Zigzag Idiot

Maurice Nicolls book The New Man unravels the meaning of parables. THE LANGUAGE OF PARABLES PART ONE ALL sacred writings contain an outer and an inner meaning. Behind the literal words lies another range of meaning, another form of knowledge. According to an old−age tradition, Man once was in touch with this inner knowledge and inner meaning. There are many stories in the Old Testament which convey another knowledge, a meaning quite different from the literal sense of the words. The story of the Ark, the story of Pharaoh's butler and baker, the story of the Tower of Babel, the story of Jacob and Esau and the mess of pottage, and many others, contain an inner psychological meaning far removed from their literal level of meaning. And in the Gospels the parable is used in a similar way. Many parables are used in the Gospels. As they stand, taken in the literal meaning of the words, they refer apparently to vineyards, to householders, to stewards, to spendthrift sons, to oil, to water and to wine, to seeds and sowers and soil, and many other things. This is their literal level of meaning. The language of parables is difficult to understand just as is, in general, the language of all sacred writings. Taken on the level of literal understanding, both the Old and New Testaments are full not only of contradictions but of cruel and repulsive meaning. The question arises: Why are these so−called sacred writings cast in misleading form? Why is not what is meant explained clearly? If the story of Jacob's supplanting of Esau, or, again, of the Tower of Babel, or of the Ark constructed in three storeys riding on the. flood, is not literally true but has a quite different inner meaning, why is it all not made evident? Why again should parables be used in the Gospels? Why not say directly what is meant? And if a person thinking in this way were to ask why the story of Creation in Genesis, which clearly cannot be taken literally, means something else, something quite different from what the literal words mean, he might very well conclude that the so−called sacred writings are nothing but a kind of fraud deliberately perpetrated thereby having its finer significance destroyed. People sometimes imagine they can understand anything, once they are told it. But this is quite wrong. The development of the understanding, the seeing of differences, is a long process. Everyone knows that little children cannot be taught about life directly because their understanding is small. Again, it is realized that there are subjects in ordinary life that cannot be understood save by long preparation, such as certain branches of the sciences. It is not enough to be merely told what they are about. The object of all sacred writings is to convey higher meaning and higher knowledge in terms of ordinary knowledge as a starting−point. The parables have an ordinary meaning. The object of the parables is to give a man higher meaning in terms of lower meaning in such a way that he can either think for himself or not. The parable is an instrument devised for this purpose. It can fall on a man literally, or it can make him think for himself. It invites him to think for himself. A man first understands on his ordinary, matter−of−fact or natural level. To lift the understanding, whatever is taught must first fall on this level to some extent, to form a starting−point. A man must get hold, of what he is taught, to begin with, in a natural way. But the parable has meaning beyond its literal or natural sense. It is deliberately designed to fall first on the ordinary level of the mind and yet to work in the mind in the direction of lifting the natural level of comprehension to another level of meaning. From this point of view, a parable is a transforming instrument in regard to meaning. As we shall see later the parable is also a connecting medium between a lower and a higher level in development of the understanding. PART TWO THE Gospels speak mainly of a possible inner evolution called "re−birth". This is their central idea. Let us begin by taking inner evolution as meaning a development of the understanding. The Gospels teach that a man living on this earth is capable of undergoing a definite inner evolution if he comes in contact with definite teaching on this subject. For that reason, Christ said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. " (John xiv, 6). This inner evolution is psychological. To become a more understanding person is a psychological development. It lies in the realm of the thoughts, the feelings, the actions, and, in short, the understanding. A man is his understanding. If you wish to see what a man is, and not what he is like, look at the level of his understanding. The Gospels speak, then, of a real psychology based on the teaching that Man on earth is capable of a definite inner evolution in understanding. The Gospels are from beginning to end all about this possible self−evolution. They are psychological documents. They are about the psychology of this possible inner development—that is, about what a man must think, feel, and do in order to reach a new level of understanding. The Gospels are not about the affairs of life, save indirectly, but about this central idea—namely, that Man internally is a seed capable of a definite growth. Man is compared with a seed capable of a definite evolution. As he is, Man is incomplete, unfinished. A man can bring about his own evolution, his own completion, individually. If he does not wish to do this he need not. He is then called grass—that is, burned up as useless. This is the teaching of the Gospels.

