Wednesday, November 29, 2006

I Ching for Personal Development

At this point I think I will temporarily go back to how the lines in hexagram one and two control in a way, the lines in the rest of the hexagrams, since in hexagram forty eight we are dealing with line two. Then I will get back to the reading, because there is a lot of material that I consider important here. And indeed, I am left with no doubt whatsoever, that if I had a million lives to live, I could not more than scratch the surface of what is wonderfully available here.

The well that cannot be changed.

“The town may be changed but the well cannot be changed.”

The town on one level can be a symbol for our outer self. It is where we normally maintain our consciousness, and where we function during waking hours. The town also refers to our outer conditions, where we live, where we work, the school we or our kids go to, the grocery store, and on a deeper level, the outward conditions of our life. Our spouse, our kids, our neighbors; all of these things can be changed. We can even change our name, but we cannot change who we really our on the inner level. We cannot change that deeper strata of our being, no matter how many times we change the circumstances of our life, we are still who we are.

“If the rope does not go all of the way…”

The rope is our connection with our inner self. If we cannot reach deep down into the inner core of our being, we cannot bring up the wisdom that our inner being has to offer. We are also not functioning as a fully integrated human being, but our inner core and our outer personality are at odds. Hexagram fifteen tells us that we ought to cooperate, as a pair of eyes. One eye is controlled by the left brain, the other by the right brain. The two ought to correspond and work together, but if the rope is too short, the connection is not there, and we are still functioning through the ego, or the false self, the self that sees itself as separate.

“Or the jug breaks.”

The jug will break if the ego superimposes its concept of understanding over the wisdom from the I Ching, or may I say, the Sage. The false self does not recognize itself as false. It insists that its view of reality is the true one. It sees objectivity, things out there, things that must be controlled, lest they become threatening. Often the wisdom of the Sage is disregarded because the lower self is just “too aware” of the outside world, and this supposed reality, (illusion) outside of ourselves.

”It neither increases nor decreases.”

When we see illusion, the manifestation of our desires, we use the illusionary objects that we have unwittingly created with our mind and therefore eventually consume them, but the true reality, that of unity, of wholeness, and oneness, has implicit within it the strange property of continual fulfillment. In other words, the more we use the tao, the more available it is to us. Even in the physical world, the irony is that the more we give, the more we eventually have. Use the water, use it, use it, use it, many thousands, millions of people use it, and it is still there. It neither increases nor decreases. As hexagram twenty five line four says, “We cannot lose what really belongs to us.” It is our inner being that decides what we have and what we do not have, and that is based on the nature of our being, and the seeds planted in the mind through the right or wrong use of thought. It is our inner being that controls the outer world, which is just an illusion anyway, not the other way around. As is said in a wonderful book called, “Mystic Path to Cosmic Power,” by Howard Vernon, an approximate quote here, “Humanity thinks that by having a wonderful world, one will have joy. The mystic knows that when one has joy, the world is perfect.”

Meditate upon my words.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Hexagram 48 line 2

The following is some sample meanings for hexagram forty eight line two.

Hexagram 48

Line 2.

a. The water is clear, but it is not being used.

We are not making full use of the I Ching. That which is given us isn’t garnered into our spiritual sheds so to speak, so that we get the use full use out of it. Here it is not truly a case of our misunderstanding, it is more a case of neglect. The proper technique is not being employed. We see it but we neglect it, and as such, talents go to waste.

b. The well is a place where only fish will stay, and whoever comes to it comes only to catch fish.

We are using the well for the wrong reasons. We have a tremendous source available to us but we do not use it for the purpose it was meant for. This is often true when we use the I Ching only for divination purposes, and look only so far as is necessary to accomplish our immediate purpose.

c. But the jug is broken, so that the fish cannot be kept in it.

This describes someone who, in practicing only divination, does not have the capacity for deeper thought, hence his use is suspect, because the broken jug indicates an incapacity to bring up true understanding from the I Ching.

d. This describes a situation where a person has good qualities but neglects them.

When we gain understanding, do we truly use it? Do we have good intentions of taking the wisdom and the knowledge that we have gained and pass it on to the world? At least to those who are receptive? Do we take the knowledge to heart and apply it in our daily lives, in the times when we are perforce dealing with the outer world? What we don’t use, we eventually lose. It is important to keep working, to improve ourselves and our skills day by day. In this way we “complete our work in such a way that it bears fruit for the future. (hexagram two line three.)

e. No one bothers about him. As a result he deteriorates in mind. He associates with inferior men and can no longer accomplish anything worth while.

If we neglect our duties, if we do not improve ourselves daily, work on that which has been spoiled, practice chariot driving daily, there comes a time when our lack of effort will leave us of no use to others, and our skills go to waste. If it is serious enough, so to can our ability to earn a living and be a part of the greater whole be affected.

