Tag Archives: Po

Chuck’s Place: Give Generously to Those Below

Returning from vacation, I consult the I Ching for a picture of Now.

Collapse is imminent!

I receive the image of a house whose walls can no longer carry the weight of the roof, now on the verge of collapse.

In a dream, I’m stuck beneath the streets of New York City in a narrow crawl space. I look around at the thick wooden beams and wonder at the weight of what is above, the buildings, the restaurants, the parties taking place, all the people dancing. How long can those beams support it all?

The country is galvanized around raising the debt “ceiling.” From all sides there is fear of imminent collapse.

The I Ching counsels shoring up the walls of the house to avoid collapse by giving generously to those below. In the context of a nation, this means to take care of the real needs of the masses, the true backbone of the country.

Ironically, the Tea Party Republicans are agents of change here, bringing attention to the fragility of the economic structure. As with the “ceiling” structure of an overburdened roof, continuing to raise the debt “ceiling” will lead to inevitable collapse.

In the recent past, the Republicans had no problem raising that ceiling five times under President Bush and seventeen times under Reagan. Suddenly though, they’ve elevated it to a monumental crisis under President Obama. Despite the hypocrisy and thinly veiled overt ploy to bring down Obama at all costs, even if it means bringing down the nation itself, the bottom line is: the more you raise the ceiling, the greater you weaken the structure. That is, unless you strengthen the supporting walls.

The Republican strategy is to strengthen the walls by stripping the social supports to the masses while greedily filling the coffers of the wealthy. The slogan is: No raised taxes on the wealthy at any cost!

The I Ching clearly states that this strategy will lead to definite collapse. Synchronistically, we see this illustrated by the tumbling Murdoch empire built upon total greed and corruption. Unless the structure of the nation shifts to truly caring for the needs of the common citizen, the nation will collapse as we see reflected all around the world in the revolutions of the Arab spring.

On a personal level, we are challenged to assess the stability of our own psychic structures. Inwardly, the “roof” of our personality is the ego, built upon the supporting walls of our instinctive selves and the deep well of our spirit selves.

Is the roof of our personality, our ego self, giving generously to the needs of our instinctive self, our body, and to our spirit self, the foundational reason for our current life in this world?

Is our ego in alignment with our spiritual purpose? Is our ego properly nourishing our body as well as caring for the physical environment we inhabit in this world? Is our ego insisting on remaining in the wrong relationship out of fear of loss, abandonment, and aloneness? Does our ego control others overtly or covertly to serve its own agenda? Is the ego willing to face the truths of life lived or does it remain in illusion, inflation or deflation, or comfortably numb in addiction?

If our ego is off on its own greedy agenda, accumulating more and more for itself, overburdening the roof while neglecting the supporting walls of the house, that structure is in imminent danger of collapse; collapse of the personality into depression, or even psychosis.

Inwardly, giving generously to those below requires the ego to serve the deepest needs of the self. The ego, in this alignment with the self, is in no danger of collapse. To the contrary, it is likely to find itself in the place of abundance, generously and gratefully supported by the wellspring of life.

Doing masonry work,
Chuck

#721 Prepare for a Long Winter’s Meeting

Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
The signs of autumn are early upon us this year in the Northeast. The leaves are changing their colors and dropping to the ground, the grass has mostly stopped growing and after a dry summer the spiders are coming into the house looking for warm crevices to winter over in. Our personal activities, conscious or unconscious, reflect this time as we prepare for the darkness that now comes earlier and earlier each day. Perhaps we notice this incremental change in season more strikingly this year due to its early arrival. Perhaps we are at an age of appreciation for the chance to draw inward once again after the warm and largely external lives we have led during the summer months. As Chuck wrote about, this is the time of Po, of breaking down and dissolution, yet it does not carry sadness with it, only the looking forward to what comes next as we enter a time of turning inward with the prospect of deep reflection and study ahead.

The moon, recently shining so brightly at night, stresses that this time of death and dissolution is also brightly lit, that there is indeed light in the darkness, and if we allow ourselves to wake up during the night we see that everything we experience in the day is still there at night, though illuminated by a different light, thus allowing us to see it differently too. In the night and in the darkness we have the opportunity to explore differently if we choose to wake from our slumber and look into that darkness. This is all metaphor for doing inner work, of course.

