Tag Archives: purpose

Discipline requires intent, purpose, and awareness.

Posted on by under developing awareness, grass-roots ethics, I Ching, Uncategorized

Today’s I Ching reading by Spirit.

 

I Ching 60 – Discipline, develops out of Dispersal (59) and moves

Toward Sincerity (61).

 

Spirit explains:  Discipline requires intent, purpose, and awareness of

The price of scattered energy. Those who do not develop self-discipline

Endanger themselves and their society.

 

Not everyone has intent and purpose, or more than limited awareness.

 

You are not everyone.

 

There are also those who would discipline others and organize them as

Followers of their leader’s purpose.

 

I am one of those.

 

Then, where is sincerity?

 

In my dedication to a purpose.

 

Which is?

 

Devotion to Life.

 

 

 

The Essence of Form is Life

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Spirit tells me that the purpose of form is to express essence, and the

Essence of all or any form is Life.

 

Conscious awareness allows humans and all other beings to choose

How they express their individual essence, which, of course, is not

All that individual.

 

But, if how I choose to live my life expresses my essence, and others

Express their essence by how they live, and if we all seem to live in

Ways that are unlike those of each other, then what does this say

About life?

 

It simply describes Life as dynamic, variable, and highly unpredictable.

The Value of Signs of Aging

Posted on by under developing awareness, grass-roots ethics, I Ching, Uncategorized

Spirit explains I Ching 22 – Adornment.

Mountain over Fire.

Adornment follows Biting Through.

 

An adornment is a decoration. It adds value without necessarily serving

A practical purpose of its own. It can be as icing on a cake, gravy on a

Steak, or as precious stones worn around one’s neck, arms, fingers, or

Pinned to hair or clothes. It might also be something that can be set on

A table, to be admired.

 

Biting Through suggests successfully completing a mission of importance,

To oneself, if to no other. Something needed to be done, and now can be

Celebrated and remembered with an adornment as a reward.

 

That sounds very nice but what personal message of inspiration can it

Have for me?

 

Do you possess something that seems to remind you of something else?

 

Such as?

 

Perhaps the many small lines on your face.

 

They only remind me that I am getting older.

 

Have you earned them?

 

I think so.

 

Yes.

 

 

An end without a finish line

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that my body and the personality, or character,

That I have, with help, developed over a lifetime is not real

In any real sense, but just a means to an end.

 

If that is so then how would I recognize the finish line,

Should I ever get there?

 

An end does not necessarily mean a finish line.

 

Then what?

 

A purpose.

 

What purpose?

 

Awareness.

 

Of what?

 

Purpose.

 

 

 

Reaching the Finish Line

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that one purpose of a memoir is to move forward

By looking back, as one might do while climbing a high hill or

Low mountain that, for reasons of our own, must be climbed.

 

Life itself can seem to be an uphill battle, but we might get

Some satisfaction from looking back and seeing how far

We have come. And, then, with a sense of accomplishment,

Turn again our focus ahead, anticipating the pleasure of

Celebrating a mission accomplished.

 

Does it ever happen;?

 

What?

 

Reaching the finish line.

 

For whom?

 

Me.

 

No.

 

 

 

 

Someday, Somewhere in another World

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Spirit tells me that, perhaps someday, somewhere in another world

Not too different from this one, we’ll replay this lifetime and

Review it together, from off-stage.

 

Then, all the little or not so little incidents that have contributed,

One at a time, to the development of our particular relationship,

Will seem to make sense

 

Then, perhaps I will understand the why and how, but

For now, please try to believe that there is purpose and

Meaning to the lives of each one of us, both separately and

As part of a greater life.

Practice is habit with a purpose

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, simple spiritual insights, Uncategorized

 

Spirit tells me that practice is habit, but an intentional one,

With a goal, and requires intent to improve or maintain

What we have developed in skills or in establishing

A way of life.

 

Practice can result in patterns of behaviour; physical, intellectual,

Emotional and, or spiritual that may appear to some others to be

No more than habits.

 

There is also the danger, He cautions, of practice becoming

No more than a habit, when intention is no longer involved.

 

How can I be sure that I still have intention?

 

Are you satisfied?

 

No.

 

Are you still making progress?

 

Yes, but …

 

Even a little is more than none.

 

 

 

A powerful sense of responsibility

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, simple spiritual insights, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that the purpose of His teaching is to encourage

The study and practice of an increasingly clearer understanding of

Our interconnectedness to all forms of life, human and otherwise,

And of our personal responsibility to care for and protect, not only

Our own unique individual life, but also that of the countless,

Equally unique life forms that we share our world with.

 

How?

 

By becoming intentionally aware of how we live and the negative

Affect that may have on others.

 

That would require a powerful sense of responsibility.

 

Not would; it does.

 

Is it possible?

 

Yes.

 

How?

 

One step at a time.

 

And the first step is intention?

 

Yes.

 

 

 

Habits can become Addictions

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

 

Spirit tells me that habits are consciously developed

Patterns of behaviour or self-discipline with, or

Without intent to integrate them into one’s way of life.

 

Habits can serve a useful purpose in preparing for

Competitions, exams, performances, goals, etc., or

Just to maintain a chosen lifestyle.

 

Habits can also become addictions, when they no

Longer serve any useful purpose in one’s life, but

At some point in time the habit has taken control

Over will power.

 

I sense a question coming.

 

Yes. Which am I?

 

You are my teacher.

 

Then I still serve a useful purpose in your life?

 

You know the answer to that.

 

Yes.

 

 

 

Over will power.

 

We are variations of a basic recipe

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that my ego is my sense of self. This allows me

To see myself as the centre of my personal universe,

Even knowing that,

 

At the same time, ten thousand times ten thousand others

Are also seeing themselves as the centre of their

Personal universe.

 

This perspective is a special gift, He tells me.

It provides harmony and purpose.

 

How?

 

When each of us looks out onto everyone and everything. else,

We necessarily compare, not ourselves to others, for we do not

Know ourselves directly.

 

But, when we look out onto diversity we become aware of

What perspectives or attitudes we are more attracted to,

And these express our own, at any particular time..

 

Awareness of this reality allows us to understand that

We are as cookies.

 

As cookies?

 

Yes. Cookies come in a great variety of shapes and tastes, but

They are all made from a more or less basic recipe of

Cookie dough.