We have often advised that taking the time to decide what is right is always a good step, for it is often in the patient waiting that right action arrives, knowledge is acquired, and the proper way forward is revealed. But at other times there is no time for waiting, no time for patience and no time for contemplation. Such times are the times when everything that you have been learning, practicing and waiting to utilize springs forth out of you and you KNOW what to do, without a doubt. When right action springs into action after a long period of patient waiting, be assured that you will know exactly what to do.
The urgency of now is ever so upon us. I have encouraged for quite some time the exercise of autosuggestion to manifest desired change. But how long must one wait? The urgency of now tempts impulsive if not revolutionary action.
I posed this dilemma to the I Ching. In response I received hexagram #1, Chien, The Creative, with moving lines in the 1st and 4th places.
Chien is comprised of 6 Yang lines. This is an extraordinary feat: 6 throws of the coins, 6 solid lines. This hexagram represents Heaven, the Divine, Initiation, the Beginning; in a word, the Word.
All things on Earth issue forth from the Word and Imagination, as suggestions from the conscious to the subconscious mind are birthed in physical form. The subconscious mind is hexagram #2, Kun, The Receptive.
It is the Receptive feminine, that conceives with her divine masculine counterpart, The Creative, to give birth to, that is, to transmute, our desires into physical life.
The first charged moving line of Chien warns sternly: Hidden dragon. DO NOT ACT! In China the dragon is a symbol of an electrically charged, arousing dynamic force that presents itself in a thunderstorm.
This is the primal impulsive energy of Yang, sick of waiting, ready to break forth and impose its will. This is ego, drawn to surrender itself to Id.
The I Ching counsels utmost restraint. This creative force is still buried at the bottom, in the Earth. The Earth is Yin, carrying her pregnancy with all its dynamic forces contained. Yin, the subconscious mind will deliver physical life when it is time to deliver, not upon demand.
The guidance is to rest content in the knowing that the pregnancy is real, new life is coming. Take solace in this deep knowing. A warning is put out that if one acts precipitously, that is, tries to make something happen through the will of the ego, it will be faced with Hexagram #44, Coming To Meet.
In Coming To Meet the ego is met with a seduction. An easy, seemingly harmless opportunity to get what it wants presents. Ego, in its hungry desirousness, takes the bait and then is confronted with the true nature of what it has dallied with: a power greater than itself that robs it of its thunder, the very energy needed to manifest desired change. Heed the warning: DO NOT ACT!
Having prevailed beyond this temptation, ego rises next to the activated line in the 5th place where guidance rejoices: Dragon flying in the sky; there arises a great person to be a leader.
Here the attitude of calm knowing faith is rewarded with the manifestation of the right person to assume leadership. Here ego is in conformity with the High Self. This is not the inflation of Icarus. Ego is refined to act in alignment with the Tao.
The patience of the ruler, the 9 in the 5th place results in the birth of the physical reality that it is fully fit to lead. The dragon soars, its energy fully deployed to effect great change. The key to this maturation lies in humility, faith and alignment with what is right.
Having heeded the warning of the first activated line, the ego was humble, accepting that nature was in charge of the pregnancy, that things shouldn’t be rushed based upon ego righteousness or immaturity. What is right is calm readiness to receive when the time is right.
Faith rested upon the absolute knowing that what was rightfully one’s own to live would come to physical manifestation. The key is to hold to that truth in the quiet of the knowing mind, enjoying it always in the spirit life of the imagination,
The future of this hexagram becomes Hexagram #50, The Caldron. The Caldron is the cooking vessel used in achieving communion and nourishment with the ancestral spirits.
What has been brought to physical life is in alignment with the depth of one’s Spirit and is sure to enjoy lasting influence, that is, until the cycle of life calls for a new play!
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.