I can’t help but notice that nature is setting everything up for us, perhaps a little earlier this year because nature itself requires that we human beings become more innerly focused and reflective over all. It is telling us that it is time once again to face our personal darkness and resolve our inner issues so that when the spring comes we will be in synch with the new life all around us. No matter what happens to us or to the world over the next few months new life is certain. That too is the insight of the time of Po.

With all of that in mind, Jeanne, what message do you offer us human beings at this time of preparation for turning inward, as we enter a new phase? Whether we like it or not we must go inward now. I feel this strongly on a personal level, but also perhaps even more strongly on a universal scale. Great change in the human race feels pressingly required and exceedingly important. I feel we are truly being confronted to do the work of transforming ourselves. Within each of our inner worlds we have the opportunity to do this work. Then the challenge becomes bringing it into our outer worlds. This is a long monologue leading up to asking for your guidance, specific to this time, which is both personal and universal. What guidance do you offer us today and in the weeks ahead?

Metaphor, My Dear, is a fine vehicle for teaching, yet at this time it is most important that practical and pragmatic decisions be made or your inward turning will have dire consequences. It is a time of staying in reality. Even though, as you state, it is of utmost importance to accept the darkness that comes creeping into your awareness, so is it equally important, if not more so, to accept the fact that you cannot go into that darkness unprepared.

What do you mean by “dire consequences?”

To be unprepared for the onslaughts of the inner world could lead to shutting down, to fear, to disaster. Be always conscious that the outer world reflects the inner world, but be also conscious that beneath the cold earth the seeds of spring wait patiently, holding in the energy of new life. However, one must prepare for that which is present at each moment until that time of birth. One must guard one’s energy in a healthy manner and go forth, not haphazardly, flippantly, or inflatedly, but soberly, with focus on the moment in hand, at all times.

You must, each one of you, prepare for what lies ahead. You already know what that means. You cannot have lived even a few years upon that earth without recognizing the change of seasons. Now however, as adults, you are more aware that you must be responsible for the self. You must be as the animals in nature that have been busily preparing for this certainty of darkness, of cold shutting down and hibernation; their entire lives revolve around this activity. They are conditioned to this moment, for it is as important as the fact that they do live. Without this instinct to survive there would be no new life.

As adults, your natural instincts must now be brought forth. Where is your own instinct to not only survive but to do so with impunity, impeccably, but also with desire to be your natural self?

As you prepare for the time ahead, as the season changes once again, remain aware, alert to the behaviors of the self that have become so natural to you but are not in fact nature at its core inside you. Inspect your process for habitual tendencies that do not actually have anything to do with the true desires of the self, with survival, or with inner work. Inspect your inner nature for what it truly needs to be doing to prepare for the time of inward turning. Your true nature, your spirit self, absent of society, of ego, and of attachment to the things of that world, might actually surprise you with what it truly wants. I can guarantee that it wishes for expression in some manner.

Do not “think” about this expression, do not give it tools, but allow it access to life simply by intending, by opening the doors of your mind and your physical self without judgments, without old ideas or behaviors, but simply allowing the self to “know” that this spirit self exists. And the other thing is, do not think that you know this side of the self, because you don’t. You may have inklings, you may hear it calling, but you do not fully know this self, because it has not yet fully lived. In order to live fully it must be released and that is a high order.

In order to prepare for your inward months of spirit work, you must balance that time in practicalities. You must prepare for the winter ahead. Do what you must in your own world and environment to set yourself up for this time. In all matters be pragmatic. At the same time, question your automatic reactions, responses, and habits. Do things differently now, by allowing your conscious mind to disseminate that which has not been working for you so that you may be open to the guidance that will come from your new acquaintance, your spirit self. Allow yourself to flow naturally during this time, by both accepting the changes in your outer world, without sorrow and attachment, but also by acquiescing to the quiet stirrings of your inner process.

