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Paris.
Class Ten: Standing Under One's Life's Work and Above One's Evolution Part II. Please study this page with Audio Lecture Ten.
Introductory Note: A blend of Emptiness, Ibn 'Arabi and the I Ching
I discovered this paragraph in a larger text sent out by my friend Elias Amadon (see The Open Path/The Sufi Way)
This is the space Taoists call the Breath of the Median Void. It is fundamental, they say, to the Great Breath (qi) that animates the living universe. The Breath of the Median Void arises where the Yang Breath — the power of the active (the Revealed) — encounters the Yin Breath — the power of the receptive (the Hidden). Here. Where I am, without being anything.
Inspired by the notion of the Breath of the Median Void, I wrote back to Elias with a response about my first days back in Crestone:
Breath became available to me in a whole new way during my time in Boulder... and now I'm in Crestone. As I lay awake last night from midnight to 3:30 am - in a new, bare room, with the constellations streaming through the window - the hidden and revealed so varied, penetrating, intense at times then resolving into love. It seemed like lifetimes.
I. Aligning One's Life's Work and Evolution with the Wheel of Vertical Time.
A Specific Example:
II. Personality Sun: One's Life's Work
1. The Creator (discovers / "smartest"): Creative, new, original idea. Ancestors, yes, but something that emerges from within you. Need courage and patience. Creative spark essential. Creates a strong foundation. Contemplate your life's work deeply; go to the bottom of the well.
2. The Dancer (expresses / "most attractive"): Fluidity. Self-expression. Unselfconscious, like the dancer. Find gifts that come naturally and easily. Contemplate what has the most grace and ease, what you really love. Follows a clear inner flow out into the world.
3. The Changer (adapts / "most exciting"): Less predictable. Change at heart. Let go of what your mind thinks of as "normal." Learn gifts from life. Let go and enjoy the manifold changes. Contemplate your life's work in the most dynamic, changing, adaptable form.
4. The Server (spreads / "most approachable"): The most focused of the lines. Conviction. Capacity to influence others. Realm is people; learn to listen. Contemplate life's work as form of service; giving for the sake of others. Including quality, refinement, courtesy.
5. The Fixer (makes practical / "most successful"): Discerns what will help the world or not. If useful, makes it one's own. Capacity to go far in the outer world; most potential for success. Your gifts, when well-organized are needed by the outer world. Contemplate business, leadership, efficiency.
6. The Teacher: (contemplates it / "the wisest"): Asks "why." Stands apart from the world. A teacher who understands each born with different gifts that can be fostered. Must be rooted in patience since one's gifts can take a long time to emerge. Contemplation as path.
III. Personality Earth: One's Evolution
1. Self and Empowerment: The essence. Inner issues. Empowerment of the self; discovering your genius in life. Issues: self-assured or inadequate, insecure. A private path; digging into your own aloneness and finding answers inside. No one else can empower or disempower you. When you meet this challenge courageously, your gifts will empower others to find the same inner strength.
2. Passion and Relationship: Expressing the Essence. Relationships. Expressing the energy of passion, which always catches the eye of others. Know where your passion lies. This line learns through relationships. It's nature is to be unconscious. If shadow rather that gift/siddhi expressed, all kinds of problems ensue. Challenge is to listen to and observe the feedback of those closest to you. They provide the mirror.
3. Energy and Experience: Since the third line is all about change, need to look at your life as a journey, and how you will spend your genetic inheritance. Your life is about experience rather than the result. The journey is the goal. Its not what you get from the experience, but that you have and learn from them. Trial and error always occurring.
4. Love and Community: The challenge of finding the balance of being alone and being with others. How to combine your need to be of service with your need for space. At the shadow frequency go from extremes of exhaustion to feeling cut off. All about love - the love of being alone and the love of ones friends. View your life as a quality to be shared with others. Gift to touch people's hearts and bring them to one's point of view, but must be most ethical.
5. Power and Projection: The fifth line has a mystique that attracts others. This is uncultivated. People will be drawn to you no matter what you stand for. At shadow frequency always incurs disappointment. Must learn how and when to express yourself so you will not be misinterpreted. Your passion can arouse all kinds of projections. Personal and professional boundaries are crucial. Express yourself with economy and clarity.
6. Education and Surrender: The six moves though the story of all of the lines in a single lifetime. So much to learn before one's dreams can come true - plus your understanding of your dream will change! Surrender and trust in life is the key. The six is the long-term view and the perspective from the roof of the house or mountain top. Education is crucial in becoming the role-model for others. Deeper than success or influence, it is about connection to the future. Willing to sacrifice personal goals for collective ones.
IV. Dialog Basics: Feet, Sequence, Reel In (Please study this section with the audio: I Ching and Human Body 10b.MP3)
I Ching & The Human Body
An On-line Class with Bill Scheffel
Introduction & To Register
Class One: The Trigrams
Class Two: The Hexagram
Class Three: The Hexagram II
Class Four: Assimilation
Class Five: Early Heaven...
Class Six: Acquired Conditioning..
Class Seven: Standing Under...
See more classes...
INTUITIVE DIALOGUES & I CHING READINGS with Bill Scheffel
The I Ching is a teacher to me, a revered guide, even a "hobby" - something I simply love to study, consult and share with others. I first opened the I Ching in 1970, when still in high school, intrigued and mystified by what it had to say. I began to actively engage with the I Ching in 1990, soon after I met Howard Bad Hand, an indispensable teacher who opened the book for me, removed the mystification and made it practical. in 2001, I began consulting the I Ching every morning, a practice that became a way of life.
I offer I Ching-intuitive readings for people in person, over the phone or through Skype. A reading begins with an initial conversation in which I listen to the issues in your life that form the basis of your question. From there, you "throw the coins" and I study the outcome in preparation for the full reading, typically done the following day. I help bring the symbolic images of the I Ching into the fabric of your question and life. Though the council I provide is founded on my experience with the I Ching, and intuitive guidance - the psychic or intangible dimension of life - it is very much a mutual conversation, a container we create together for insight to occur.
