Category Archives: Book of Change

Wake Up!

This sequence started with an exchange between me and a publisher who wears a second hat as a major RFK Jr. supporter:

ME: How are you?

TL: Great. You?

ME: Greatly heartened to know you are well!

As for me. Long story short, it’s said God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle. But sometimes wish he didn’t trust me so much.

Bottom line. On the same day RFK Jr took the oath of office, I swore a parallel oath to God to honor/fulfill the responsibility I’ve been given to support his mission. Will survive to do so.

As for TQS [The Quantum Solution], it’s still writing itself. Have very strong feeling an event’s coming down the pike which will influence content/approach. Waiting for its arrival.

And within a day, the event arrived.

It wasn’t at all what expected. Nothing related to world events — neither politics, wars, nor natural disasters.

It was personal.

I took a fall which triggered an avalanche of Aha moments.

Over night, half asleep, I reached for a door frame to support my weight, but misjudged its distance. Leaning forward, I missed it. And went down.

Crash! Shock!!

No injuries, thank God. But seriously shaken.

As is my way, after settling down, I queried the I Ching, my go-to mentor, seeking to understand the implications of the fall. What message was to be taken from that surprise? What adjustment called for?

The answer came back, unequivocal. No changing lines. Hexagram 21, BREAKTHROUGH. It looks like this:

When I searched my conscience, what surfaced was a paralyzing tension in my attitude towards publishing. That’s what I’m being advised to correct.

Yuppers. In the past, my now deceased teacher took a dim view of my writing, citing the biblical warning against casting pearls before swine.

But in my musings now, when I returned to the classic tale of humans turned to swine, it reminded me that, at least in this case, they were eventually changed back again. This has relevance to my reservations, as well as potential solutions.

In Homer’s Odyssey (a classic story of the archetypal hero’s journey), Hermes, the healing god, supplies the medicinal remedy that returns the ship’s crew back from spell-bound pigs to their original, true selves. He also, by the way, forewarns our hero of the sorceress Circe’s dangers, giving him an herb that makes him immune to her dark spells. (To the best of my knowledge, what that herb might be isn’t named. That would be an interesting rabbit hole for someone to explore, don’t you think?)

Remember Hermes? He’s the winged messenger (Mercury) who carries the caduceus, familiar symbol of the current medical profession, which (sadly) has forgotten its origins and is long overdue to remember, restore and perhaps upgrade itself! (But that’s a subject for a different, lengthy discourse.)

When I search my soul, the nagging, pessimistic part of my psyche feels that life’s too painful. Wants only to withdraw. Have nothing to do with the majority of barbaric humans driven by appetites, all too easily seduced by black-magic temptations of the dark side.

What I recognize is that my BREAKTHROUGH must be to replace remnants of pessimism and self-doubt with this awareness: IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY.

It is ignorance instilled and enforced by dark-side slave-masters that drives bestiality, cruelty and viciousness. Education driven by a positive paradigm shift has the potential to change that!

And that’s exactly my job. From now on, I’ll focus on this KEY. According to the Quantum Paradigm, we are each made in the image of God. Inherently, at our core, each and every one of us — even savage murderers, thieves and exploiters of every stripe — remains in deepest essence divine. We each carry the magical seed potential (albeit latent and forgotten) — to transcend illusory limitations. Therein lies certain hope of a better future.

Like Lambert, the sheepish lion, we each have the potential to WAKE UP! To remember who we truly are.

As of now, however, the vast majority of humanity remains, as I was, half asleep. Staggering, they reach for support, but miss the mark and fall.

And it’s my given job is to serve as an awakener. A messenger. A reminder that according to the complete and correct Quantum Paradigm (towards which humanity now has the opportunity to shift), divinity rests at the eternal core of who we’re born to be.

More than once, it has occurred to me that in a generation’s time, these changes will be accomplished, whether or not I publish. They’ll inevitably come to pass, simply because astrologically, all the attitude-shaping outer planets will have changed sign.

Pluto, the powerful planet of transformative personal and political change, recently shifted from earth-based Capricorn into air-ruled Aquarius. The day after the March 29th radical New Moon eclipse in Aires, Neptune, the creative planet of inspiration, intuition and devotion follows suit, moving from water-based Pisces for a 14-year transit through fire-ruled Aires.

After that, over the next two years, stern, conformist Saturn, the planet of rules, structure and institutional authority, will leave the water sign of Pisces to enter fire-ruled Aires. Eccentric Uranus, the planet of invention, foresight and genius, will exit the location where it’s been stuck in earth-bound Taurus to reside in more compatible, air-ruled Gemini.

So, in the future, no matter where in the world a child is born, into whatever cultural milieu, its astrological markings will be radically different from those of its grandparents and even parents. Without anyone having to do anything to bring about this change, one-hundred years from now, no one left will be of the current imperial, conquest, control and dominance mindset.

But that too-easy cop-out doesn’t let me off the hook. That’s then. This is now. Humanity still needs to make the (sometimes messy and painful) transition from here to there. And replacing the current empirical science model, mainstreaming the Quantum Paradigm, is a necessary part of the process that will lead humanity into its long-foreseen better future.

In The Leviathan, first published in 1651, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes posited that in its natural state, human life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” On this assumption, he rationalized the necessary existence of absolute governmental power.

This serves as an example of the dynamic that the beliefs people hold have very real consequences. “Thinking makes it so.” Believing humans are bestial not only gives them license to act that way, but also to treat them as such.

Fortunately, beliefs remain a matter of personal choice.

In this light, the Make America Healthy Again movement now afoot in the U.S. has great potential to shift widespread beliefs and therefore results. It’s no accident that RFK Jr. openly says “spirituality” is a necessary component of a nation’s health.

Better, more awakened beliefs emerging now will lead to better results in the future. This is the hopeful premise of The Quantum Solution.

Lasting Friendships

For days, the same image kept floating across my mind. It’s Hexagram 20, Awareness, with changing lines in the first two places.

Why?

I don’t know.

For whom?

No particular person.

But just now it came up again.

So, for those of you its meant for, here goes.

Hexagram 20 was the original answer to the question asked the Introduction of my small book. “What does the Common Sense Book of Change have to offer its readers?” It looks like this:

The advice of the bottom changing line reads, “Narrow-minded self-interest is not enlightened. Broaden your view to include others.” It changes to Hexagram 42, Gain, which reads in part:

GAIN

GAINS can be made after analyzing the situation correctly. When a person’s life goals are kept firmly in mind, no time is wasted. A way can be found to use whatever resources are at hand to serve one’s purpose.

The warning of the changing line in the second place reads, “You won’t benefit from using new learning for selfish reasons.” It changes to Hexagram 59, Overcoming, which reads:

OVERCOMING

The harmonizing arts are useful tools for OVERCOMING the forces which block and separate. Inspired music, drama and art express the common light which guides all. Avoid isolation. 

The FINAL OUTCOME of heeding the advice and warnings of the changing lines incorporates them both. The result is Hexagram 61, which looks like this:

What first comes to mind is the memory of exchanging Christmas gifts two years ago. Terry gave me a big mug decorated with images of gifts. Its message was, “Friends make the best presents.”

In return, I gave her a copy of the CSBOC underlined with 61’s message: “Friendships based on wisdom will last.”

We were on the same page.

Though we share little in common (rebuilding classic cars and quilting are her hobbies, not mine), nevertheless, that common thread of good will continues to withstand the test of time.

It’s a gift I wish for all of you as well.

It’s Time for a Fresh Start

Here’s a section — full of food for thought — lifted from the 2014 Rethinking Survival. Ten years later, the same hold true.

In a less wordy way, updated to reflect the times, the concept of a fresh start repeats in as concluding chapter of the 2024 The Quantum Solution.

We’re in a Terrible Mess

During high school years, I shared the following lines written for Miss Elson’s senior year English class with my younger brother, David.

Somewhere, Somehow,

Something Is terribly wrong.

Where to look? What to fight?”

Marginally impressed, he predicted that I’d end up like the closet poet Emily Dickinson.

Echoing the sentiment that the country is in deep trouble, in Common Sense, Glenn Beck details the mess we’re in:

America has been slowly pulled off the course charted for us in Philadelphia more than two centuries ago. Through legitimate “emergencies” involving war, terror, and economic crises, politicians on both sides have gathered illegitimate new powers — playing on our fears and desire for security and economic stability — at the expense of our freedoms . . .

Making the same point I made much earlier, Beck holds:

I humbly suggest that our government is once again out of step with the Laws of Nature. The government by, of, and for the people has been turned on its head. It is now a government by the government, of the government, and for the government, the people be damned. [emphasis added.]

Beck gets the basic Law of Karma: Actions have consequences. However he lacks an in-depth understanding of the dynamic laws of nature. And he needs a functional paradigm to put us (not just the U.S.) right-side up again. He challenges Americans to stretch outside their comfort level. But this requires expanding the array of tools in our repair kit for achieving positive ends.

Correctly, Beck recommends that we “declare the causes that unite us.” But while I look to the Quantum Paradigm for that foundation, he outlines Nine Principles which only add to the mess. His openly emotional biases are a disservice to his undeniably good intentions.

It’s important to clarify the points of agreement and difference here. I’ve used the Common Sense concept in my own work for more than thirty years. Especially because he’s become the spokesman for America’s ideals and best hopes, it’s important that I clarify my position.

We do have universal causes that unite us, but not the ones Beck lists. I’ve limited myself here to answering the first five of his Nine Principles:

1. “America is good.”

This generalization is full of assumptions. It’s too simplistic to be useful. America is not a static or uniform entity. The nation has evolved over time. Its components are mixed. We can love our homeland without having illusions about its unqualified “goodness.” Beck’s tacit premise, that he can single out one (superior) country to the exclusion of others alienates other nations. He’s slicing the pie the wrong way. Everyone everywhere is sometimes and in some ways “good,” in others not. In addition, time doesn’t go backwards. Beck’s sentimental attachment to America’s past is unwise. It’s a disservice to the immediate cause of human survival.

2. “I believe in God and He is the Center of my life.”

Sincere truth seekers everywhere hold a variety of beliefs. Not all assign either a name or gender to the Creator. Further, the nucleus of our lives remains the same, whether we acknowledge it or not. Agnostics who say they have no experience upon which to base religious beliefs can still be truth seekers. They’re often decent human beings doing their best as they understand it. Though they see things differently, atheists also thirst after truth and have been known to return full circle.

3. “I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.”

Fine. But using what methods? The Quantum Paradigm approach, “Be aware of what you are doing and why,” is an excellent start.

4. “The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.”

This is a mish-mash of culturally-conditioned assumptions. First and foremost, individual conscience that depends on the Universal Center is sacred — not family. An either-or choice between biological family and governments — as if either were “the ultimate authority” — is unacceptable. Otherwise, where do those raised as orphans or whose experiences of family were damaging and degrading look for authority? What about celibate adults or those who choose not to marry? Do they matter in Beck’s worldview? In practice, his grounds for common cause are painfully exclusionary. Further, families change over time (as those who’ve been widowed or married more than once are keenly aware). It’s the silent source which is constant.

5. “If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.”

This feels good, but it’s way too general. What law — the laws of man, of Nature or Nature’s God? This seems to refer to human law. But considering how laws are made today and by whom, that’s dicey. Consider the evolving, punitive tax code, for example. What about the fact that laws are so numerous that you can’t do anything without violating one law or another? And what about our elective, highly politicized justice system? Principle Five is wishful thinking. It doesn’t match actual experience. Perhaps if Beck thought in terms of the three-tiered wheel, this would be better phrased. Certainly God’s justice is impartial and karmic consequences return to everyone across the board. But that’s a different subject.

So how have we gotten so far away from common sense? In large part, it’s due to the intentional strategy of polarization. The diversionary tactic of bad-faith bad guys is to confuse people with an overwhelming number of phony half-truths. We’re forced to choose between false, equally unacceptable either-or options. The noisy, superficial clash between apparent opposites bombards our senses through the daily news: Republicans versus Democrats. Conservative libertarians versus liberal progressives. Christians versus Jews versus Muslims. Atheists versus theists. Optimists versus pessimists.

Then there’s the straw dragon strategy. Virulent atheism is a product. It’s accomplished by setting up an illusory bogeyman in order to shoot it down. This is the inherent danger of claiming “divine right” for kings, emperors or tzars.

Associating kings (or communist leaders, for that matter) with omniscience leads to an opposite and equal mistake. Disillusionment with individual rulers is mistakenly transferred onto authority in general, whether organized religions or governments. Bouncing off of one problem, we’re pushed into even worse ones.

To repeat, this misses the point. In Quantum Paradigm context, what authorities do or don’t do is irrelevant to the creator’s existence. Human misbehavior has no direct bearing on timeless truth.

Dispensing with an entire belief system indiscriminately — emotionally, bitterly — is like shooting oneself in foot to get rid of a blister. We’re rarely taught the skills to discriminate between distortions — abusive misrepresentations — and enduring, substantive value. The extreme position of “all or nothing” is dramatic but self-defeating.