In a reading for information on a given subject, these commentaries can have a more direct meaning. In a question about a job for example, it may be that the person is not applying him or herself. As such there are difficulties on the job, and one’s performance evaluation becomes a problem. But one can also turn this around. One may be working in a situation in which there is little or no support. If the jug cannot hold the fishes, the financial wellbeing of the company may be at stake. There may be a leakage of funds in a given area.

It may be too, that an employer has on hand the potential for a good employee, but does not recognize the usefulness of the employee. He neglects hiring this employee. Any number of situations can arise from this, and the speculations are far reaching. One can come to a proper understanding only by a good intuitive grasp of the situation. Often the I Ching throws the question back at us, giving us only a description of the case, in such a way that an answer can be intuited.

continuing with reading

In hexagram thirty six we see this theme continued. Here, in a matter of speaking, the light is injured. In other words, we are hiding something of our darker nature from ourselves. Our “wise man,” The Sage within us, is kept under wraps, and the darkness clouds the issue. Our ego, our lower selves, has wrestled control, and our light is hidden within. As it says in the W/B commentary on hexagram thirty five, “The real nature of man is likewise originally good, but it becomes clouded by contact with earthly things and therefore needs purification before it can shine forth in its native clarity.: We have a nature that is essentially good. Often though, our good intentions are covered over by an attitude that “the end justifies the means.” Therefore we hurt others whom we think are causing us our pain, or we see in those we hurt the evil which we desire to hunt down and destroy. Yet the masters say, “Cast out the beam that is in thine own eye, then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the splinter that is in thy neighbor’s eye. As mentioned before, we need to observe ourselves to truly understand our motives, and realize that the highest good is doing right, and let the crumbs fall where they may. “What, shall we do evil that the good may prevail?” Asks one in the Old Testament scriptures.

Persistently Ill

When we read for personal development, and we receive hexagram sixteen line five, we might take a look at which attitudes we are clinging to that are causing us emotional illness in our daily life. The following lines and/or hexagrams that we receive should give us further insight into the negative attitudes we are clinging to. Sometimes, in spite of all we learn from the I Ching there are unconscious habits and attitudes that we unwittingly carry on with in the inner mind. When this hexagram changes we have hexagram forty five which tells us that we are gathering together things or people into our daily lives. Sometimes we understand our readings on one level not realizing there is a much needed deeper layer of meaning that we must take hold of. If we don't we can end up like the youthful person of limited awareness in hexagram four of whom it is said, "Often the teacher, when confronted wkith such entngled folly, has no other course but to leave the fool to himself for a time, not sparing him the humiliation that results. This is frequently the only means of rescue." Ultimately it is experience that counts. That is what really teaches us. Head knowledge is extremely limited. It is also a matter of consistently applying. Hexagram twenty nine counsels us that "in teaching everything depends on consistency. for it is only through repetition that the pupil makes the material his own." And the promise of working in this way, working on what has been spoiled, can be found in hexagram fifty, line three, where the Wilhelm/Baynescommentary says, "But if he will only see to it that he is possessed of something truly spiritual, the time is bound to come, sooner or later, when the difficulties will be resolved and all will go well."

We must, however, take a deep and honest look at ourselves. Hexagram twenty line five says, "Contemplation of my life, the superior man is without blame." It is only when we are willing to look at ourselves, as hexagram sixty one says, "a heart free of prejudice, and therefore open to the truth," that we are able to see ourselves as we truly are without bias or prejudice, with objectivity rather than subjectivity. We must learn to observe ourselves, as if we were outside of ourselves...

Monday, November 27, 2006

At this point

At this point, I have, since starting on hexagram thirty, actually talking about a hexagram
to Carol Anthony’s. She feels that six hexagrams seem most often to give a full story for a self development type reading. Hexagram thirty was not the first hexagram. Hexagram sixteen line five was the first one. Here is the sequence as I received it. I hope to discuss this sequence of hexagrams as we go along.

1. Hexagram 16 line 5 changing to hexagram 45.
2. Hexagram 30 line 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 changing to 8.
3. Hexagram 36.
4. Hexagram 48 line 2 and 6 changing to 53.
5. Hexagram 61 line 1, 2, 5, 6 changing to 2.
6. Hexagram 24 line 1, 2, 4 changing to 40.

Hexagram sixteen line five describes a person who seems to be under pressure, but his central position keeps him from becoming desperate. This person keeps on going in spite of the pressures incumbent upon him. We can often get this line when it seems things are not going our way. We work and work and work, and there seems to be no good results. Since this line changes to hexagram forty five, we can conclude, though not necessarily, that the pressure that we feel relates to our desires and needs to congregate with others. We care about assimilating, and creating a group, or a circle of friends for a common goal. Since hexagram thirty, with the changing lines enumerated, changes to hexagram eight, we get a confirmation of this particular subject. Hexagram thirty also relates to clinging. Once again, the particular them of this hexagram that we must pay the closest attention would be that of clinging to a group,

We have already discussed to some extent esoteric ideas implicit in the lines in hexagram thirty. One thing we should reiterate at this time is that the lines in this hexagram refer to the way of the superior man where,” he cultivates himself, and awaits the allotted time.” He is not concerned, nor fearful of the future. He is at peace and content with himself. This can only happen, however, when there has been a “real change of heart.” A man must be born again, so to speak, not necessarily in the fundamentalist Christian sense, but must gain full understanding of his place, purpose, and function in the cosmos.

