Today: “Recognize when you are being oppressed by your own thoughts, beliefs, compulsions and other habits.  With discipline you can free yourself.” – from the I Ching

Recognize when you are being oppressed by your own thoughts, beliefs, compulsions and other habits.  With discipline you can free yourself.

A quote from Yogi Bhajan

Tao Te Ching – Verse 57 – If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao.

Meditation:  NM0426 – 20011117 – Self Transformation

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47 – Forty-Seven. K’un / Exhaustion

A Dead Sea, its Waters spent eons ago, more deadly than the desert surrounding it:
The Superior Person will stake his life and fortune on what he deeply believes.

Triumph belongs to those who endure.
Trial and tribulation can hone exceptional character to a razor edge that slices deftly through every challenge.
Action prevails where words will fail.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is the realm of the Shaman.
You have exhausted every alternative, spent yourself completely, taxed body and mind beyond your former limits.
Survival and salvation lie beyond your reach now.
Only transcendence to a new existence — a higher plane of being — will see you through.
The Old You is just a dry husk.
You can’t return to it.
Metamorphosis is the only grace offered.
You can only return to your homeland as a New You.

Six in the third place means:

A man permits himself to be oppressed by stone,
And leans on thorns and thistles.
He enters the house and does not see his wife.
Misfortune.

Thorns and thistle

This shows a man who is restless and indecisive in times of adversity. At first he wants to push ahead, then he encounters obstructions that, it is true, mean oppression only when recklessly dealt with. He butts his head against a wall and in consequence feels himself oppressed by the wall. Then he leans on things that have in themselves no stability and that are merely a hazard for him who leans on them. Thereupon he turns back irresolutely and retires into his house, only to find, as a fresh disappointment, that his wife is not there. Kongfu (Confucius) says about this line:

If a man permits himself to be oppressed by something that ought not to oppress him, his name will certainly be disgraced. If he leans on things upon which one cannot lean, his life will certainly be endangered. For him who is in disgrace and danger, the hour of death draws near; how can he then still see his wife?

31 – Thirty-One. Hsien / Attraction

The joyous Lake is cradled by the tranquil Mountain:
The Superior Person takes great satisfaction in encouraging others along their journey.
He draws them to him with his welcoming nature and genuine interest.

Supreme success.
This course leads to marriage.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There is no greater natural law in the Cosmos than Attraction.
From the magnetic pull of an atom’s nucleus to the centrifugal force that spirals a galaxy, the face of the universe is shaped by Attraction.
On a human scale, it is Attraction that fuels procreation and furthers our species.
Yet it is also Attraction that spawns greed and covetousness, threatening our extinction.
Attraction is the underlying force of the situation in question.
You are refined or debased by the objects of your desire.
What gravitational pull are you now under?
Around what sphere of influence do you circle?
Can you use your own ability to attract?

Today: “ God is nothing but universality in experience.” Yogi Bhajan

“God is nothing but universality in experience. When you experience a universal consciousness in your finite consciousness, that is what God is all about. When you say, “In God we trust,” it means, we trust in our own universal consciousness.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: LA004 780109 Experience the Experience

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 57 – If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 57

If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.
The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 57 – If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao.”

Today: “Soften your relations with the world.  Put peoples’ hearts at rest.” – from the I Ching

Soften your relations with the world.  Put peoples’ hearts at rest.

A quote from Yogi Bhajan

Tao Te Ching – Verse 56 – Those who know don’t talk. Those who talk don’t know.

Meditation: LA046 – 780614 – Hari Shabad Meditation – Use the Wind to Produce Trance and Dissolve Negativity

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59 – Fifty-Nine. Huan / Dissolution

Wind carries the Mists aloft:
Sage rulers dedicated their lives to serving a Higher Power and built temples that still endure.

The King approaches his temple.
Success if you stay on course.
You may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Walls meant to protect have instead separated and isolated.
Your defenses have kept you apart from those whom you most need to touch.
Whatever the reason for discord between you, it is time to lay down your arms.
Dispel the inflexible demands and fears of the Mind so that you may reunite in the Heart.
If you have begrudged, forgive.
If you have torn down, repair.
If you have injured, heal.
If you have judged, pardon.
If you have grasped, let go.

yang
yang above: Sun / The Gentle, Wind
yin
yin
yang below: K’an / The Abysmal, Water
yin

 

Wind blowing over water disperses it, dissolving it into foam and mist. This suggests that when a man’s vital energy is dammed up within him (indicated as a danger by the attribute of the lower trigram), gentleness serves to break up and dissolve the blockage.