Another “alien invader” strategy is to blame human suffering on God. In the face of tragedy, people are tricked into believing that God has abandoned them entirely. Numerous popular songs plead with the Creator: “Can you hear me?” To ask is to admit we’ve forgotten about God. Of course the Creator is intimately aware of creation. Better questions would be, “Are we quiet enough to hear? Are we really listening?”

A great deal of the mess comes from the lack of a complete, correct and positive Quantum Paradigm. There are different levels of knowing. It’s essential to keep them prioritized. Con-fusing sub-rational with super-rational ways of knowing is a major mistake. It’s an alien sleight-of-hand to lump these extremes together and write them off them as “irrational.”

More of the mess is due to failing to adhere to a common center which serves as the fulcrum between see-sawing extremes. Here the law, “The larger the front, the larger the back,” comes into play.

For example, extreme rationality generates opposite and equally irrational results. Barring sub- and super-rational alike, atheists who claim to hold the rational high ground can be extraordinary irrational. They come across as angry, rude, intolerant and demeaning.

Journalist Peter Hitchens describes ironic inconsistencies in the wake of the Russian revolution. As a journalist, he observed that what claimed to be an egalitarian society was in practice highly stratified and unequal. Extreme corruption enriched a handful of vastly wealthy elites at the expense of the masses who lived in miserable poverty.

Peter’s brother, atheism apologist Christopher Hitchens, who claimed that religion spoils everything, called for a “new” enlightenment. This is nonsense. Light was, is, and always will be light. Reason is necessary, but not in itself sufficient. It’s not all there is. It occupies a middle ground, serving to link the material plane with the center.

Reason is not qualified to enter into super-rational realms. It cannot be appropriately used to critique what’s beyond it. But it can play an important part. At its best, used with Sherlock-like skill, it’s indispensable for detecting and foiling the schemes of alien enemies.

Once reason clarifies how we’ve gotten into such a mess — exposing the hostile aliens’ rules and methods — it’s important to move on to the next question. What are we going to do about it? How can using the Quantum Paradigm of Change protect us from the effects of alien schemes and lead to positive solutions?

Fresh Start

After facing up to the inescapable proof everywhere around us that our language and idea pools have been corrupted, what do we do about it? Extreme radical measures call for opposite and equal survival responses. Scrap everything. Back to the drawing board. Clear the decks. Empty the overflowing in-baskets and clutter on the mental desktop.

Religious leaders have abused the teachings, so atheists have been conned into rejecting the fundamentals of the timeless, perennial philosophy altogether. Human authorities have violated their responsibilities, so reactionaries have been conned into making the mistake of rejecting all authority on every level.

Let’s face it. Religious and secular institutions inevitably degenerate. They accumulate baggage over time and drift away from founders’ visions.

So from time to time in the repeating cycles of history, it becomes urgently necessary to sort out what’s worth holding on to and what not. Do a thorough cultural house cleaning. Right now, people everywhere are overdue for a major rethinking of their paradigms.

Start with the premise that we’ve been brainwashed. We’re ensnared in contradictory myths and misconceptions. So approach the work with humility and extreme caution. Accept the possibility that everything you thought you knew is wrong.

Initiate OPERATION RESCUE. One individual at a time, take back our most precious asset: our minds. Like tenacious truth-miners, sift through the mud to separate out nuggets of pure gold. Hold fast to truth. Fearlessly put the rest behind.

Go back to the drawing board. Wipe the slate clean. Start over with a fresh, unmarked deck. Rethink organizations by the standard of the Positive Paradigm. Start with the smallest unit of organization — yourself. Work with what’s possible. Be assured that every little bit helps. “One grain of rice can tip the scales.”

If this seems daunting, remember, the stakes. They couldn’t be higher: the survival versus extinction of all you love. Each contribution affects the whole. Everyone matters. As Einstein warned in “Ensuring the Future of Mankind”. . . “Each one of us would be at fault if the goal were not reached in time. There is the danger that everyone waits idly for others to act in his stead.”10

Remember the scare of thermonuclear war, Einstein’s worst nightmare. In 1962, Kennedy and Khrushchev engaged in a personal ego contest, going toe-to-toe during the Cuban missile crisis. It threatened Soviets and Americans with mutual annihilation. Only at the last hour did they relent.

We have Khrushchev’s personal letter to Kennedy:

Only lunatics or suicides, who themselves want to perish and to destroy the whole world before they die, could do this. . . . If you have not lost your self-control, and sensibly conceive what this might lead to, then, Mr. President, we and you ought not to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be tied. And a moment may come when the knot will be tied so tight that even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it. . .

Lest history repeat itself, let us urge world leaders not to replay this potentially deadly sword-rattling scenario.

Here are recommended positive attitudes for approaching Operation RESCUE:

1. Gird personal determination to win the inner war that matters most. Put pride and old attachments aside. Let the consequences of failing to rescue your mind along with the rewards for doing it motivate persistence.

2. Take nothing for granted. Appreciate what you have while you still have it. Remember: it took only nine seconds for one lunatic to blow John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s head away. It changed the world as his family and the world knew it. Two bullets was all it took to extinguish our best hope for the future of democracy and world peace.

3. Proceed with equal parts courage and trust. Revisit the basic, important life questions carefully. Scrap the old answers. Shed the emotional baggage and prejudices we all carry from personal experience.

Be willing to look at the world and how one fits into it with fresh eyes. Attachments to familiar beliefs as well as obligations to teachers and family are irrelevant to the TRUTH. So are old animosities. Trust that if old answers were correct and personal loyalties valid, they’ll withstand the test of time.

4. Focus on the values everyone everywhere undeniably have in common. Following Einstein’s example, learn how to “think like a genius:”

The scientist or the artist takes two facts or experiences which we separate; he finds in them a likeness which had not been seen before: and he creates a unity by showing the likeness. . . . All science is the search for unity in hidden likenesses.

Begin with respect humanity’s underlying similarities. Let them be our cause for ensuring human survival. Regardless of national origin or racial background, we’re all endowed with native intelligence and the capacity to reason.

Barring unnatural distortions, we’re born with the capacity to love life and cherish family. Most people, most of the time, have an innate capacity for compassion, a thirst for truth and profound desire for personal freedom. We also enjoy a good laugh.

On the cellular level, we’re products of the same DNA pool. Scientists say that all humans trace back to a mere handful of ancestors. It’s testimony to the human intellect to have discovered the DNA code. It serves as a reminder of the wondrous workings of an intelligent Creator. For how could such an extraordinarily intricate, miraculous pattern (much less its reproductive process) be sheer coincidence? How merciful, that we have been allowed this insight into the workings of intelligent design.

It would be a tragedy for us to forget our common blessings, their single source and the preciousness of life. They should unite everyone everywhere against the destructive schemes of genocidal aliens invaders.

5. Focus on TRUTH. Give it the benefit of the doubt. If familiar expressions don’t work for you, dig deeper. Or try a better approach. But cleave to the life-sustaining essence which sincere practitioners of every faith have held in common from time immemorial. Communicate from that center. And build community from there.

Just as each atom has only one nucleus, in Quantum Paradigm context there’s only one core at the center of creation. Logically, over time and in every circumstance, inspired teachings partake of it. If you delve deep enough into the teachings with a sincere heart, you’ll find the same universal source. Since the center is timeless, its TRUTH has always existed and always will.

There is great power in TRUTH. There’s great power in inspired scriptures to move and instruct us in our ways. This includes the venerable I Ching. The Book of Change instills in the receptive observer a profound understanding of human nature and relationships, the better to lead effectively.

Likewise, the complete and accurate Quantum Paradigm of Change has the power to serve as a road map. Use it as a guide for anticipating and overcoming troubles. Let it serve as a link to TRUTH.

Heavy duty bad guys will do whatever it takes to cut humans off from the source of their power. They block inner awareness any way they can. People conned by alien invaders into denying their origins have been castrated, disinherited — cut off from natural power. They’ve been left helpless.

So be determined to take your power back. This is the deepest meaning of “power to the people.” It’s the foundation of genuine democracy. Never, ever be conned into abandoning the inner source of strength. It’s our hope of ultimate survival.

Don’t waste precious time and energy quarreling about whose version of TRUTH is best. Life is too short and precarious. Urge leaders to stop squandering natural resources to add man-made disasters to the roster of survival-threatening perils. Call on them to stop squabbling over the ego-illusion of world-dominance. It’s the height of human folly.

Countless natural disasters are hovering on the edges of history. Indifferent to our insignificant concerns, they’re poised to wipe humans off the face of the Earth. Violent hurricanes and floods, volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, comet strikes and increasingly intense sun flares are pending.

Future generations depend on each of us to transcend our petty animal nature. They demand that we draw upon the inexhaustible resource of inner strength to keep the wheel of life together for their sake.

In times of great calamities and sorrow, the truly great in spirit will rise to meet whatever challenges may come, sustained by the eternal center within.

6. Don’t get hung up on language. Don’t be confused by misdirecting spin. Stick to the facts. Don’t let double-speaking truth-twisters insult your intelligence. If you allow them to play on your worst fears, they’ll manipulate you into becoming your own worst enemy. Have a standard for knowing who’s who. If you refuse to be fooled by name-calling, empty labels can’t stick. Know friends from enemies by the fruits of their labors. Not by their whitewash excuses.

Don’t let baggage-burdened labels deter you from knowing what you know. “A rose by any other name still smells as sweet.” On the other hand, noone has a monopoly on the Truth. Don’t let anyone drive you off of “their” turf. Nor do you have to pay dues to partake of truth.

It’s no accident that Jon Huntsman, Jr., the son of a visionary father described above is now serving as point man for a group called “No Labels.” This organization would benefit by working from the deeper perspective the Quantum Paradigm has to offer. However, they are definitely moving us in a positive direction. Here’s how their vision and purpose is described on the website, NoLabels.org:

No Labels is a growing citizens’ movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents dedicated to promoting a new politics of problem solving . . . We welcome people left, right and everything in between as long as they are willing to collaborate with one another to seek a shared success for America. This new attitude is what No Labels is all about.

In this spirit, take back the TRUTH. Find common language that works for everyone. So what if false teachers corrupt the teachings? So what if politicians turn timeless truth upside down? Even if horrible things have been done in its name, that’s all the more reason to get back to the original unchanging basics.

For example, one term atheists might relate to is “Universal Mind.” I’m partial to the term “Creator.” Others choose to call the unnameable source of life the Tao, the Great Father, Holy Spirit, the Buddha or Allah. But author U.S. Anderson used “Universal Mind” interchangeably with “God.”

Perhaps atheists squeamish about the name God, who defend reason as their means for accessing TRUTH, would resonate with the concept of a Universal Mind. The awesomely powerful human intellect is its miniature and mirror. This is, in fact, an accurate representation of the TRUTH.

7. The Danger. Don’t let alien agents define who you are. For example, in the November 2013 issue of Esquire Magazine,14 an was article on “The New American Center.” The web posting put forth a definition of “center” diametrically opposed to the common sense center described here. On the basis of 2,410 registered voters surveyed, researchers generalized that American voters have been shifting on the ideological spectrum. They no longer have a comfortable political home or a champion. Of respondents, 49 percent agreed with the assumption-laden statement, “I never put faith in politicians of either party because they always end up disappointing me.” An additional 25 percent indicated that they were neutral.

This new center is said to agree that those in dire need should receive assistance, but would really prefer that government leave the rest of us alone. Researchers say that the new center wants government to spend less and go easy on regulation,. But they’re okay with raising taxes on the rich and on polluters. The new center “has had it with the rest of the world.” In particular, it doesn’t want American using its resources to fix things overseas when we have problems at home.

Researchers conclude: The center is up for grabs. More than one in three of the new center don’t “feel” that anybody in Washington represents them. They are, therefore, “waiting to be found.” Those on the Left are somewhat confident that someone in Washington expresses their viewpoints. But more than half of the “Righteous Right” feel that no one speaks for them. This conclusion is, apparently, an open invitation to political chameleons. It tells them how to paint themselves to please this new center, the better to “grab” their votes.

I’m deeply skeptical of such studies. My graduate school experience with research scientists wasn’t impressive. In that case as in this, the questions themselves were skewed. The way they were framed prevented accurate answers. Here, participant selection also supports predrawn conclusions. The opinions of those who opt not to vote are excluded. And as in my own experience, the conclusions not only appear to be foreknown. They seem intended to serve ends of political masters.

The dangers of media-influenced opinion polls, the precursor of media-selected politicians, cannot be underestimated. Who after all, funds and for all practical purposes owns the media, if not the likes of George Soros, the puppet master himself?

Regardless of what the agendas for redefining the Center might be, my first remedy is to take back the meaning of “Center.” Let it be defined by common sense in Positive Paradigm context, not by paid political researchers. The hub at the center of life’s wheel can’t be equated with a political center. Quite the opposite. Remember the Karate Kid? Pick one side of the road or the other. Good or evil. Truth or spin. As Mr. Miagi warned, middle-of-the-roaders get “squished like grape.”

8. The Opportunity. Inherent in endings are opportunities for new beginnings. “After degeneration reaches critical mass, regeneration follows.”

