd line is Yang and the 5th line is Yin. The fifth line in every hexagram is the line of leadership and responsibility, and, ideally,  a yang line, and yet, in this instance, yin is on this line. However, the complement of the 5th is the 2nd, and yang on the second line which is normally a  yin line, provides for a sharing of this position of power.”

“But, if degeneration is the condition that they share …”

“How could it be otherwise?”

“I would like to think that any degenerating situation is
a result of masculine abuse of power.”

“That would be to deny the existence of feminine energy.”

“How?”

“How what?”

“How does masculine responsibility for whatever condition
or situation deny feminine energy?”

“Abdication of, or denial of, responsibility is, more or less,
acceptance of whatever situation or condition results from
such behaviour.”

“Are you trying to tell me that …”

“I am telling you that dynamic interaction requires
inequality; transient or otherwise, of each and all
of the individual energies in the choices we make.”

“We?”

“We share the choice.”

“And the outcome?”

“Yes.”

………………

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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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