Today: “If you live simply without social ambition and do your work to your satisfaction, you will be free to live as you will and unencumbered by social pressures.”- from the I Ching

If you live simply without social ambition and do your work to your satisfaction, you will be free to live as you will and unencumbered by social pressures.

The situation is one in which we are still not bound by any obligations of social intercourse. If our conduct is simple, we remain free of them. We can quietly follow our predilections as long as we are content and make not demands on people.

See Yogi Bhajan’s quote for today

Tao Te Ching – Verse 18 – When the great Tao is forgotten, goodness and piety appear.

Meditation: LA010 – 19780210 – Gobinda – Project to the Infinite

Today: I Ching – Previous Reading – “Complacency and apathy are as dangerous as the would-be oppressors. Pay attention! The very structure of what you hold dear is at risk. The choice is between unbridled creativity and abject oppression.”

Today: I Ching – Previous previous reading – “The darkness is decreasing. It will be necessary that sanity conquers chaos and wisdom accompanies action. In all ways, the dark forces will resist all change.”

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

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's, Thomas Cleary's, Brian Arnold's and other translations of the I Ching
10 – Ten.  Lü / Worrying the Tiger

Heaven shines down on the Marsh which reflects it back imperfectly:
Though the Superior Man carefully discriminates between high and low, and acts in accord with the flow of the Tao, there are still situations where a risk must be taken.

You tread upon the tail of the tiger.
Not perceiving you as a threat, the startled tiger does not bite.
Success.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You have reached a perilous point in your journey.
This is a real gamble — not a maneuver, not a calculated risk.
The outcome is uncertain.
If it goes as you hope, you will gain — but if it turns against you it will cause serious injury, at least to your plans.
The best tack is extreme caution and a healthy respect for the danger involved.

Nine at the beginning [yang at bottom] means:

He treads the simple path of least resistance, making swift and blameless progress.

Simple conduct. Progress without blame.

Bal au moulin de la Galette - Montmartre

Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1876

The situation is one in which we are still not bound by any obligations of social intercourse. If our conduct is simple, we remain free of them. We can quietly follow our predilections as long as we are content and make not demands on people.
The meaning of the hexagram is not standstill but progress. A man finds himself in an altogether inferior position at the start. However, he has the inner strength that guarantees progress. If he can be content with simplicity, he can make progress without blame. When a man is dissatisfied with modest circumstances, he is restless and ambitious and tries to advance, not for the sake of accomplishing anything worth while, but merely in order to escape from lowliness and poverty by dint of his conduct. Once his purpose is achieved, he is certain to become arrogant and luxury-loving. Therefore blame attaches to his progress. On the other hand, a man who is good at his work is content to behave simply. He wishes to make progress in order to accomplish something. When he attains his goal, he does something worth while, an all is well.

6 – Six   Sung / Conflict

The high Heavens over a yawning Deep chasm:
An expansive void where nothing can dwell.
Even though he sincerely knows he is right, the Superior Person anticipates opposition and carefully prepares for any incident.

Good fortune if your conflict results in compromise.
Misfortune if your conflict escalates to confrontation.
Seek advice.
Postpone your crossing to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Conflict is a necessary part of life.
Tension upon the strings of a violin can make majestic music.
The critical mass of two hydrogen atoms trying to occupy the same space fuel the sun that nourishes our solar system.
Most conflicts you face in life are the result of your Path converging with another’s.
Your Path is not his, and one Path is not necessarily more right than the other.
Can you work together to remove the blockage?

Today: “The soul is a slave to none” – Yogi Bhajan

“The soul is a slave to none. In fact, everything else is subject to the soul and connected through its projection. So if you call on that and dwell in that, it works where no logic, reason, or mental intrigue can.” Yogi Bhajan

Meditation: LA010 – 19780210 – Gobinda – Project to the Infinite

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Tao Te Ching – Verse 18 – When the great Tao is forgotten, goodness and piety appear.

Tao Te Ching – Verse 18

When the great Tao is forgotten,
goodness and piety appear.
When the body’s intelligence declines,
cleverness and knowledge step forth.
When there is no peace in the family,
filial piety begins.
When the country falls into chaos,
patriotism is born.

(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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The great Tao fades away
There is benevolence and justice
Intelligence comes forth
There is great deception

The six relations are not harmonious
There is filial piety and kind affection
The country is in confused chaos
There are loyal ministers

(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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There is no Code of Ethics,
And there never was.
There is no kindness; no morality.
There is no genius.
Loyal sons and dutiful workers
Are unreal.
Stop.

(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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from I Ching Online