The final line, line six, carries this on further. When a person has recognized his or her own inner thoughts, and has had a real change of heart, the person begins the task of disciplining themselves. Bad habits are rooted out, and the person works on what has been spoiled.

In continuing with the theme of being persistently ill, feeling a lot of pressure, hexagram thirty six suggests that the superior man does not “unresistingly let himself be swept along by unfavorable circumstances.”

Clinging to something

Hexagram thirty, being a doubled hexagram carries with it, as distinct from hexagram 56, the concept of fire that replenishes itself. In hexagram fifty six, the fire is constantly burning up its fuel supply and moving on to new sources. This concept is also born out a little in hexagram thirty line one which changes to hexagram fifty six. But here the fire clings to its original source which in some way is always replenishing itself. In hexagram thirty man replenishes his spirit by being dependent on and clinging to the "harmonious and beneficient forces of the cosmos. Man must realize that he or she is not in this life alone. If we try to control others, and our environment, it may work for a while, but at the critical moment it breaks down. It is only by giving up ocntrol, investing in loss as we discussed much earlier, and that is the "way of the cross," (let a man take up his cross daily, and follow me, as Jesus said), that we find ourselves aligned with a higher power that does have control, and does not burn itself out. (Note that line four burns itself out. There may be a discussion of that later.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Attachment

I'm sure we've all heard the story about the monkey who puts his hand into the cookie jar to pull out one of the cookies. As soon as he grasps the cookie however, his hand enlarges around the cookie, and he cannot pull his hand back out of the cookie jar. The interesting thing is, the monkey does not want to let go of the cookie so he is trapped. Trapped by his own desires.

Mankind too, is trapped by desire. We maintain our illusion of a cosmos in which we are separate from everything we see around us because we are trapped by our desires. When we realize that things do not come at us from without, but from within, we realize there is nothing to fear, for it is our fear that brings us the conditions we fear. The Tao Teh Ching makes an interesting statement here. In chapter one it is said, "Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. It is true that by desiring, under the right understanding, we can bring that to us that we desire, but in so doing we focus on objects, and not on the mystery that creates the objects. The superior person must see ever more clearly into the mystery of the way of the Tao, or in western terms, the way of the cross, or self sacrifice, giving up our own desires, and surrendering to the desires of the cosmos. In this way we secure our fate,

The commentary on hexagram thirty line five says, "Here the zenith of life has been reached..." It is usually in the zenith of life that we finally attain a true understanding of the nature of reality and the cosmos. It goes on to say, "Instead, understanding the vanity of all things, we may put aside both hope and fear." One puts aside both hope and fear because, understanding the true nature of the cosmos, one understands that one needs nothing, and needs fear nothing. He is secure, (In life and in death - see the commentary on line three) by knowing ones true relationship with the cosmos.

Both hope and fear are attachements. We are attached to a particular outcome. In fear we are attached to a negative outcome, in hope a positive, but it is attachment nevertheless. The superior person recognizes that "now" is the only moment that exists, and the person lives entirely in the moment.

More later

Saturday, November 25, 2006

The network

In hexagram thirty we are told of an intermeshing net wish we can rightfully understand on one level as the interconnections of all people and things in the universe. Line one tells us that when our minds are closed in sleep, we are not aware of our interconnectedness. When we begin to awaken we begin to realize the connections but the concept is very fuzzy to us. At first we are simply partially awake, and we don't recognize the means or the why or the wherewithall of the interconnection. It is only through self realization, and inner composure that the outer forms begin to have meaning in our lifes in the sense of recognizing the inner connections. As we study, meditate, and mull over the impressions that we are receiving through life experience we begin to put it all in place. We also recognize that the things that happen to us are not haphazard and accidental, but actually come from deep within for the purpose of teaching us through life experience. Once we fully understand this principle, then all that follows will be seen as a purposeful series of events leading to our own soul growth, and the recognition of who we are and the higher mind within us.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

And again

It has been well known in the East for centuries that all things are connected. Now, western science is beginning to catch up. (Why is it the scientific field which we have so venerated in the west is in many ways centuries or even millenia behind the thinking of the East. There is no scientific evidence... Did it ever occur to them that there is no evidence because they don't know every thing yet?) Hexagram 30 tells us that this is an image of a net in which animals are ensnared. The entire universe is an intermeshing net, in which we are trapped. We are all a part of the universal whole, and in that sense we are all one. There is no separation. The atoms, electrons, quarks, whatever that make up matter are all interconnected, and the latest scientific evidence shows that fundamental units of matter are really universal, and even seem to be aware of then nature of other electrons that are at a distance. This is because all matter is maden upn of mind stuff. Matter exists because of the vibrations created inn the mind of, shall we say God? Knowing this is true, and recognizing the reality that there is no separation, how careful should we be that we treat our fellow man with respect, dignity, and fairness, for in hurting another, we hurt ourselves.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Even more hexagram thirty

