contact with good and bad

the most authentic master I ever encountered

Something in prolonged contact with rouge eventually becomes red, something in prolonged contact with soot eventually becomes black. What I realize as I observe this is the tao of habituation to good and bad.

When you live with good people, what you always hear are good words and what you always see are good actions. Hearing and seeing good words and actions over a long period of time plants good seeds in your mind, so that you spontanteously become accustomed to goodness.

When you live with bad people, what you always hear are bad words and what you always see are bad actions. Hearing and seeing bad words and bad actions over a long period of time plants bad seeds in your mind, so that you naturally become accustomed to badness.

Good and bad people are said to be so by nature, but most become so through habit. Therefore wise people choose their associates carefully.

Liu I-Ming

awakening to the tao

☯️

the pain of being stretched

bisa butler

Tagore says:

‘When the string of the violin

was being tuned it felt the pain of being

stretched, but once it was tuned then it knew why it

was stretched’. So it is with the human soul. While the soul

goes through pain, torture and trouble it thinks that it would

have been much better if it had gone through life without

it. But once it reaches the culmination of it then,

when it looks back, it begins to realize why

all this was meant: it was only meant

to tune the soul to a

certain pitch.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

wahiduddin’s web

tranquility on every level is advised

takashi nakamura

Restrain your speech.

An active tongue betrays a restless

mind. Tranquility on every

level is advised.

5th changing line,

Hexagram 52, Ken / Mountain

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

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it is a dangerous hour

you are your own teacher

Darkness reappears unexpectedly.

Caution and reticence

are in order.

It is a dangerous hour. Through an eruption of our inferior nature darkness has interrupted the flow of light. The inferior can be quite seductive, and if we are not resolute in resisting it, the moment can be lost to misfortune.

In one’s self, this is a time to examine motives; those which are of questionable honor should be uprooted and discarded. Be wary of situations that engage your ego and tempt you into anger, self-righteousness, or desire. Actively employ your higher nature to test the correctness of tempting ideas and circumstances; that which seems to be suspicious almost certainly is.

In your conduct with others, practice modesty, independence, and patience with great discipline. Avoid anger or arrogance at all costs; withdraw whenever you cannot meet another in a balanced and independent way. Neither encourage another to forego his balance nor indulge him if he does so. Again, withdraw into stillness if the circumstances indicate the presence of inferior influences. Reticence and self-scrutiny are the order of the day.

The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 44, Kou / Coming to Meet