51. Chen / The Arousing (Shock, Thunder)

[my_key]

What I think you are saying is that 51.1 is a small shock and therefore easily brushed aside.

Hi Rosada
We've move on a bit here in the thread but I'd just like to clarify. It's not so much the size of the shock, but more the size of our inner calmness and strength that allows us to deal with the shock. If we have huge inner strength then we can stay at peace when confronted with a hugh shock . Even though the shock is "huge" we are able to carry on and give it no importance.

But then again I may be barking totally up the wrong tree.

Mike

 

[ravenstar]

Hi Charly,

I had no idea this story of should we say parable was so universally known. Thank you! And thank you for all your posts, I've learned a great deal from your wisdom and knowledge.

ravenstar

Janice:

In Yellowbridge there is a short version of this folk story:

塞翁失馬
The Lost Horse

​

I read all that you write with great interest.

Yours,

Charly

 

[ravenstar]

Hi Rosada
We've move on a bit here in the thread but I'd just like to clarify. It's not so much the size of the shock, but more the size of our inner calmness and strength that allows us to deal with the shock. If we have huge inner strength then we can stay at peace when confronted with a hugh shock . Even though the shock is "huge" we are able to carry on and give it no importance.

But then again I may be barking totally up the wrong tree.

Mike

Hi Mike,

No I don't think your barking up the wrong tree. I truly do think that emotional reactions are caused by what's happening within us as well as external ones. I think Frank sized it up here.....

Originally quoted by Frank 51.2 the second line of shock thread. I had quit a shock yesterday from something relatively small.
But as Trojan wrote then there has to be a readjustment from the perspective. In my situation I was confronted with fear for the future and especially with the emotions regarding this future. I saw only problems and big emotions that should influence everybody. I couldn't sleep from this, my head was spinning and whole over my body there was a slight prickle. As if I was struck by lightning.

Shock, I believe begins with a perception of a threat to our personal existence. Then if that's not enough the emotions join in and before long we have triggered and released a chain reaction of different responses......our minds go into a frenzy our the body is ready for fight or flight.

As Mike said and others, it depends on how balanced 'self-referral' we are when the shock comes. Can we stay centered within ourselves and not let our emotions and fear govern us? Our minds can definitely create worst case scenarios which can force us to change our plans about flying or even call the police.

Fear can arise when we feel threatened....it motivates us to run from a burning building or run from a mad dog. When the threat is over we calm down and return home.

No matter the problem, fear is based on some issue of security or lack thereof. And we don't like shocks cause they take us out of our comfort zones. Shock can crack our 'walls' and when they do, the elements of change seep through flooding our basements, resulting in drastic lifestyle changes. Is this because we keep doing the same things over and over again? Is shock trying to show us that?

From looking at the lines and the more shocks one must endure, we have to be adaptable, centered, strong-willed and one heck of an acrobat to balance the fluctuation of our feelings and emotions. There has to be a middle ground (golden mean?) the point of contemplation at the 'inbetween times', where we don't fear the extremes but learn from them.

ravenstar

 

[charly]

... I see the Word as the first manifestation of dualism, which is why I chose a deity image of copulating male and female, or heaven and earth: the polarities necessary for lightening and thunder...

Bruce:

«No good for the man to be alone»​

Genesis 8-18 from Youngs Literal Translation

Allow me to say «NEITHER FOR GODS».

You have posted an image of an HERUKA GOD making love with his consort.

The overall impact of the picture is fierce and scary, mainly for the facial expression, the number of faces, legs and arms and the rosaries of skulls and severed heads. But at least they are only making love. So the life of gods passes! (1)

When child I was told that THUNDERS were NOISES made by St.Peter (Righ Hand of God) cleaning the heavenly house. Now, being no more a child, I suspect that thunders could be noises made by gods when doing another sort of work.

Maybe blue gods and goddesses have a scary way of making love, the THUNDER WAY. (2)

Looking at this picture I remembered something that I have read from Shaughnessy about King' s affiction for cutting-off heads, maybe Heruka gods have the same tendency that kings, maybe there are no reasons for being scared although we prefer to mantain the head atop of our necks.

I believe that the Heruka is not a dangerous guy, he scares but doesn' t hurt, maybe he has some tendency to violence, nobody's perfect.

For people like me, that don' t know too much of tibetan budhism:

MAKING THE SECRET AND THATNESS OFFERINGS
With strong divine pride of being Heruka in union with Vajravarahi we imagine that through the force of our embrace the tummo at our navel blazes, causing the white bodhichitta in our crown to melt and descend through our central channel.

As it descends from our throat to our heart we experience supreme joy, as it descends from our heart to our navel we experience extraordinary joy, and as it descends from our navel to the tip of our sex organ we generate spontaneous great joy. At the same time we imagine that the Principal Deity Father and Mother, and all the retinue Deities of the body mandala, experience a special, exalted wisdom of bliss and emptiness.