Perhaps the core of hexagram thirty is teaching us of the trasitoriness of life and how to deal with it. First the sun rises, then it sets, then rises again, then it sets, then we die. It is important both at the beginning and the end to maintain composure and a recognition of the seriousness of life. Line one tells us "not to allow ourselves to be swept along by the bustle of life." We must maintain clarity of mind even among the currents of activity and haste. Line three develops this concept even further. When men see the end approaching they tend to either try to become a child again, and enjoy all the pleasures they can before their approaching death, or they give up in melancholy, as hexagram forty seven line one says, "straying into a gloomy valley." Here too, composure and clarity of mind must be maintained. The superior man "understands the transitory in light of the eternity of the end," the image in hexagram fifty four tells us. Line three of hexagram thirty goes on to tell us, "He cultivates himself, awaits the alloted time, and in this way secures his fate."

Hexagram thirty line five carries this theme even further. The Wilhelm Baynes commentary says, "Instead, understanding the vanity of all things, one may put aside both hope and fear." And this brings us to the subject of attachment, which we will deal with next.

Hexagram thirty continued

While the rain, (of hexagram twenty nine) pours downward into the earth, the light of fire radiates upward into heaven. So to, the soul and the spirit, at death, the soul goes downward into the earth forces while the spirit rises to heaven. In the Wilhelm Baynes commentary in Book three it is stated, "n order that his psychic nature may be transfigured and attain influence on earth, it must cling to the forces of spiritual life."

And in the same way the soul must cling to the spirit and vice versa in order to maintain a union of spirit and soul at death, then it can be said of the person as in the book of Revelations, "and I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out," into further reincarnations that is. But the psychic nature must be transfigured. As the apostle Paul said, "awake thou that sleepest." All of the greater mystics have told us that we are asleep and that we need to wake up. We are in a deep sleep, for we do not know our true nature, that we are gods. When the pharisees accused Jesus of making himself equal with God, he answered, "Does it not say in your own scripture that ye are gods?"

The first line refers to morning. Here we are just waking up, the commentary says, "The mind has been closed to the outside world in sleep," and the footprints run crisscross. This is because we still do not understand the depths of meaning of what has been presented to us. Meanings are still unfamiliar to us, and so is the depths of our spiritual nature, so we do not know which way to go.

More on this later

Hexagram Thirty

There are a lot of things about this hexagram that I just recently learned, that are fairly new to me. If hexagram twenty nine is the soul locked within the body, then hexagram 30 must be the spirit that radiates from the body. The spirit and the soul cling to and depend on the body for a medium to manifest their desires to the outside world. As such, it is said, "care of the cow brings good fortune." In other words, we take care of and in, the physical realm. So into the human form we come, the soul being locked in the body, but the spirit is ever free.

Li, the name of the hexagram, can mean several things but in essence it is fire. The human mind is like fire, it is constantly seeking new sources of fuel. In the same way the mind is constantly jumping from one thought to another. We must learn to control this jumping around of the mind.

More on this momentarily

Monday, November 20, 2006

My laptop came today

My laptop came today. Earlier than expected. However, I have spent about 10 hours trying to get it set up properly, and a few hours on the phone to tech support and customer service. Mercury retro is over, so why am I running into all these problems? Well, hopefully we are ready to go now.

JC left a comment about attachments. Hopefully I can get on that subjet tomorrowl

Friday, November 17, 2006

Not much going on

Not much going on during this mercury retrograde, although I have found that the only time a mercury retrograde is really meaningful is the time that mercury is actually stationary, and that is the stationary at the beginning, not the end of the period. It seems like the few hours maybe a day or two right during that time is the time of significant communication failures, and then only for those who's chart resonates with that particular retrograde. But maybe not. At any rate, my computer will not be fixed til the end of the month, because the computer repair person is on vacation, and my laptop will not arrive til about that time also. So in the meantime, perhaps it is better for the most part anyway, just to meditate on and chew over the lessons...

One of the I Ching hexagram images says, "thus the superior man goes indoors for rest and relaxation." That I think is a good thing to do periodically, all the more refreshed to start the lessons once again at the appropriate time, for this is the way of heaven and earth, everything in its proper measure, and at the appropriate time.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Laptop on order

Well, my laptop is on order, should be here at the end of the month. In the meantime, my desktop may be fixable, possibly only needing a power pack. May find out more today.

So anyway, here I am sitting at the computer at the internet cafe. Don't have any of my books with me because I just got off an interview at the hospital for where I work. The potential job is very high stress as people's lives are at stake. They asked me a bunch of questions that I answered by saying one must maintain composure. Then I realized, that for some reason, I was not truly composed myself. I suspect that came through in the interview, but we will see. It would be a very significant pay increase though. Of course, all that doesn't solve my immediate problem of no computer. At any rate...

