Spirit shares His understanding of the timeless wisdom
expressed within the I Ching Hexagram 13 – Association.

Heaven is above and Fire is below. Heaven represents
powerful yang. Fire is yin, but by no means weak.

Association follows Obstruction (12) in the order of
the hexagrams that unfold the stories of our life, both
individually and collectively.

Fire has power to consume, but Heaven, representing
cosmic energy, or cosmic consciousness, has the power,
and uses it wisely, to subsume all inferior powers
within itself.

And, all other powers are inferior?

Yes.

I sense that you have chosen number 13 knowing that it
also represents the Death card in Tarot.

Yes, and yet the so-called Death card in Tarot
expresses change.

Death to an old way of thinking?

Death to an old way of being, or, rather, death to
a non-way of being.

How can there be such a thing?

Not…

“Existence comes before essence”. Who said that?

Likely an existentialist.

Our simple seeker was aware that her Spirit teacher
did not seem to approve of assigning names as credits.
Ideas come to us; we do not go to them, or create them
from nothing, He kept reminding her. What we do with
them is our choice.

Perhaps His position on this and other matters is
intended as a gentle or otherwise put-down, she thought,
on her tendency toward hero-worship.

You don’t call your parents by their personal names.

That’s different.

How?

Calling them mother and father or, more casually, mom
and dad, is a cultural tradition; perhaps a step toward
learning to respect authority and those who have
earned it, one way or another.

Our simple seeker suspected that Spirit was intentionally
distracting her from her focus on Kabbalah and The Tree
of Life.

The Kabbalah has much in common…

Spirit shares His understanding of the timeless wisdom
expressed within the I Ching hexagram 3 – Difficulty.

Difficulty follows The Receptive (2) in the order of the
hexagrams and merges with Immaturity (4).

Water is over Thunder. Both are active yang energies.
Together, in this situation, they act as a thunder storm
where water pours and thunder roars.

It would be a difficulty for anyone outdoors in such
weather.

Yes, unless they are prepared.

How can we prepare for difficulties before we are aware …

Awareness is a prerequisite to preparedness.

But, a thunderstorm is only one of possibly
countless difficult situations we may have to
suddenly face. We surely can’t be aware of
them all before they appear.

Where do they appear from?

Sometimes, they seem to come from nowhere.

Nothing comes from nowhere.

That sounds like the words of a song,
“Nothing comes from nothing…”

Words of truth.

Spirit shares His understanding of the timeless
wisdom of the I Ching hexagram 60 – Discipline.

Water is over Lake.
Water is Yang and Lake is Yin.

Discipline follows Dispersal (59) and develops
into Sincerity (61).

Dispersal describes scattering; a disorganized
movement of whatever.

Water over Lake strongly suggests flooding;
a disorganized movement of water, or emotion.

Where is discipline?

Obviously, it is missing.

Is that a personal comment?

Yes.

Spirit shares a grass-roots vision of life.

The Tarot card Page of Wands looked strangely familiar
and yet it was a young boy dressed up in clothes that he
did not seem to feel comfortable wearing.

What does it say to us?

It wouldn’t say the same to me as it would to you.

How do you know? Or, do you?

What does that mean?

When anything or anyone speaks to our inner knowing,
we are receiving a message, and we know it.

Can it be an important message?

It’s always more than important. It is vital to our
self-interest and to our personal world.

That would create inner tension.

Yes.

Who wants inner tension?

It’s not a case of wanting.

Then, needing?

Yes.

Why do we need inner stress?

There’s a difference between stress and tension.

In degree?

In cause. The situation may cause tension and …

Ignoring the…

Spirit shares His understanding fo the timeless wisdom
of I Ching 27 – Nourishment.

Nourishment follows Great Accumulation in the order of
the I Ching hexagrams. Mountain is above Thunder. Each
are yang.

Accumulations are as harvests; the successful outcome
of sowing seeds, caring for the crop as it develops, and
then gathering in the harvest; the result of our efforts.

Our body and soul each require nourishment. But, what
sustains them each is different, as is the process,
order, and method by which they each thrive or do not.

Please explain.

Our physical body (for those of us who are experiencing
physical reality) requires nourishment that is taken in
from the environment of matter.

Our soul is nourished, more or less, by how it expresses
itself, shares its essence with other souls, simply by
living a life we know we must live, and by caring for
and encouraging others…

A simple seeker was talking to herself, or was she
thinking out loud, without making much sound or,
possibly, much sense, either.

I may be what I have become but, perhaps what I was
to begin with was’t entirely my idea. So, how can
I know just how much of what I have or might have
become that I can accept credit or responsibility for

She was beginning to feel more comfortable
interacting with Spirit, the Voice of Authority
in her life, at least for now.

Why for now and not later?

Now doesn’t necessarily exclude later, does it?

That depends.

On what?

On what now has a potential of excluding in the future.

Such as?

Recklessly squandering resources available today
may limit or, in the extreme, exclude them from
your future.

Is that a general observation or a personal comment?

Yes. We each have the potential to improve the…

Our simple thinker was trying to visualize the different
stages of development, transcendence, and integration of
the capacity and potential of the human attributes of
thought, emotion, justice, and mercy, as symbolized on
Kabbalah Tree of Life and Ladder of Light.

She was also deeply puzzled by the feeling that Spirit
seemed to encourage her struggle without …

Without what?

You don’t seem to think that I will ever fully
understand

Understand what?

Life.

What would understanding life look like?

Total awareness.

Of what?

Of why people are, or seem to be, the way
they are or seem to be.

Only people?

Spirit tells me that He and I are as separate assortments of
energy systems, each containing the same energies as the other
but in different strengths and qualities.

We must learn to harmonize with each other, not to homogenize
our particular unique mix of strengths and weaknesses.

We must learn from the concept of Yin and Yang, who share
a dynamic relationship without denying or seeking to
diminish the intrinsic value of the other.

This is our chosen way of life, and perhaps some day
it will be so with everyone.