Practising the secret offering is a very special method for generating spontaneous great bliss. Also, through this practice the blessings of the wisdom-mudra empowerment that we received directly from our Spiritual Guide are restored and strengthened.

From: G.K.Gyatso, The Highest Yoga Practise od Heruka Body Mandala
Available at GoogleBooks

A tip for better understanding H.51 when reading the chinese text:

Pay attention to the reduplicative characters, the character alone has some specific meaning, if repeated it can have an enphatic sense but not always, sometimes it means something far from the sense of the word used alone. Duplication involves some dosis of humor and onomatopoyesis, say ring-ring, slam, bang-bang ...

I believe that duplications must be conserved when translating the YI.

Yours,

Charly

____________________________
(1) the Goddess consort is ONE LEG UP, like the cauldron of 50.1, that maybe could be seen as a womb with legs. Among Greeks an Romans, Aphrodite-Venus, love goddess, is well known for her gesture of one leg up adjusting her sandal. You know what it means. Maybe related with the local idiom «tirar la chancleta» / «to throw the sandal» that means lost virginity.

(2) Maybe a way of making love applying all the energies an power we are able, as oppossed to the WIND WAY, the «gentle» way of «penetration», using words of Wilhelm / Baynes. Wilhelm wanted to plant some keys although his discourse has high morality concepts. People interested in the hard - core of the YI text will agree with me, I suppose.

 

[charly]

...
I'll wait for Charly's contribution but on a very pretty point and click ching in chinese/english/french
http://www.afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=Yijing&no=51
it offers "loss by death" "mourning" "funeral"(although I'm aware these things are contentious)

but for me there is no doubt that 51 can be as much about "arousing" as shocking!
And of course sex/death = orgasm no?

Lucia

Lucia:

I apologize for having missed your post. Sex indeed, but maybe not orgasm or not yet. If I understand Bruce' s allusions to Tantric Budhism.

Chinese text:

震 zhen4: shake / shock / quake / thunder
亨 heng1: feast / sacrifice
。
震 zhen4: shake / shock / quake
來 lai2: to come / to arrive
虩 xi4: terrified / scary
虩 xi4: terrified / scary
。
笑 xiao4: laugh / smile
言 yan2: to speak / to say / word
啞 e4: onomat. laughing
啞 e4: onomat. laughing
。
震 zhen4: shake / shock / quake / thunder
驚 jing1: to scare / alarm
百 bai3: hundred
里 li3: village / unit of distance: about one third of mile
。
不 bu4: not / no
喪 sang4: mourning / funeral / to lose
匕 bi3: ancient type of spoon /
鬯 chang4: sacrificial wine
。



A temporary literal translation:

SHAKE FEAST
The feast of shaking things

SHAKE COMES SCARY-SCARY
When the shake comes it scares us.

LAUGHER SPEAKS HE-HE!
Somebody responds laughing. Somebody is willing.

SHAKE SCARES HUNDRED VILLAGES [or HUNDRES MILES]
Shake is too much scary.

[BUT] DOESN'T AFFLICT [THE] SPOON [FOR] HOLY-WINE.
But the spoon [what spoon?] for holy sacrificial wine [ah!] is not lost.

​

You can see the parallellism typical of chinese poetry:

1) the shake comes scarying, but the laugher is not scared
2) the shake is too extensive, but the spoon is not afflicted

In H.51 there are much allusions to danger and panic. The bride that laughs facing bizarre exhibitions shows her disposition to mate with the pretendant. The bride is not scared, neither the groom. The holy wine symbolize the sacrifice of love. And the spoon [匕] is not afflicted!

Yours,

Charly

 

[my_key]

Hi Charly

These are a great couple of posts - they have set my mind a-thinking.

When child I was told that THUNDERS were NOISES made by St.Peter (Righ Hand of God) cleaning the heavenly house. Now, being no more a child, I suspect that thunders could be noises made by gods when doing another sort of work.

I was told thunder was God doing the spring cleaning. Moving the furniture about so that He could get into every nook and cranny. Lightning was Him switching the lights on just to check in the corners, to see if He'd done the job properly. ( obviously He had given St Peter the day off )

I can agree with the sense of what you say about the double use of the words being important. For me it brings a meaning that says something about not just the intensity but perhaps even the place at which the emotion takes hold. The shake becomes scary beyond being scary. It's not just here at this level but beyond as well. Laughter is the best form of healing so maybe we are getting some healing on a level beyond as well, by having experienced the scary at the place we did.

[BUT] DOESN'T AFFLICT [THE] SPOON [FOR] HOLY-WINE.
But the spoon [what spoon?] for holy sacrificial wine [ah!] is not lost.

Spoons for me always smack of being given medicine. Maybe it's something like my Mum used to say : It may not taste nice but it will do you good. This is a mothers love in a tough love sort of sense. Being cruel to be kind. The liquid in the spoon may not be so good (and is sacrificed - swallowed) but the spoon stays as it was to be reused next time.
There is also something that makes me think about the milk of human kindness, as well, when thinking about the spoon and the sacrificial wine.
What do you think?

