Month: July 2024

Live simply with what is required for your contentment.  Avoid ambitious ventures that produce inefficient expenditures or even challenge your resources.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 76 – Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry.

Meditation: LA101 790419-Faith In Our Self And Our Own Discipline

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Provide for yourself. Take care of your own nourishment rather than coveting others’ resources. Envy arouses contempt.”

Today: I Ching – Previous Previous Reading – “The power of bad actors is increasing. Seek safety from the chaos they are producing rather than challenging it. ”

See related posts.

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.

Six in the fourth place means:

He is most content in frugality and simplicity: the highest success.

Contented limitation. Success.

‘Waterfall’ – Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972)

Every limitation has its value, but a limitation that requires persistent effort entails a cost of too much energy. When, however, the limitation is a natural one (as for example, the limitation by which water flows only downhill), it necessarily leads to success, for then it means a saving of energy. The energy that otherwise would be consumed in a vain struggle with the object, is applied wholly to the benefit of the matter in hand, and success is assured.

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.

Provide for yourself.  Take care of your own nourishment rather than coveting others’ resources.  Envy arouses contempt.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 75 – When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit

Meditation: LA950 A00214 20000214 Develop Self-Reliance

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “The power of bad actors is increasing. Seek safety from the chaos they are producing rather than challenging it. ”

Today: I Ching – Previous Previous Reading – Gathering resources, it is most useful to find good helpers, give them good leadership and keep an eye on organization, planning and discipline.”

See related posts.

27 – Twenty-Seven.  I / Providing Nourishment

Beneath the immobile Mountain the arousing Thunder stirs:
The Superior Person preserves his freedom under oppressive conditions by watching what comes out of his mouth, as well as what goes in.

Endure and good fortune will come.
Nurture others in need, as if you were feeding yourself.
Take care not to provide sustenance for those who feed off others.
Stay as high as possible on the food chain.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are a conduit in this instance, able to provide the sustenance needed by others.
Position yourself to nourish the truly needy and worthy.
Avoid situations where you might be coerced into supporting the parasites and vermin who deprive your true charges.
Your own nourishment is an issue here, too.
Remember Lao Tzu’s three Great Treasures:
Only the person possessed of Compassion, Modesty and Frugality can remain fit enough to stay free of desperation and keep control of the situation.

Nine at the beginning [yang at bottom] means:

You ignore your own succulent dinner to crave the dish set before another.
Misfortune.

You let your magic tortoise go,
And look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping.
Misfortune.

Tortoise Gopher

The magic tortoise is a creature possessed of such supernatural powers that it lives on air and needs no earthly nourishment. The image means that a man fitted by nature and position to live freely and independently renounces this self-reliance and instead looks with envy and discontent at others who are outwardly in better circumstances. But such base envy only arouses derision and contempt in those others. This has bad results.

23 – Twenty-Three.  Po / Splitting Apart

The weight of the Mountain presses down upon a weak foundation of Earth:
The Superior Person will use this time of oppression to attend to the needs of those less fortunate.

Any action would be ill-timed.
Stand fast.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a situation easily mistaken for Stagnation (Hexagram 12) or Revolution (Hexagram 49).
It just depends on which side you’re on.
During a time of Stagnation, human worms invade to feed on the decay.
During a time of Revolution, oppression is being overthrown.
But in this situation, oppressors are violently seizing power.
Pay special heed when you receive this hexagram, because the oracle is often warning you of a situation of which you are totally unaware.
You are about to be blindsided.

The power of bad actors is increasing.  Seek safety from the chaos they are producing rather than challenging it.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 73 – The Tao is always at ease.

Meditation: LA031 19780423 – Ad Nad Kriya – Gupt Gian Shakti the Secret Power of the Knowledge

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Understand that you have a certain number of breaths left in your life. Cultivate your spirit while you still can. That is why we exist in this life.”

Today: I Ching – Previous Previous Reading – Gathering resources, it is most useful to find good helpers, give them good leadership and keep an eye on organization, planning and discipline.”

See related posts.

23 – Twenty-Three.  Po / Splitting Apart

The weight of the Mountain presses down upon a weak foundation of Earth:
The Superior Person will use this time of oppression to attend to the needs of those less fortunate.

Any action would be ill-timed.
Stand fast.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a situation easily mistaken for Stagnation (Hexagram 12) or Revolution (Hexagram 49).
It just depends on which side you’re on.
During a time of Stagnation, human worms invade to feed on the decay.
During a time of Revolution, oppression is being overthrown.
But in this situation, oppressors are violently seizing power.
Pay special heed when you receive this hexagram, because the oracle is often warning you of a situation of which you are totally unaware.
You are about to be blindsided.

