Clings to What is Right

The commentary on the image of hexagram thirty says, "...So too the twofold clarity of the dedicated man clings to what is right and thereby shape the world. Human life on earth is conditioned and unfree, and when man recognizes this limitation and makes himself dependent upon the harmonious and beneficial forces of the cosmos, he achieves success." For the less experienced person, when he or she inquires of the I Ching, they would not be impressed by the wisdom of these words. If they think there is an exterior world, independent of the higher self, they would pass by these words and look for a more innocent, more naive, and more concrete meaning to the hexagram received. We can only receive what we are ready for. And the purpose for this site and others like it is to prepare the ground more each day, as we "die daily to self," (the ego) as we "take up our cross and follow the Christ force", or Buddha force, or the tao, as we "invest in loss," we find more and more within the pages, that earlier on we skipped over without having any clue as to the significance of the commentary.

We have to understand first of all that the physical world is a mirror image of the spiritual, that there really is a spiritual world, else, how could it be that one could make oneself dependent on "the harmonious and beneficient forces of the cosmos? Obviously, science does not recognize any "beneficient" or malignant forces of the cosmos, they only recognize physical laws, such as gravity and electromagnetism, etc.. But we wish to hold ourselves to a higher understanding. We recognize that there is a world, and there are forces beyond that which we see, even with scientific instruments, for it is foolish to think that we have discovered all there is to discover. But in the sacred texts of the world, including the I Ching, we can find a coded message about the nature of the cosmos, and its true scientific meaning. And we do find it has life. It is conscious, and it is beneficient providing we acquiesce to it as described in hexagram two. Hexagram one tells us something about the nature of the universe as a whole, and hexagram two, on one level (of many) tells us something about our relationship to that universe. (Hexagram fifteen also describes our proper attitude toward it and our relationship to it.) Hexagram thirty tells us that we must cling to the principles upon which this universe is built, and follow what is right. By our selves we are very limited in our capabilities, but if we trust, and submit ourselves, making ourselves dependent upon the harmonious and beneficient forces of the universe, we find that "behold, fate is favorable." St Paul said much the same thing when he said that "all things work together for good for them that love God (submit to the harmonious forces), that are called according to his purpose" (those that have found their true calling in life and are working not just for themselves but for the greater good. They "work for the greater good, and dependent on the benevolence of heaven."

It is only when we are "willing to follow, that we find guidance." (hexagram two). But if there is no conscious in the universe itself, what would we be following? We would be following a pipe dream. But this is not the case. We find there is a higher intelligence than that of our limited conscious minds, the ego, and this higher intelligence is what we follow. Doing what is right is doing what we were placed on earth to do. It is doing that which is natural (hexagram twenty five) to us. When we do what is right we cling to that spiritual power that guides our life, that unswerving inner purpose, (hexagram thirty two) which corresponds with our fate and destiny. When we follow the ego we follow that which is limited and illusory, for there is in reality no ego, only the appearance of such, which if we follow we fail, for it is not a part of us.

We must learn to recognize the real from the illusory, the superficial from the depths of understanding, and our true purpose from that which is artificial and egotistically inclined. It is only when we come into alignment with our true purpose that we can accomplish great things. But first,of course, to know ourselves, we must "draw up the water from the well." We must look to our true source, the spiritual world, which is the only real world. The physical is an illusion. May we ever drink more deeply from the true water which springs up to life everlasting.