Hi Mike,

No I don't think your barking up the wrong tree. I truly do think that emotional reactions are caused by what's happening within us as well as external ones. I think Frank sized it up here.....

Ravenstar.
That's really really good to hear...I'll just settle back into barking at the moon then. Full moons play havoc with the system as it is. On it's own that's fine, but If you've ever tried barking at the moon from up the wrong tree you'll know exactly what I mean!!

Mike

 

[rosada]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for continuing to help me sort out my thoughts...

Why is one able to stay centered no matter what the outer world throws at us? How did that greatness of inner spirit develop that allows the shocks of the outer world to bounce off? A girlfriend of mine likes to say, "Well they can't eat you," meaning you can stay centered because you know you will survive no matter what. But how do you know this? You know it because you've experienced it. You know it because at some point you were shocked to the core, were totally disoriented, totally knocked off center, and yet you discovered you survived. You found out even if they killed you, you survived.
51.1 is that experience, that totally shocking disorienting experience that shows you there is something within you that is greater than anything outside you. But you've got to have this experience to know it.

I think it's meaningful that line 51.1 is almost identical to The Judgement, they both refer to shock, but in line 51.1 there is no reference to not letting fall the sacrificial spoon, and I believe this is intentional because at this point one does not yet have the awareness of the god within. Maybe that explains why this shock comes at the first line, the position of ones state before we experience the hexagram. This is the line that introduces us to the life force that is greater than we are - consider how it leads to 16. Enthusiasm.

Anyway, I don't want to give the impression I am arguing with you over this - I guess I am, but I hope you consider it a friendly argument! - and I do agree with you that the size of the event is not important, it's the person's reaction. Actually it's tricky because while at this point I don't think the person's reaction can be to stay calm and centered, I think I would agree with you that the advice one should take from 51.1 is "You have something greater within and you will survive."

Thanks for the discussion,
rosada

 

[rosada]

We've been all over the hexagram lately so I thought I would repost 51.3:

51.3
Shock comes and makes one distraught.
If shock spurs to action
One remains free of misfortune.

 

[ravenstar]

Lucia:

I apologize for having missed your post. Sex indeed, but maybe not orgasm or not yet. If I understand Bruce' s allusions to Tantric Budhism.

Chinese text:

震 zhen4: shake / shock / quake / thunder
亨 heng1: feast / sacrifice
。
震 zhen4: shake / shock / quake
來 lai2: to come / to arrive
虩 xi4: terrified / scary
虩 xi4: terrified / scary
。
笑 xiao4: laugh / smile
言 yan2: to speak / to say / word
啞 e4: onomat. laughing
啞 e4: onomat. laughing
。
震 zhen4: shake / shock / quake / thunder
驚 jing1: to scare / alarm
百 bai3: hundred
里 li3: village / unit of distance: about one third of mile
。
不 bu4: not / no
喪 sang4: mourning / funeral / to lose
匕 bi3: ancient type of spoon /
鬯 chang4: sacrificial wine
。



A temporary literal translation:

SHAKE FEAST
The feast of shaking things

SHAKE COMES SCARY-SCARY
When the shake comes it scares us.

LAUGHER SPEAKS HE-HE!
Somebody responds laughing. Somebody is willing.

SHAKE SCARES HUNDRED VILLAGES [or HUNDRES MILES]
Shake is too much scary.

[BUT] DOESN'T AFFLICT [THE] SPOON [FOR] HOLY-WINE.
But the spoon [what spoon?] for holy sacrificial wine [ah!] is not lost.

​

You can see the parallellism typical of chinese poetry:

1) the shake comes scarying, but the laugher is not scared
2) the shake is too extensive, but the spoon is not afflicted

In H.51 there are much allusions to danger and panic. The bride that laughs facing bizarre exhibitions shows her disposition to mate with the pretendant. The bride is not scared, neither the groom. The holy wine symbolize the sacrifice of love. And the spoon [匕] is not afflicted!

Yours,

Charly

Wow! Charly I do feel aroused by your post. I feel bewitched, entranched, captured, an inner pressure.....this passion/feeling/emotion definitely seems to have a stong life of its own!!. The thunder is like a pressure wave, the lightning has it spinning!!

For the heck of it, I looked up lust in the dictionary 'intense eagerness or enthusiasm' .....

My mind then zipped back for the moment to the the Blacksmith and imagined his great work of purification of fire (energetic field of energy) in 'the deep forge of god' transforming yin/yang into golden light....Sex, Death and Transformation. Apparently Renaissance poets called orgasm "the little death." Which you say we aren't there 'yet'.

then I thought of tantric and the holy whore. Hor in Hebrew means a cave, a pit, a dark hole. Then I discovered that in Spanish the word is pua, meaning a well, yet in Latin, puticuli means grave, hole in the earth but actually means 'womb of rebirth'. Am I on the right track???