For one thing, no matter how extreme the danger, we’re never alone. This is so on both physical and metaphysical levels. Just as alien invaders are infiltrating society, there are conscientious souls who know very well what they are up to. They’re penetrating enemy ranks to reroute their plans. They’re also courageously calling public attention to blatant nonsense.

For example, follow Dr. Timothy Daughtry and colleagues at concordbridgeconsulting.com. He’s captured the dynamic of deceptive messaging perfectly: “Whatever you intend, say the opposite.” Here’s a sample from “Liberals Love It When We Fight:”

Helplessness, and not hope, is the left’s real message. . . the uniform message from liberal politicians to minority Americans is that the system is stacked against them, and that their only hope is through electing liberal politicians — not through personal effort. 

So, trust that people of conscience are embedded in the right places to say and do the right things at the right time. Just as invaders’ agents work to undermine humanity, modern-day sages are tenaciously working to expose and defeat their schemes. That’s why it’s imperative to cut across false boundaries.

Connect with like-minded boundary-spanners wherever they are to be found. If they’re true to the common sense voice of conscience, they’re humanity’s best hope. Heed them. Remember JFK’s vision:

I look forward to a great future for America — a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purposes. I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will reward achievement in business or statecraft, which commands respect through out the world not only for its strength, but for its civilization as well.

In this message, John Fitzgerald Kennedy left behind unfinished work and with it the key to a fresh start. We now have the opportunity to complete what his started. Here’s the vision he intended to make real.

With the tool of the Quantum Paradigm of Change now in hand, we have the opportunity to universalize his vision. Let us urge all nations to balance strength with restraint, wealth with wisdom, and power with positive purpose.

Kennedy’s death was a comma, not a period. The ideas he expressed in the speech meant to be delivered on the evening of November 22, 1963, the date of his assassination, can still be realized. Parallel to Einstein’s unfinished quest for the Unified Theory, the time is right to pick up Kennedy’s fallen flag and move forward using the Positive Paradigm as the basis of a common leadership initiative:

. . . our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to the nation, and indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom. . . So let us not be petty when our cause is so great.

Fifty years later, as he foresaw, not just one nation’s future is at stake. It’s an “all or nothing” challenge. So let’s call on our leaders to something truly extraordinary:

Forsake the conflict-driven quest for personal political power. Put it at the service of an even more powerful and truly worthy goal: human survival. Partnership in a leadership initiative to fulfill JFK’s vision.

But don’t just sit back, waiting for politicians to wake up. Follow Einstein’s advice. Don’t build another human institution, a conglomeration of internally conflicted governments.

Instead, build an international intentional community of like minds. The internet gives opportunities for connecting across limiting, artificial boundaries that Einstein would never have dreamed possible.

Bloggers, do your best. Put the pressure of public opinion behind a tidal wave of appeals to nation- and opinion-shapers.

Why This, Why Me, and Why NOW? 

Much to my surprise, The Way of the Sage went its own way.  

Much of what I originally intended to say was left unsaid.  

For example, I planned to follow through on my earlier invitation to Sage Robbins.  

In an Open Letter to Tony Robbins, I observed that the not-coincidental pun on his wife’s name nominates her as the logical and ideal person to try out and report back to him on the validity and benefits associated with this ancient, tried and true, universal method of decision-making – the book accurately described The Ultimate Personal Survival Guide. 

I intended to tell her that the Common Sense Book of Change is intentionally free of the usual elitist and gender assumptions (“the superior man”). No one is excluded from the opportunity to be truly noble, genuinely wise. 

I wanted to tell her that this small book makes timeless wisdom available to truth seekers — whomever, wherever — free of distortions. There’s no overlay of cultural bias. For this ancient wisdom treasure is, in its essence, timeless. Universal.  

I intended to appeal to her natural, maternal instinct to educate and protect our children, now and into the future. I would have invited her to join me in giving this small book to the world as living proof that women too have the potential to become peaceful warriors as well as sages. 

But, as I said, The Way of the Sage took a detour. Immediately after publishing it, however, I became aware that it was just the first installment.  

Overnight, I received the content of a second installment. Again, it didn’t include the originally outlined facts and details. Instead, something else, equally unexpected, emerged.  

This time, I was called to explain these Three Whys.  

  • Why this subject?  
  • Why me? Why am I the right person to address it? And,  
  • Why this subject and me NOW?  

The Three Why’s aren’t necessarily separate. They blend and interact. But I’ll do my best, as briefly as possible, to sort it out for you. 

——————————————————— 

WHY THIS? 

As stated earlier: 

What I’ve been given in trust to share with the world is a re-vision of timeless wisdom, clear and simple in form, suited to the needs of the times.  

The form is two-part, consisting of a mutually reinforcing map and a manual. One is an overview, a snapshot of quantum reality. The other, with good reason, has been called The Ultimate Personal Survival Guide.   

For many reasons, some explained below, the future ahead is going to be majorly unfamiliar. However positive pending changes will ultimately prove to be, at the onset they’ll be perceived by most to be fearful and threatening.  

In that context, the Sage’s Way of Wisdom – embodied in the combo of the Quantum Paradigm Life Wheel and the Book of Change, are going to be the resources we can turn to and depend upon. They’ll guide those open to change, helping them travel safely through the challenges of a global shift, one day and one situation at a time, so they don’t crash and burn, don’t fall victim to cultural shock.  

These wisdom tools offer the option to see changing times as the rare and precious opportunity they are to practice the Phoenix Response to change: to die to the old not through suicide, but in order to be reborn into something new and better in the same lifetime. 

In combination, this map and manual hold the answers to humanity’s collective prayers for: 

  • Truth.  
  • Freedom, first within, then without.  
  • Peace, first within, then without.   
  • Harmony and health.   
  • Loving, supportive relationships at home, in the community, and in the world.   
  • An end to confusion, conflict and corruption.  
  • An understanding of how the world really works.  
  • A return to simplicity and goodness.   

And there’s more. So much more. Even the legendary Confucius, accomplished as he was, wished for an additional 75 years of life in order to study and increase his understanding of this endlessly profound science. 

Among many other things, the I Ching works like a cosmic clock. It forewarns of danger and nurtures the inner strength to cope with and outlast inevitable shocks and adversity. 

Supporting commentary could easily be supplied, but this short post isn’t the place. For now, Trust me. It’s true. It’s all true.   

As for the complimentary Quantum Life Wheel, although apparently simple, it satisfies the inclusive standard of Occam’s Razor. The implications of its embodied Unified Field Theory are universal. Its applications are endless. Here’s just one suggestive example: 

————————————————————— 

WHY ME? 

Long story short, my life has been a wandering path that has, over time, seeming miraculously, as if all were preordained, given me access to the broad range of information that had to be integrated. I’ve been uniquely called to collect the mosaic pieces of various wisdom traditions and intuitively known how they fit together, forming the unified picture presented here.  

Again, this isn’t the place to go into scholarly detail. For now, please trust me.  

But why the physical me? So many reasons, it couldn’t have been anyone else. It’s not just my name which, like Sage’s, nominates me for the role. It had to be West. I’ve been cautioned not to lose myself in eastern traditions, but rather to serve as a bridge, to integrate them into western civilization.  Life has fashioned me into An Instrument of Light.

And it had to be my gender. Women are the ones for whom the system works least. They’re the ones most qualified to address its blind spots and serve as change agents — of necessity, to be “the early adaptive.” More importantly, my gentle yin nature — my persona – speaks to the crying need to restore respect for the receptive, nurturing yin qualities of human nature, lacking which our civilization has degenerated into its current condition of critical mass. 

As for scholarly qualifications, I spoke to this in The Qualification That Matters. 

On the one hand, does it really matter who the messenger is? It’s the message that counts. If the truth of what I say resonates and the results work for you, the message speaks for itself. It stands on its own merit.  

On the other hand, if you really believe that the messenger matters, then truth be told, the best of what I know comes from personal experience.  

Which isn’t to say I haven’t paid my dues. I’ve earned the traditional academic credentials to string behind my name. (B.A. in history and philosophy from Oberlin College. M.A. in English and Ph.D.in Educational Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.)   

But in this light, they don’t much matter. In fact, most of what I learned in schools later had to be unlearned. 

The qualification that genuinely matters here is that I have a good teacher. A really, really good teacher. And that we have your best interests at heart. 

The one we called Old Avatar was a uniquely advanced soul. Lao Tze best describes his vast, but subtle influence. “The presence of true masters is only suspected.” His Universal Mind permeates the quantum field. Those open to his magic respond and all is done. Truth seekers automatically tune in to him, broadcasting from the far side — Tony Robbins included. 

Tony Robbins and I are connected through OA.  It works both ways. I was attracted to Tony’s Awaken the Giant Within. This website was, in fact, inspired by his challenge. Conversely, much of what Tony teaches reflects how well he’s tuned into OA. For example, OA’s MPI (Motive-Purpose-Intent) standard permeates his work.  

—————————————- 

WHY NOW? 

Long story short, astrologically, the times are ripe and ready. Without going into technical detail, suffice it to say that planet Earth is approaching a time of massive change. Where before, things weren’t possible, they’re quickly becoming inevitable. 

As described in Wheels Within Wheels, we’re in the midst of an extraordinarily rare triple conjunction that last occurred 2,300 years ago. It was marked by the massive economic and cultural shifts that followed from the conquests of Alexander the Great. It’s that huge. 

We’re at critical mass. I, along with others born for such a time as this (including General Michael Flynn and Patrick Byrne), are doing our best to avert a destructive civil war intentionally being provoked by dark side minions. Were they to prevail, it would take civilization back to the dark ages.  

This escalating tension is scheduled to be kinetic, escalating all the way up to the November 2024 election.

Using this foresight in combination with wisdom tools, we can steer our planning and behavior. We have the ability, potential, opportunity — actually a divine calling — to collectively tip the balance in favor of world peace.  

Let’s choose life. Let’s choose the Way of the Sage: respecting all of life and practicing peace, first within, then without.  

So much to say. So little time. So little space.  

But for now, until the next time, be well. All best.  

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change and Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change. She’s currently working on The Quantum Solution: What the Ancient’s Knew About Our POTENTIAL Future. 

Open Letter to Tony Robbins 

Dear Tony, 

During the past week, something unpleasantly strange and highly unusual happened on your Tony Robbins YouTube channel. 

In this open letter, I’ll tell you what happened, why it upset me so much, and – most importantly — the reasons why not only you but your followers really need to know about it. 

It started on Monday, August 1st, when I watched your interview with Ray Dalio on the Changing World Order, how countries rise and fall, and what the cycles of history can teach us now. The description box included your words,  

“Power comes to those that can recognize patterns.” 

Now, I’ve been saying exactly this for a very long time. The subject is dear to my heart. Naturally, I immediately wanted to know your point of view. 

As I listened, I was on fire. I paused to enter one, two, three, four and then five comments.  

Next began a sequence of events. First, all but one of the five comments disappeared. Then, a message with your name on it, in your channel, was pinned to my one remaining comment. 

 In a nutshell, (though it took a day to recognize it), a punitive hacker with ulterior motives is policing your channel.  

The pinned reply with your name – Tony Robbins – gave a phone number for me to call.  

What appeared in my email looked like this: Pinned Tony Robbin十l{7O7}86IO5l4 replied to Pat West’s comment.   

Pinned Tony Robbin十l{7O7}86IO5l4  

msg me directly,⤴️ 

My first response was to be Thrilled!!! 

OMG. Tony Robbins is interested in my comments. He wants to know more!!! This is a dream come true, and with perfect timing.  

Naturally, I quickly responded to what I naively believed was an invitation from Tony himself. The texted conversation, still in my phone, looks like this: 

(Monday, August 1.  7:49 p.m.) 

Me: Hello Tony. This is Pat West. I’m responding to your pinned message. What would you like to speak about? 

X: Hello Pat, nice to have you here. 

Me: Likewise 

X: Before that I’d like to know how long you have been following my channel? 

Me: You’ve been a major influence for many years. My website was based on reading your Giants within. Have been following you ever sense.  

X: Let’s text on my business signal messenger. I have alot I’d like to share with you. You can download signal messenger it’s a private messenger That’s my business line (817) 385-7454. Let me know when you do. 

That’s when things turned south. There was no such app on my phone. I dropped my plans for the next day, intent on getting that app and continuing the conversation. I emailed a friend, explaining the “opportunity” and asking for her help: 

Hi Terry, A most wonderful and amazing opportunity has knocked on my humble door. But it would sure help if you have the time to be of assistance. 

I just remembered the quote I used to conclude a book I wrote. Turns out to be very true: “You can rest assured that if you devote your time and attention to the highest advantage of others, the Universe will support you, always and only in the nick of time.” R. Buckminster Fuller   . . . . And it really is just in the nick. 
 

. . . tonight — which happens to be the exact date of the most powerful energy in 2,300 years — [Tony] pinned an answer to my comment saying to text him. We had a brief exchange. He seemed to like my responses and wants me to continue the conversation in a message app that I do NOT have on my phone and don’t know how to install. 
 

I didn’t hear from her right away. Impatient, I called Quintin, the tech I work with at the Computer Doctors. He wasn’t available. The next morning, not to be defeated, I took a cab to U.S. Cellular. The agent there was helpful, but dubious. Some message apps mess phones up, he warned.  

