Mar 11 25
Strength
35. Progress
These first few lines are the general aphoristic returns for the week. They are raw and uninterpreted; there to use how you’d like. (The specific readings follow.)
From “MS”: After many years of confusion and struggle (said without sanctimony or self pity) we’ve realized that our main hurdle, for maintaining/developing a strong sense of self, and a sturdily progressive development of our various projects, has been a lack of continuity. That is, so much of the structure of our days is composed of minute and grand structures of interlocking chaos — endless domesticated (normalized) discontinuities and fragmentations (from within and without).
Ultimately, it is occurring to us that a dignified, relatively secure, relatively satisfying, life (with healthy possibility for the occasional ravishing moment) requires an unbroken thread of self aware intention.
We are committed to finding a way to be progressive in this fight for continuousness; not to constantly have to start over but to pick up where we last left off. We want to establish a flow of dignity and light (for our personality and projects) from week to week, from hour to hour, from going to bed to waking, from Saturday night to Sunday morning, from Friday to Monday, from waking to lunch, from lunch to the “end” of the work day, from one conversation to the next, from being out and about to being alone, from the ever random to the ever familiar, from thought to thought, etc, etc. Beuys’ phrase “Ich kenne kein Wochenende” (I know no weekend) seems a fine invocation here...
We have curbed our substance (mind altering) intake almost completely (as these are great maintainers of domesticated chaos), and are actively structuring a way of life that doesn’t get shaped by the horrifyingly inward facing teeth of news and social media tactics — to name two significant changes we have made to aid in this push for substantive cohesion...
Any further advice?
Make this self continuity project who you are; it should not be separate from every conscious part of your being; it would even be fine/great if it is what you became known for — even to yourself. “The superior person brightens their bright virtue.”
We have said this before but it always seems helpful: there is no trick to life but trying. Maybe better, life is trying (haha, yes, in both ways).
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Strength card. Here we have fortitude, the will to persevere through difficulty/pain. This type of strength is connected to the primordial powers — it is said that endurance of this kind is a relinquishment to these prime movers. Contemplation is also an aspect here.
Our first and only hexagram this week is #35, Progress. “The superior person brightens their bright virtue.” If you do something virtuous, do it in the open air and stay there. The light of good work is not an avatar so as the true body can return to the dark to do dark things. Good work should be accompanied by those that did it — ultimately to learn how to successfully stay/live in the bright part of the work (which is not easy). “...the light of the sun as it rises over the earth is by nature clear. The higher the sun rises, the more it emerges from the dark mists, spreading the pristine purity of its rays over an ever widening area. The real nature of humanity is likewise originally good, but it becomes clouded by contact with earthly things and therefore needs purification before it can shine forth in its native clarity.”
- Endurance is not resistance but finding a way to move with larger forces.
- Meditate.
- “The superior person brightens their bright virtue.”
- There is no truth in life, only trying. There is no trick to life but trying. Life is trying (😉).
From “MS”: After many years of confusion and struggle (said without sanctimony or self pity) we’ve realized that our main hurdle, for maintaining/developing a strong sense of self, and a sturdily progressive development of our various projects, has been a lack of continuity. That is, so much of the structure of our days is composed of minute and grand structures of interlocking chaos — endless domesticated (normalized) discontinuities and fragmentations (from within and without).
Ultimately, it is occurring to us that a dignified, relatively secure, relatively satisfying, life (with healthy possibility for the occasional ravishing moment) requires an unbroken thread of self aware intention.
We are committed to finding a way to be progressive in this fight for continuousness; not to constantly have to start over but to pick up where we last left off. We want to establish a flow of dignity and light (for our personality and projects) from week to week, from hour to hour, from going to bed to waking, from Saturday night to Sunday morning, from Friday to Monday, from waking to lunch, from lunch to the “end” of the work day, from one conversation to the next, from being out and about to being alone, from the ever random to the ever familiar, from thought to thought, etc, etc. Beuys’ phrase “Ich kenne kein Wochenende” (I know no weekend) seems a fine invocation here...
We have curbed our substance (mind altering) intake almost completely (as these are great maintainers of domesticated chaos), and are actively structuring a way of life that doesn’t get shaped by the horrifyingly inward facing teeth of news and social media tactics — to name two significant changes we have made to aid in this push for substantive cohesion...
Any further advice?
Make this self continuity project who you are; it should not be separate from every conscious part of your being; it would even be fine/great if it is what you became known for — even to yourself. “The superior person brightens their bright virtue.”
We have said this before but it always seems helpful: there is no trick to life but trying. Maybe better, life is trying (haha, yes, in both ways).
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Strength card. Here we have fortitude, the will to persevere through difficulty/pain. This type of strength is connected to the primordial powers — it is said that endurance of this kind is a relinquishment to these prime movers. Contemplation is also an aspect here.
Our first and only hexagram this week is #35, Progress. “The superior person brightens their bright virtue.” If you do something virtuous, do it in the open air and stay there. The light of good work is not an avatar so as the true body can return to the dark to do dark things. Good work should be accompanied by those that did it — ultimately to learn how to successfully stay/live in the bright part of the work (which is not easy). “...the light of the sun as it rises over the earth is by nature clear. The higher the sun rises, the more it emerges from the dark mists, spreading the pristine purity of its rays over an ever widening area. The real nature of humanity is likewise originally good, but it becomes clouded by contact with earthly things and therefore needs purification before it can shine forth in its native clarity.”