Have you noticed how intense pain shows up in waves. Bad Tooth ache or ear ache are good examples. But if you've experienced intense grief, there it is. It's just not painful phenomena when you consider an orgasm. What about music and how it affects us from waves of sound vibrations. Or back to something distressing, how about a cyclical psychological depression? To transform pain I need to let go first thing. Surrender immediately at the beginning and don't brace against the wave. Let it completely go through. I watch the interval between waves. Just watch and breathe. When it's time I let go. I give up a second time. But if I lose myself in watching the interval and I lose my inner balance because of the pain. I can still observe and watch myself go over the waterfall. This allows me the opportunity to surrender and let go for a third time. The last instance helps guarantee a return ticket in my pocket back to having a peaceful teflon coated inner world. A sanctuary. In work on myself, I've lost and then regained the sanctuary countless times. This kind of long term inner struggle is the norm for people doing Inquiry. Stage growth is slow but States come and go, like waves.

Just a little more food for thought. 1 Quote from Almaas and his Diamond Approach and 1 Hans Wilhelm short video. Hans takes a lot of this to the Luciferian Doctrine which is quite eye opening if you've never studied about it. Involves the early Gnostic's total disagreement with the early organization of the Roman Catholic Church. All Spiritual Work Would be Pointless if There Were Such a Thing as Ultimate Evil As we have seen, each Holy Idea is a characteristic of reality at all locations, at all times, and at all levels. Holy Truth explicates this understanding. Here, we are saying that not only is reality just one presence that is boundless and real, but that it is also positive, blissful, and wonderful. So not only is God one, but God is also wonderful and made of love. The truth, then, is loving and lovable, which is why we say in the Diamond Approach that you must love truth for its own sake. If your orientation is that you love truth so that it will change you and make you a happier person, your orientation is out of sync with how things objectively are; if you see reality as it is, you can’t help but love it. It follows, then, that objectively there is no evil. We see evil only when we perceive reality through a filter. A person who behaves in what we consider evil ways is a person acting through a distortion. In spiritual work, concepts of a devil, of dark forces, of some evil that exists on its own outside of the goodness of reality are considered manifestations of ignorance, both in terms of believing in such concepts and in terms of the manifestations attributed to such forces. All spiritual work would be pointless if there were such a thing as ultimate evil. Facets of Unity, pg. 215

No offense taken. I agree that conventional blue/orange SD will view a lot of this as spiritual nonsense or not seeing it as transrational but as prerational perhaps. The Keyserling/Losey S.O.W. website was one of my first discoveries of the internet years ago just by chance and it resonated so I kept returning although it was mostly over my head. It lead me to reading Charles Tart and others as well as the Gurdjieff Work. I just finished watching Leo's video on the strange loop this morning. He mentioned a couple of related videos that I plan to watch soon. I can't say that I understand all of this but only in a general way of groking,,,,

Helpful for me also was reading these short articles- https://schoolofwisdom.com/fractal-wisdom/ https://schoolofwisdom.com/fractal-wisdom/the-ultimateparadigm-shift/ https://schoolofwisdom.com/fractal-wisdom/benoit-b-mandelbrot/ https://schoolofwisdom.com/fractal-wisdom/four-chaos-attractors/ You'll run into the links of couple of other articles which I've left out, if you're interested.