THE JUDGEMENT

DISPERSION. Success.
The king approaches his temple.
It furthers one to cross the great water.
Perseverance furthers.

The text of this hexagram resembles that of Ts’ui, GATHERING TOGETHER (45). In the latter, the subject is the bringing together of elements that have been separated, as water collects in lakes upon the earth. Here the subject is the dispersing and dissolving of divisive egotism. DISPERSION shows the way, so to speak, that leads to gathering together. This explains the similarity of the two texts.
Religious forces are needed to overcome the egotism that divides men. The common celebration of the great sacrificial feasts and sacred rites, which gave expression simultaneously to the interrelation and social articulation of the family and state, was the means employed by the great rulers to unite men. The sacred music and the splendor of the ceremonies aroused a strong tide of emotion that was shared by all hearts in unison, and that awakened a consciousness of the common origin of all creatures. In this way disunity was overcome and rigidity dissolved. A further means to the same end is co-operation in great general undertakings that set a high goal for the will of the people; in the common concentration on this goal, all barriers dissolve, just as, when a boat is crossing a great stream, all hands must unite in a joint task.
But only a man who is himself free of all selfish ulterior considerations, and who perseveres in justice and steadfastness, is capable of so dissolving the hardness of egotism.

THE IMAGE

The wind drives over the water:
The image of DISPERSION.
Thus the kings of old sacrificed to the Lord
And built temples.

In the autumn and winter, water begins to freeze into ice. When the warm breezes of spring come, the rigidity is dissolved, and the elements that have been dispersed in ice floes are reunited. It is the same with the minds of the people. Through hardness and selfishness the heart grows rigid, and this rigidity leads to separation from all others. Egotism and cupidity isolate men. Therefore the hearts of men must be seized by a devout emotion. They must be shaken by a religious awe in face of eternity – stirred with an intuition of the One Creator of all living beings, and united through the strong feeling of fellowship experienced in the ritual of divine worship.

Today: “The one who has a Guru as a guide, and a God through the Guru, has God and the Guru with him and he shall never be alone.” Yogi Bhajan

“The one who has a Guru as a guide, and a God through the Guru, has God and the Guru with him and he shall never be alone.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: NM0347-20000502-Guru Kriya

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 56 – Those who know don’t talk. Those who talk don’t know.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 56

Those who know don’t talk.
Those who talk don’t know.
Close your mouth,
block off your senses,
blunt your sharpness,
untie your knots,
soften your glare,
settle your dust.
This is the primal identity.
Be like the Tao.
Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 56 – Those who know don’t talk. Those who talk don’t know.”

Today: “Whatever you are doing, do it well, without any expectations for the outcome.  Then everything turns out well.” – from the I Ching

Whatever you are doing, do it well, without any expectations for the outcome.  Then everything turns out well.

A quote from Yogi Bhajan

Tao Te Ching – Verse 55 – He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child

Meditation: LA769-19930415 – Development of Self Control

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25 – Twenty-Five. Wu Wang / Remaining Blameless

Thunder rolls beneath Heaven, as is its nature and place:
Sage rulers aligned themselves with the changing seasons, nurturing and guiding their subjects to do the same.

Exceptional Progress if you are mindful to keep out of the way of the natural Flow.
It would be a fatal error to try to alter its course.
This is a time of Being, not Doing.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is thoroughly a matter of the heart.
If everything you attempt, no matter how carefully planned, ends in disarray, then examine your motives.
They are the cause of your predicament.
It isn’t that your motives aren’t pure — even the best intentions will fail under these circumstances.
What stymies you in this situation is that you have a motive at all.
Free yourself of all expectations, release any tenuous grip you may have, and roll with it.
This is totally out of your control.
There are higher powers and more elements affecting the outcome of this situation than you can imagine.
Get out of their way.

Six in the second place means:

If one does not count on the harvest while ploughing,
Nor on the use of the ground while clearing it,
It furthers one to undertake something.

