Please Log in to Vote.

0 out of 0 members found this useful.

On calendars and other matters

Posted February 1st, 2012 by Charles Bowling in notes from a sign reader

Hi All,
 
Layman was posting about Nietzsche, wearing a copy of his book to a frazzle, in part I trust on his way to grokking its contents and intent.
 
It reminded me of Confucius, who was said to have worn-out three copies of the ancient canon of changes. In our time this text is known as I Ching, (literally book of changes); many years ago my teacher introduced me to it, and I began a great adventure -digesting one of the most profound sacred texts ever composed. It has a unique place in sacred world literature because nothing in it needs to be believed; on the contrary everything in it is testable, and it comes with its own ‘user’s manual.’
 
It is comprised of ‘chapters’ of a sort -although in Chinese it is pretty much of a poem of verses. In the West where we tend to put more emphasis on quantities rather than qualities, we've assigned numbers to these chapters. Somehow in ways that are mysterious to me numbers have identifiable significance -both individual and cultural.
 
Calendars are all about numbers. But at their root, at their very basis is observation. Days, months, years are all based on astronomical observation. But tuning into the process of ascertaining meaning of these observations is not something that the Western scientific mindset deals with easily. It's left to outliers and oddballs like me to take up such obscure and perhaps dubious investigation.
 
As part of the process of grokking this text a form of numerology based on numbers assigned to the chapters began to take shape and form. And I have learned to employ it as a sort of shorthand. Here's an example:
 
Yesterday 31st January was KW's birthday. So according to this form of numerology would an examination of Chapter 31 of the I Ching have any relevance in the life of this Mega-Pandit?
 
The 31st chapter or hexagram has a special place in the text; it represents a turning point where emphasis shifts from externals to internals. Huang describes this latter half or lower canon of the text as the Tao of Humanity. He calls it Mutual Influence, Wilhelm calls it Influence (Wooing), while Blofeld employs Attraction, Sensation.
The important thing to understand about Persuasion or Wooing (both as a chapter in the text and in everyday life) has to do with the mindset/altitude of the person or persons attempting to do so. And as Huang suggests mutuality is not just important but vital, i.e. interior openness is prerequisite to encouraging opening in the other. (Without this opening in the other no transmission is possible.)
 
KW's life has been marked by a number of marvelous attributes -but without the extensive and intensive interior work that he has done on himself- he simply would not be the same person we've come to know and love.
 
Rather we have a transparency, where a codifier or mapmaker, imbued with an almost obsessive need to review has raised the practice of Mutual Influence to an art form. We know it as Integral Theory and Practice.
 
To grok what KW offers is a monumental task; one that takes me to the very edge of my understanding to get even a glimpse of its totality…
 
-Charles
 
 
 
 
 

Please Log in to Vote.

0 out of 0 members found this useful.

[Comment Deleted]

Posted February 1st, 2012 by admin
This comment has been deleted by the author.