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move steadily in a single direction

for the last day of your life

 

Consistent

correctness turns every 

situation to your advantage.

 
The image of this hexagram is that of a gentle wind dispersing storm clouds. A wind that changes direction often, even a very powerful one, will disperse nothing—it only stirs up the sky. The wind that causes real change is the one that blows consistently in the same direction. There is an important lesson for us in this example.

When faced with a difficult problem to resolve or a goal we wish to achieve, we often are tempted to take striking and energetic actions. Though it is possible to achieve temporary results in this fashion, they tend to collapse when we cannot sustain the vigorous effort. More enduring accomplishments are won through gentle but ceaseless penetration, like that of a soft wind blowing steadily in the same direction. The truth of the Sage penetrates to us in this way, and this hexagram comes now to remind you that this is how you should seek to penetrate others.

The advice given to you by the I Ching is threefold. First, establish a clear goal; the wind that continually changes direction has no real effect. Second, apply the principle of gentle penetration to yourself; by eliminating your own inferior qualities you earn an influence over others. Third, avoid aggressive or ambitious maneuvers now; these are rooted in desire and fear and will only serve to block the aid of the Creative. The desirable influence is the one that flows naturally from maintaining a proper attitude.

In your interactions with others, bend like the willow. By remaining adaptable, balanced, accepting, and independent, and by steadily moving in a single direction, you gain the clarity and strength that make possible a series of great successes.
 

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 57, Sun / The Gentle (The Penetrating Wind)

 

🪷

 

Right among the people coming and going

I have a place to stay

I shut the gate even in the daytime

And feel as though I had bought

Wo-chu the great mountain

And had it with me in town.

Never since I was born have I

Liked to argue, mouth full of blood.

My mouth is made fast to heaven and earth

So the universe is still.

 

Muso Soseki

 

increase love and strengthen the will

the universe is one being

 

In order to learn forgiveness

man must learn tolerance first. And there

are people whom man cannot forgive. It is not that he

must not forgive, but it is difficult, beyond his power to forgive,

and in that case the first thing he can do is to forget. The first step

towards forgiveness is to forget. It is true that the finer the

man is the more he is subject to be hurt by the smallest

disturbance that can produce irritation and

inharmony in the atmosphere.

 

A person who gives

and takes hurts is capable of living

an easy and comfortable life in the world.

Life is difficult for the fine person, for he cannot

give back what he receives in the way of hurt, and he can

feel it more than the average person. Many seek protection from

all hurting influences by building some wall around themselves. But

the canopy over the earth is so high that a wall cannot be built high

enough, and the only thing one can do is to live in the midst of

all inharmonious influences, to strengthen his will power

and to bear all things, yet keeping the fineness of

character and a nobleness of manner together

with an ever-living heart.

 

To become cold

with the coldness of the world

is weakness, and to become broken

by the hardness of the world is feebleness,

but to live in the world and yet to keep above the world

is like walking on the water. There are two essential duties

for the man of wisdom and love; that is to keep the love

in our nature ever increasing and expanding and to

strengthen the will so that the heart may not be

easily broken. Balance is ideal in life;

man must be fine and yet strong,

man must be loving and

yet powerful.
 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

the training of the ego

 

mind like clear blue sky

maintain your inner light

 

Make your mind 

like the clear blue sky at dawn,

unmarked by any message from man 

or heaven. Continually stoking the

 fire of emptiness with the breath, 

you instantly incinerate 

whatever appears.

 

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 36

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