The I Ching talks a lot about composure. It isn't the kind of thing though that you read about in a book and just do. One does not become composed by having intellectual knowledge of the need for composure. It happens by life experience, and learning experientially, not just intellectually, but we must become aware of the inner needs and insecurities we harbor just below the level of consciousness. In order to do that, as hexagram twenty six line three says, "practice chariot driving and armed defense daily." Or whatever you need to practice to accomplish the task you wish to accomplish. And having accomplished saying that, I must attend to other things temporarily as I am short on time today... But soon, I will have a computer...

Monday, November 13, 2006

To be remembered

It must be remembered that hard times throw a man back upon himself. It is all too often that we, and all to easy to believe that hard times come solely due to bad luck, to misfortune that comes from outside of ourselves. This is not correct, though it clearly seems that way. Misfortune comes from within, not without. And that which is from within is not inimical to us. It seems that way. "A thousand times you lose your treasures." (Hexagram 51 line 2)

The above was referred to briefly when we talked about loss. Here I am talking about loss in a little different context, that of our inner attitude toward it, and hexagram forty seven discusses this a little bit. Line one tells us that "we stray into a gloomy valley." Stray is an interesting and precise word, for that is what we do. We do not just find ourselves in this gloomy valley. We end up there, because we lose control of our mind. We look at what appears on the outside, not what is on the inside. The Wilhelm Baynes commentary tells us that it is "important above all to be strong and to overcome the trouble inwardly. If he is weak, the trouble overwhelms him." The third and the fourth line are the heart of the matter. When these two lines change we have hexagram forty eight. When troubles overtake us, we must look deep inside ourselves for that "inner nourishment." Hexagram forty eight says, "the town may be changed but the well cannot be changed." The town here can symbolize, the type of place that we hang out. If our troubles are created from within, then we can change to whatever town, or environment we choose, but our inner attitude, our inner selves remain the same, and we take our fate with us.

Even as "The Wanderer" in hexagram fifty six, takes his attitude with him where ever he goes, so to, we do not change by changing the environment. "Through carelessness he loses his (cash) cow." And brings down misfortune upon himself. In this line the "bird's nest burns up." This indicates a loss of his resting place. But a resting place can be more than a bed in a castle or a tent. It can be our belief systems. The beliefs about ourselves and the universe that we fall back on when trouble befalls us. If we see everything as outside ourselves, our belief systems see calamity and misfortune as an indication that we have not been properly in control of our environment, that we need to try harder. But what is really needed, is a "loss of our resting place." We must replace a belief of a need to control with a recognition that we don't and can't control anything. When we come to this belief system, however, we find that by the principle of nonresistance to the things happening around us, we align ourselves with forces of the cosmos, that being higher than we, actually can and do control our situation ultimately for our highest good.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

I hope soon

I do hope soon, that I can create a webpage on a regular website, not to get rid of this one, but to link to this one, for a number of reasons, among them, I can keep the links readily available, so that the don't eventually scroll away. Also, maybe eventually I will do an ocassional reading, so that people can get a feel for what my style is like, and maybe even create a reading program right on the site that people can use. But don't expect it soon. It takes me forever to get to anything. I haven't even gotten to some of the books I bought five years ago, so be patient. nevertheless, after Christmas, I hope to get a laptop, and take it with me wherever I go. Then I will get more done.

Christmas. for some reason, has always been a time of year that is the hardest financial burden of the year, and it doesn't involve Christmas gifts. I don't mean I'm hurting in anyway, it just seems to cycle around that way and I have seen it happen year after year. Last Christmas it was a bunch of dental stuff, plus getting ripped off by an ex roommate for a lot of money, and a few other things too. This year a new computer is going to cost me around $1000 I suspect, not to mention all the files that are gone, including a lot of I Ching work that was meant for a book I hope to write. Usually by March/April though, which is birthday time, things lighten up and I am fine. Anyway, enough of that. I suspect there is something in my astrology chart that relates to that. Being an Aries, Capricorn is the toughest time for me... Maybe, just maybe my old computer is still salvageable, but I still want to get that laptop regardless. I have all kinds of dreams, too many for my own good. Do we all dream? I hope so, they say it is good for you.

Computer cafe

Well, here I am at the computer cafe. Don't have any of my books with me though, so let me ad lib here, or think of at least something to say.

When line one of hexagram one changes, we have hexagram fourty four. This hexagram continues the theme of line one in the sense that it is telling us this first yin line has something of an ulterior motive. In this way, yin gets short shrift, let us say. It always has, being considered the dark side, the cold side, the crafty side, the indirect side, and a lot of things that we may think of as unsavory. Hexagram 44 tells us that the yin side is strong, do not interlink with such a situation. In general in divination, we would look at this as a more negative response to our question, and may want to back away. There is an advantage here though, for nothing can be absolute yang or absolute yin. Yang, being dereft of a polar opposite, would itself disappear into nothingness, as would yin. So also, light cannot shine if there is no darkness to receive it. And the Wilhelm Baynes version also, in the commentary, tells us that there is an exceptional time when yin and yang come together, and their union creates all that is. Throughout the book of changes, we see the forces of dissolution combining with the forces of evolution, and through it, we have constant and continual change. The big fish eat the little fish, who in time, die, and are eaten by the little fish. A continual cycle, and we cannot have it without the constant interaction of yin and yang.