Autumn Ploughing

‘Autumn Ploughing’ – E.R. Sturgeon (1920 – 1999)

We should do every task for its own sake as time and place demand and not with an eye to the result. Then each task turns out well, and anything we undertake succeeds.

58 – Fifty-Eight. Tui / Empowering

The joyous Lake spans on and on to the horizon:
The Superior Person renews and expands his Spirit through heart-to-heart exchanges with others.

Success if you stay on course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is the sign of true companionship.
The principals in this situation exchange energy, ideas and feelings, constantly invigorating and encouraging each other to new heights of Spiritual achievement and Self-discovery.
This exchange is not for the glory of the Team, but for furthering the process of each individual’s ‘Te’, or pure potentiality.

Today: “God is not a phenomenon. He is infinite. He is infinite, but God is finite also.” Yogi Bhajan

“God is not a phenomenon. He is infinite. He is infinite, but God is finite also. He is also a human being Who talks, Who shakes hands with you, Who dances with you. He does everything with you. We must understand this energy, that the Infinite is also finite. Why are your arms in your shoulders? Why not in the hips? Why do you have two eyes, why not one big eye in the center? Why don’t you breathe through the knees? Why do you have a nose in the center of your head? There is an architect who has made you a blueprint. You have been constructed according to this blueprint design and figure; that energy, beyond all expectations, cannot be denied.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: NM190-19951031-Connect Yourself to the Reality

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 55 – He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child

Tao Te Ching – Verse 55

He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn’t know about the union
of male and female, yet its member can stand erect, so intense is its vital power.
It can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 55 – He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child”

Today: “You are disposed to receive precious gifts.  Live in gratitude.” – from the I Ching

You are disposed to receive precious gifts.  Live in gratitude.

A quote from Yogi Bhajan

Tao Te Ching – Verse 54 – Whoever is planted in the Tao will not be rooted up

Meditation: Meditate on Nothing to Find Prosperity – 19930421

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41 – Forty-one. Sun / Decrease

The stoic Mountain drains its excess waters to the Lake below:
The Superior Person curbs his anger and sheds his desires.

To be frugal and content is to possess immeasurable wealth within.
Nothing of value could be refused such a person.
Make a portion of each meal a share of your offering.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is an occasion for downsizing to fighting trim.
Simplicity and economy are strong defenses against the slings and arrows of Outrageous Fortune.
Whether this is a time of want or a time of plenty, it is an auspicious time to shed a dependency.

Six in the fifth place means:

He is showered with precious gifts, and those giving will hear no refusals.
Supreme good fortune.

Someone does indeed increase him.
Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it.
Supreme good fortune.

Tortoises

If someone is marked out by fate for good fortune, it comes without fail. All oracles – as for instance those that are read from the shells of tortoises – are bound to concur in giving him favorable signs. He need fear nothing, because his luck is ordained from on high.

59 – Fifty-Nine. Huan / Dissolution

Wind carries the Mists aloft:
Sage rulers dedicated their lives to serving a Higher Power and built temples that still endure.

The King approaches his temple.
Success if you stay on course.
You may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Walls meant to protect have instead separated and isolated.
Your defenses have kept you apart from those whom you most need to touch.
Whatever the reason for discord between you, it is time to lay down your arms.
Dispel the inflexible demands and fears of the Mind so that you may reunite in the Heart.
If you have begrudged, forgive.
If you have torn down, repair.
If you have injured, heal.
If you have judged, pardon.
If you have grasped, let go.

Today: “Silence is the most powerful speech; but there is an art to be silent, and there is an art to speak.” Yogi Bhajan

“Silence is the most powerful speech; but there is an art to be silent, and there is an art to speak.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: Contemplate in Shuniya from the Spine

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 54 – Whoever is planted in the Tao will not be rooted up

Tao Te Ching – Verse 54

Whoever is planted in the Tao
will not be rooted up.
Whoever embraces the Tao
will not slip away.
Her name will be held in honor
from generation to generation.
Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 54 – Whoever is planted in the Tao will not be rooted up”

Today: “Seek unity, dissolve differences.  It takes discipline.” – from the I Ching

Seek unity, dissolve differences.  It takes discipline.