Our first sexual energy was a combination of fear/excitement, shame and titillation until we experienced an unexplicable feeling of surrender that was so intense, so psychedelic, so unforgettable that our innocence to the way we were living life was literally exploded to a totally new dimension of awareness and personal growth. I'm sure most will agree, the universe is never quite the same after that ‘first time’.

ravenstar

 

[ravenstar]

I just found this.....

This marriage is wine with Halvah honey dissolving in milk
This marriage is the leaves and fruit of a date tree
This marriage is women laughing together for days on end
This marriage is a sign for us to study
This marriage, beauty; this marriage a moon in a light blue sky
This marriage, this silence mixed with spirit.

by Rumi (encouraged by his son's wedding)

ravenstar

 

[ravenstar]

Ravenstar.
That's really really good to hear...I'll just settle back into barking at the moon then. Full moons play havoc with the system as it is. On it's own that's fine, but If you've ever tried barking at the moon from up the wrong tree you'll know exactly what I mean!!

Mike

Ohhh Mike, tis a Full Moon in Cancer right now too!!!!

ravenstar

 

[frank_r]

51.3

We've been all over the hexagram lately so I thought I would repost 51.3:

51.3
Shock comes and makes one distraught.
If shock spurs to action
One remains free of misfortune.

The shock is coming to the more inner space of our being, it is still inside, the yin side of our being.
Here trigram thunder is changing in fire so the shock is changing us especially in relationship with others. It is a big shock that we feel here. But it is a intuitive shock. For ourselves it is very obvious but is still hard to talk about. The nucleus is changing in wind coming from mountain. So the personal perspective of the way how we see some relations cann change invisible so it will take some time before everyone understands what happened.

In 51 there are no relations of synchronicity, and the solidarity with the fourt line isn't working well.
And because this line is yin on a yang spot it cannot asses the correct position. But it is not standing on a yang line so his behaviour is not realy rebellious.
The hexagram is changing in 55 the hexagram of Succes. The hexagram that gives us some insight of our Destiny. So we don't have to be afraid to follow our intuition with the help of our inner fire.
Trigram thunder and fire have a strong connection because they both stand on the same position, thunder in the King Wen and Fire in the Fu Shi sequence both in the East. The power of Thunder depends on the inner Fire.

51.1 The struck of lightning as answer coming from the Earth.
51.2 The energy from the Earth is still there, one feels this as tingling in the cells..
51.3 Here is the moment of impact on his top, and is making a big inner fire what will come to light in the fourth line the line of the heart.

Frank

 

[rosada]

51.4
Shock is mired.

Movement within the mind depends for its success partly on circumstances. If there is neither resistance that might be vigorously combated, nor yet a yielding that permits of victory - if, instead, everything is tough and inert like mire - movement is crippled.

"Shock is mired." It is not yet brilliant enough.

The line itself is strong, but its strength is impaired by the weakness of the place. Furthermore, it is in the nuclear trigram K'an, just where the pit lies, and also at the top of the nuclear trigram Ken, Keeping Still, Thus the strong nature of the line cannot become effectual; it does not show enough brilliance, hence is caught fast in the mire.
-Wilhellm

 

[ravenstar]

The shock is coming to the more inner space of our being, it is still inside, the yin side of our being.
Here trigram thunder is changing in fire so the shock is changing us especially in relationship with others. It is a big shock that we feel here. But it is a intuitive shock. For ourselves it is very obvious but is still hard to talk about. The nucleus is changing in wind coming from mountain. So the personal perspective of the way how we see some relations cann change invisible so it will take some time before everyone understands what happened.

In 51 there are no relations of synchronicity, and the solidarity with the fourt line isn't working well.
And because this line is yin on a yang spot it cannot asses the correct position. But it is not standing on a yang line so his behaviour is not realy rebellious.
The hexagram is changing in 55 the hexagram of Succes. The hexagram that gives us some insight of our Destiny. So we don't have to be afraid to follow our intuition with the help of our inner fire.
Trigram thunder and fire have a strong connection because they both stand on the same position, thunder in the King Wen and Fire in the Fu Shi sequence both in the East. The power of Thunder depends on the inner Fire.

51.1 The struck of lightning as answer coming from the Earth.
51.2 The energy from the Earth is still there, one feels this as tingling in the cells..
51.3 Here is the moment of impact on his top, and is making a big inner fire what will come to light in the fourth line the line of the heart.

Frank

Hi Frank,

I read your post last night and wanted to answer but had to think and feel out the answer. As always an answer first came from a quote by Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, which I think fits nicely with what you said.

"The right-hand path is fixed. We live in expected ways. The left-hand path is where there is incongruity, and we think, "This doesn't go with me." {It is also} the way you follow your own Blis. It's the realm of no rules. It's uncertain, and you don't know where you are going. There is danger, adventure, things you've never behld before.

Whenever ego becomes uncertain of its moral position, everything in the psyche starts to move.....What has been pushed down is going to come up."