When the second hexagram's line changes, it because hexagram twenty four, the hexagram of the yang light. It seems odd at first because the first line of hexagram two says, "When hoarfrost is under foot, solid ice is not far off." So we see here the first signs of decay. Why then would it change to the hexagram of the young light? As a second hexagram, or relating hexagram, the hexagram can take on more the meaning of "A turning point." here the turning point is to the darkness. However, there is a secondary meaning here too, devoid of the words of the line itself. When the first line changes, we have the first yang in a totally yin hexagram. In other words, the darkness is passing, and the light is just beginning. In divination, we might more likely take a look at the meaning of the words in the line itself. In personal work, we might see the more esoteric, secondary meanings, and make use of them.

In the Confucian model, we might more likely take a look at the lines, and the meanings conveyed by the words, in the Taoist model, we might more likely take a closer look at the line placement, and the trigrams involved that make up the primary and the relating hexagrams.

Computer Crash

had a computer crash. What else could I expect during a mercury retrograde. Will be using coffe shop computers for a few weeks.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Sleep

Lack of sleep has finally caught up with me. The last couple days I went to bed really early, tonight, it will be much earlier yet, I can't keep my eyes open. Hopefully, will be ready to write tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

The woman at the well

The Christian Bible has its own version of the story of the well. A very different setting, but much the same meaning. It is found in the Gospel of John, Chapter 4. jesus, at about the sixth hour, sits on the well of Jacob when a woman comes to draw water from the well. Jesus, it seems is never shy. He says to her, "give me to drink." The woman is a little confused because, customarily, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, but she is polite, and asks how it is that he asks her for a drink. Looks like Jesus was setting her up all along, because then he says, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that asketh of thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." Now I think in most cases the woman would have thought, uh oh, here is another nut case, or freaked out, thinking she was getting hit on, but this woman, being puzzled, was also a little intrigued with the situation. She says, "sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." You see, though she is intrigued, and recognizes this as a special moment, she is not ready to really understand the meaning beyond the physical level. She is representative of the institutionalized church that thinks in terms of doctrine, but only on the physical level. (also, compare this statement with the statement in the I Ching, if the rope doesn't reach the water, or the jug breaks, there is misfortune.) Often our rope does not reach the deeper level. Often we see only in terms of the physical, or if we see more, it is only vaguely, as one "under the spell of wine, in hexagram 22 line 3. In the Bible after one of Jesus's acts of healing a blind man, the blind man says, "I see men as trees walking." In other words, he has gotten an idea that there is a higher level, but he really doesn't understand it yet, further spiritual healing is required. Momentarily after a little discussion, Jesus says, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again...a well of water springing up into eternal life. It is axiomatic that now he is not talking about worldly affairs, he is talking about something much deeper. The woman being further intrigued, says, give me this water. To her, he is simply talking about some other kind of water, and all she has to do is drink it. Maybe they are both nut cases. She realizes there is something about this man that is different, so she plays along with him to find out. She sees an opportunity here, but still does not realize the depth of the water he is talking about. Then Jesus tells her things about herself he could not have known never having previously met her. Now she is really intrigued. She recognizes he is some sort of prophet. She says, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." But being of the literalist camp, she still does not understand that he is talking about spiritual truths. She is of the first initiation, not the second, (which we will talk about in the future.) Now she gets arguementative with him in a way. "My religion is better than yours. You believe that, we believe this." Her words were, our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem ye ought to worship." What she is saying, is, I can tell you are a prophet, but do you really have the truth? She is subconsciously digging to see what the truth is, should I worship here? Or there? But Jesus answer is, "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." This isn't about religion. This isn't a matter of God wanting us this way, or that way, or saved, or martyred, or even doing good works. This is about understanding spiritual truths spiritually discerned, and it has nothing to do with where you go to church. We do not worship God in a mountain. The mountain is a symbol for a lofty overview, a spiritual discernment, but we do not go there to worship. We worship when we have joy in our lives, when we are thankful for all that has spiritually been given us, and, the rain falls on the unjust as well as the just. We all have something to be thankful for. But Jesus is asking her to look deeper, to forget the physical plain, and delve into the spiritual, or in other words, the quantum physics world, where our beliefs and expectations create the world around us. And we see the beauty of God's kingdom, in fact, we exist, here and now, in the kingdom of heaven.

No one drinks

I suppose this is where I should have started this whole website business to begin with, but such is life. In my next lifetime I will try to actually do things in an organized way. But anyway, here we are for now, and again, a digression within a digression before we really get to the meat of this whole thing.

