cling to the power of higher truth

here comes the sun

It is in the nature of being human that we are dependent in many ways: dependent on water, air, and food for nourishment; dependent on shelter for warmth and protection; dependent on each other for family life and friendship. We are also spiritually dependent: when challenges arise, each of us must have some place to turn for guidance and support.

The image of the hexagram Li is that of a fire clinging to the wood that it burns. Without a supply of fuel, there can be no fire. Likewise, a person without a source of spiritual sustenance cannot give off light in dark and challenging times.

Difficult situations tempt us to doubt the power of humility, acceptance, and correct behavior. We long to abandon our inner balance and lash out. It is just at such moments that it is most important to cling to what we know to be good and true and correct—like fire clings to the log it burns. By doing this we obtain the aid of the Higher Power.

You are advised to cling to proper principles now. Quietly, willfully, joyfully cling to what is superior in yourself; cling to the possibility of a positive outcome in the situation that faces you, no matter how unlikely it may seem; cling to the good in others, even when it is obscured by inferior influences; and cling to the power of the Deity to deliver truth where it is needed.

Trying times bring us the gift of showing where our devotion to proper principles ends. Deepen that devotion now, cling to truth and acceptance and independence, and you will meet with success.

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 30, Li / The Clinging (Fire)

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love, faithfulness, and correctness

joan radcliffe walker embodied all these

as did her partner in all bud walker

A healthy family,

a healthy country, a healthy

world — all grow outward from

a single superior

person.

The hexagram Chia Jen concerns the proper foundation of human communities. The I Ching teaches that all clans must have a superior person at their center if they are to prosper and succeed. Therefore, in order to improve our family, company, nation, or world community, we must begin by improving ourselves.

If you will observe healthy families you will always see present in them three qualities: love, faithfulness, and correctness. When we truly love others, we are naturally kind, gentle, and patient with them. When we are faithful to others, we place proper principles and conduct above temporary influences like anger, desire, or greed. And when we practice correctness, we spiritually nourish ourselves and all those around us. When all three qualities are cultivated, a healthy clan springs naturally into being.

The difference between paying lip service to these ideals and practicing them is profound. If you advocate high ideals and actions to others but do not embody them yourself, your influence will disintegrate for lack of a proper foundation. Therefore, in order to inspire superior qualities in others, you must first instill them in yourself.

Concentrate not upon influencing others or external events but upon strengthening your inner devotion to proper principles. When modesty, acceptance, equanimity, and gentleness become deeply ingrained in your character, they will flow steadily out from from you.

Soon you will find yourself enmeshed in a web of healthy relationships, and in this there is great good fortune.

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 37, Chia Jén / The Family (The Clan)

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the work now is to become pure light

victor sillue

Darkness

has been given as

a nightshirt to sleep in.

Remember how human beings

were composed from water and dust

for blood and flesh with oily resins heated

in fire to make a skeleton. Then the soul, the divine

light, was breathed into human shapes. The work now is

to help our bodies become pure light. It may look like

this is not happening. But in a cocoon every bit

of worm-dissolving slime becomes silk.

As we take in light, each part

of us turns to

silk.

made the night

a darkness, but we bring

shining dawnlight out of that.

In the same way the mound of your

grave will bloom with resurrection. Sufis

and those on the path of the heart use darkness

to go within. During the night vigil the universe

is theirs. With all the kings and sultans and

their learned counselors asleep, everyone

is unemployed, except those wakeful

few and the divine

presence.

Bahauddin, father of Rumi

the drowned book

sing in the dark and try to forgive

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.

—Bertolt Brecht

There will be prayer, too,
but to a different god,

and dread will lurk
in the songs we sing.

Doom in the timpani
no matter what the tune,

the tune a variation
on the theme of doom.

We will sing in the dark
and try to forgive

and try not to dwell
on the lives we lived.

The music we play
will be a funeral song,

the poetry we speak,
that ancient tool

we used to believe
was the vital spark,

or if not the spark,
will be the match we strike

again and again
in the darkest dark.

Andrea Hollander

yield, accept, nourish

accept everything that is

Bear

with things as

the earth bears with us: by

yielding, by accepting,

by nourishing.

K’un the Receptive is the complement to Qián the Creative: the dark which is illuminated by light, the earth which receives the blessings of heaven, the vessel into which nourishment flows. This is a time to follow rather than lead, to assist rather than initiate, to listen rather than talk. Redevote yourself to the cultivation of modesty, receptivity, and gentleness now, and let go of concerns about the conduct of others or the progress of your worldly ambitions.

The wisdom of cultivating receptivity cannot be overstated; receptivity is the rich earth without which the Creative cannot take root in our lives. This fundamental hexagram serves as a strong encouragement to you to concentrate on your capacities to nourish, to support, to accept, to work without desiring recognition, to follow the guidance of the Sage.

You can benefit greatly in a period like this from time spent in solitude; in quietness we have an opportunity to focus on purification of our hearts and minds. It is a good time to ask oneself, “Am I sincerely pursuing the good for its own sake, or do I have a hidden agenda?” If so, detach from it and return to the path of independence and balance. Through humility and openness we become receptive to the assistance of the Higher Power.

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 2, K’un / The Receptive

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