Please forgive my inability to summarize and condense better. I came to a rough understanding of the strange attractor through the Keyserling/Losey Wisdom School Website. The following is from chapter three of Chance and Choice: http://www.chanceandchoice.com/course-overview/cosmogony/ (1) - Around 11,000 years ago the first Neolithic Man evolved from Paleolithic animal Man. From that time on we have had the potential to shed the last right-left symmetry by taming the Strange attractors. (2) Since the human life stage is so relatively new, we are still born with the animals right-left axis of symmetry and must strive to attain true Humanity. Although there are some differences in the symmetry of the human face, overall we are as left-right symmetrical as the other animals. But with our neocortex abilities, our capacities of language and number, we can self organize out of this last constraint. One of the keys to self organization is the coherent application of chance to ride the strange attractors. In this way we can use both the brains we are born with, the left and right hemispheres of the neocortex. The left hemisphere, turned to the cosmos and structure is digital, linear. The right hemisphere, turned towards chaos and chance has its origin in the nine numerals, the archetypes of fractal scaling. Each should be allowed to develop fully, to be different and totally asymmetrical. When the right brain is as strong as the left, a higher identity is created. The higher self follows the Strange attractors, epitomized by Mandelbrot set, z z¾ + c, and also corresponding to the musical octave and the Tao symbol. Most of us are still right left symmetrical because our left brain so totally dominates the right. We have to shift our emphasis from cosmos to chaos, from left brain dominance, to right brain balance. Then the right is not just an imitation of the left, it is different, unique. The last symmetry is gone and now the two asymmetrical sides can cohere in a new singularity. The ego, subject of the left hemisphere, becomes the organ of the Self in the right hemisphere. It attains this by establishing true contact with the Other. Right brain coherence comes through receptivity to the workings of the Strange attractors, to constrained chance. In the moments when this is realized, when we are in a coherent flow with the unpredictable turbulence of the World, we have attained the birthright of Man. We have realized the potential to self organize to a higher stage of evolution. As a whole being, in touch with both sides of ourself and others, we transcend the left-right animal symmetry. With two fully developed, yet distinctly different brains, we are autonomous, asymmetrical, truly free from outside manipulation. We have attained a higher inner coherence, a self organization in the midst of chaos. To animal man we seem like Strange attractors indeed. On the surface, and in the moment, our actions may appear haphazard and foolhardy, but over time the wisdom and beauty of the Human Man will be apparent to all. (0) - The highest stage, beyond even the higher Man, is merger with God, the great singularity beyond name and form, as the real subject of Being, through synchronicity, love, and illumination: reaching the eternal moment. The five stages correspond to the dimensions and mind layers: Zero dimension Awareness makes possible integration of the four dimensions and the four states of consciousness. It allows Man to enter the fourth dimension and gives him access to the fractal forces of the Strange attractors. By moving from the left to the right brain in regression you can relive past lives, past evolution, back to the origin of the Universe in the Great Singularity, and the exploding force of the primal Fire-Quanta. This regression back to the original primal Quanta puts you in touch with the source of Self-Organization, the Power of CHI. This opens you to the energy and force needed to maintain coherence in the fractal chaos of the fourth dimension. Now let us look at all of the energies together which can be understood as an energy field of Cosmic Mind. The following correspondences appear in Cosmic Mind today to make up the basic Myth of Science. Myth is not used in a derogatory sense, as just a myth, but in the sense of a true belief system which gives meaning to life. Science has largely replaced the old religious myths which were in tune with the feudal and ideological structures of the past. The following chart summarizes the overall cosmology of the myth of science and shows the relation of the five layers and the seven constituent parts. The radiation of the photons is awareness through seeing and sensing. The electromagnetic energy of the electron allows awareness through smelling and thinking; the thermodynamics of the atom through tasting and feeling. The fission of the Galaxy becomes conscious by the power of speech, of the spirit creating new entities out of entropy. The fusion of the sun is the basis of the synergy of the soul, interpretation and reading, the creation of meaning. The gravitational energy of the earth is accessible through the sense of touch. The mathematics of the molecular forces represents the basic structure of the Will. With living forms Will is the capacity for growth and reproduction through the genetic code. The subject self organizes and grows based on the strange attractor. New beings arise through fractal scaling according to the overall structure of the Cosmic Mind using the energies and mathematics of sound, the molecular vibrations or movement of matter, soul and spirit. With Man this process of the growth of being using free will was described by Buddhists as the creation of the immortal Diamond Body or the Golden Flower. By using free will in tune with the Strange Attractor and the energies of sound, our associative consciousness can change into Cosmic Awareness. The subject moves like a fractal in scales from the lower self imprisoned in deep molecular sleep, to the transcendent light of zero synchronistic awareness. This is the final aim of evolution, making sense of life and becoming co-creators of the manifoldness of the Universe. A little more to follow,,,,,

Watching the second one now. Talking about metaphysics.

