A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
contained within the I Ching Hexagram 12 – Obstruction.

Heaven is the most powerful yang trigram and is above Earth,
which is the most powerful yin trigram.

Obstruction usually suggests something blocking the way, and
yet the way is usually forward; not up or down.

The way up or down also makes sense.

But, in speaking of enlightenment, surely up and ahead sounds
more like progress than would down or back.

That would depend upon how one defined progress.

I’ve distracted you from the reading.

No; only yourself.

Then, please explain what situation or experience Obstruction refers to.

It can refer to someone interrupting me.

Other than that, and in the context of I Ching.

Obstruction emerges out of the peaceful relationship expressed
by Tranquility (11) and necessarily contributes to Association
with Others (13).

There can be no obstruction unless there…

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of timeless wisdom
expressed within the I Ching hexagram 51 – Thunder. Thunder
is over Thunder, expressing a form of yang that has double
its normal potential of active energy.

Thunder develops out of the situation expressed by The Cauldron
(50) and, in turn prepares the foundation for the experience
referred to as Mountain (52).

Every situation we experience today can help to prepare us for
whatever tomorrow will bring to us. We develop skills and
increased awareness of what skills will best serve us in
whatever particular situation.

Tomorrow will come, whether or not we prepare for it.
Yesterday helped us, more or less, to prepare for today’s
challenges and, as life is an endless series of situations
and experiences, how we live today will determine, at least
to some extent, how well we’ll cope with whatever tomorrow
brings our way.

Life is…

A simple seeker was accepting the reality of being something akin
to being possessed, even though the very thought of that possibility
sent shivers of fear through her. It brought back memories of stories,
or were they lived experiences of an earlier lifetime, of the tortures
inflicted upon helpless individuals who were accused of being witches,
by self-proclaimed but generally accepted representatives of God.

Of course, Spirit, her invisible teacher, may not be a spirit at all,
but a materialized adept controlling her, or attempting to, from some
isolated palace or cave in Northern India, or, perhaps, from much
closer to home.

What is a materialized adept?

A highly evolved spirit who has chosen a human disguise in order to
assist in the development of enlightenment of ordinary humans, such as
myself.

So, a spirit in disguise as a human?

Yes.

Aren’t we all playing that game?

A spirit teacher shares His understanding of the timeless wisdom
contained within the I Ching hexagram 31- Sensing.

Lake is over Mountain. Lake is yin and Mountain is yang.
The trigram Lake is composed of one yin line above two yang.
The trigram Mountain shows one yang line above two yin.
Every yang and yin line of this hexagram has a complement.

Sensing develops from Fire (30_ in which no line enjoys
a complement, and forms a foundation for Constancy (32).
Constancy is as Sensing, with harmony between yin and yang.

Sensing requires more than receiving information from, or
through, our five physical sensory organs. Sensing suggests
a certain level of understanding of the meaning of the
message that we are receiving.

The yin and yang principles must work together?

Yes, but never equally, or they would negate each other.
There must always be a dynamic blending of their unique

A Spirit teacher shares His understanding of the timeless wisdom
expressed within the I Ching Hexagram 21 – Biting Through.

Fire is over Thunder. Fire represents a type of flexible yin energy.
Thunder is forceful yang.

Biting Through emerges from Observing (20) and prepares
the foundation for Adornment (22).

Wow! Each of those three situations or conditions seem
totally unrelated to either of the other two. How can there be
any sense of progression?

There isn’t.

Then, how are they each connected to the others?

When we observe whatever, we focus our attention and
that in itself is a necessary step in learning anything.
But, as important as it is, it is never enough. We must
then attempt to understand what it is that we observe,
and why it has attracted our attention. This requires
a mental form of biting through.

Where does adornment fit into this interpretation?

It is…

A simple seeker was experiencing images floating through her mind
as her Spirit teacher explained to her the deep meaning behind
the top triad of sephiroth, or energy centres, of he Kabbalah
Tree of Life.

Then she remembered that Lao Tzu had also spoken of the Tao
using similar language. It made her feel just a little clever
at connecting the two mystical traditions.

The one Tao becomes two and then the two becomes three, and
from three come the ten thousand things, or everything else.

Yes.

It sounds like a business tycoon thinking of possible future profits.

It’s about creation.

Of what?

Life, and a way of life.

It sounds so mysterious, and why does this trickle-down effect
come from the top when our personal development begins at the
bottom?

They each reach for the other.

A Spirit teacher shares His understanding
of timeless wisdom planted deep within
the I Ching hexagram 3 – Difficulty.

Water is over Thunder.
Both trigrams express yang energies.

Difficulty follows The Receptive (3)
the most powerful yin hexagram.

The receptive expresses a state of mind
that is open to wisdom, whatever its source.

But, what to do with that wisdom?

In nature it would be shared, as nutrients
in the soil are made available to all
plants having their roots in that soil.

The difficulty arises in how to distribute
intellectual, emotional, and spiritual
nutrients among people possessing different
capacities to absorb, and different degrees
of awareness and appreciation of their value.

A personal message?

Yes.

Spirit tells me tht we express love by caring for and
respecting that or those whom we claim to love.

But, there are unlimited degrees of quantity and quality
of care and respect.

Yes, and there are unlimited degrees of love.

And quality?

Love itself expresses the quality of our soul’s
development.

Can we control love?

No. What we don’t express, we don’t have to express.
Love is limited only by the personal restrictions
we put on ourselves. We each possess the potential
to love unconditionally.

Then, why don’t we?

We fear losing control.

Spirit shares gems of wisdom.

Spirit tells me that our spiritual journey through
the illusion that is human life must pass through
many valleys of doubt and wind around dark mountains
and dense forests of insecurity and fear.

We will lose faith in ourselves and even in the existence
of our goal, again and again. But, we will move on and on,
for something stronger and surer than our own will prepares
the path we follow, as the wise ones have always assured us.

Trust in yourself, He tells me. Build confidence on
the awareness of having come as far as you have. How did
you do it? Not without help. All angels and spirit guides
are dedicated to our success. And, so, we can none of us
not succeed. It’s only a matter of …

Time?

Not time, for there is none, or none that can be accurately measured.

This simple seeker was admiring, in her mind (but, where else
could she admire anything), a beautiful pink rose that someone
had generously shared on Twitter. But, as beautiful as the flower
was, there was something else going on. Envy was slipping into
the picture.

What’s wrong with envy?

I want to be able to appreciate the skills of others without
wishing that I also possessed them.

Do you envy everyone’s skills?

No, just the ones that I wish I, too, possessed.

Why don’t you possess the skills you admire?

Some people may have more natural talent than do others.

Some people may be unaware of what so-called natural talents
they do possess.

It isn’t possible for me to develop all the talents I admire
in others.

Have you tried?

There would never be enough time for that, and …

Yes, it would pull your focus from what you now…