What to watch for, followed by wisdom from the I Ching:
* Standoffs related to different beliefs, opinions, perceptions, principles, etc.
* Confrontations with authority figures and/or how to handle authority in the face of constraints, challenges, difficulties, obstacles, etc.
* The crystallization of a creative effort.
* The integration or synthesis of something that leads to a new structure or platform.
* People who try to block or thwart something new or different.
* Innovation versus tradition.
* Wisdom versus ignorance.
* Leadership and the boundaries or rules and laws that hold leaders accountable.
* The beginning of an important time of synthesizing ideas, information, and beliefs.
* Limiting beliefs or ideas.
* The need to entrain our mind to different/higher standards.
* A kind of standoff or period of contraction leads to a breakthrough, innovation, or period of discovery.
An I Ching Meditation:
* Hexagram 10 is called “Conduct” but also “Worrying the Tiger.”
* In life there are times when the weaker and the stronger within some situation come into contact, such that the stronger acquiesces to the weaker despite the weaker encroaching on it, stepping on its toes, or challenging it. The reason the strong acquiesces is because it doesn’t perceive the weaker as a threat, and recognizes that the challenge or encroachment was made innocently, in good humor, or without malicious intent.
* Hexagram 10 offers a teaching about the nature of proper conduct between people of different rank, ability, stature, status, power, age, and so forth. The strong should acquiesce to the weak because what makes strength truly powerful is its flexibility, good nature, and so forth. We shouldn’t be overly allergic to challenges to our authority or position on something, in other words.
* On the other hand hexagram 10 also teaches us that if we are in a weaker position, whether it be a position of knowledge, power, or authority in a situation, that we should act appropriately, with respect, innocence, and carefulness when trying to hold our own ideas or positions in the face of someone who is older, wiser, with more power or authority, and so forth.
* The third line of hexagram 10 depicts a one-eyed person able to see, a lame person still able to walk…a picture of someone who is truly debilitated or in a position of weakness, trying to tread across the Tiger’s tail. The I Ching says that one in such a weakened position will likely get bit and there will be misfortune. However, the caveat is that if this person is entering the situation totally willing to be bitten, because they serve a higher master, a higher cause or ideal, then some battles we are sure to lose are also victories en route to a higher cause. However, we should be clear about what we’re getting into and why, because this line also potentially depicts someone foolhardy and believing they are in a stronger position than they are…someone whose conduct is potentially arrogant and impulsive, without respect for their rank or power within a situation.
* Interestingly when the third line changes Hexagram 10 becomes Hexagram 1…the creative. It’s an all yang lined hexagram that points to a time of tremendous initiation, creative force, and the release of a kind of chain-reaction of discovery, innovation, liberation, action, and dynamism.
* As the Sun and Saturn finish their opposition this week, we immediately see the Sun sextile Uranus. Jupiter has also just turned direct, which means we are about to see a very powerful surge of creative energy following the potential standoffs mentioned above. Is the cause worth it? Breakthroughs come when we back off and conduct ourselves carefully just as much as when we stubbornly plow forward. What kind of breakthrough is called for in this situation?
Prayer: Be the breakthrough within our breakthroughs.
Leave a Reply