This was near the end of the article on Buffered Consciousness just above. Although It's Fourth way material, it points to an occurrence mentioned in the I CHING when one incurs a fate by slandering the Cosmos, thus imprisoning the 'Cosmic helpers'. When we reunite with our True Nature the Cosmic helpers or nature spirits are free to help us again. They remain able to help when we are balanced and connected with our True Self. Its also similar to what is called in Christian Hermeticism the "freeing of the guardian Angel". The guardian Angel is freed —often in order to be able to acquit new missions—when the soul has acquired the disposition of its part of "likeness" in order to experience the Divine more intimately and more immediately, which corresponds to another hierarchical degree. Then it is an Archangel who replaces the freed guardian Angel. Human beings whose guardian is an Archangel have not only new experiences of the Divine in their inner life, but also, through this very fact, receive a new and objective vocation. in short, purifying the emotional center of negativity (shadow work) we can then overcome temptation to abuse power and the Universe suddenly starts supporting us in a stepped up manor and offers us more force. It seems like it's spelled out more plainly in the I Ching than in Christianity.

One influence on how I see Jesus: Jesus as Wisdom Teacher by Cynthia Bourgeault When I talk about Jesus as a wisdom master, I need to mention that in the Near East “wisdom teacher” is a recognized spiritual occupation. In seminary I was taught that there were only two categories of religious authority: one could be a priest or a prophet. That may be how the tradition filtered down to us in the West. But within the wider Near East (including Judaism itself), there was also a third, albeit unofficial, category: a moshel moshelim, or teacher of wisdom, one who taught the ancient traditions of the transformation of the human being. These teachers of transformation—among whom I would place the authors of the Hebrew wisdom literature such as Ecclesiastes, Job, and Proverbs—may be the early precursors to the rabbi whose task it was to interpret the law and lore of Judaism (often creating their own innovations of each). The hallmark of these wisdom teachers was their use of pithy sayings, puzzles, and parables rather than prophetic pronouncements or divine decree. They spoke to people in the language that people spoke, the language of story rather than law. Parables, such as the stories Jesus told, are a wisdom genre belonging to mashal, the Jewish branch of universal wisdom tradition. As we shall see shortly, Jesus not only taught within this tradition, he turned it end for end. But before we can appreciate the extraordinary nuances he brought to understanding human transformation, we need first to know something about the context in which he was working. There has been a strong tendency among Christians to turn Jesus into a priest—“our great high priest” (see Letter to the Hebrews). The image of Christos Pantokrator (“Lord of All Creation”) dressed in splendid sacramental robes has dominated the iconography of both Eastern and Western Christendom. But Jesus was not a priest. He had nothing to do with the temple hierarchy in Jerusalem, and he kept a respectful distance from most ritual observances. Nor was he a prophet in the usual sense of the term: a messenger sent to the people of Israel to warn them of impending political catastrophe in an attempt to redirect their hearts to God. Jesus was not that interested in the political fate of Israel, nor would he accept the role of Messiah continuously being thrust upon him. His message was not one of repentance (at least in the usual way we understand it; more on that later this week) and return to the covenant. Rather, he stayed close to the ground of wisdom: the transformation of human consciousness. He asked those timeless and deeply personal questions: What does it mean to die before you die? How do you go about losing your little life to find the bigger one? Is it possible to live on this planet with a generosity, abundance, fearlessness, and beauty that mirror Divine Being itself? These are the wisdom questions, and they are the entire field of Jesus’ concern. Reference: Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—A New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambhala: 2008), 23-24.