When I finally heard from Quintin, he showered cold water on my hopes. He sees this kind of scam frequently. It set off all his alarm bells. 

So, once inside the app, I challenged the pseudo-Tony. “Are you for real? I’ve been warned this is a scam. Give me something of substance, or I will delete the app.” 

Silence. App deleted. 

I went from soaring with hope and joy to crashing in embarrassment, disappointment and bewilderment. Why? Why? 

How and WHY would someone hack the Tony Robbins channel? Why would anyone go to the trouble of deleting my comments? Why would an imposter represent himself as Tony and pin a reply to my comment? And why, oh why, would anyone, playing on my dearest hope of connecting with Tony, lure me into loading an app apparently designed to mess up my phone? 

Where’s the method in apparent madness? It took me a while to calm down and sort it out.  

No doubt, it had to do with the substance of my comments.  

Fortunately, I saved them. The one allowed to stand, apparently the one regarded as least offensive, was this: 

The venerable, Chinese I Ching, the Book of Change, has mapped the patterns of Natural Law that influence cycles of human life, organizations and civilizations for thousands of years. This scratches the mere surface of what sages have known for eons. Why not return to the basics? 

[BTW. Had it been the real Tony, I would have pointed out that the not-coincidental pun on his wife’s name, SAGE, makes her the ideal person to try out and report back to him on the validity and benefits associated with this ancient, tried and true, universal method of decision-making – the book accurately described The Ultimate Personal Survival Guide.] 

 

Here’s one of the deleted comments: 

Astrologers have much to say about historical and economic changes. We’ve reached a critical point that’s now occurring for the first time in 2,300 years, the time of Alexander the Great.  See  rethinkingsurvival.com/2022/07/16/heads-up/   

Another was this: 

Tony, you’re asking the right questions of the wrong person. Correctly seen, paradigm shifts are not about 10-year economic trends, but about major shifts in belief systems. Martin Luther, for example. Or Christ. 

As for the China issue, in the future, we must persuade them to return to their roots, their heritage in the I Ching, and a world view where everyone everywhere shares a divine center in common. I will have to write you a post on this. Please look for it on my website, rethinkingsurvival.com. I’ll call it Wheels Within Wheels. 

These last two, however, were probably the seriously offending ones.  

Good Lord, Tony. What’s going on is a paradigm shift, as Kuhn well knew. Powerholders with a vested interest in a dying order are, predictably, defending the deep state like animals backed into a corner. Patriots want peace, not war. It’s the deep state that’s desperately engineering civil war, provoking patriots beyond measure, hoping for excuses to inter them in Nazi-like FEMA camps, exterminate opponents as if to prevent the wave of the future. (The fate of Jan 6 political prisoners is a warning example intended to intimidate/discourage freedom seekers.) 

Contrary to the media version of Jan. 6 events, evidence is mounting that it was a diversionary tactic staged by Pelosi et.al. It prevented a timely investigation into election fraud that, had it been allowed to proceed in an orderly fashion as intended, could have prevented what has proven to be a disastrous Biden administration.  

Most importantly, wars cannot be correctly analyzed without a wheels-within-wheels, correct and accurate Quantum Paradigm. The wars we see on the public stage reflect the deeper war going on between good and evil.  

And finally this:  

Tony, for a correct perspective on what’s going on politically in the U.S. you urgently need to get in contact with, follow AND support the work of The America Project. It’s founded by Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. His CEO is Patrick Byrne, former founder/CEO of Overstock.com.  See https://americaproject.com/ 

Bottom line: Here’s proof that the same thought police at work throughout social media, banning truth tellers and shutting down sites that challenge the prevailing false narrative, are also infiltrating channels and altering content! 

Now, once I recognized the scam, and called it out, the pinned message disappeared, and one (only one) of the deleted comments reappeared. Which tells me that the hacker continues to surveil and manipulate comments to your channel. 

Not good! 

So I decided this rare, unique time is too precious to waste. I’m going to turn this disappointment around, change it into a genuine “opportunity.”  The fact that my words had sufficient truth to signal forces of the dark side to retaliate is evidence that I’m on the right track. My ideas DO deserve the attention of Tony, Ray AND their followers.

In fact, the messages deleted might well be exactly the ones the world most needs!

Therefore, my message to you and Ray Dalio stands.  

Further, I need to ask. Do either of you have attorneys on board, charged with protecting your intellectual property? If so, I urge you to have them track down the two phone numbers I was given, first to text, then to message. These thought police are criminals! They need to be outed and dealt with appropriately. 

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change and Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change. She’s currently working on The Phoenix Response: Dying To Be Reborn – in the Same Lifetime. 

Master the Field. Claim the Pearl. 

In my last post, Rethinking Nature in an Unnatural World, I began by saying that the essential Chinese I Ching, the Book of Change, reveals a priceless treasure, “akin to the biblical pearl without price.” 

Overnight, it came to me that I owe you a further explanation of what I mean. I’ve written about Natural Law and the Book of Change from many different angles. So today I revisited past blogs and made excerpts to offer you a more in-depth view of my meaning. 

Before I delve into that, however, let me first mention why the subject is extraordinarily timely. Astrologically, the United States is experiencing its Pluto return. It’s a big deal. Many astrologers are giving it attention. Because it affects not only the U.S. but the world, British astrologer Pam Gregory dedicated an entire video to the subject. 

This return means that, as a nation, Americans are being obliged to rethink who we are, what we truly value, and what we want our next cycle of history to look like. Upsetting political events are obliging citizens to revisit the Constitution and decide whether it’s worth upholding – not just giving it lip-service, but actually enforcing it – going forward. 

It’s time to revisit and welcome the “opportunity” to upgrade the beliefs of the founders. In the Common Sense Book of Change, I wrote: 

 THREE LEVELS OF LAW 

America’s Declaration of Independence names three kinds of law: the laws of man, of nature and nature’s God. The Book of Change is based on the laws of natural change. They emanate from and depend on divine law and serve as the rightful foundation of civil law.  

Clearly, laws legislated in ignorance of or in opposition to natural and divine law are not likely to work out well. Policy makers at all levels would do well to give this point careful thought. 

In Common Sense, Thomas Paine wrote about the relationship of divine, natural and human law in a way that inspired readers at the time of the American Revolution to fight for freedom from tyranny. Approaching natural law from the deeper understanding of the ancients could inspire a reinvention of democracy now. 

Sages say that freedom from tyranny begins with dispelling ignorance and overcoming toxic, negative emotions. Inalienable freedom starts with the self-awareness and self-mastery which can be gained by diligent use of the I Ching. 

Restoring common awareness of and effectiveness in harnessing/expressing the e=energy level of human potential would give a whole new meaning to the slogan “Power to the People.”

With that in mind, here are excerpts which explain the importance I place on the ancient understanding of Natural Law within the context of the quantum Life Wheel. Included is a more detailed description of the e=energy level that’s correlated with Natural Law. 

It’s worth your careful attention. 

From The Ultimate Gatekeeper: 

. . . . [The Book of Change] is a book that truly belongs to the world. It transcends, in its essence, the limitations of time and space. Used correctly, as intended, it leads the ordinary mind towards experiences of self-awareness and transformative transcendence.  

Over the years, I’ve grown absolutely certain that the worldwide leadership deficit (and related budget deficits) is explained by an underlying knowledge deficit. For lack of what The Book of Change has to offer, people everywhere remain perplexed as to how and why so much continues to go so horribly wrong, despite the best of intentions.  

Making this compendium of Natural Law — the premier leadership training and decision-making manual in China for thousands of years — widely accessible now is necessary in order to fill in this fatal knowledge gap.  

Mainstreaming this vitally important information is the first, necessary step towards the positive change which many call for, but remain unable to achieve. 

—- 

The extraordinary value of the I Ching is that it reveals the secrets of dynamic Natural Law. Working with its changes opens up personal access to the middle level of the Life Wheel, the “e = energy” layer of Einstein’s Unified Field Theory. 

This middle level of Natural Law serves as mediating, two-directional gatekeeper between the ever-changing surface rim and the universal, timeless center.

You can’t get from here to there and back again, except through the middle “energy” layer which, in Western thinking, is effectively taboo, buried deep within the inaccessible “unconscious.”  

To the extent that the Natural Law of energy dynamics remains a blind spot in the prevailing, linear and exclusively empirical paradigm, we are left powerless to move beyond the surface level of experience. 

To compound the loss, when stuck on the surface, the realm of light and conscience which rests beyond, on the far side of the dynamic energy level, remains functionally inaccessible.  

Only by becoming intelligently competent in managing the subtle energies of the middle level does it become possible for one to travel further inwards for the direct personal experience of not only Light but, even deeper still, its very Source.  

Unfortunately, the middle level is too often clogged with painful memories, negative emotions and repressed, socially taboo urges. It becomes a barrier to deeper knowing. 

For eight thousand years and counting, the Book of Change has served as an indispensable tool for resolving this dilemma. Used as intended, it can restore the unnecessarily “unconscious” to conscious awareness, reopening the levels of human potential so they can be aligned and unified.  

In this context, genuine survivors fit to prevail in today’s increasingly dangerous times aren’t those with the most material wealth, possessions or political power. They’re the ones who’ve successfully navigated the middle realm, reached the far shore of enlightenment and returned to the surface with their new information intact. 

Those who succeed in linking the levels of experience are genius-leaders in whatever fields they choose to engage. They’re the fortunate ones who have acquired the inner wealth necessary to both hear the still voice of conscience and act effectively on the guidance they receive. 

From The Middle E=Energy Level of the Life Wheel 

The middle level is the realm of less tangible but still measurable states of energy, including electricity. More subtly, it is the chi, ki or prana described by Chinese, Japanese and Indian traditions as the life force which animates all living beings. In Greek and Christian traditions it’s known as breath, the psyche. 

These subtle energies influence internal psychological states. As emotions, they drive external human behavior, which in turn affects social/political relationships. Knowledge of these dynamics is essential to personal survival. 

Effective leadership and the quality of life within organizations hinges on the quality of awareness brought to dynamics at this level. Some leaders understand energy dynamics at a gut level as a matter of common sense. However, systematic education would significantly improve results of the decision-making process. 

—— 

When sufficiently purified and mastered, disciplined and intelligently harnessed to positive goals, the middle level fuels what Anthony Robbins calls “unlimited power.”  

These subtle energies explain the possibility of seemingly impossible feats, including the miracles attributed to Moses and Jesus. 

——

In Life Wheel context, the “subtle” energy realm exists between the outer, surface level of matter and the deepest center of unchanging stillness.

As the functional link between extremes, both on the out-going and the in-going paths, it serves as the gatekeeper and mediator between the two.  

“You can’t get from here to there,” except through this middle level of experience.  Cluttering or denying access to it make connection with the Center difficult, at best. 

Historically, Asian cultures are more comfortable with this middle level. Asian healing practices including chi kung, tai chi and hatha yoga use exercise to intentionally circulate, balance, harness and direct subtle energies through the physical body. 

—- 

The middle level is also the repository of karmic information, where the history of past actions is kept, along with a record of debts to be repaid. It’s the repository of short and long-term memories. The composite of emotions — fears, desires and repressed tendencies — are stored here in what Western psychologies call the “unconscious.” It is the stuff of dreams — inspired visions, nightmares and everything in-between. 

The bardo, where (according to The Tibetan Book of the Dead) recently departed souls travel, is located within this level. Spirits, ghosts, leprechauns, demons or jinn acknowledged by various mystic traditions also reside there. From here, unseen hands from the “dark side of the force” reach out to derange the minds of power-hungry rulers and undermine political affairs. (It’s for this reason that disciplines for “cleaning out the swamp” precede introduction to advanced yogic practices.) 

So long as invisible energetic influences remain unaccounted for, the failings and depravities of human leaders remain mystifying. Conspiracy theorists can track the complicated networks of human crime on the surface. But to trace world domination plots back to their lair, one must look deeper. St. Paul described it in his letter to the Ephesians: 

6:12. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

—- 

When cluttered and undisciplined, the middle energy level is like a swamp full of alligators. 

Once the swamp is cleared out and the alligators are tamed, however, energetic potentials can be harnessed to worthy goals. They’re like the gas that fuels the car engine, or the pair of black and white horses that pulled Plato’s heaven-bound chariot.  

But easier said than done. The Quantum Paradigm validates experiences which report a dark side to the subtle realm, which the life traveler must be prepared to encounter and survive. Some describe it as “Chapel Perilous” or “the Hero’s Journey.” 

— 

Religionists, moralists and even poets like Edgar Alan Poe warn against exploring the middle realm, portraying it as dangerous, fearful or unclean. However, inhibiting awareness of the energy level cripples efforts to attain self-knowledge. In effect, it slams the lid on libido, the motivating life force.  

Doing so doesn’t avoid dangers. It just banishes this level from conscious awareness. Relegated to the “unconscious” and rendered inaccessible, this part of inner experience festers, more dangerous than ever. Taboos on energy awareness backfires, resulting in mental illness, socially aberrant behavior, addictions and personal tragedy.  

Here are important questions to ponder. Why ban access to the levels of energy and light? Who stands to benefit? Who stands to lose?  

