You might think the world is swirling out of control but the real truth is that it has not been in any kind of control for a long time. Just as when a hurricane hits land and wreaks destruction so are there times in life and in the life of the entire world when nature must take over and deal with cleaning up what needs to be cleaned up. Nature’s force is a powerful motivator both in the natural world and in the human world. Let nature show you how to clean up the messes that have been created. Let nature show you also how to prepare for new life based on nature’s laws of harmony, balance, and equanimity. When the world is in perfect harmony everything works.
Curtail your eagerness to point out the wrongs of the world; the wrong thinking, the wrong speaking and the wrong actions that you see, hear and observe all around you. Yes, big mistakes are taking place, but hold your tongue. Sit tight and wait patiently while natural consequences occur. It is not time to act boldly or aggressively, even in a positive way. It’s time to let the karma of the past catch up to the present and catapult everyone and everything into the next phase of existence, into the future that is waiting to unfold. Save your energy for that.
Other people may have other ideas not in alignment with yours, but that does not mean that your ideas are wrong. It may not be the time for them yet. It may mean that you are ahead of your time and that your ideas will have to wait a while longer for the world to catch up with you. Stay firmly in your own knowing that what you carry inside of you, especially your understanding of love and compassion, will one day be acceptable and embraced. It is just a matter of time. Have patience while you continue to make love and compassion the main features and practices in your own life. The world will catch up one day soon.
Hexagram #29, The Abysmal, has become one of my most instructive hexagrams from the I Ching. How odd to be drawn to the abysmal!
The image is water on top of water. I imagine being stuck at the bottom of a deep well. The water level is low but slowly rising, fed from below.
Instinctively, the hero attempts to climb up the steep walls of the well. Perhaps a couple of attempts are made, but they result in slippage back into the water below. Resurfacing from the unwelcome dive, the hero sees that there’s a place on the wall to hold onto and stay afloat, buoyed by the pressure of the rising water from below.
The realization comes forth to rise with the water as it reaches new levels, finding new places to nestle, in awkward balance with the water pressure from below. Acquiescing to the Tao of water, going with its flow, rather than climbing without support, is the true staircase to eventual freedom.
The water, in its own time, will rise, filling the vacant space in its container of well walls and ultimately move on when it reaches level ground. And when it reaches ground level it is indeed time to act, time to move on.
The Tao is a combination of waiting and acting, yin and yang. When we act we are subject to the karma of our action. Climbing up the well walls resulted in falls into the water and the struggle to get the head back above the water; cause and effect.
Decisions to act are at the level of ego consciousness, which holds the power of choice. Erroneous decisions at this level result in necessary consequences. The question for ego is: What truly is right action?
Often, ego acts precipitously, based upon fear, or opinion, lacking alignment with truth and right action. Even so, these are necessary actions, as one must learn the art of surrender to right action; action in accordance with the truth of the circumstance one is in.
Learning the patience of waiting, which is being receptive to the higher power of the truth of the Tao, conserves ego’s energy to act decisively at the right moment when action is truly required.
Likewise, we may be seized with the impulse to act for what we perceive as a greater good, and act we do, only to discover that it was not the right time nor the right action to take. Ultimately, as mentioned, no action is wrong action, as all actions lead to necessary experience and knowledge.
However, with experience, we begin to realize that there is a deeper dimension of wholeness in motion at all times, with actions best exercised from the perspective of this broader view.
Taking in this broader view, we open to the necessary times of patient waiting, which sometimes means bearing tension until things become clearer, as in my image of the hero waiting patiently in the well. This is alchemy taking place in a sealed container, where necessary actions, sometimes powerfully destructive, must be completed before things can advance to a new level.
Such is the state of the world now, where we are being challenged to bear the tension and to not act precipitously. Have faith in the rising water in the well, that it will eventually rise to the level of freedom, to nourish us all.
In the waiting time, despite all the tension, remain in the calm of knowing that the right time to act will show itself, and when it does, we will act rightly and with precision.
When times are difficult it is best to withdraw from external activity and argumentation that activates emotions and desires that do not serve you or others. It is far better to sit in contemplation for a long time, even when there is pressure to decide, to be sure that you are making the right decision. The right decision will serve the greater good, and the whole, rather than the greedy few. Take all the time you need to make your own decisions of import during these outer times of difficulty. For if there is strife in the world around you, you can be sure that you are feeling it, and if you are feeling it then it also stands to reason that it affects you in some way. So, take time to get to the bottom of your own truth before deciding what is really right, in any situation. Do not go to haste, but do go to patient waiting. When the time is right, the right decision will clearly show itself.