Dead pool looked great. I had no idea,, Looks really interesting and the philosophy behind it also. Synchronicities everywhere I turn. My sister called me a Don Quixote years ago. Up till then, I was clueless about Don Quixote and have stayed that way. What she said made me further resist reading anything about Don Quixote until now. I have to avoid prolonged exposure to cynicism. It's wrecks my energy. One reason I'm so out of tune with popular culture,,, just shut it out or large chunks of it. I cancelled my satellite tv service earlier this year and have broken the 'watching the news habit'. Nothing wrong with me cursing or being irreverent, to a degree. It's how I'm feeling as I say it that counts. Everything goes south if I start expressing negativity. I think it's why I used to stay so depressed years ago. Unrealized suppressed negativity and guilt in the subconscious.

How Different Teachings Posit an Absolute Ground of Being Each teaching posits a final or absolute ground of Being that forms the irreducible simplicity of true nature. We refer to this ground as the absolute dimension of Being. The understanding of this ultimate true nature of the self and everything differs in subtle ways from one teaching or philosophy to another. In Christianity, it is the father who is the inscrutable darkness; in Kabala, it is the ain (nothing) or ain sof (infinite); in Sufism, it is the divine Essence; in Buddhism, it is emptiness (sunyata) or Buddha nature (tathagatagarbha); in Taoism, it is the Tao or the nothing; in Vedanta, it is the Brahman or absolute self; in Kashmir Shaivism, it is Shiva; and so on. The spiritual quest becomes that of the soul integrating this ultimate nature as its inner nature, source, and sometimes its identity. The Point of Existence, pg. 439

Head of management sounds like he's paranoid and projecting. Maybe if he were reassured you didn't have an ax to grind and expressed what you have here, maybe he might relax? If given some space? Skilllful means in dealing with others seems to be a shortcoming of mine, though. I'm often misunderstood. I can relate. But then I see in everybody, including me, the multiplicity which correlates with the Jokers shatteredness. But then I also relate to the Joker in being misunderstood by others because he's someone at ease in following the strange attractor,,,,

@Belay kelemework That's kinda throwing a wide net. Could you be more specific? Respectfully, I obviously don't see a contradiction or I wouldn't have posted it.

Good question! It points to how we are often split against ourselves.

I agree. Scapegoating is still alive and well today in those who think dualisticly. Jesus is pointing at the truth and the fundamentalist are trying to suck on his finger. Does Jesus want to be worshipped? I think not. Jesus is friend and brother. A big part of his message is - just let go,,,

On one hand - "The Red level of consciousness is impulsive and egocentric. The core motivation is about doing what you want and being who you are, regardless of the consequences (Ooten, Unpublished). Neurotransmitters related to guilt are not physiologically present in individuals at this level, thus guilt is not expressed (Graves, 2005)." - http://www.consciousdynamicsllc.com/home/levels_of_consciousness.html On the other hand - "Guilt: The Sage has made it clear that the word guilt, and all ideas related to it, do not have a Cosmic basis. This includes the idea of original sin, as well as the idea that we become guilty for whatever we do or fail to do. The idea of guilt, associated with the image of an inextinguishable stain, is an invention of the collective ego to keep the Individual under control." - The Oracle of the Cosmic Way. Zigzag Idiot finds third force. Awakened Conscience is the intelligence of the Universe. Remorse of Conscience is real guidance whereas guilt is illusory.

Could you have a slight allergy to dairy? I used to love having a cold glass of milk but finally had to admit that milk and cheese were not very good for me,,,, The older I got the more pronounced it became.

