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How am I doing with my Master in Ecology and Spirituality? Please give me guidance.

Max Snowman

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I have asked the above question as I have started this Masters last January, but I have been not totally convinced right from the start. Now that I am finding myself having to write coursework for it, I am experiencing an incredible resistance, and here is the background of why I have cast a new reading on this subject: 1) I am wondering on the nature of my resistance to do the coursework: is it something I must overcome, or do I experience it beacuse I am doing something which is not the best course of action for me, and I am trying to 'force' it?
2) In the meantime, I think I have found a course of studies that I sense would be much more fitting my nature (as it is more experiential and more in line with what I'm looking for) , but it is a leap in the void, and it would certainly involve stepping out much more of my comfort zone mych more, plus starting a new committment (also financially). After the reading, I do have my felt sense of what to do, but I would like to have more insight, please, as it is not totally clear to me what the oracle's advice is. Here follows the reading, as I have done it online (this time):

Your reading resulted in the following hexagrams:


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Hexagram 17, Following

17.gif

Key Questions

How are things flowing, and how can you move with them?
Where are you being nudged and guided?

Oracle

'Following.
From the source, creating success, constancy bears fruit.
No mistake.'

Energy flows strongly into life's landscapes, bringing a great creative drive, from the source through towards fulfilment. Following it means a willingness to honour the flow and align actions with it. You can know your ideal, and then allow it to meld with the natural current, following signs and nudges and allowing them to draw you onward.
Then, you may experience Following as an effortless flow of supportive synchronicities – or you may experience it as events unfolding in accordance with their own schedule, and failing to keep to yours. It can seem as if simply allowing yourself to be guided by the current is not enough, and you ought to be 'doing something'. But moving with the creative process is not a mistake.

Image

'At the centre of the lake is thunder: Following.
A noble one at nightfall
Goes inside for renewal and rest.'

Sequence

Following comes from Hexagram 16, Enthusiasm:
'Enthusiasm naturally means Following.'

Pair

Following is paired and contrasted with Hexagram 18, Corruption.
'Following has no causes. Corruption, and then order.'

Changing Lines

Line 2

'Bound to the small child,
Letting the mature man go.'


Line 6

'Seized and bound to it,
And so joining and connected to it,
The king makes offering on the Western mountain.'



Hexagram 10, Treading

10.gif

Key Questions

Where is the tiger?
Do you know how to work with such power?

Oracle

'Treading a tiger's tail.
It does not bite people.
Creating success.'

There are tigers in the outer world, and also inner tigers; as you get close, it's good to recognize the tiger for what it is.
Treading the tiger's tail is perilous – yet if you can move in harmony with it, you can invite its power into your own life as protection, fertility and blessing. To do this without getting bitten requires both skill and care.
Look to the power and intensity you are drawn to in the situation: its specific danger is there, and also its potential gift.

Image

'Heaven above, lake below: Treading.
A noble one differentiates above and below,
And makes a place for the people's aspiration.'

Sequence

Treading follows from Hexagram 9, Small Taming:
'Things are tamed, and then there are the rituals. And so Treading follows.'



 

equinox

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After the reading, I do have my felt sense of what to do, but I would like to have more insight, please, as it is not totally clear to me what the oracle's advice is.

Would you let us know about your own conclusion?
 

Max Snowman

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Ok, I've been pondering about this, in fact I don't know. What I know is that I trust my intuition, and intuitively there has been a resistance in doing this course right from the word go. But between trusting and following, there is a difference -- and although I said that I trust my intuition, I don't necessarily follow it. So this is why I embarked on the course in the first place. And now that I have to write coursework, the resistence has intensified. And so, I do doubt: is this resistence telling me that this is not for me? Or is it telling me that I must persevere and go through it? My intuition tells me the former, but the i-ching (which I have asked a question precisely on the basis of this question) does not seem totally clear to me -- hence why I posted in the shared readings. In fact, it doesn't seem to give to me an either/or reply, but rather, follow and trust the process, and don't be tied up to ideas about how things should be. But there are perhaps levels of subtelty in the reading (as always) that may escape me -- as it often does to the person who is casting. So this is why something may be evident to another skilled reader and pass unobserved to me. It is my experience, after all, that I see much more clearly in readings I do for other people than in those I do for me. Even though there is more I could say, I hope this adds some clarity to what I mean, and I would still appreciate some feedback. So, concretely, I am still carrying on with my original course (even though it is often gruelling) but I am taking steps for embarking on the much more challenging enterprise I was hinting at in the original post, until I see (and feel) more clearly.
 