The I Ching has a complaint against us, and it is not going well for us. (Pun intended, as we will be talking about hexagram forty eight, The Well.) Hexagram forty eight line three says, "The well is (has been) cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow, for one might draw from it. If the king were clear minded, good fortune might be enjoyed in common."

Of course, no one would even hear those words unless they were consulting the I Ching in the first place. So why does the I Ching chide with us so harshly? It is because we only look at the surface material. And especially with the use of the I Ching as a mere divination tool, we might get an answer to our question, but never really look at what it is saying to us personally. Hexagram twenty one tells us we must bite through to the meat of the teaching. Sometimes we bite, and receive a poisoned arrow. In other words, we find something out about ourselves that we do not like, and we must bite through the ego that keeps us from our inner truth.

The well tells us that we must go deeper. It is not enough to get a view of the outside world as a world separate and independent of us. We must see our greater self as part of the cosmic whole. Hexagram twenty line one tells us that we still things from the standpoint, relatively speaking of a child, that we need to open up our eyes, and see what the master is doing. We need to come from a deeper understanding. The laws of the universe are simple, but they are not simple to comprehend, because our ego gets in the way. Hexagram one line one tells us that there is a "hidden dragon." Not out there, not in the outside world, separate from us, but actually within us. We must not act. Why? because a part of us, that we have kept in the darkness, that we have not allowed to come into conscious view, is betraying us. Our shadow self brings about the conditions where we "get caught" because we have unconscious hang ups, and complexes within us that keep us from our goal. This once again refers to the poison arrows of hecagram twenty one.

Sometimes, in our understanding of the I Ching, we fool ourselves, seeing only what we want to see. This is in a way delineated in hexagram twenty two, line three. We are under a spell. We see only the form and not the content. We must wake ourselves up, and see our true heritage. We must remain "constant in perseverance," until we get the deeper, underlying meaning. Much will be said about this at a later date.

Monday, November 06, 2006

A secondary website

Hopefully tomorrow, I can start working on a secondary website, 'twill be under construction for a while, but it will give a hexagram by hexagram and later line by line short meaning. I hope to eventually work on a few other things too, maybe a third and a fourth linked website that will have alternative types of information on them.

In the meantime, I recommend a look at Bill Harris's website, Centerpointe.com a website dedicated to the holosynch form of meditation, and if you can, sign up for the newsletter. One thing Bill Harris says, and not just him, but Ken Wilbur, Gurdjief, and many others, is that "one must become an independent observer of oneself." That does not mean the simple meanderings of the mind on self observation, but actual, independent objective evaluation of oneself, as if you, the objective evaluator are part of the universe, looking on yourself as if it is someone else. More on this momentarily.

Well, okay, a little bit more now, although more yet will come later. The commentary for hexagram 20 says, "...Thus also in nature a holy seriousness is to be seen in the fact that natural occurrences are uniformly subject to law." How different a philosophy we have here than that found in modern materialism. If materialism is the only reality, then we can't truly count on universal law except that recognized by science. But science, for the most part, barring the more advanced forms of quantum physics, recognizes an outer world independent of the observer. The quantum world, conversely, insistss that what happens outside of us is dependent on how we observe it. Materialist scientists respond by saying, "but that only happens in the microcosm. By this, they willfully ignore the reality that the macrocosm is made up of the microcosm. The logical extension of quantum physics is that we create our own reality.

Contemplation in hexagram twenty of the I Ching, however, does not depend on scientific instrument. It depends on the ability to go within...

Saturday, November 04, 2006

A new Age

Among some circles over the years, it has become somewhat popular to be a part of a so called new age movement. However, you can count on it, anything that is popular is wrong. Not that there isn't a new age coming, there is, and not all the new age movement is wrong, only that part of it that has been popularized.

I don't have time to look it up right now, to know the details, but in the new testament there is a story about Jesus telling the disciples to follow a man carrying a water jar to the upper room. Ideally, this is where the passover meal would be eaten. To the average Christian this is simply a story about how the disciples got together to eat on the passover for the last time before Jesus's execution. However, it appears to have a greater meaning. The man carrying a water jug to the upper floor is a picture of the symbol for the age of aquarius. During the age of Aquarius we go into the upper room in the sense that we gain a higher level of consciousness.

The Mayan calendar, and the Egytian for that matter, tells us of the end of the age in the year 2012. I have done a great deal of research on this, and am sure, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this calendar is correct. It is also the same story in allegorical form in the Jesus story. I listened to the dreamland show tonight on unknowncountry.com and got some confirmation of something I had expected for a while. Not guaranteeing these dates are correct, but they certainly are starting to pop up as very significant.