This description of 'buffers' is really to the point. Buffered Consciousness One of the keys to psychological absorption is provided in the Guirdjeff- Ouspensky system in the concept of buffered consciousness. Humanity is involved and absorbed (psychologically entangled) in manifestation such that awareness is quite limited, by conditioning, by circumstances, even by transient evolutionary necessity. The principal factor of absorption is ignorance. The human being in general has no realization of his or her true nature, the purpose of his or her existence (incarnation), the nature of the universe (evolution, karma, etc.), the superficiality of material existence, etc. As the human being evolves in consciousness there is successive realization culminating in self-realization or awakening to the higher self. In the meantime, virtually all of the apparent forces and factors in the objective world conspire to keep humanity in ignorance. This is due almost entirely to the inherent inertia of matter and the submission and emersion of humanity in matter (physically, emotionally, and mentally). But it is also due to the (needed evolutionary) consequences of the experience of struggling with this emersion and rising above and beyond this state of conditioned existence. Much of this conditioned existence (absorption) (psychological sleep) is built or compounded upon ignorance, based on (unconscious) psychological comfort and the (unconscious) psychological evasion of inner and outer contradictions. Psychological sleep is in a sense a matter of self-deception. In failing to recognize the reality of manifested existence, human (personality) consciousness contrives unconsciously, and collectively creates a model of manifestation consistent with quite limited understanding (assumptive delusion). That model generally includes the delusion of separate existence (as personalities) and the delusion of material reality (denial of that which is spiritual). The human being does not want to believe in the superficial and transient nature of life in the lower world (and the superficial and transient nature of the lower self or personality) so that a belief system is contrived to accommodate psychological comfort (sometimes through religion, sometimes through personal philosophy, always through rationalization (conscious or otherwise)). In any event, the unconscious assumptions that are made about manifested existence, which contradict reality, contribute to the continued enslavement of human beings to unrealistic patterns of sense perception. In order for a person to awaken from this sleep of deep psychological conditioning (which has been sustained for countless incarnations), a person requires certain shocks (jolts) to the psychological system. Gradual evolution does not provide many major crises or shocks, but there are (merited) occasional shocks (to the unconscious) which spur the individual onward (or back to within the bandwidth of the evolutionary path). Once the evolution of consciousness reaches the point of conscious appreciation of reality, then the series of shocks (intense experience) moves more to the realm of conscious psychological experience and the need for shocks is lessened. But whenever the serious student strays sufficiently from the path (e.g., when the student becomes absorbed in personality experience or expression), the progressive balance must be restored. The spiritual student is really one who recognizes the limitations of human (personality-centered) consciousness and who works to overcome the implied conditioning, eventually becoming self-realized (awakened to the conscious presence of the higher self). From: page 16 https://www.uppertriad.org/Chapters/4_TOP_372.pdf

Synchronicities and Oh, I-remember-now experiences. There was a phrase/idea that I heard from an evangelical preacher 20-25 years ago that came to me a couple of days ago. It really describes ego backlash in a weird way. The preacher was making note on how newly 'born again' Christians would give themselves totally over to God but it usually wasn't too long before they started trying to take some back. I saw this in myself as a 'new agey' type when I started really getting into spirituality with Eckart Tolle and flirting with Zen Buddhism. I had a spiritual ego that would collapse whenever life overwhelmed me and I became negative. It was only hindsight which showed me a lot of this. My negativity would trigger both semiconscious and unconscious guilt that I would defend against in a handful of ways. Sometimes I was able to remember myself and not react to a stressful event but more often than not I would go through the cycle of 'acting out' - having guilt - then defending against the guilt through something other than objectively observing it. There were a few ways of defending against the guilt which demanded a rejection of myself as a 'spiritual person' like episodes of long binge drinking or just proud belligerence. Usually not both at once. I was a happy irreverent drunk or a sober 'workaholic company man' who was often too serious on top of disguising my confusion about the world and emotional suffering. To get some relief I would cycle back around to my spiritual ego mixed with a few sincere efforts. I was a mess. My last drunk was in February of 2005. Before that was about 3 years. My drinking really tapered off at the end of the nineties, right after I turned thirty. By the time I pulled my last drunk, I was in spiritual ego most all of the time. I was reading Almaas by then. I really think I was an Alcoholic in my last life. I guess I'll get to the synchronicities later,,,,

Reminds me of a saying of Red Hawk's - "A relaxed body is an honest body". This is in regards to Self Inquiry and the practice of putting attention on sensations in the body to help maintain a non-reactive (non-violent) witnessing awareness. Relaxed with whole body awareness and inner quiet vs being "stuck in one's head" with neurotic, uncontrolled, discursive thoughts.