D

diamanda

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How am I doing with my Master in Ecology and Spirituality? Please give me guidance.
17.2.6 > 10
Your teacher is not good (or you've taken an immature step), and you're now bound by the situation. It's difficult, so carefully take it step by step.

And so, I do doubt: is this resistence telling me that this is not for me? Or is it telling me that I must persevere and go through it?
These are totally different questions.
You asked how you're doing, not what you should do going forward, or if this is for you.
The cast answers your original question - not all questions on the issue you might have.
 

Max Snowman

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Thanks, that is perhaps precisely the point. My real question is "is this resistence telling me that this is not for me?" It's just that the formulation was not easy, if wanting to avoid the "yes/no" question (as I prefer to do). And also, is the limitation, as you say, because "the teacher is not good", or rather because I have "taken an immature step"? Here also there is quite a difference, and clarity is what I would like to achieve. But I agree on one point: whichever way, the situation is difficult, and as you say, must be carefully taken step by step.
 
D

diamanda

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My real question is "is this resistence telling me that this is not for me?"
Hi Max, since you say that you are after clarity, you should take care how you formulate the question. Because if you ask "how am I doing", but your real question is the above, then how would anyone know which of all the multiple questions, stated or hidden, the answer refers to? Clarity begins with a clear question, or a series of clear questions. The I Ching is not a blanket answer for all the various questions one might have on one issue.

For example, if I want to hire a carpenter to make some furniture for me, I would find no use in asking "what do I need to know about this carpenter". Instead, I would ask separate specific questions with the details I truly want to know. Will they charge me fairly? Will they do a good job? Will they work timely?

"is this resistence telling me that this is not for me?"
Back to this phrasing, I find this also confusing as regards understanding an answer to it. That's because your question presupposes that your resistance is indeed trying to give you a life-changing message. Maybe it is; maybe it's not and you're just tired these days. Even the phrase "this is not for me" is confusing. What do you mean by that? Are you wondering if this is destined for you? Are you wondering if it will bring you professional success? Are you wondering if you don't have the talent? "These studies are for me" can mean a ton of different things. You need to be clear as to what it is that you're aiming for with these studies.

And also, is the limitation, as you say, because "the teacher is not good", or rather because I have "taken an immature step"?
I never said that "there's a limitation because...". A bad teacher, or an immature step, do not necessarily doom a student.
 

Max Snowman

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Thank you. I need to sit with this. The use of the word 'limitation' is my own reading/interpretation. The "as you say" only referred to what you said after ("the teacher is not good"/"immature step" part). I understand neither 'dooms' a student, but nonetheless they do mean/indicate something worth looking at. I understand also that the "this is not for me" sentence is confusing, as it can mean many different things. I normally take it to mean whether something feels in alignment with my authentic nature; I am a rather intiutive type, but my mind is also very active and can interfere and throw doubt it. In any case, I understand that this course is a process, and even achieving clarity is a process; this exchange is helping me to make it, but clarity cannot be forced; it comes as a result of an organic process that slowly builds, and this is helping it. The other thing that I see is that I must be more careful to better formulate my questions. Thank you, again.
 
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bradford

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You don't really succeed in getting educated by pushing yourself to do coursework. You get and stay hungry to devour the material. You FOLLOW your appetite instead of whipping yourself. If you can't get that, or get it back, maybe you're in the wrong place.
Eye of the TIGER.

PS: Ever read Sacred Land, Sacred Sex, Rapture of the Deep by Dolores La Chapelle? It's an intelligent tour of deep ecology.
 

Max Snowman

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Thank you. The problem is precisely that I have done far too much intellectual work in my life, and it doesn't satisfy me any longer. Any 'knowledge', for me, now must be lived and embodied. Interestingly, what I am drawn to get into now, is to delve deeper into Bill Plotkin's Soul work; after reading Soulcraft a few years ago, that hunger for the deep and the sacred, in oneself and in nature, has come back in force; in fact it's always been there, and never gone away, but perhaps now I am ready to jump into the work with my being, and not just "read the book" (incidentally, they are based in Durango, you may know their institute). Anyway, to start with, I am attending a Wild Mind Intensive in Germany in June, as I would like to explore getting into the Soulcraft training. I will also follow up on your reading suggestion ...
 

Lionchild

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My sense of this I ching answer is that you need to acknowledge the present inappropriateness of your present course, thus taking your life, responsibly, into your own hands-- and take up the other opportunity. This does involve risk (accompanied though by genuine vision), but as you are doing, take this step by step to see where things lead.
 

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