Do not reach for the normal comforts of the darkness. Reach instead for the discipline to stay present with what your spirit shines its light upon. And do not pretend that you are safe in your world, because that is too complacent. Instead, challenge yourself to be constantly alert and aware of the fact that nothing ever stops challenging you. Be as aware as the animals that predators lurk all around you. They may be as familiar as your own habits, or they may be as foreign as disaster striking, but do not for a moment pretend they do not seek you out. You are not special.

This is a time of closing down, yet is it also a time of confrontation with what comes next. This is where your adult self and your spirit self must remain alert and cognizant as they confront each other in the darkening light and challenge each other to lay down their arms and sit at the conference table for a long conversation about the truth of the self. This is the meeting that must convene in order for change to become acceptable, for this time to be productive, and for each one of you to offer the self transformative work.

Come to your meeting fully prepared by being open and nonjudgmental. Allow each part of the self to speak. But, the number one rule at this conference is that only the truth be spoken. It may take a while to reveal that truth, but it lies at the center of your world, waiting to be discovered like the seed in the ground.

Autumn is inward turning time. Begin your preparation for a long winter’s meeting. Consciously or unconsciously you are all headed there. It is your choice in how you approach this time. I wish you the best of luck. I wish you openness, but above all, I wish that you may face your truths fearlessly, honestly, kindly, and lovingly toward the self.

Please feel free to post comments or respond to this message from Jeanne in the post/read comments section below.

Offered humbly, in service.

#718 Chuck’s Place: Po

Jeanne once called me “Parallel Man.” She referred to a certain knack I have to see the same idea presented in many different forms. In fact, under the influence of a certain idea I am likely to see it reflected everywhere for days. I suspect that this is how synchronicity works—like a wave of energy that moves and has a ripple effect on everything, at a moment in time.

This week I had a deep concern about a pending danger, a pending collapse. I consulted The I Ching, which produced hexagram #23, Po. This hexagram is constructed by five yin lines supporting a weighty yang line at the top. The image used to depict this state of energy is a house about to split apart due to a shattered roof. The English translation for the character Po is splitting apart, a most ominous condition.

The Flyer’s mind, what the seers of ancient Mexico called the foreign installation, that influences all human thinking, attempted to hook me on a doom and gloom scenario. This conjuring mind generates many negative scenarios, threats to survival; bait to capture awareness and energy in a state of agitation and fear. I breathed calmly, recalling Buddha beneath the bodhi tree as he refused to attach to earth-shattering illusions that were rapidly firing before him. It helped as well to recall the many “groundhog days” of going for the bait, investing so much energy in potential dramas that never materialized. Don’t attach; let life unfold; see what happens; suspend judgment; find out what it means—these mantras have proven far more emotionally and energetically efficient in approaching ongoing time than chasing down the red herrings of the conjuring mind.

The I Ching goes on to state that the imminent collapse presented in the time of Po is not due to personal behavior, but is, in fact, an impersonal reality, part of a death and resurrection theme inherent in nature. The time of Po is October/November, the time of the harvest. The I Ching also chooses the image of a rotting fruit on a tree to depict Po. Of necessity, the fruit will fall to the earth and die. However, that yang line, the seed, will be buried in the earth with the promise of new life.

Synchronistically, we are in the time of Po now, harvest time. Personally, illusions we cling to may be exposed, die, that change and new life might unfold. This is a natural and evolutionary process. Nonetheless, the process of letting go, of dying to old ways or untruths, may indeed be painful and threatening, as they present themselves.

I prefer the image of the rotting apple falling from the tree to that of the collapsing house. Though I see the parallel, an image taken directly from nature, undisturbed by human intervention, seems to remove the judgments we quickly place upon ourselves in trying to decipher the meaning of an oracle. Understanding what naturally does and must occur in nature first can help in suspending judgment of that same scenario as it manifests in human nature.

Incidentally, as I completed my contemplation of Po, I pulled a card from my Tarot deck (Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot Deck)—the Knight of Disks—the harvester, who with his threshing tool in hand is preparing to harvest what he has cultivated. This card is a perfect synchronistic ripple of Po, splitting apart in the time of harvest. Time for all to bravely separate the wheat from the chaff!

If you wish to correspond, please feel free to post a comment below.

Until we meet again,
Chuck