Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
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+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
I dithered whether this should go in SR or ED, but since it's a shared reading about exploring divination I'll leave it here for now
I keep reading books etc that tell me about the power of prayer and talk about praying but I never really can understand what is meant by praying. Is it talking to 'God' (whatever that means), is it asking the universe for stuff, is it just sitting in silence, or what? I wondered whether my interactions with Yi could count as praying since divination is, literally, or etymologically at least, communicating with the divine. Not when you simply ask future questions, but if you really sit with the energy that us almost palpable through yi.
. Not when you simply ask future questions, but if you really sit with the energy that us almost palpable through yi
Anyway, I asked 'is prayer being in contact with the divine or is it asking for something?' 49.1 > 31 (bound with the hide of a yellow ox...?)
Then I asked: 'What is the purpose of prayer?' 12.5 > 35 (cease the hindrance)
'How does one pray?' 11uc (peace, heaven and earth unite)
'How does one find peace?' 25uc. (truthfulness, innocence)
'Is communicating with Yi a form of prayer?' 9.1.4 > 44 (return to the way, fear gives way - 44 is an encounter - with what?)
What I understand from this is that communication with yi is a means of dealing with anxiety while prayer is a way of actively transmuting a problem into its solution. Prayer is achieved through oneness with heaven (or the divine), which isn't the same as asking for things (or even speaking at all).
I'm not sure I'm totally clear on what prayer is but I've got a little food for thought, at least.
Apologies if this should be in SR...
'How does one pray?' 11uc (peace, heaven and earth unite)
'How does one find peace?' 25uc. (truthfulness, innocence)
I think this is the nearest the Yijing comes to a hexagram of love. Not so much love in its various expressions in human relationships, but as a pure, overwhelming cosmic force for creation.
When confronted with rigidity about how one should worship, my standard response has been that God, in God's wisdom, is smart enough to figure out ways to bring all kinds of people closer, and those ways are as varied as people require.
Wonderful questions and responses!
I'm older ... What I heard was in my mind's ear, if that makes sense. Layers of meaning unfolded in my awareness - stuff that in a million years I couldn't have thought up by myself, and it all made sense. I came away from that experience with a very meek "ok God, uh, wow, uh, uhm.... hmm... " The wandering continued. At least in my own mind I had a small grip on something really real, a taste, a touch, a contact.
My idea of prayer (and of course it's not the be-all or end-all definition) is that prayer is what we do to bring ourselves closer to God. Consulting the Yi, and trying to get in tune with it's energies which I think/feel describe deep reality is definitely one way that I pray.
When confronted with rigidity about how one should worship, my standard response has been that God, in God's wisdom, is smart enough to figure out ways to bring all kinds of people closer, and those ways are as varied as people require.
I'm not sure this answers your question, I think only you will be able to answer it for yourself - and likely have begun doing just that with these awesome readings.
Oh here is the Blog I was looking for when Hilary got 11uc when she asked Yi how it was made
https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/answers/2015/03/17/i-dont-know-the-first-thing-about-the-yi/
It seems meaningful to me that veavea asked 'how does one pray ?' and got the same answer as Hilary did for 'how was Yi made'...and the question about the incarnation.
https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/answers/2015/06/25/consulting-under-the-sky/
lol, older, as in "older than I was"...
11uc was the answer Hilary got about the purpose of the incarnation of Christ (I think, there's a blog on it) and also for the question ''how were you made Yi ?' .
Where I live right now (although I am on a boat on the canal) is in the middle of very magical landscape, I am close to Stonehenge and Silbury Hill and Avebury, and there is very much that sense when I go to those places, as well as the various other ancient features added to the landscape, of connecting with something much bigger than the self, or even than the self can possibly comprehend. Even the physical logistics - let alone the 'cosmic' issues - of these landscape markers are baffling. How did they get there? Why? Who? Etc. Actually as I ponder it the thought occurred to me that maybe stone circles could be used as divination. But I don't know how that would work, it just popped into my head!!
One further point that maybe worth mentioning in terms of relating to Yi as if in prayer - at some point after the first set of questions that I posted in the original post above, I felt a bit overwhelmed and befuddled and spoke directly to Yi words to the effect that: although I don't really understand anything (!!) I trust Yi to guide me and point me in the right direction. I put this to Yi as a question (although it was a statement) and requested a response. I got: 58.4.5 > 19
What I took from this was a bifold warning not to trust 'disintegrating influences' and always to ensure that I am not 'giving myself away' to an imagined deity (?) - somehow I must strike the balance between autonomy and yet also being able to assimilate guidance, without losing my ability to discriminate.
Prayer is how we talk to God.
The I Ching is how God talks to us.
Amazing how different we all are.communication with yi is a means of dealing with anxiety while prayer is a way of actively transmuting a problem into its solution.
Prayer is how we talk to God.
The I Ching is how God talks to us.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).