Jung’s observation bears repeating: 

Our time has committed a fatal error; we believe we can criticize the facts of religion intellectually. . . The gods have become diseases; Zeus no longer rules Olympus but rather the solar plexus, and produces curious specimens for the doctor’s consulting room, or disorders the brains of politicians and journalists who unwittingly let loose psychic epidemics on the world. 

Chinese sages, who trod lightly but surely in that middle realm, used the I Ching as their instruction manual. Recently, it’s been correctly called a “spiritual GPS.” Jung understood the potential good that could come from introducing this wisdom to the Western world, where it could be used as an instrument for making the unconscious again conscious, restoring intelligent competence at this level. 

From Paradigms Are a Matter of Life or Death 

Jordan B. Peterson has said, “The most important work that can be done is establishing the relationship between belief systems and the outcomes they generate.” 

I agree. 

It’s useless to tell people to follow their dreams, to be the best they can be, or that nothing is impossible when, in fact, they live in society that enforces a false, limiting paradigm. It’s like paddling upstream without oars in a leaky canoe. 

The only way out of this madness is to restore a complete and accurate paradigm, one that acknowledges the multi-dimensional quality of life – the inherent pattern of perfection – which is everyone’s inalienable birthright.  

— 

People who live in the poverty of a flattened, empirical science belief system are being told by their parents, educators and political leaders, in effect, that they don’t (and shouldn’t) fully exist. That only their physical appearance, social status and material possessions matter.

Wonder why suicide rates are so high? Or that marriages so often end in divorce, that respect for authority is at an all-time low, that government corruption is rampant, or that crime rates are through the roof? (Surely you can add to the list.) 

—- 

The biblical King David exemplifies acting from a complete and accurate paradigm. He acted fearlessly in trust that “God is with me.” With a single shot to the giant’s forehead (not coincidentally seat of the third eye), he brought the monster down.  

David “knew” exactly where to aim. His vision was clearly focused on his target (light). He had the vigor (energy) and physical strength (mass) as well as coordination (unity) to overcome the fearsome obstacle that threatened to annihilate him and enslave his people.  

Other biblical figures at critical points in their hero’s journey are helpful role models. Noah anticipated the flood. Joseph foresaw and prepared for a time of famine.  Moses protected the homes of the faithful when the Angel of Death swept over the Land of Egypt.  

Job is the example of steadfast faith, enduring to the end and being restored, even better than before. Here’s the secret to be gleaned from his story, illumined by the infinity symbol that links the levels of the Life Wheel.  

Job says, “The Lord giventh.” This is the outward, materializing movement from Center to surface of the Wheel.  

“And The Lord taketh away.” This is the receding path of return to Center.  

In all, “Blessed be the NAME of the Lord.” The Logos.  

—— 

Conclusion 

Resolving conflict necessarily occurs one person at a time, and from the inside out. For this reason, however complex and overwhelming world problems may seem, we each have the option and responsibility to improve that which is closest to home: ourselves. By reducing internal conflict within, each of us has the potential, if only in modest ways, to reduce the conflict without. . . . 

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change and Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change. She’s currently working on The Phoenix Response: Dying To Be Reborn – in the Same Lifetime. 

Rethinking Nature in an Unnatural World 

It has long been a mystery to me that the venerable I Ching, the Chinese Book of Change, remains so undervalued and misunderstood. For me, releasing its essence from the weight of culture baggage and prejudice revealed a priceless treasure, akin to the biblical pearl without price. 

As psychologist Carl Jung recognized, this compendium of Natural Law is a premier tool used in the quest to make the unconscious conscious. Whereas European philosophers and American thinkers (including the venerable Zach Bush) romanticize nature, assign it a gender and a role (“mother nature”), and speculate all sorts of (excuse me) nonsense from the heart, the ancients understood the dynamics of nature with the accuracy of a detached, scientific eye. 

This science has been refined over thousands of years by those who observe the patterns of cyclical change in weather, in nature’s seasons, the seasons of human life, the dynamics of human relationships, and in the rise and fall of civilizations.  

Sadly, at one point I gave up. City dwellers who’ve never seen a night sky free of neon interference, who’ve never lived around livestock, or walked down country trails in the blaze of autumn colors simply can’t relate. In the process of being cut off from nature, they’ve been cut off from their inner lives as well. They seem not to suspect the existence of what they’re missing. 

So I let it go. That is, until a few days ago, when I came across a remastered Manly P. Hall lecture called The Healing Power of Nature. 

The springboard of his talk was Thoreau’s Walden, a book which describes the experiment he called “back to nature.”  In Hall’s analysis, I found a very different answer to my earlier question: “How can those who’ve never experienced life in a natural setting relate to Natural Law?”  

His conclusion: Even for those raised in an unnatural urban environment, “There are small ways, yet powerful, to ground yourself in Nature’s Way.” 

Quite to the contrary of my earlier conclusion, it’s not a lost cause. Far from being irrelevant to those who live in an unnatural world, the Book of Change is actually more vitally important than ever before.  

For no environment, however unnatural, can cancel out our essential inner nature. It continues to abide, whether or not we’re consciously aware of its influence.

Working with this book helps reconnect us with that sleeping part of ourselves that’s urgently crying out for attention.  

It holds a key to restoring inner awareness, first of the emotional energies that rule us (often tragically) from the unconscious, and then, deeper still, the unchanging source of those dynamics.  

Hall says: 

The theme of a return to nature is strong in many. In a healthy degree, is present in most. Therefore the story [Walden] continues to intrigue us, although it becomes more and more a utopian vision.  

To Thoreau, the story of back to nature is identical with the concept of back to self. 

But somewhere, some way, each individual must experience his existence in a true world, a world not fashioned by his own imagery, a world that is not the result of the interlocking of concepts, but a world which has a closeness to the earth, a world of values that are direct, natural, simple and inevitable. 

And here’s the conclusion that grabbed my attention: 

 If we cannot therefore go to this world from our own abodes, then we must bring this world to ourselves.  

We must discover it by a code of conduct or a series of internal revelations, so that if nature around us is denied us, nature can still live within us and become the basis of a normalcy and a vitality which can carry us over the doubts and problems of the years. 

Yes!!! 

The code Hall calls for is embodied in the I Ching. Working with it triggers internal revelations just waiting to surface, begging for our attention. 

Let me give you just a hint of what’s in store for those who take Hall’s advice. 

Here’s an example. In my introduction to The Common Sense Book of Change, I followed Jung’s example. In his introduction to the classic Wilhelm/Baynes translation of the I Ching from German to English, he asked the book to introduce itself. He asked what it wanted readers to know, and then elaborated on its response. 

So I queried, “What does the Common Sense Book of Change have to offer its readers?” The answer looks like this: 

I rest my case. 

— — —

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change and Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change. She’s currently working on The Phoenix Response: Dying To Be Reborn – In the Same Lifetime. 

What You Seek . . . 021221

The flame of will to write seemed out.

I turned my attention elsewhere. Humans are too distracted by chaos; media conspires to ramp up fear, censor truth and hope. Voices like mine just get lost in the noise.

Yet messages wanting an outlet sneak in under the radar, bringing me back to my calling.

I wanted to know more about the akasha – the stuff of the fifth element yogis call ether. They say there’s an akashic library where every thought ever thought is recorded. Your past and the paths forward towards every potential future are all there for those who know how to look.

I became interested because these records hold answers to questions about life purpose. And lately, I’ve been wondering why I’m still here, even after my beloved teacher returned home to keep company with his “drinking buddies,” the archangels.

Until recently, this whimsical quote from Richard Bach’s Illusions satisfied me:

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished.

If you’re alive, it isn’t.

But now it’s not enough.

Old Avatar instantly retrieved whatever information he needed — seemingly out of thin air. Students thought he was a genius, assuming he’d memorized books read in the past. But I knew from what OA told me, he accessed the akashic records. At the time, it didn’t occur to me to ask how. Now I wished I had.

Watching videos, I learned that the akash is compared to the internet. Except, in this case, all the information of the Universe is out there, beyond time, in the quantum field. It’s available to anyone with the basic equipment and skills.

There are countless methods for attuning the human radio-mind to this wave length. Most involve meditation practices.

Over night, I tried listening to a sleep meditation, Access the Akashic Records to Learn Your Soul Name and Purpose Hypnosis.

Though well done and intriguing, it reinforced an unintended lesson. “Be careful what you wish for.” Before treading in potentially treacherous waters, have a carefully defined intention. DON’T mess carelessly with this vast field. You could get lost and not come back. I woke up remembering a painfully distressing dream – something about a rescue dog begging for help. But I couldn’t save it. It was definitely an experience I don’t care to repeat.

But further thought led to another Aha! I realized that as a meditative method — asking specific questions and tapping into intuitive answers — working with the Book of Change is perfectly suited to accessing the akasha. I’d been already doing it all along.

Even better, this method and its benefits are available to you as well.

Here’s what I learned from this exploration that needs to be shared: What you seek is already within. Think carefully on this. The meaning will expand and grow on you, I promise.

I did the following reading on February 11th. At the time, its message of prosperity, sharing and community made zero sense to me, living in isolation as I currently do, under strict COVID restrictions. Only after researching the akasha and possibility of future potentials does its meaning hold hope. You’re welcome to decide what you make of it for yourself.

PROSPERITY is the initial, dynamic answer to the question, “What should I intend for the future at this New Moon in Aquarius?” It reads:

Use the time of PROSPERITY as the opportunity to benefit as many as possible. Hoarding wealth of any kind hastens loss. Nature acts to distribute resources equally. Therefore the way to prevent poverty is to live modestly in the present. Share wisely, without prejudice. This secures continued well-being. Avoid possessiveness.

At first take, it seems ironic to think of the current time as one of Prosperity. At best, it feels like the calm before a coming storm. But keep in mind OA’s warning, “Never challenge worse.” Were the grid to go down — for any reason, human or natural — and the internet were to become a faint memory, humans would again have to rely directly on the akash and inner knowing instead of man-made imitations for access to the quantum field.

Today, most of us still have sufficient food and adequate shelter. Even in Wisconsin’s sub-zero temperatures, I’m not suffering over much. But were depopulation plans of one-world order folks allowed to mature, many will starve and meet horrible ends. It’s best to appreciate and protect the blessings at hand.

In my case, the wealth I have to share is my experience with the Book of Change. Thinking no one wants it is a form of prejudice, I suppose. Moving forward, I’ll do my best and leave the results to those who know better than I.

* * *

Advice of the fifth line reads, “Seek out the best advice available. Follow it. Much benefit.”

In my particular case, with zero direct human contact, the Book of Change is my one source of good advice. Today, sharing its usefulness as a portal into the akashic records seems to be the path open both to me and others. When advice is heeded, it turns into Change:

Day and night replace each other in endless cycles of CHANGE. The same natural law generates flux in human events. The unprepared see change as a threat, but the well-prepared face the unknown calmly. They know that after degeneration reaches critical mass, regeneration follows. Welcome the new. Avoid short-sighted fear.

In today’s context, Change reinforces deep foreboding. We’re in the calm before a great storm whose the outcome cannot be foreseen. Our attitudes, whether positive or negative, will determine which of alternative possible futures materializes.

* * *

Advice of the top, sixth line reads, “Share with others. Holding back unwisely ends in lonely isolation.”

This reinforces the thread of sharing. If I don’t hold back, through writing I can connect with others, even if not in obvious, direct ways. When the advice is heeded, it changes to Energy, which reads:

By harmonizing the different aspects of one’s internal life, family relationships and job responsibilities, one can make the best use of intrinsic ENERGY. Organizing various inner energies makes it possible to act creatively and dynamically in the external world. Harness energy to worthy goals and projects. Avoid conflict and waste.

I have a hunch as to how this applies to me, but I’ll leave it to you to sort out the ways in which it applies to your immediate situation.

* * *

When the advice of both changing lines is heeded, their combined, final outcome is Community, which reads:

Commitment to COMMUNITY is a necessary part of individual growth. Choose leaders who can express common goals with clarity. They will know how to assign work according to ability so that all prosper. In the harmonious community, creative power expresses through the skillful work of individuals. Avoid all selfishness.

Here we come full circle, with generosity being linked to the intent for future Prosperity, whether the community be in the physical, through the internet, or the quantum field.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Take care, all.

The Path of Reason – 012821

Today’s I Ching answer totally surprised me, though in retrospect it makes perfect sense. I expected consequences of not choosing the Path of Love to be catastrophic. But the Tao is merciful. Eventually, all paths (however different, difficult and long) reunite, meeting at the same mountain top.

In hindsight, I recognized that the outcome of either choice is similar (though the process is not). Why? It goes back to the Great Reconciliation described earlier. Faith leads to knowledge. Knowledge leads to faith. Apparently opposite approaches to experience are linked in an infinite loop. It looks like this:

Yesterday’s complimentary post, The Path of Love, focused on today’s full moon in Leo. But for folks closed by education and/or prejudice to the e=energy, middle level of the Life Wheel, that message rings false. They’re too reasonable, logical and intelligent to take stock of such nonsense. Operating on the empirical science paradigm which rules out anything which can’t be measured and quantified, all too many are stuck on the slow, round-about way to wisdom.

