The coming of the hexagram I signifies a period of increase when the power of heaven descends to surround and invigorate our lives. Like all phases, this too will come to an end, but if “we make hay while the sun shines,” tremendous progress can be made at this time.
It is in the nature of human beings to relax and become careless when things begin to go well. The I Ching teaches us that we should not do this if we desire the fullest blessings of the beneficial hour. Indeed, our rewards are multiplied if we increase our conscientiousness in auspicious times, rather than decrease it. There are two ways in which the I Ching especially encourages us to do this.
Our first task is to make sacrifices for others. In all of your interactions now, embody generosity in thought and action. Forgive what is inferior in others and seek out the good. By giving, encouraging, and assisting, you will draw the superior person in everyone into devoted action.
Your second task in this time of increase is to go on strengthening yourself “as thunder and wind strengthen each other.” This means that if you see something good in another, you imitate it, and when you discover something inferior in yourself, you eliminate it.
These simple practices, if continued conscientiously over time, will improve your character and fortunes immeasurably. Through service and self-improvement you assure yourself of great progress in the days ahead.
 
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 42, I / Increase
 
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Wei wu Wei Ching, Hua hu Ching, and
 Art of War for iPad/Phone, Kindle,
 Nook, or Android
 
 
You 
can now buy 
the I Ching as part of a
 five-app bundle of Taoist classics 
for iPhone or iPad for less than 
the cost of one hardcover
 book.

 
									
																	 
							
													
								
								
								
								
																
								
									
travel light
 
 Try 
to praise 
the mutilated world.
Remember June’s long days,
and wild strawberries, drops of rosé wine.
The nettles that methodically overgrow
 
the abandoned homesteads 
of exiles.
 
You 
must praise
 the mutilated world.
You watched the stylish yachts
 and ships;
 one of them had a long trip 
ahead of it,
 while salty oblivion awaited others.
You’ve seen the refugees going nowhere,
you’ve heard the executioners 
sing joyfully.
 
You 
should praise 
the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when 
we were together 
in a white room and 
the curtain fluttered.
 Return in thought to 
the concert where music flared.
You 
gathered acorns in the park in 
autumn 
and leaves eddied 
over the earth’s 
scars.
 
Praise
 the mutilated world
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays 
and vanishes
 and 
returns.
 
Adam Zagajewski
 
									
																	 
							
													
								
								
								
								
																
								
									
pieter bruegel the elder
 
As you 
help people and 
respond to their potential,
 it should all be clear and free. You mustn’t
 roll around in the nest of weeds or play with your
 spirit in the ghost cave. If the supposed teacher uses
 contrived concepts of “mysteries” and “marvels” and “the 
essence of truth”, if he cocks his eyebrows and puts a gleam 
in his eye and cavorts around uttering apt sayings and thereby
 binds the sons and daughters of other people’s families 
with doctrines he claims are absolute realities, then 
he is just one blind man leading a crowd of
blind  people — how can this produce 
any genuine expedient
teaching?
 
Yuanwu
zen letters
 
									
																	 
							
													
								
								
								
								
																
								
									
jenny holzer
 
The purpose
and result of quietly
observing the self is to forget
the self. When the mind is seen for
what it is and fascination with
its activities dissipates,
reality, which was
always present,
appears.
 
It is at
this point that we 
understand that nothing
is problematic and life
becomes thoroughly
enjoyable.
 
Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 46
Paperback / Kindle here 
 
iPad/iPhone
iBooks
 

You 
can now buy 
Wei wu Wei Ching as part of a
 five-app bundle of Taoist classics 
for iPhone or iPad for less than 
the cost of one hardcover
 book.