Wait to take on a bold venture until you are ready. Be prepared.
Tao Te Ching – Verse 9 – Better to stop in time than to fill to the brim
Try these meditations:
Meditation: TCH36-1-A00713 – Pain and Ecstasy – Triangle of Knowledge
Meditation: M0512-19890312 – For Mastery of Time and Space
Previous Readings:
Thunder high on the Mountain, active passivity: When a bird flies too high, its song is lost. SITUATION ANALYSIS: There is no profit to striving here. Six at the beginning [yin at bottom] means: Bird Leaving Nest – Larry Moore Thunder and Lightning from the dark heart of the storm: The leader reaches his peak and doesn’t lament the descent before him. SITUATION ANALYSIS: You are in a position of authority in this situation.62 – Sixty-Two. Hsiao Kuo / Lying Low
The Superior Person is unsurpassed in his ability to remain small.
In a time for humility, he is supremely modest.
In a time of mourning, he uplifts with somber reverence.
In a time of want, he is resourcefully frugal.
Rather than push upward now, it is best to remain below.
This will bring surprising good fortune, if you keep to your course.
To be content with oneself is the greatest success imaginable.
The enlightened person has nothing to prove to himself or others, and thus may always operate from a position of sincerity, with no pretense or posturing.
His humility is guileless simplicity.
His mourning is selfless compassion.
His frugality is an unshakeable faith that he is but a conduit, letting what is needed flow through him to others, with no loss to himself.
The bird meets with misfortune through flying.
A bird ought to remain in the nest till it is fledged. If it tries to fly before this, it invites misfortune. Extraordinary measures should be resorted to only when all else fails. At first we ought to put up with traditional ways as long as possible; otherwise we exhaust ourselves and our energy and still achieve nothing.
55 – Fifty-Five. Fêng / Abundance
The Superior Person judges fairly, so that consequences are just.
Be like the noonday sun at its zenith.
This is success.
Archetypally, you are the New King, returned from your quest to claim your throne.
However, you are enlightened enough to realize that you are merely a part of a cycle, and that you must someday yield your throne to the new kid in town, the younger, faster gunslinger, the young turk, the next returning hero, the next New King.
Fretting about the inevitable descent is senseless.
For now you must play your role to the hilt and use this gift of power to govern your world as best you can.
You are the best person for the job.
That’s why you were chosen.
Give it your personal best.