The good news for those who sincerely seek truth is that they’ll (eventually) find their way home. For, as it has wisely been said, “That which you seek seeks you.” Love will find a way to get through to the noisy mind, opening even the most hardened heart.

So long as we keep moving, the infinite path will take us home. Hearts closed for whatever reason – be it pride, disappointment, or abuse – can heal. Because it’s a two-way street, facts and faith will eventually align. In God’s time, each leads to the other.

I Ching wisdom confirms that when skillfully balanced, opposite approaches to fulfillment complement and complete each other:

OPPOSITES attract. When they are skillfully balanced, they unite to form a heart with a common center. When they clash, the conflict is destructive. Blending opposites is not easy. Rely on the unity beneath all diversity to bridge the gap. The result will be a creative flowering.

The open, receptive Path of Love is pure yin. In Taoist shorthand, it’s represented by an upward-pointing triangle. The grounded, masculine Path of Reason is pure yang, represented by a downward-pointing triangle. When merged, they form the biblical Star of David, the Hindu Shri Yantra. This particular image appeals to me because the center encompasses its parts.

Without exception, the hexagrams appearing in today’s reading are already familiar from The Lessons of 2020. ORIGIN is the original but dynamic answer to the question, “What is the consequence of failing to choose the higher path?” It reads:

All people thirst to know the roots their ORIGIN. At one level, learning about family and cultural traditions fills this need. At another level, this quest is satisfied by seeking for deeper knowledge. The vitality of all races flows from a single source which never runs dry. Avoid narrow-mindedness.

The starting point of this reading is narrow-mindedness. Often people, though committed to finding truth, are stuck at the level of cultural conditioning. But looking for wisdom on the surface of the Life Wheel is futile. It’s like“hunting for deer in a forest where none dwell.” What’s needed is to shift gears, broaden the paradigm and look deeper, approaching that single source which everyone everywhere shares in common.

* * *

Advice of the fifth line reads, “If you refuse to serve others, your gifts are wasted.” The situation is still one of narrow-minded selfishness. That approach leads to failure and must be released. When advice is heeded and one’s gifts are recognized as being integral to the welfare of the whole, the line changes to Promotion, which reads:

Promotion will come from steady, positive improvement over time. Rising to meet new challenges results in emotional maturity. Advancing on the job puts one in the position to serve those who are in need. Quiet, persistent self-discipline wins the confidence of others. Make the most of opportunities. Avoid hesitation.

Here self-discipline, emotional maturity and service enter the picture and are rewarded with recognition.

* * *

Building on the fifth line’s theme, advice of the top, sixth line reads, “Sharing your gifts will bring blessings and prosperity to many.” Here the benefits of promotion are multiplied to bless others as well as oneself. When the promise of the sixth line is fulfilled, it changes to Gentleness, which reads:

As the wind moves clouds, shapes mountains and stirs the trees, so GENTLENESS has a powerful influence. Quiet, steady gradual actions win respect and cooperation. Find out what concerns the people you work with and speak in those terms. In this way, you can reach their minds. Avoid noisy conflict.

Here, leadership evolves from one who is laughed at, then feared, then adored by the people to the deepest, broadest influence: broadcasting to every mind receptive at the quantum level.

* * *

The final, combined outcome of Origin is Fresh Start, which reads:

Even when it seems that all has been spoiled, it is possible to make a FRESH START. Be willing to face your faults. Find out how to correct them. The situation will gradually improve if you are sincere and work hard. Be sure you know what you want. Avoid delay.

Here, the noisy mind starts at the surface level of drama, conflict and scattered confusion. It takes determined effort to tame and discipline that mind. But if the intention to do so is sincere, clear and focused, gradually emerging from the swamp of chaotic emotions, hurtful relationships and destructive circumstances will most certainly follow.

Collected posts will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon in 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

The GREAT RECONCILIATION – 012121

Before sharing the story of Abelard, Heloise, and the Great Reconciliation, let me give you a definition. Though often used carelessly, in fact, Reconciliation is an extraordinarily powerful word. It appears throughout the Bible. It’s infused with quantum implications. The Greek root means CHANGE or EXCHANGE.

We are told, Reconciliation involves a change in the relationship between God and humanity or between humans. After a breakdown in relationship, there is now a change from a state of enmity and fragmentation to one of harmony and fellowship.

Another source says, Reconciliation is bringing again into unity, harmony, or agreement what has been alienated.

Going forward, the Quantum Paradigm which embodies Einstein’s intuited Unified Field Theory is the potential vehicle of the next Great Reconciliation.

In the annals of European history, Abelard and Heloise are remembered, like Romeo and Juliet, as star-crossed lovers.

Historians are well-familiar with the highlights of their story. Abelard, a man of the cloth, was Heloise’s tutor. They became lovers. She got pregnant; their affair was outed. Her uncle exacted poetic justice. Abelard was attacked in the dark of night and castrated. The lovers later exchanged letters, but were never reunited.

The low lights of their story are usually overlooked. In fact, Abelard married Heloise. But to protect his reputation as a cleric, kept it secret. He urged her to take monastic vows. She did so, but only under protest. She felt no calling and made it clear she thought having to live a cloistered life was most unfair.

Their sad history is relevant to the ongoing discussion about the Rules of the Knowledge Game because Abelard went on to distinguish himself as one of the participants in “the Great Debate of the Middle Ages.”

That Great Debate was presented with style and passion in a way that remains indelibly imprinted in my mind. During my Freshman year at Oberlin College, Professor Barry McGill — a tall, pencil thin, bespectacled professor of European History — made a lasting impression.He drilled us on the effect pendulum swings between extremes have had on history.

He emphasized dramatically that ideas have great power to alter the course of people’s lives. Philosophers have a profound effect on the forms governments take and how leaders treat their people.

Long before Hegel wrote about dialectics, which in turn influenced Marx, a triad of medieval scholars – St. Augustine, Abelard and St. Aquinas– completed the classic example of contrasting philosophies regarding what can be known, by whom, and how. (The fancy philosophical word is “epistemology.”)

The importance of this debate cannot be over-stated. When the variables of the formula get too far out of synch, dire historical consequences follow. See: History Repeats Itself – Renaissance or Another Dark Ages?

In the middle ages, St. Augustine sat on one extreme of the philosophical see-saw. Abelard sat at the other. The intellectual world was at odds until St. Aquinas came up with the balancing fulcrum. Professor McGill virtually beamed his approval of the solution to the either/or conflict between science and religion. Historians, he told us, called it The Great Reconciliation.

St. Augustine depended exclusively on his belief in God. In his worldview, knowledge is the result of divine grace. His credo: “I believe that I may know.” Faith in God is prior and necessary to human understanding.

In Life Wheel context, Augustine’s primary reality rested at the center of the Wheel and extended outwards from it to encompass the surface of the physical, manifested world.

Abelard took the opposite approach. Man, he held, depends on observable things and direct experience to acquire knowledge. This approach, taken to the extreme, results in the exclusively materialistic paradigm of research science.

Abelard, however, never denied the existence of God. He believed that experience of the world leads the thoughtful man to deduce the necessary existence of God. In Quantum Paradigm context, he started at the Wheel’s surface and pushed inwards to complete the circuit.

It took St. Aquinas to complete the loop. He concluded there is no significant conflict between the two approaches. Knowing is a two-way street. No matter where you start, each position leads to and completes the other. The center and surface are connected in an infinite loop.

Aquinas said, in essence, “It works both ways. Observing the world leads to faith. Faith leads to effective understanding of the world.”

Allow me to point out a relevant conclusion from the sad story of Abelard and Heloise. Today’s exclusively rational philosophers are as sterile as was he. And Heloise’s feminist counterparts, isolated and cloistered, are equally unfulfilled. Just as yin and yang yearn for unity and the fulfillment of creative balance, so also faith and reason depend upon one another for completion.

As Einstein put it, Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.

At the 11th hour of human history, few people have time to learn much less apply the lessons of history. For the sake of simplicity and immediately useful implementation, the Great Debate’s outcome has been summed up in and illustrated in the form of the multi-dimensional Life Wheel.

Here’s why it is critically important to reconnect the surface with the center of the Life Wheel in an infinite two-way loop, joining the material surface with its innermost source:

The renaissance at the end of the middle ages, first in Italy and later in England represented by Elizabeth I’s Shakespeare, were times of paradigm shifts. The origin of universities took place during this time. The rules were in flux. It was fair game to access both sides of the coin. There was no perceived conflict between faith and reason. The result was a time of creative flowering in both the arts and sciences.

Human survival will depend on whether or not there’s a similar paradigm shift now . . . another reconciliation and reawakening to the full spectrum of human potentials, along with the flowering of creative problem-solving in the face of extraordinarily challenging times.

Collected posts will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon at the end of January, 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

The Path to Reconciliation – 012021

During today’s quiet morning time, the idea for this post clicked into mind. It started with remembering Patrick Byrne’s vision of merging the values of East and West. It moved to looking forward, thinking about how to make it happen.

I revisited my recurring dream of organizing a School Without Walls. Basically, it would serve to link self-responsible students with a qualified mentor. Together, they would design a unique degree program around a personal goal. This would give the next generation what I found missing from my own education.

In You Are Already Enough, I described my personal solution:

As a young adult, my Life Wheel was centered around the goal of becoming a worthy musician. I organized every sector of my life around this single purpose.

Never once did I consider earning a living as a violin teacher. The ones I worked with were way too narrow. They knew about fingering the notes written on sheet music, but the heart and soul of sound wasn’t their department.

I had to design my own course of learning. I chose Oberlin College because it allowed me to balance a top-notch liberal arts program with a world-class music school. I studied violin privately as an “amateur” (a music lover), but majored in world literature and intellectual history.

I wanted to understand the ideas that drove great composers and their patrons. I had to delve into scriptures to feel the devotion that inspired Bach and Mozart.

I needed to know about the physics of sound vibration. I haunted the workshop of a local violin maker to watch how he built and maintained his instruments.

To me, the physical body was a resonant instrument. Tuning it was essential to my calling. Yogic breathing, exercise and personal self-maintenance were integral to my overall vision.

The musicians I performed with in ensembles and orchestras were my friends and family in spirit. We went to concerts together and socialized afterwards at local pubs.

On a related topic, I revisited my intended doctoral dissertation on the Origins and Future of the University. In the repeating cycles of history, I foresaw a looming choice ahead between either a renaissance or another dark ages. In my early morning state, I even dared hope to collaborate with Patrick, an acknowledged renaissance man, to tip the balance in favor of renaissance.

We’re not taught to look to the Book of Change for answers to our deepest questions. That’s why I’m bringing the book to you.

Today’s reading comes in two parts. First I asked, “What role does education have to play in the path of reconciliation?” PROMOTION was the unchanging answer. It reads:

Promotion will come from steady, positive improvement over time. Rising to meet new challenges results in emotional maturity. Advancing on the job puts one in the position to serve those who are in need. Quiet, persistent self-discipline wins the confidence of others. Make the most of opportunities. Avoid hesitation.

My first take was confusion. This didn’t answer my real question. Then I realized I’d asked it in a wrong way. I wasn’t looking for the end result, but rather the process through which the goal is achieved. I got a static answer because I asked a static question about education’s role.

Improvement, emotional maturity, and service all speak to outcomes, not the process. I needed to frame a better question asking for advice on how we get from here to there.

So I asked, “How could education evolve to serve the goal of reconciliation going forward?” This answer was dynamic (again reconfiguring dynamics familiar from 2020 readings). It started with STANDSTILL, which reads:

When opposing forces draw apart, activity comes to a STANDSTILL. Lack of understanding results in mistrust and refusal to cooperate. When weak leaders prevent necessary cooperation, it is best to withdraw from the situation and wait for the times to change. Direct your attention toward inward growth.

This original answer represents the immediate situation in need of remedy. Other names for this hexagram include Negative, Withdrawing, Stagnation or Separation.

* * *

Advice of the second line reads, “Don’t compromise your principles. Protect yourself calmly. Struggle won’t help.” Advice heeded, the line changes changes to Conflict, which further defines Standstill. It reads in part:

CONFLICT develops when one refuses to see the view-point of others. The way out is to be open to others and willing to meet them half-way. Pushing a disagreement to open conflict would result in separation.

* * *

Advice of the fifth line reads, “Paralysis is cured by joining elements meant to work together.” Paralysis – Standstill — is overcome by merging the best of apparently opposite energies. These include the values of social responsibility versus personal freedom; protective (classically male) versus nurturing (classical female) qualities, as well as an outgoing, practical/intellectual approach to life versus an inward/intuitive, contemplative approach to experience.

When advice is heeded, the line changes to Improvement, which reads:

IMPROVEMENT is now possible if you are willing to follow the example of worthy teachers. If you have absorbed negative suggestions in the past which prevent you from expressing your higher self freely, use this time to break away from bad habits. Seek the inspiration of positive influences.

* * *

When the entire process is honored, the combined final outcome is Finish, which reads:

When the FINISH is near, think about the future. Since nothing ends without a new beginning, prepare for what comes next. Order your life so that you are free to move on. Success in the next cycle will depend on the inner wealth you have stored. Avoid fear of change.

