Seeking Union

This discipline is our work: to be true to our path at all times.*
                   

How do we come together, hold together, and be together in the face of the many forces that would break us apart? The forces that seek to break us apart seek to co-opt our attention, to bring us into their circle, make us their own.  Yet, you want to remain yourself, keep your integrity.  How do you create union, the union we all, often desperately seek, without losing yourself?  This is the question.  Whether it be union with another or with your own body and soul, this integrity of union is fundamental to contentment in this life.  

This week’s hexagram, Bi- Hexagram 8 is called Union or Seeking Union.   A union can always be found between you and your world, you and your body, you and another sentient being.  That union IS living energy.  You can live from that place of union; choose to use the energy of that union to inform your action in any situation.  If you are, in fact, true to your path, the union of each and every moment provides the fuel for your journey through your own awareness.  I call this kind of union, you with your own substance, your insight and energy with the very fiber of your body, I call this strength.  This kind of strength made of your connection with both your spirit and your substance provides integrity and resilience for you whatever you might encounter.  

Where does this strength come from?  It comes from the simple fact of you knowing what you are made of.  This kind of strength is literally invincible. Though it may not save you from external storms, it will always provide you with the capacity to find union with your own knowing when you need it.  This is real and reliable strength, the strength of knowing your own being.  And holding together, being together, through the vicissitudes of life requires this kind of strength.

Over the weekend, I was teaching meditation, the death meditations, as I not so delicately refer to them (when I am being delicate, I call this material “making friends with the enemy”.  Learn more about making this kind of friendship here) and I was suffering from a bout of allergies of a kind I have not experienced in years.  My head was full, my chest was full, I had little appetite and ached all over.  Yet, I felt a kind of strength in our little meditation room that I know came from exactly the kind of integrity I am referring to here.  For me, teaching meditation is one of the main joys of my life.  Teaching Chinese medicine and meditation together is just about as glorious and joyful as a day could be, so I was simultaneously on cloud 9!  Physically, I was beleaguered, but spiritually and emotionally I felt fully functional.  A tremendous energy gathered in our union as we practiced together and felt the power of being together.   A kind of energy and strength that could only come from such a union.

 Dancing with death delightfully!

*Carol Anthony, Commentary on Hexagram 8 - Bi, A Guide to the I Ching

Taking the Lead

This week’s topic comes from Hexagram 7 - Shi, most often called The Army, but also called Leading.  I am going to go a bit further and call this topic leading and following. It is often hard to know when to take the lead and when to follow or who is leading and who might you follow.  I have spent the last week on a farm, a farm with two pregnant horses, one pregnant cat, two large dogs, 7 chickens, one person who lives there and several who come and go every day. Needless to say, one can begin to wonder who is in charge.  We like to think we are in charge, and by we I mean you and me, and whoever you and me think we are. But are we really? When it comes to the birth, death and the facts of life in the life of any animal, the undeniable truth is that we are not in charge.  Birth happens at its own behest. We are not in charge.

       When we took the horses (not the pregnant ones,  but rather, the oldest and the youngest ones) from one pasture to their nighttime shelter, my friend cautioned me to either lead or follow.  I hadn’t considered this. Interesting, that I hadn’t considered that these very large animals, (even the 8 month-old baby horse is quite a bit bigger than a human) needed to know if I was leading or following.  Even more interesting was noticing that after my attention came to the question, I felt confused. Should I lead? What would happen if I did lead? Was I qualified to lead?

When it comes to your body, you are most qualified to lead.  Even if you don’t feel qualified, you are unquestionably, the one who lives in your body, and who can gain access to the knowing that lies within it.  Even more than being qualified to lead, for your health, it might be critical that you “take the lead.” You might not know where you are going exactly, but you may still be called on to take the lead.  So how do you take the lead and whatever does that mean?

You take the lead by taking  your attention right into your body and your perception.  Your body can’t give you anything but the truth. Your body can’t be anywhere but here.  Your body can offer you what you need to take the lead, but you will have to focus your listening to find what you need sometimes.  

You can use what you discover on behalf of yourself or on behalf of yourself and others in a given situation, but either way, good leadership would ask that you act from your own knowing.  Allowing for your own leadership, your own knowing to come forward even when you don’t know exactly where you are going, this is the essence of authenticity, honesty, something that often inspires others to follow you anywhere!  

These are the two pregnant ladies looking on as the dog dances me down the lane…definitely I am not leading and these gals seem to have the opinion that that might not be so smart…hmmm!

Pleading My Case

“Conflict arises because we view Fate as an adversary… Whenever we are in any difficult situation, our tendency is to try to see what lies ahead, in order to protect ourself against possible harm. We do this because we distrust Fate—that events by themselves, without our interference, will show a way out of the difficulty and lead to our goals.”

                      Carol Anthony, Commentary on Hexagram 6 - from A Guide to the I Ching

Standing outside this morning on a rock,

damp sunlight, hot cocoa in hand,

I plead my case.

I stand before the trees,

the grass,

tall and shining in the sun,

before the ever-growing green,

arguing for a respite.

I wait.

I do not wait patiently.

I wait, baited,

anxious and hot-footed.

I wait and meanwhile,

there are birds,

sparkling leaves,

arms-wide glory in these trees.

I wait until

this struggle

this moment

this sunlight

is all there is.

My case rests.