In June or July of 2005 a bill was signed in the U.S. and Britain, requiring the use of a national ID card starting in 2008. This ID card will be tied up eventually, if not right at first with an RFID. That means that you will be tracked every where you go. Everywhere. It will also be required to make any purchase anywhere. That means, if you don't accept it, eventually you will starve. Now to me, though I have heard no one else talking about it, it sounds exactly like the "Mark of the Beast" spoken of in the book of Revelations. Whether it is or not, I have long felt that it would be after the NID goes into effect, that the final demise of the old age will go into effect, and the new age will be in its early stages. The interviewee on dreamland mentioned in reference to the Mayan calendar, that things will really start unravelling in 2008, Over the last several years, the planet Pluto has been transiting the sign Saggitarius. Pluto is the planet of tumultous change and disruption. Saggitasrius is the sign of religious zealots. With the terrorist attacks of the past we can see this fit. In about 2008 Pluto moves into Capricorn. Capricorn is the sign of Government. Convulsions, massive changes, and disruption in government will be the rule. A church lady I used to know always said, "I do not know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future." Perhaps it would be a good idea to know who holds the future.

Friday, November 03, 2006

A fear of loss, or a loss of fear

Big difference between the two concepts you know. As a Tai Chi master, Chen Man-Ching used to tell his students, you must invest in loss. What did he mean by that? Tai Chi is based on Taoist and I Ching principles, and in the Tao Teh Ching, it says, nothing is softer than water, yet nothing can stand in its way. In the art of push hands, which is a tai fixed foot two person practice, a person must learn to allow himself to be pushed. The ego doesn't want to do that, it wants to push back, it wants to be stronger, When two people push, the stronger is going to win, hands down, every time. In most forms, especially western, of fighting, the stronger, bigger man usually wins. But in Tai Chi we invest in loss. We allow them to push us and push us and push us, until finally, they push, and we suddenly aren't there. There is more to it than this, of course, after learning to yield, and that is a lot harder than anyone thinks it is, takes years, one must learn how to neutralize the incoming force, and then counterattack, but one always takes care of one's problem first, before there is any counter. This may seem nonsensical to someone who has no interest in martial arts. They may think, what do I care about a bunch of people who want to be tough. But that is not what it is all about. It is about becoming one with one's attacker, and one with every thing. Jesus taught the same thing. He taught the principle of nonresistance in "The sermon on the mount." That is a principle that Christians give lip service to, but generally ignore it, because they really don't know what it means. How can we use nonresistance in our daily lives? It behooves us to look for examples, and opportunities. It is a much more powerful concept than one can initially imagine.

But what about loss? What does it really mean? The I Ching teaches us something about what our attitude toward loss should be. I won't go through every example but a couple or three ought to suffice. In hexagram 26 line four, the Wilhelm Baynes commentary says, "We cannot lose what really belongs to us." How many of us read that and really take it to heart? Or do we ignore it because we really don't understand it, or do we pass it by because it really doesn't make sense in terms of the divination we are trying to carry out? The text goes on to say, "even if we throw it away. Therefore we need have no anxiety." We cannot lose what really belongs to us! Can we take the words to heart?

Hexagram 51 line two adds to this theme. "It says "A hundred thousand times you lose your treasures...After seven days you will get them back." Why is this so? Because we need to stop looking at an outside world that is contrary to our inside world and is opposed to us, and we must control it. It is only when we give up control, when we let go, that we find an inner power that is greater than our outward circumstances. By fearing loss, we bring about what we deeply fear. When we let go, we create the mindset that brings to us good things. In the Star Wars Series, revenge of the Sith, Yoda tells Anakim Skywalker, "You must train your mind to let go of everything that you fear to lose."

What is it that we fear. Often our fears are deeply buried, and we are not honest enough with ourselves to admit to inner fears. We fear our fear. Can we delve deep down inside, and bring to surface those fears that secretly control our lives? If so, you may find your life begins to change.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

A slow moment

It is a slow moment, because I have to watch Boise State University play football tonight against Fresno State. In order not to waste time, I am doing as much yoga and such as I can while I watch. It is necessary to do yoga and some form of qigong or tai chi every day. See hexagram 26 line 3. "Practice chariot driving and armed defense daily."

The book of Daniel predicted that in the last days humanity would be very mobile, and knowledge would be greatly increased. Wow is that ever true today. Obviously people are far more mobile than ever before, and I do not remember a time in my younger years when you could walk down the street and hear people not only speaking Spanish and Chinese, but Romanian, Russian, Japanese. French, and Thai. What amazes me even more is the number of books that are coming out now, relating not only advances in the science of physics, but all the sciences, brain wave technology... It is a brave new world. The Hebrew King Solomon said, even in his day, "of the making of books there is no end. One should study for the theoretical background, but at the same time must put the knowledge and information to use so that it becomes wisdom, and a superior person.

Some of the books I recommend, if you have a billion dollars to spend on books anyway, are: "I Ching, Oracle of the cosmic way," by Carol Anthony, "Tao, the watercourse way, by Alan Watts. "Mystic Path to Cosmic Power," by Vernon Howard, "Cloak of the illuminati," by William Henry, all of Sir Lawrence Gardner's books, any of Ken Wilbur's books, and "Putting on the Mind of Christ," by Jim Marion,

Well half time is just about over, so expect something perhaps a little more exciting tomorrow.