Right now, humanity is entering the beginning of a new series of cycles. The new year, 2021, begins a twenty-year astrological cycle of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions in air rather than earth signs. It’s embedded within a 200 year cycle, within a 2,000 year cycle that roughly corresponds with the beginnings of the Christian era. (That’s just an interesting side note, FYI. This isn’t the time/place to elaborate, but you can take my word for it.)

Here, inner wealth includes the sum of life lessons learned, and/or wisdom traditions actualized/assimilated through practice.

And fear of change is primarily a function of programmed ignorance. Means for overcoming fear include not only native courage, but also faith and wisdom. To this end, mastering Natural Law encoded in the Book of Change is the beginning of white magic. Then, with I Ching insight, “everything serves to further.”

P.S. In the the Cycles of History, I mention The Great Reconciliation. Because that information was posted elsewhere, I’m now republishing it to this site. It’s especially relevant now and well-worth your thoughtful attention.

Collected posts will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon at the end of January, 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

Choose LOVE – 011621

We have a shared vision, Patrick Byrne and I. Who is he? Why do I say this? What is the vision? And what does the Chinese Book of Change have to say to the world about this vision?

I’ll let Patrick, widely recognized as a modern day renaissance man, tell you in his own words. Here’s a quote from an interview with Dave Rubin:

I’m a great admirer of the Chinese. Yeah. I’ve loved China. I’m an old China hand. I grew up loving China. If I had a historical role in the world, it was going to be to somehow to build . . (here he made his point with a hand gesture):

I think the best thing that could happen for the world is some sort of merger of the U.S. and Chinese principles that actually could create healthy perpetual peace for the world. . . We have a lot to learn from the Chinese. They do some things very well.

What is merger Patrick has in mind?

Their family, their traditions, their focus on education and on building human capital. All kinds of things I saw in China and I thought, “Boy. This is what we need to see more of here.”

But what I love about our system is freedom. And there needs to be some sort of merger of those interests.

Perpetual peace? Though I personally can’t see that far and wide, it’s certainly a noble ideal. For starters, I’d be quite content if a merger served to support the goal of human survival, which Einstein warned us, can no longer be taken for granted.

What I have to contribute to Patrick’s version of the vision is the reality map of the Life Wheel, the embodiment of Einstein’s intuited Unified Field Theory. It serves as the foundation of genuine UNITY – not of just of the States of America, but humanity as a whole. It embodies the underlying wisdom of the timeless (not merely “ancient”) Book of Change. It supports, not as philosophic theory, but as scientific fact the quantum reality which en-compass humans everywhere throughout all time:

The archetypal Life Wheel is easily adapted to show freedom and individuality on the surface, compatible with enduring commitments to family and country at a deeper level, both sustained by fidelity to Conscience at the eternal, unchanging Center (alternatively called Source, Creator, God, or simply nothing at all).

I really wanted to know what the I Ching – China’s enduring heritage (though currently censored by the anti-life CCP) — has to say to the world about this shared vision. So that’s what I asked in the reading which follows.

We’re not taught to look to the Book of Change for answers to our deepest questions. That’s why I’m bringing the book to you.

DECLINE is the original but dynamic answer to the question, “What does the Book of Change want to tell the world about the vision of merging U.S. and Chinese values to create healthy, perpetual peace for the world?” It reads:

Economy of means is required by DECLINE. The cycle of time is entering a period of decreasing resources. Make necessary adjustments with patience and strength. Be ready to accept changes of lifestyle cheerfully. A return to simple living is for the best. Resistance would only make things worse. Avoid bitterness.

The initial reading describes our immediate starting point. Unavoidably, things are going to get even rougher before they get better. But just as there were opportunities hidden within 2020’s COVID crisis, the hidden blessing of 2021 may well be the (necessary) return to simplicity and grace (not coincidentally, the subject of Paul Selig’s next series.) To quote Patrick:

Really, the way to handle [pressures on large organizations] is just keep everything simple. Keep the Truth the Truth and keep the rules simple. Simple rules for a complex world.

* * *

Advice of the bottom line reads, “Be balanced in giving and receiving. Think through your priorities.”

Each culture has much to offer the other. Each fills in a blind spot in the other. These compliments have the potential to make both whole. A balanced, respectful exchange of values and ideas, neither side claiming superiority, would be immensely beneficial across the board. The priority? Human survival may well be at stake.

When the advice is heeded, it changes to Immaturity, which reads:

Problems experienced now may stem from IMMATURITY rather than from any basic fault. Decide what you need to learn and seek out unselfish people who can help you gain experience. If your mind is open, you will not be denied. If you are a teacher, look for sincerity. Avoid arrogance.

Immaturity here may be one of ignorance, best repaired by education. To quote Patrick, who was chosen by Milton Friedman as his successor:

Milton thought that the way you save the nation was with school choice. He used to say that our current government school system – our socialist school system — is gonna teach socialist values. A free market system would teach freedom. He saw that’s how we save the country in the long-term.

This is another, related vision Patrick and I share in common. I endured the painful process of earning a Ph.D. in Educational Administration for the sake of the credential required to build an alternative “School Without Walls.”

* * *

Advice of the second line reads, “Effective relationships depend on knowing how to time your actions.” When the advice is heeded, when we choose to grow up, outgrowing immature beliefs and ways, it changes to Growth, which reads:

People seek help according to what they need for their own growth. Unless hunger is fed with the right food, no amount of input will satisfy. To understand others, watch how they nourish themselves. Nature provides for all. Leaders promote those who have the ability to serve many. Avoid greed.

Above all, people everywhere crave love and acceptance within human family. In balance, they also hunger for truth, freedom, independence and self-respect. These values must be merged and harmonized. Making them an either/or choice is a death-trap.

* * *

Advice of the third line reads, “Single people attract companions while groups of three break down.” Being alone, as if the only star in the sky, is isolating and invites the complement which completes it. When the advice is heeded, it changes to Restraint which reads:

Exercise RESTRAINT in your actions. Seek the company of people who can advise on the best way to use your resources. The skills you have learned earlier can now be used to benefit others. Multiply the benefit of what has already been done by sharing results. Avoid careless waste.

Exactly. Seek out the company of advisors (including The Book of Change) to assist in this cultural cross-fertilization. Sharing the best of what each has to offer (and sometimes have forgotten) multiplies benefits across the board.

* * *

Advice of the fourth line reads, “Hold yourself to high standards, but be patient with others.” The thoughtful assimilation of and transition to the Quantum Paradigm will not occur over night. Patient forbearance is required. When the advice is heeded, it changes to Opposites which reads:

OPPOSITES attract. When they are skillfully balanced, they unite to form a heart with a common center. When they clash, the conflict is destructive. Blending opposites is not easy. Rely on the unity beneath all diversity to bridge the gap. The result will be a creative flowering. Avoid stubborn resistance.

In immediate context, the apparent opposites with the potential to either merge or fatally clash are the values of the U.S. versus those of China. Parse each book-worthy sentence as if gold. In combination, they offer the way out of current madness.

A famous quote from The Ballad of East and West, a 19th century poem by British author Rudard Kipling, keeps coming back into mind. It speaks to the historic clash but potential transcendence of paradigms, obsolete and future. The message holds true despite sexist assumptions, and even though East and West in this case are China and the U.S., not India and England. It starts:

It continues:

* * *

When the advice of each line is heeded, the combined, final outcome is Travel, which reads:

When you have outgrown a situation, it is time to TRAVEL on. Staying longer would prevent attainment of important goals. Commitments made now probably would not work out. In dealing with strangers exercise careful self-control. Talk little. Listen much. Learn from everyone who has information to share. Avoid dangerous exposure.

In the immediate circumstance, what has been outgrown is false paradigm of fracture, conflict, competition, and fear-driven dominance and control. While turning away from obsolete ways of governance in hopes of a better future, don’t, however, underestimate the vindictive backlash of old paradigm power-holders. They’re dangerously motivated by the fear of their impending extinction. Act accordingly.

In sum, as during the biblical times of Exodus, the Creator is giving humanity a choice with dire consequences. “Choose Life or choose death.” I know what mine is. I choose Love of Life. What is yours?

In conclusion, Dave Rubin commented, “I think you’re gonna help us navigate the freaking nasty, really rough waters we’re about to go through.” He asked Patrick, “Is there something we should be thinking about?”

His answer? The same one I’ve repeatedly offered in past posts. Keep the faith. I do not think we’re gonna lose this. I actually think that we’re gonna win. KEEP THE FAITH.

Look for the map of the next four years in The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future, available on amazon at the end of January 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

A Solemn Message for Dangerous Times – IC – 0113221

Today, taking the form of new followers, the Universe steered me back on course. Discouraged by current events and thinking (perhaps due to unfriendly algorthythms) no one is listening, I had decided against posting this I Ching reading. But to my pleasant surprise, folks are starting to show interest. So, I thank you friends, both new and continuing. I will not disappoint you.

Today’s message was conceived in a mood of pessimism. As world events peak at critical mass over the coming week, what can we expect?

The timing of this responsive reading has a long arc. The pattern created by its changing lines could take up to four years to see completion.

It reminds me of earlier work about the nature of democratic institutions, personal responsibility, and the consequences of failing to change with the times. Here are a few snippets:

Approaching Natural Law and social organizations from the deeper understanding of the ancients could inspire a more humane and effective approach to international relations now, one based on energy dynamics which the human community shares in common.

. . . Just as freedom wasn’t guaranteed forever when Americans won the Revolutionary War, slavery wasn’t totally abolished when the North defeated the South in the Civil War.

Freedom isn’t a static achievement that can be passed on unchanged from one generation to the next. Democracy must renewed and earned again, one individual at a time, each generation at a time, continuously redefined in the context of immediate circumstances.

From the statistical findings my 1978 doctoral thesis, I unintentionally proved with highly significant results that Democracy is a Myth. Even that far back, I concluded:

. . . the American dream of a democratic, meaningful choice in leadership is but an illusion. In an informal process that proceeds the formal one, candidates are pre-selected and effectively owned by insiders. The sorry absence of innovative, effective leadership is explained by the documented filtering process which for the most part excludes creative, natural leaders.

What are the long-term survival consequences? To our detriment, the Western linear progressive theory of history puts in-bred leaders operating on dysfunctional paradigms at a loss to foresee cyclical down-turns in order to prepare for them in time.

I lamented:

Egypt’s Pharaoh had his Joseph to interpret warning dreams and oversee the timely storage of grain during seasons of plenty to off-set famine during seasons of drought. Who prepares or listens to such boundary-spanning advisors now? Who warns against the disastrous consequences of short-sighted politics?

Here’s the picture of teeter-tottering adversaries engrossed in murderous enmity, oblivious to the live grenade beneath them, threatening all sides with extinction.

We’re not taught to look to the Book of Change for answers to our deepest questions. That’s why I’m bringing the book to you.

PROBLEMS is the original answer to the question, “What should we be aware of today, with a powerful New Moon in Capricorn conjunct transformative Pluto?” It reads:

When a new life is struggling to emerge, there will be PROBLEMS in the beginning. Seek help from people whose ideas and methods can help to create inner and outer stability. Take an active part in the growing process. This will help you to define your own identity. Avoid helplessness.

The major reset of the next four years, the off-shoot of Lessons Learned in 2020, is one foreseen in biblical and astrological teachings. It has nothing to do with the globalist schemes of world economic elites. The fragmenting, limited paradigm of empirical science will be augmented and replaced by the Quantum Paradigm of wholeness, one upon which sages and scientists worldwide can agree.

Yes. Individuals can and miraculously do change “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

But positive social/political change does not come quick or easy. The passing, obsolete order with its vested interests in monopolistic power — fearing logical retribution for unspeakable crimes against humanity — will use every resource available to censor, resist, obstruct and prevent positive change. Though deadly in the short-term (think inquisitions in Spain), they cannot prevail today. They never have. They never will.

* * *

All three of the top lines of today’s hexagram change, starting with the fourth, which reads, “Develop a sense of inner timing. Know when to act.” In the meantime, keep you powder dry. Those who stand and wait also serve. When the advice is heeded, the line changes to Flow:

Follow the natural FLOW of daily events. Swimming against the tide would exhaust your energies and accomplish little. Be realistic about changes which have taken place. Adapt to the present situation. Let others take the lead now. Assist them if possible. Live a quiet and simple life. Avoid stress.

This reflects a major 2020 lesson: “Resist not evil. Persist in the good.”

* * *

Advice of the fifth line reads, “Limit yourself to small projects now. Know when to stop.” Over-reaching is tempting, but counterproductive. “Never hurry. Never rest.” When advice is heeded, the line changes to Return.

After a period of frustration, you now RETURN to begin a new cycle. Remain thoughtful. Use the time of return to free yourself from old patterns of behavior which have brought failure in the past. New paths for growth will open up. Enjoy each stage of the cycle. Avoid impatience.

“Slow and steady wins the race that matters.”

