May 20 25
Ace of Cups
14. Possession in Great Measure
61. Inner Truth
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 “J.B.L.”: “Distraction” was a word that, in our past, was typically levied with negativity. As in, “you are too distracted” or “you’re not present” or the perennial “you need to focus.” However, in recent times, distraction seems healthy and wanted; as all sorts of corporations, and individuals (family/“friends” through corporate channels) are maddeningly vying for your attention (to be in your focus). As well, the constant surfeit of news/entertainment and questions about politics, identity and morality that can have no healthy terminus in individual conceptions and consciousness (important as they may, or may not, be). What are some thoughts regarding properly pitched distraction? [Knowing that all manner of drug-type distractions (behavioral or in the literal like heroin sense) are no good, too strong, too much momentum/subsequent-dependency. Also we are aware that channelling, through art or work, is likely the healthiest distraction — obvi via Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, etc.]
1. Have a goal or goals (the non-cynical, actual, belief in achievement).
2. Pursue an ordered, clear mind (the constant effort to gently but strongly redirect errant, degrading, or miserable thoughts to the peripheries and beyond — whilst trying to gently but strongly keep in focus thoughts that are helpful).
3. Foster a persistent awareness of the contextual nature of situations (improvisational fortitude).
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Ace of Cups. Fruition, arrival, and even kinds of contentment, are possible. Thus fulfillment is a good goal to have; as opposed to cynicism, which is not a good goal — the former will get out of bed and into the day, the latter will press on you in your bed, keeping you there.
Our first hexagram this week is #14, Possession in Great Measure. To be a credible leader (w/ sincere utility) of self or externally, one must have a mind that is in order. If such poise, reserve, and commitment to multifaceted understanding is achieved, the result will be “strength within” and “clarity and culture without.” Such power is “graceful” and “controlled.” If one is lazy, fragmented and selfish — establishing outer order and health will be impossible. As a caveat, “understanding” is a continual process: “the sun brings both evil and good into the light of day. A person must combat and curb the evil, and must favor and promote the good” — which take constant vigilance.
There were three changes this week of which the specific notes are: a healthy leader, full of genuine utility, cannot be petty, envy breeds all sorts of errors, and dignity blocks cynicism.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #61, Inner Truth. It is important to try to be in accord with what is happening at any given time; this requires a kind of perceptive, sensitive humbleness, an energetic mixture of empathy and intimacy — so as to know when to be subservient, when to wrestle and when to lead. Without this understanding, that there isn’t a single tactic or mode that can be healthily applied to everything, life will be very difficult — often, needlessly so.
- Cynicism is not a good goal.
- Fulfillment is a good goal.
- Fulfillment is possible but likely not at all how you think (or have been trained to think).
- A credible leader cannot be actually selfish or petty.
- Envy breeds all sorts of errors (since envy requires a forgetting that you actually don’t know what has made a situation and what it will ultimately be).
From “J.B.L.”: “Distraction” was a word that, in our past, was typically levied with negativity. As in, “you are too distracted” or “you’re not present” or the perennial “you need to focus.” However, in recent times, distraction seems healthy and wanted; as all sorts of corporations, and individuals (family/“friends” through corporate channels) are maddeningly vying for your attention (to be in your focus). As well, the constant surfeit of news/entertainment and questions about politics, identity and morality that can have no healthy terminus in individual conceptions and consciousness (important as they may, or may not, be). What are some thoughts regarding properly pitched distraction? [Knowing that all manner of drug-type distractions (behavioral or in the literal like heroin sense) are no good, too strong, too much momentum/subsequent-dependency. Also we are aware that channelling, through art or work, is likely the healthiest distraction — obvi via Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, etc.]
1. Have a goal or goals (the non-cynical, actual, belief in achievement).
2. Pursue an ordered, clear mind (the constant effort to gently but strongly redirect errant, degrading, or miserable thoughts to the peripheries and beyond — whilst trying to gently but strongly keep in focus thoughts that are helpful).
3. Foster a persistent awareness of the contextual nature of situations (improvisational fortitude).
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Ace of Cups. Fruition, arrival, and even kinds of contentment, are possible. Thus fulfillment is a good goal to have; as opposed to cynicism, which is not a good goal — the former will get out of bed and into the day, the latter will press on you in your bed, keeping you there.
Our first hexagram this week is #14, Possession in Great Measure. To be a credible leader (w/ sincere utility) of self or externally, one must have a mind that is in order. If such poise, reserve, and commitment to multifaceted understanding is achieved, the result will be “strength within” and “clarity and culture without.” Such power is “graceful” and “controlled.” If one is lazy, fragmented and selfish — establishing outer order and health will be impossible. As a caveat, “understanding” is a continual process: “the sun brings both evil and good into the light of day. A person must combat and curb the evil, and must favor and promote the good” — which take constant vigilance.
There were three changes this week of which the specific notes are: a healthy leader, full of genuine utility, cannot be petty, envy breeds all sorts of errors, and dignity blocks cynicism.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #61, Inner Truth. It is important to try to be in accord with what is happening at any given time; this requires a kind of perceptive, sensitive humbleness, an energetic mixture of empathy and intimacy — so as to know when to be subservient, when to wrestle and when to lead. Without this understanding, that there isn’t a single tactic or mode that can be healthily applied to everything, life will be very difficult — often, needlessly so.