4 – Four. Mêng / Inexperience

A fresh Spring at the foot of the Mountain:
The Superior Person refines his character by being thorough in every activity.
The Sage does not recruit students; the students seek him.
He asks nothing but a sincere desire to learn.
If the student doubts or challenges his authority, the Sage regretfully cuts his losses.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a time of interchange between a mentor and pupil.
Whether you are the teacher or the student, it is a time of companionship along a mutual path.
This hexagram also emphasizes the eternal, cyclical nature of the mentor/student relationship — a mentor is merely a more seasoned pupil, further along on the journey.
A pupil holds within himself the seed of a future Master.

Understand that you have a certain number of breaths left in your life.  Cultivate your spirit while you still can.  That is why we exist in this life.

“Here the end of the day has come. The light of the setting sun calls to mind the fact that life is transitory and conditional. Caught in this external bondage, men are usually robbed of their inner freedom as well. The sense of the transitoriness of life impels them to uninhibited revelry in order to enjoy life while it lasts, or else they yield to melancholy and spoil the precious time by lamenting the approach of old age. Both attitudes are wrong. To the superior man it makes no difference whether death comes early or late. He cultivates himself, awaits his allotted time, and in this way secures his fate.”

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 73 – The Tao is always at ease.

Meditation: LA719 930303 – Magnetic Field – Sacred Space

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Gathering resources, it is most useful to find good helpers, give them good leadership and keep an eye on organization, planning and discipline.”

Today: I Ching – Previous Previous Reading – “Without trying to bring any special advantages to. yourself, strive for bonding among your relations. Unity will be realized.”

Share The Magical Story of Mushkil Gusha over a meal with friends today.

30 – Thirty.  Li / Igniting

Fire sparks more Flames:
The Superior Person holds an inner Fire that ignites passion in every heart it touches, until all the world is enlightened and aflame.

With so searing a flame, success will not be denied you.
Take care to be as peaceful and nurturing as the cow in the meadow; you are strong enough to be gentle.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

A Promethean flame is delivering light and heat to the situation at hand.
This radiance will cause such an alchemical transformation of circumstances that the changes will seem magical, miraculous.
Yet they are only shifts of perspective and attitude that bring clarity.
The passions kindled by this fire must be harnessed and used judiciously, or they threaten to consume your hopes and dreams.

16 – Sixteen.  Yü / Enthusiasm

Thunder comes resounding out of the Earth:
Similar thunder roars up from the masses when the Superior Person strikes a chord in their hearts.

Whip up enthusiasm, rally your forces, and move boldly forward.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There is a rhythmic force, a world music, that lives deep in the Unconscious of each of us.
It’s a primitive drumbeat, a shaking rattle, a tribal chant that invokes the primal self to rise up and join the dance.
This is the enthusiasm that is generated now.
Not rhetorical persuasion, not a play on the emotions, but a charismatic, irresistible Call of the Wild.
Confucius said that the person who could comprehend this could ‘rule the world as though it were spinning in his hand.’
This is a time for instinct, not intellect — the Thunder from the Beneath.

Gathering resources, it is most useful to find good helpers, give them good leadership and keep an eye on organization, planning and discipline.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 72 – When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion. When they no longer trust themselves, they begin to depend upon authority.

Meditation: LA741 – 921125 – Dance of Shiva

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Without trying to bring any special advantages to. yourself, strive for bonding among your relations. Unity will be realized.”

Today: I Ching – Previous Previous Reading – “Without trying to bring any special advantages to. yourself, strive for bonding among your relations. Unity will be realized.”

See related posts

7 – Seven.  Shih / Recruiting Allies

Deep Water beneath the Earth’s surface:
Untapped resources are available.
The Superior Person nourishes and instructs the people, building a loyal, disciplined following.
Good fortune.
No mistakes if you follow a course led by experience.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You must gain support from others.
Find a way to make others want to see your objectives met as badly as you want it.
How can they profit from the attainment of this goal?
Can you command confidence that you are just the person that can bring this plan to fruition?

Six at the beginning [yin at bottom] means:

Knowing neither purpose nor direction, the soldiers march blindly onward.

An army must set forth in proper order.
If the order is not good, misfortune threatens.

Napoleon: Vue de la bataille la plus sanglante de l’Empire
la bataille de la Moskova ou de Borodino (7 septembre 1812) – Jacque-Louis David

AT THE BEGINNING of a military enterprise, order is imperative. A just and valid cause must exist, and the obedience and co-ordination of the troops must be well organised, otherwise the result is inevitably failure.

19 – Nineteen. Lin / Noble Calling

The rich, loamy Earth on the banks of the Marsh provides fertile soil for exceptional progress.
The Superior Person is inexhaustible in his willingness to teach, and without limit in his tolerance and support of others.

Supreme Success if you keep to your course.
But be aware that your time is limited; your power will wane, as Summer changes to Fall.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are in a position to help another.
This is a temporary situation, because your power is cyclical, seasonal.
Knowing this, you must perform your good deed without hope of reward.
You are not furthering your own process, but another’s.
Though you may cherish this other, you will never possess.
Touch without grasping.
Take comfort in becoming a fond memory.
Nurture, then let go.