* * *

Advice of the sixth line reads, “Today no actions will work out. Stay home. Keep still.” From personal history, I can speak to the power of this advice. Once I had a bad feeling about going to a job interview. Friends ridiculed this and said to go out in the snow. So I did. My car slid into a ditch. In the process of towing me, they punctured the radiator. Not going anywhere that day. Bottom line: Listen to your hunches.

When the advice is heeded, paradoxically, the line changes to GAIN.

GAINS can be made after analyzing the situation correctly. When a person’s life goals are kept firmly in mind, no time is wasted. A way can be found to use whatever resources are at hand to serve one’s purpose. Serving others can be compatible with personal gain. Avoid smug self-satisfaction.

There’s wisdom in staying out of trouble, surviving to fight and prevail on another, better day.
“Sheltering in place” takes on new meaning in the context of the Passover in Exodus, when the Angel of Death was set loose upon the land, sparing only the protected faithful.

* * *

BREAKTHROUGH is the final hexagram formed when the changes of the top three lines are combined. It reads:

Further progress will not come about without a major BREAKTHROUGH. Get free of binding tensions. If you find the present situation paralyzing, get out of it. Be fearless. Act energetically. You can rebuild later using the aspects of your life that prove themselves to be worth saving. Avoid backing down.

Progress referred to here is not of the tainted, “progressive” sort, but closer to forward movement in a genuinely positive direction. Again, this will take time. It is a process not necessarily quick or easy, but well worth your commitment and effort.

The four apocalyptic horsemen, Plague, Famine, War and Death are bearing down upon upon the world. Is that what it will take to finally get our attention, motivate us as a matter of survival to change the way we think and act?

Make no mistake. Escalating COVID, food shortages, civil and global wars are looming. Barring inspired leadership and loyal support from worthy followers, we’re in far deeper trouble than most of us could have imagined a year ago.

If this serves to give you perspective and hope, please help me help others by sharing this information with your friends.

Collected posts will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon in January of 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

The Tao Is Indifferent, But I Am Not — 010621

Early this morning, on the day historians are calling the Warterloo moment of the United States, I queried the I Ching three times.

I asked, “What should we know about Biden, radical dems and the CCP?” Next, “What should we know about President Trump?” Finally, I asked for myself, “What should I be aware of NOW?”

In sum, from its universal perspective, the Book of Change doesn’t seem to care which leader prevails. It endures, either way. Its ends will be accomplished, no matter how far humans stray from the law. The Tao is all-inclusive. It encompasses and (in the end) brings us all home.

HOWEVER, from my mortal perspective, I care deeply. I woke up today feeling heartsick and afraid, overwhelmed by the magnitude of events. To me, the gravity of immanent danger in combination with the corruption and/or cowardice of entrenched upper classes is beyond appalling.

The danger is very real to me. During WW II, my maternal grandmother’s Viennese relatives were exterminated in German death camps. As relatives who died in Stalin’s concentration camps or Mao’s equivalent all know: fated to fail as they always are, in the short-term, lustful fantasies of world domination come at a tragically high price.

First I’ll share relevant passages from the Tao Te Ching which express a sage-like overview on today’s events. Then, in the reading section, thinking it may resonate with you as well, I’ll share the answer to my personal question.

In poetic versions of Lao Tze’s Tao Te Ching, the fifth passage begins, “Heaven and Earth are heartless / treating creatures like straw dogs”.

Here, heartless doesn’t necessarily mean cruel so much as detached or indifferent. “Straw dogs” were ceremonial dolls usually discarded after their use.

Here’s how the meaning came through for me:

The first two verses of the following Passage are also to the point:

Yet, though the Tao is impartial, you can take heart from this (and have a caution):

FAMILY is the original answer to today’s personal question, “What should I be aware of NOW?” it reads”

Inside the FAMILY one learns to play out given roles. This makes later success in roles on the job and in the larger community possible. Clearly defined relationships make communication easy. Respectful cooperation with others earns trust and acceptance from the human family. Avoid roles not suited to your nature.

In my case, within the human family, I don’t have a lot to contribute to today’s DC confrontation. As much as I wish participants well, I dread crowds. I’m not suited by nature to be either an event organizer, a politician, attorney or news commentator.

So I contribute as I can, doing what I love to do . . . writing. In the long-term, there’s an underlying false paradigm driving today’s event. My eventual contribution – when folks calm down enough to wean themselves off of stimulating conflicts – may be to advocate adoption and dissemination of the correct, compete and accurate Quantum Paradigm which will correct the mistakes driving today’s chaos and eventually create a better future.

What are you suited by nature and skills to contribute? Are you actually doing it? If not, why?

* * *

Advice of the 4th Line reads, “Any attempt to serve will benefit leaders and followers equally.”

This line confirms not only that my efforts will benefit others, but that in the long-term, it’s a blessing, not a drain, for me to keep writing.

Advice heeded, the line changes to Community:

Commitment to COMMUNITY is a necessary part of individual growth. Choose leaders who can express common goals with clarity. They will know how to assign work according to ability so that all prosper. In the harmonious community, Creative Power expresses through the skillful work of individuals. Avoid all selfishness.

Community is built on the foundation of Family. Again, the issue of roles arises. And, again, I invoke Creative Power to suffuse my work with wisdom in a way others will find beneficial.

* * *

Advice of the 6th, Top Line reads: “Rise above worldly concerns. Create good work of lasting value.” This gets my personal YES!! Financial compensation would be nice, but it doesn’t motivate me. God always, miraculously, if not a moment too soon, provides. I will somehow continue to get by.

What really floats my boat is the hope that the creative work which flows through me will be found valuable in the long-term. Ever since 1977, when a School Board Association mentor made the comment, I’ve been told I’m ahead of the times. So be it. In the meantime, it’s my job to be sure what’s needed is ready and available for when the times are finally ready for me.

Advice heeded, the line changes to Completion:

Perfected actions reach COMPLETION. From this balance, however, new elements spring forth which create future imbalance. In this way, the cycles of nature are continued. This is not cause for sadness. Perfection lies in the whole life process, not in the beauty of a single peak moment. Avoid rigid attachment.

Who knows? Cycles large and small are nested, wheels-within-wheels. Certainly 2020 saw the end of a major cycle. The year 2021 marks the beginning of a new one. Will I survive to see its completion? So long as the work endures, it doesn’t matter.

Do you plan on surviving? If so, how and why?

* * *

Advice heeded, the composite of changing lines results in the final outcome of Change.

Day and night replace each other in endless cycles of CHANGE. The same natural law generates flux in human events. The unprepared see change as a threat, but the well-prepared face the unknown calmly. They know that after degeneration reaches critical mass, regeneration follows. Welcome the new. Avoid short-sighted fear.

This hexagram is the outcome of the first post, We’re At Critical Mass, in The Lessons of 2020. The year 2020 saw a culture building to a constitutional crisis. The Waterloo moment of January 6, 2021 marks its culmination.

Whatever the outcome of the election controversy, it is best to Avoid short-sighted fear.

Welcoming Change doesn’t necessarily mean liking it. It’s enough to remain open, rather than resisting whatever may come. Accepting the future brings, giving it space to evolve, leaves me open to recognize and make the best of new opportunities.

I hope you choose to remain courageously, confidently open to the opportunities in your future. May 2021 be kind to you all.

Look for The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future later in January of 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

What Should We Be Aware of in the Year 2021? IC – 010421

I thought I was done with I Ching blogs. But the muse calls, so here I am, still yet.

I should have known. Sage astrologers with an overview of heavenly timing agree that, though very different from 2020, this new year promises to be its logical extension.

My query to the Book of Change confirms this view. I asked, “What should we be aware of in the year 2021?” Though placements are different, the readings are all familiar from 2020.

January looks to be an intensely volatile month. As I cautioned in the final post of 2020:

The year 2021 promises to be rough, though different from 2020. The process of exposing the corruption of the old order will continue. But the clash between paradigms will intensify, imposing new hardships. Positive change doesn’t come easy. As Kuhn wrote in his classic work on paradigm shifts, entrenched power-holders with vested interests in obsolete ways will fight change however they can.

In particular, January of 2021 promises to be fraught with geographical and political events of explosive intensity. A heads up: astrological markings of January 20th, inauguration day, are strikingly similar to the date of the catastrophic 1916 San Francisco earthquake.

In sum, the year-of-our-Lord 2021 promises to be a roller-coaster ride. So buckle up. There’s no turning back. The only way out is through.

As the American constitutional crisis intensifies, the contrast between opposing paradigms is becoming increasingly clear, deepening into the most basic of all conflicts: the war between good and evil. At the beginning of this “Waterloo week” in American history, Steve Bannon and Archbishop Vigano have spelled out for the world the ultimate choice of 2021. What’s at stake is the outcome of the war between children of light versus children of darkness.

Have you chosen sides yet? (Remember. Failing to choose is also a choice.)

Before continuing to today’s I Ching reading, let me first answer Steve Bannon’s reminder of Martin Luther King’s words: “Courage is the first of all the virtues, because it supports the all others.”

Sounds good.

But when I sat down with my notebook just now, this came through. “TRUST is the root and support of all the other virtues. With Faith, all things follow – courage included.”

I will confess, what I wrote in my notes was a warning. “Use it or lose it.” Don’t ignore the voice of conscience. Forget the powerful hunches and calls to action for too long, and adversity follows. The angelic hosts will lose interest in you. They’ll quit calling, stop guiding. Their protection will cease.

From ignorance and fear – compounded by lack of trust in Self and faith in the Creator – far too many of us earth-dwellers are forfeiting inborn Divine Connection. Which is why, when in doubt, working with the Book of Change is a life-saver.

Though subject to change, at the moment I have no schedule for posting future blogs. It was my intention to shift focus. I’m planning to complete and then publish The Lessons of 2020. Following that, The Phoenix Response and How To Create Positive Change are waiting in line.

Nevertheless, reinforcing the benefits of working with the Book of Change in meeting 2021’s challenges is my central contribution to the “interesting” year ahead.

In 2020, you saw each of today’s Common Sense Book of Change readings. So, as the constitutional crisis peaks, I once again to defer to The Laws of Change published by Jack Balkin, a Yale University Professor of Constitutional Law. His comments are powerful and wise, as well as extraordinarily prescient.

ORIGIN is the original answer to the immediate question, “What Should we be aware of in the Year 2021?” Keep in mind. The answer works as advice for the immediate moment on a personal level. At the same time, it also serves as an overview for the entire year. It works for each of us individually, but collectively as well.

Balkin calls ORIGIN The Well. Keywords include: Human potential; Human resources; Replenishing; Renewal; Nourishing others; and The unchanging.

He comments:

The well is an inexhaustible source of nourishment . . . Jing teaches that people replenish themselves through replenishing others. They grow strong and happy not by trying to keep everything for themselves, but through helping each other and growing together. The human need for love and mutual support is as basic as the drive for self-preservation.

* * *

Advice of Line 3 reads, “Let others know what you can do. Opportunities will develop.”

On a personal level, I’m being advised to let you know about future publications. Similarly, each of us is being advised to contribute what we can to serve the whole. Balkin suggests, “If you find a way to make a contribution, everyone would benefit.”

When this advice is taken to heart and acted upon, the line changes to DANGER. Balkin calls it The Abyss. Keywords include: Water; Darkness; Danger; Despair; Courage and devotion; Maintaining faith; and Getting through to the other side.

He comments:

The world is testing you. Maintain your patience and your devotion. Take things one day at a time. Just make sure that you keep going and do not lose heart.

The enemy you confront is more than a set of forces in the outside world. The enemy is pessimism and lack of faith in yourself. This is the abyss that is the subject of the hexagram. It is not a physical abyss but a spiritual one. To give up and give in is the worst possible thing you could do.

Keep the faith.

* * *

Advice of the fourth line reads, “Withdraw from activities long enough to rest and re-energize yourself.” Balkin comments:

It is time to take stock and put your life in order. Rethink your strategies and reevaluate your priorities and pay attention to your self-development.

When this advice is heeded, the line changes to INNER STRENGTH. Balkin calls it Greatness in Excess. Keywords include: Too much; Overload; Critical mass; Taking a stand; setting priorities; and Making choices.

He comments:

The hexagram symbolizes a condition that cannot last. Something must be done, or else misfortune is likely to result.

One you have decided what the problem is, you must act quickly but with gentleness and composure. The time calls for extraordinary measures, but the transition to a new situation must be peaceful and nonviolent.

Recognize the need for change. Carry it out gently and swiftly, without fear or anxiety.

* * *

The composite final outcome is ADVERSITY. Balkin calls it Oppression. Keywords include: Exhaustion; Being restricted; Hardship; Adversity; Inner affliction; Dried up; and Impasse.

He comments:

Kun is indeed a difficult hexagram, but the law of change is always in operation. Periods of oppression and exhaustion contain the seeds of regeneration and renewal. At the very darkest moment the light is almost ready to shine again.

If you maintain your equanimity and your patience, you will endure, and become a stronger, better person in the process.

To defeat [negativity] maintain your faith, your emotional balance, and your self-confidence. If you can win this inner victory, no outside foe can stand against you.

The challenges of 2021 promise to be enormous. The rewards of overcoming them have the potential to be great in equal measure.

Look for The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future in January of 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.