A quote from Yogi Bhajan

Tao Te Ching – Verse 53 – The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths

Meditation: LA046 – 780614 – Hari Shabad Meditation – Use the Wind to Produce Trance and Dissolve Negativity

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Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
59 – Fifty-Nine. Huan / Dissolution

Wind carries the Mists aloft:
Sage rulers dedicated their lives to serving a Higher Power and built temples that still endure.

The King approaches his temple.
Success if you stay on course.
You may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Walls meant to protect have instead separated and isolated.
Your defenses have kept you apart from those whom you most need to touch.
Whatever the reason for discord between you, it is time to lay down your arms.
Dispel the inflexible demands and fears of the Mind so that you may reunite in the Heart.
If you have begrudged, forgive.
If you have torn down, repair.
If you have injured, heal.
If you have judged, pardon.
If you have grasped, let go.

Six at the beginning [yin at bottom] means:

He gives aid with the strength and stamina of a horse.
Good fortune.

He brings help with the strength of a horse.
Good fortune.

Horse

It is important that disunion should be overcome at the outset, before it has become complete – that the clouds should be dispersed before they have brought storm and rain. At such times when hidden divergences in temper make themselves felt and lead to mutual misunderstandings, we must take quick and vigorous action to dissolve the misunderstandings and mutual distrust.

60 – Sixty. Chieh / Limitations

Waters difficult to keep within the Lake’s banks:
The Superior Person examines the nature of virtue and makes himself a standard that can be followed.

Self-discipline brings success; but restraints too binding bring self-defeat.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Cultivating the proper disciplines and the proper degree of discipline are the concerns of this hexagram.
By limiting options, you may give more attention to priorities.
One who is all over the map is no less lost than one without a map.
Avoid asceticism, however.
Deprivation is not wise discipline.
The key here is regulation, not restriction.

Today: “If you want to learn a thing, read that; if you want to know a thing, write that; if you want to master a thing, teach that.” Yogi Bhajan

“If you want to learn a thing, read that; if you want to know a thing, write that; if you want to master a thing, teach that.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: NM0364-20001023-On Communication I

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 53 – The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths

Tao Te Ching – Verse 53

The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao. Continue reading “Tao Te Ching – Verse 53 – The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths”

Today: “Refrain from usurping your new found strength, power and influence.  Use the good examples of others who have followed your path.” – from the I Ching

Refrain from usurping your new found strength, power and influence.  Use the good examples of others who have followed your path.

A quote from Yogi Bhajan

Tao Te Ching – Verse 52 – In the beginning was the Tao. All things issue from it; all things return to it.

Meditation: LA769-19930415 – Development of Self Control

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26 – Twenty-Six. Ta Ch’u / Recharging Power

Heaven’s motherlode waits within the Mountain:
The Superior Person mines deep into history’s wealth of wisdom and deeds, charging his character with timeless strength.

Persevere.
Drawing sustenance from these sources creates good fortune.
Then you may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There are important precedents in this situation.
Others have trodden this Path before you, overcoming the same obstacles facing you now, and making crucial decisions at the same crossroads.
Study their journals, watch for their trail markings.
Gain inspiration and wisdom from the heroes and learn from the mistakes of those who chose a sidepath.
All were Seekers, explorers whose daring mapped a course you can follow.
The words and deeds of the finest can imbue you with the courage necessary to face what lies before you.

Six in the fourth place means:

Attaching a plank of wood to the brow of this young bull will stunt the growth of his horns.
Such foresight brings great fortune.

The headboard of a young bull.
Great good fortune.

Bull horns

This line and the one following it are the two that tame the forward-pushing lower lines. Before a bull’s horns grow out, a headboard is fastened to its forehead, so that later when the horns appear they cannot do harm. A good way to restrain wild force is to forestall it. By so doing one achieves an easy and a great success.
8 – Thirty-Eight. K’uei / Estrangement

Fire distances itself from its nemesis, the Lake:
No matter how large or diverse the group, the Superior Person remains uniquely himself.

Small accomplishments are possible.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are working at cross-purposes with another.
The distance between you is very wide.
The gap can be closed, however, with no compromise of your integrity.
You are not adversaries in this case — just two persons addressing individual needs.
Ask yourself: are these needs mutually exclusive?
Is there common ground here?
Must there be one winner and one loser?
Could you become partners in seeking a solution that would allow for two winners?

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