I also understood what rosada was trying to say, that this is something one has never experienced before. We're shocked, scared, we have no sense of direction or meaning and out of fear we hide or play down our emotions (true feelings) and tell a little white lie or try to convince the other person everything within us is under control, when's it not. This is possibly why the success is short-lived cause whatever mess we got ourselves in (witholding expression) will come back to us 'big time' in Line 4.

ravenstar

 

[my_key]

51.3 - You're absolutely gutted, emotionally shot to pieces. You tear yourself apart inside. Start to rebuild your thinking.

51.4 - You get tangled up in the old tapes. Your choices are not clear, you want to change but it's all so difficult.

Mike

 

[rosada]

Something I'm fooling around with..

Did you ever have the experience as a little kid in elementary school of being assigned to write a story and it got so out of hand and the bell was about to ring so the only way you could bring it to a conclusion was to write, ".. and then I woke up."
I'm seeing this pattern in 50-51. The story keeps ending and you keep wanting to make up more, to find out what happens next.

50.6 "..And they lived happily ever after."

51.1
THE END.
Story's over -oh,oh!
Wake up-ha! ha!

51.2
Tell it again!
One hundred thousand lifetimes.
It's never enough.
You beg to hear the story one more time.
"In the beginning God created the Universe in seven days..."

51.3
So the story takes off and rolls along until at last up to the part where you left off.
Only this time you've determined not to get scared, not to wake up so soon.
This time you vow the dream will last a little longer. You'll dream it a little better.

51.4
At first nothing changes.
You try to speak but no one hears your words.
Are you in my dream or am I in yours?

51.5
Again you wake up.
Again you dream.
And so it goes,
Story after story.
Life time after life time.
You become more calm, more centered, more conscious with every round.
You know what is yours and what to let pass.

51.6
You know now it's all a shared dream and the only way to stay in it is to stay calm.
Others wish you would save them from their confusion, but you know to give them your attention would only energize their chaos.
You deepen your calm. You keep your dream alive.

 

[frank_r]

Hi Frank,

I read your post last night and wanted to answer but had to think and feel out the answer. As always an answer first came from a quote by Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, which I think fits nicely with what you said.

"The right-hand path is fixed. We live in expected ways. The left-hand path is where there is incongruity, and we think, "This doesn't go with me." {It is also} the way you follow your own Blis. It's the realm of no rules. It's uncertain, and you don't know where you are going. There is danger, adventure, things you've never behld before.

Whenever ego becomes uncertain of its moral position, everything in the psyche starts to move.....What has been pushed down is going to come up."

I also understood what rosada was trying to say, that this is something one has never experienced before. We're shocked, scared, we have no sense of direction or meaning and out of fear we hide or play down our emotions (true feelings) and tell a little white lie or try to convince the other person everything within us is under control, when's it not. This is possibly why the success is short-lived cause whatever mess we got ourselves in (witholding expression) will come back to us 'big time' in Line 4.

ravenstar

Hallo Janice,

Yes everything starts to move, as if there is no fixed point anymore. It' is hard to feel a spot that you know because everythig is different.

In the Book of Balance and Harmony a 13 century Taoist book they write:

" Resolving Doubts

Change and movement have their times;safety and danger are in oneself.
Calamity and fortune, gain and loss, all start from oneself.
Therefore those who master change are those who adress themselves to the time.
For those who adress themselves to the time, even danger is safe;for those who master change, even disturbance is ordenly.
......
How can it be doubted that safety and danger are in oneself?"

Frank

 

[my_key]

In the Book of Balance and Harmony a 13 century Taoist book they write:

" Resolving Doubts

Change and movement have their times;safety and danger are in oneself.
Calamity and fortune, gain and loss, all start from oneself.
Therefore those who master change are those who adress themselves to the time.
For those who adress themselves to the time, even danger is safe;for those who master change, even disturbance is ordenly.
......
How can it be doubted that safety and danger are in oneself?"

Hi Frank
Ever read "Who moved my Cheese" by Spencer Johnson?
One great line is "Savour the adventure and move with the Cheese" ...Seems to echo the Taoist teachings here.

Rosada - There is a warm flow around your words.

All together now......
Row Row Row your boat gently down the Stream
mERRILY mERILY mERRILY Merrily
Life is but a dream

"Are you in my dream or am I in yours?" Good Question !!!!!
Have you ever thought that perhaps there is only one dream.....Who knows?

Mike

 

[rosada]

Interesting, Ravenstar, your observation that holding down true feelings, giving up is what has caused the problems. Maybe 51.3 is saying one must not just acquiesce, but must speak up, ask a new question. Yet if one has not been in the habit of speaking up, then one is weak, "is not yet brilliant enough", and so is not heard and has no effect in 51.4.

We haven't officially gotten there yet, but I think 51.5 fits with Frank's Resolving Doubts quote, "Therefor those who master change are those who address themselves to the time."