Who is the Hanged Man? Is he a saint, a righteous man. an initiate? He can certainly be regarded as all three, for all three have in common that their will is an organ of heaven, but what he is most especially, what he represents individually, is neither sanctity, nor righteousness, nor initiation, but something which is their synthesis. The Hanged Man is the eternal Job, tried and tested from century to century, who represents humanity towards God and God towards hu- manity. The Hanged Man is the truly human man and his lot is a truly human one. The Hanged Man is the representative of humanity who is found between two kingdoms— that of this world and that of heaven. For that which is truly human in man and in humanity is the Hanged Man. And it is the Hanged Man who said, thousands of years ago: Has not man a hard destiny upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hireling who looks for his wages. .. Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever! My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. . For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me in expectation'. (Job vii, 1-2; xix, 23-24; xxiii, 11; xix, 25-27) This is the discourse of the Hanged Man across the centuries. From MEDITATIONS on the TAROT

Our emotions are quicker than our deliberate thinking and that can be dangerous in being impulsive. I've been close to suicide in the past and the idea of possibly being worse off in the lower Astral realms was a factor in my not going through with it. I'm glad I didn't. I don't know any of your story or your trials but life is precious. Hope you can unwind some of your dilemma and experience something that gives you some hope or peace.

@Gog My horseshoes and hand grenade style of paraphrasing and generalizing. "Book of Changes" comes from somewhere,,,? I also understand Confucius had a part in adding to the text way back when. This is one of my sources for others who want to dig a little. http://www.ichingwisdom.com/i-ching/richard-wilhelm/ Thanks for the finer distinctions.

Leo mentioned synchronicity near the end of his last video. A lot of people overlook the fact that Carl Jung coined the phrase "synchronicity" in large part due to being introduced to the ICHING and its influence on him. A friend of his, Richard Wilhelm is really the one responsible for introducing the ICHING to the west with his translation of it into German. Jung actually wrote the forward to this edition which is still considered by most to be the best translated version of the ICHING to date. I think the world will eventually discover Carol Anthony and Hanna Moog's recent translation and upgrade of the ICHING in their new edition - The Oracle Of The Cosmic Way, and they will eventually get their due. Just my opinion though. In part Jung articulated that it was constrained chance which allowed synchronicity and the "mechanics" of the ICHING to work as it did. This morning I got hexagram 54, lines 2 and 6 changing to a second hexagram of 51. A tiny fraction from hexagram 54 line 6 this morning: "The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it. The man stabs the goat, but no blood flows. Nothing that acts to further." Sooo, what the hell does that mean? ? Its symptomatic of the usual cryptic metaphors handed down from the original translation. Here is a part of Carol's interpretation: "This line can have many possible meanings, all of which circle around the principle that doing something for appearance's sake leads to results that are empty of their promises." You can see the practicality of this in that it addresses my underlying attitude about the here and now. This is a very practical book if one is sincere. Something also pointed out by Jung in the forward of the Wilhelm/Baynes edition. Not related to this mornings reading but another except I would like to share concerning unconditional love from The Oracle Of The Cosmic Way: "The idea of both conditional and unconditional love comes from the collective ego, and reveals its thinking in terms of opposites. Giving love on conditions is the ego's way of withholding love until it gets what it wants. True love is a Cosmic gift to a person's true self, and is meant to flow from there to other's true selves, and back to the Cosmos, in a complete circle. This Cosmic gift is never meant to be thrown away at the ego because the ego is outside the Cosmic principles. The collective ego has invented the idea of unconditional love to rob the True self of its very life force, under the pretense that it is "spiritual" to extend one's love to everyone, regardless of the ego's presence." This is an amazing book. It's more than just a book,,, I've just scratched the surface in understanding all the different facets of it.

The need for exercising the capacity for divided attention,,,, Witness Consciousness,,,,, being the watcher.