In Keeping With the Theme...

In keeping with the theme of hexagram twenty one, we have talked about the hexagram as a description of punishment as well as keeping unity, but there is more to be said about this. In Carol Anthony's book she talks about being careful to not engage with those who have wronged us. I may disagree with this, depending on how well I have understood her. Because whenever we read someone else's words, we always interpret them according to the understanding that we have. And words and language are to a certain extent, inappropriate. At the very least they cannot communicate specifics but are always prone to be misinterpreted.

While Carol Anthony's statement is probably meant as just a way to protect ourselves, and to stay non committed, if taken in the wrong way, it could be interpreted as saying, "that as long as someone has wronged us, we have to punish them until the situation is corrected." No. And even Carol Anthony herself says that punishment should be left up to the Cosmos. My take on it is it is perfectly okay to engage with someone who has wronged us, as long as we do not become in anyway attached. The engagement in discussion can be neutral and in no way intended to hurt or to strike back at the other individual. Nor is it a way to strike back at others. It is only a means of allowing the universe and karma to guide the nature of the interaction and the relationship. For one of the first principles of life is that, "everything is okay just the way it is." We have been hurt and wronged, but that is okay just the way it is. And while that might seem like a trite and a belittling way of looking at things, it actually, if one looks deeply, becomes a very profound statement. And if everything is just the way it should be, why is there any need for 'hurt feelings" or any feeling of 'being maligned.' Here is where the power of detachment comes into play, We are not only detached from the person we have had the interaction with, (not in a negative way though) but we are also detached from any judgments that we might make from our experience. As Coronal Kurtz says in "Apocalypse now," It is our judgments that get us into trouble. We should not judge the situation we are in anymore than judging the person that put us in that situation. (Although, that in itself is a judgment.) If we judge a situation, or if we judge a person, we are not accepting things just the way they are. And guess what, when we take this attitude, not only does our own hurt go away, but we are able to interact with the other with detachment, (and yet love at the same time) and as such help them as well to no longer judge the situation and accept it for what it is. We do not indulge in or encourage others bad behavior, but at the same time we do not react to it with injured retort. That is what I think Carol Anthony is really trying to say as well, although in some statements it might appear otherwise. But then we all see through rose colored glasses, and we tend to 'judge' situations according to our own perceptions. When we judge, we are setting up ourselves as the highest authority, and are acting out of ego and pain, rather than "accepting things just the way they are."