Hey, thank you, MIke! The dream line is from the Streisand version of A Star Is Born.

 

[ravenstar]

Interesting, Ravenstar, your observation that holding down true feelings, giving up is what has caused the problems. Maybe 51.3 is saying one must not just acquiesce, but must speak up, ask a new question. Yet if one has not been in the habit of speaking up, then one is weak, "is not yet brilliant enough", and so is not heard and has no effect in 51.4.

Hi rosada,

Yes, I definitely agree with this. Some people have been programmed with the idea of what they should and don't want, so much so that they don't have a clue about who 'I am' or 'what I want'. What they do know is.....they are afraid to express what they want from life because of what others will think or say about them.....so they silently doubt and deny themselves, doing what 'I think' they should be doing. They're afraid to truly feel their feelings and more importantly to let them go.

Frank mentioned before that fire consumes, moves, changes things and assimilates. This could be seen as one burning with desire, passion or purpose.....or we are fired by our imagination our spirit. But when this fire is blocked we become stuck on 'the treadmill of life'. We try to keep up appearances or pretend we are happy but it's hard to maintain because the negativity we are pretending not to have is still there. We wonder why we don't feel that glow of personal satisfaction in all that we do. What's happening is we are essentially violating our sense of Self to a perception an image that is not congruent with own center of integrity or personal honor.

The Third Chakra is our Power Center and I've noticed it seems to run parallel with the Third House in astrology as well as Three in Numerology. The Third Chakra is where we learn about our own internal strengths and weaknesses. The 2nd Chakra saw us actively involved with people and the outside world, the Third separates us from the influences of others. It is connected to the development of the lower Will and our Personality. It is the place of our social identity and our confirmation of it. But if we weren't allowed to think or do for ourselves this area of our Will, will be weak and underdeveloped. We have trouble thinking, expressing and doing for ourselves.

The 3rd house, like the 6th, is connected with the ability to understand or transform concentrated energy....it's connected with 'common sense and our ability to learn and transform energy from our immediate environment. In astrology the 3rd house is traditionally brothers and sisters and our immediate environment....but it is really how you Learn from your environment. It's how you understand what resources you have, what identities you have, what environment you have and how you make sense of it. It is The House of Common Sense, of learning how to communicate as well as Listening to others and Learning new skills.

It's where you learn to communicate and start putting together...who am I, how do I express my motives so I can have things, build up an identity so I can project myself. It's about expressing where you are coming from intuitively, it's about taking risks.

This house is the house of letters and telephones, where you communicate, talk and express your Ideas Out.....expressing where you're coming from. You've got to talk out loud and you also have to find a Listener.

The Third house is a learning house, a personal house and very predjudical one too.

Three's have wonderful voices and a 'way with words'. But this usually doesn't come easy to them. Some talk incessantly, they don't listen and some could earn the reputation of being 'superficial'. They go through high's and low's, some successful and some fail until Three's learn to express and let go of all their emotions which they to keep bottled up inside them.

" Resolving Doubts

Change and movement have their times;safety and danger are in oneself.
Calamity and fortune, gain and loss, all start from oneself.
Therefore those who master change are those who adress themselves to the time.
For those who adress themselves to the time, even danger is safe;for those who master change, even disturbance is ordenly.
......
How can it be doubted that safety and danger are in oneself?"

Franks quote could create a huge discussion in the dualities of our world. I remember reading once...."if a House be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." It could mean we need to learn, know and understand our own strengths and weaknesses....then from our own center we will be able to truly understand 'creating one's own reality.

"The value of words is often underestimated.
Like smudges on a pair of spectacles, they have the
ability to blur everything you do not make crystal clear.
Listen with great care to what is being said and choose
your own words as if they were diamonds" Sally Brompton

I'll stop my rambling

ravenstar

P.S. As always when I've turned off my computer other things start filtering in. I remember rosada saying something about 'judgement' in this thread. And as I remembered my own siblings, my own family, neighbours etc., I saw the motion of cause and effect, of influences in my immediate surroundings that started me to weigh my decisions. Chakras work in pairs and the 3rd Chakra (self esteem) and 5th Chakra (self expression) definitely work together in expressing and communicating with our voice. Our words can be creative, inspiring as well as blaming, sarcastic and downright hurtful. With Frank's notation I saw that we can consciously become aware of our personal energy and power and as the quote I used above, choose our own words wisely as if they are diamonds.

 

[joezoe]

by the way It is not thunder shocks a hundred miles

by the way It is not thunder shocks a hundred miles.The Actual character is li thuder shocks a 100 li.Li is an ancient unit of measurement equivalent to about a half of a kilometer:bows:

 

[rosada]

51.5
Sixth in the fifth place means:
Shock goes hither and thither.
Danger.
However, nothing at all is lost.
Yet there are things to be done.

