Sunday, November 02, 2014

The Trouble with Forty Eight part two

Just one really quick thing I forgot to write. Part of the charm of hexagram forty eight is its commentary saying, "May fail to penetrate to the real roots...and remain fixed in convention." This is really, really important. Because if we fail to get to the heart of the matter we tend to believe whatever we were brought up to believe; whatever our schools teach us, or our governments or our churches or our psychiatrists tells us. There then becomes no critical thought. We just "follow the conventions."

Now, critical thinking does not guarantee us of any success either. Once again, as in hexagram fifty two, understanding the laws of the universe only come about when we are at deep peace and calm, and no longer affected by the "hustle and bustle" of life. This is because we are looking for spiritual truths, not just intellectual science or religion or philosophy or what have you. We want to go down to the deepest stratum of spiritual teaching, brought to us by the I Ching or other sacred book which has an intelligence of its own beyond human capacity, and can direct its teaching specifically to the individual under timely circumstances when it is most favorable to pass that particular teaching to the individual, and when the individual is most receptive to it.

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