This is a case not of a single shock but of repeated shocks with no breathing space between them. Nonetheless, the shock causes no loss, because one takes care to stay in the center of movement and in this way to be spared the fate of being helplessly tossed hither and thither.
-Wilhelm

 

[rosada]

As you may have noticed I've been obsessing over this hexagram and seeing its story manifesting all over.
Today it occurred to me the recent incident of the Iraqie throwing his shoes at President Bush has all the qualities of hexagram 51:

51.1
SHOCK
A thrown shoe -oh, oh
Bush dodges - ha, ha!
Good fortune. (Can you imagine the up roar if it had hit? Don't even go there.)

51.2
I repeat, don't even go there.
A shoe was thrown, Bush got out of the way.
Now let's just get everything back to normal.

51.3
But it was pretty jarring.
But Bush took the right action.
No misfortune.
Still, before we all just accept it and go back to sleep,
Doesn't it kinda sorta beg the question...

How could this have happened?
I mean, one shoe maybe, but TWO??
Where was the Secret Service??

51.4
Hmm, no one's answering.
No one wants to take responsibility?
No one knows what the rules are?
Maybe that's what shock is,
The thing no one anticipates.


51.5
George W. Bush, Man of the Moment
All these things coming at him,
He remains centered as does what has to be done.
As symbol of the country, his behaving correctly
Meant none of the people lost face.

51.6
Now everything is coming at Obama.
If he remains calm
But see's what happened to Bush,
Mistakes are avoided.

 

[rosada]

I'm also intrigued by the story of the plane going down in the Hudson River.
For those not up on news in the U.S., it seems a plane lost engine power just after take off. The pilot and crew did a magnificent job of following safety procedures exactly and everyone-150 people!- got out alive. It later came out that the pilot was unusually well trained in water landings and safety procedures.

Anyway, the opposite hexagram of 51. Shock- the eldest brother is 57. The Gentle- the eldest sister. I think it's very interesting how the first line of 51.1, SHOCK, is partnered in 57.1, the line of the will being controlled by a military like self discipline:

57.1
In advancing and retreating,
The perseverance of a warrior furthers.

This suggests that when the mind has been trained to know what to do, then even in situations of crisis, where the conscious mind may not know whether to advance or to retreat, the training can kick in and save the day - exactly what happened in this situation.

 

[frank_r]

Hi Frank
Ever read "Who moved my Cheese" by Spencer Johnson?
One great line is "Savour the adventure and move with the Cheese" ...Seems to echo the Taoist teachings here.

Mike

No Mike, don't no this writer, I had a look on the Net and it's about getting a new job if the old one isn't satisfying you anymore. http://businessbooks.suite101.com/article.cfm/who_moved_my_cheese_by_spencer_johnson
I had such an experience last year. I stopped my job(being a physiotherapist) after more than 25 years. I was living in a maze and I didn't want that anymore. I only doing acupuncture now. I have a solo practice and it was a big step. I went through a time of fear(shock) shall I do this yes or no.
But now I'm happy that I made the jump. Gave me also extra power that I had the guts to make the jump.

Frank

 

[frank_r]

The Third Chakra is our Power Center and I've noticed it seems to run parallel with the Third House in astrology as well as Three in Numerology. The Third Chakra is where we learn about our own internal strengths and weaknesses. The 2nd Chakra saw us actively involved with people and the outside world, the Third separates us from the influences of others. It is connected to the development of the lower Will and our Personality. It is the place of our social identity and our confirmation of it. But if we weren't allowed to think or do for ourselves this area of our Will, will be weak and underdeveloped. We have trouble thinking, expressing and doing for ourselves.

The 3rd house, like the 6th, is connected with the ability to understand or transform concentrated energy....it's connected with 'common sense and our ability to learn and transform energy from our immediate environment. In astrology the 3rd house is traditionally brothers and sisters and our immediate environment....but it is really how you Learn from your environment. It's how you understand what resources you have, what identities you have, what environment you have and how you make sense of it. It is The House of Common Sense, of learning how to communicate as well as Listening to others and Learning new skills.

The Third house is a learning house, a personal house and very predjudical one too.

Three's have wonderful voices and a 'way with words'. But this usually doesn't come easy to them. Some talk incessantly, they don't listen and some could earn the reputation of being 'superficial'. They go through high's and low's, some successful and some fail until Three's learn to express and let go of all their emotions which they to keep bottled up inside them.

Hallo Janice,

IIntersting what you are writing about the third house in astrology. I personally have a lot of my important planets in this third House(Mercurius, Moon, Sun and saturnus)

In the Ennegram types 3 is the achiever,(http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/TypeTHree.asp) the three works from the heart. It is between the two, (the giver) and 4(the romantic).
A three never gives up, we also wants to win everything. He his afraid to fail.
the three is working with courage and justice. The connection with astrologie the three is the Capricorn(the triangle 3-6-9 are all earth signs) Throught these earth signs there is the connection with hexagram 1 and 2.
The three cann also be reckless.
the three can be the representation of the courage of the heart. The 2 is the underdevelopment of courage and the 4 is the overdevelopment. All three these types 2-3-4 are working with the avoidance of pain and want to preserve the individual.
America is a 3 country.

Frank

 

[frank_r]

...."if a House be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." It could mean we need to learn, know and understand our own strengths and weaknesses....then from our own center we will be able to truly understand 'creating one's own reality.

"The value of words is often underestimated.
Like smudges on a pair of spectacles, they have the
ability to blur everything you do not make crystal clear.
Listen with great care to what is being said and choose
your own words as if they were diamonds" Sally Brompton

ravenstar
.

Yes the power of words are getting stronger and stronger in this world nowadays. So to be pure you have to pick your words carefully. Because there is a whole history hidden in words. The personaly history, the familiair history, the history of your country and the history of all humans.

"Power of Words

Words paint a picture of the calm blue sky,
Words paint a picture of the cold white snow,
Words paint a picture of the still black night,
Words can move, sway, heal, or anguish the soul.

Words narrate the work and rest of your day,
Words narrate the discussions with your mate,
Words narrate the fun and frolic of the night,
Words can move, sway, heal, or anguish the soul.

Words describe the men and women dead from war,
Words describe the lion chasing its prey,
Words describe the hawk devouring a mouse,
Words can move, sway, heal, or anguish the soul.

Words are used to create relationships,
Words are used to repair relationships,
Words are used to destroy relationships,
Words can move, sway, heal, or anguish the soul.

Stanley T. Crawford"

Frank

 

[my_key]

Hi Frank

Job change is a big issue on my list at teh moment. It's nice to here from someone who has taken the leap and survived.
Do you see shock as being fear in all circumstances?
Interesting post on the Enneagram links.
I'm curious as to how these numbers link to say the life path or destiny path in numerology. Any pointers you can give would be helpful
Also - How do you get an enneagram or just any number for a country. Who fills out teh questionairres and who does the marking?

Mike

 

[frank_r]

As you may have noticed I've been obsessing over this hexagram and seeing its story manifesting all over.
Today it occurred to me the recent incident of the Iraqie throwing his shoes at President Bush has all the qualities of hexagram 51:

51.1
SHOCK
A thrown shoe -oh, oh
Bush dodges - ha, ha!
Good fortune. (Can you imagine the up roar if it had hit? Don't even go there.)

51.2
I repeat, don't even go there.
A shoe was thrown, Bush got out of the way.
Now let's just get everything back to normal.

51.3
But it was pretty jarring.
But Bush took the right action.
No misfortune.
Still, before we all just accept it and go back to sleep,
Doesn't it kinda sorta beg the question...

How could this have happened?
I mean, one shoe maybe, but TWO??
Where was the Secret Service??

51.4
Hmm, no one's answering.
No one wants to take responsibility?
No one knows what the rules are?
Maybe that's what shock is,
The thing no one anticipates.


51.5
George W. Bush, Man of the Moment
All these things coming at him.
But not one hit him.
He dealt with it.

51.6
After the shock while others ran around looking for saviors
Or those to blame,
Bush stayed calm, centered and did not get embroiled in the drama, but quickly turned his attention forward..

The trown shoe incident gave a lot of reactions in the world. The Shoe brand never made such a sales in his entire history.

Frank

 

[frank_r]

Hi Frank

Job change is a big issue on my list at teh moment. It's nice to here from someone who has taken the leap and survived.
Do you see shock as being fear in all circumstances?
Mike

Hello Mike,

I think a real shock is more than fear alone. In acupuncture there is this difference between fear and shock.
Fear is kǒng 恐 Looking to the etymology the upper left part is a square, or a tool for work.
This is work done by pressing or knocking with the hand, which is shown in the upper right part, meaning to hold in the hand or to do with the hand. The etymology of this character for fear is the kind of beating and knocking which fear gives to the heart. The heart is the lower part of the character.
This emotion is connected with the kidneys and brings the energy down to the feet.

Shock is more translated as Jing 驚. This character is made without the heart. The upper left part is explained as being the idea of restraining oneself, self possession, deferential reserve. Etymological it represents how to restrain one's mouth and to stand quitly. The top most part is the Ram's horns , because a sheep or a ram knows how to stand motionless. The upper right hand part is a hand holding a rod, representing autority.
THe internal feeling of reverence, how to keep quitely the unity between the right feeling and behaviour. The lower part is a horse with mane feet and tail. The quality of the horse is not quiet at all.

jing means to startled with fright. It can mean any movement of the body, a light starting or a great convulsion due to the inabaility to keep the unity of the yin and yang sides of vitality at each level of the being. There is this kind of rupture of good relationships, and the spirits are unable to be expressed.
The energy is scattered one has lost a centre.

( parts are quoted from the seven emotions written by Claude Larre and elisabeth Rocaht de la Vallee).

With shock there is loss of the Tao. A big shock makes people TAO nan as i once read in a Chinese book of Amy Tan.

Frank