Hello, dear Blog Friends and Coaching Fans,
I greet you warmly and want to share with you something that seems essential to me. Something that I kind of already knew, but only today I saw it in all clarity! Do you know this feeling? The lines in the book are even underlined, you must have read it, but it feels like you've never even seen the text before. That's how it was this morning. Of course, I want to pass this impulse on to you.
Most of you know that I am an I Ching advocate.
I learn and teach the way of the Cosmic I Ching. The main focus of this path is to align yourself with the vibrations of a greater whole. I try to formulate it as neutral as possible because this is not a school of thought. The I-Ging is - on the contrary - completely independent of any doctrine, of masters and groupings.
It is about YOU!
The Cosmic I-Ging is a path that you walk alone. Our way of life is not a blazed trail, there are neither maps nor GPS data. "Alone" (caution, trigger word!) does not mean that we wander some abandoned territory, it simply means that we make our own experiences and live through very personal realizations about it. Since each one of us is unique, the path is also different for everyone. We don't need to (and can't) compare ourselves to others, because they are on a different part of the path, probably on a very different stretch, and even more likely with a very different destination.
Everyone is looking for something different.
The Cosmic I Ching introduces us to the "Sage". It is not a personification, but a high, very benevolent, and friendly consciousness. This consciousness communicates when we turn to the I Ching oracle to question a problematic situation.
Communication with this high consciousness occurs in a state of meditation.
Meditations are not unknown to most of us. We know guided meditations, we know those that seek the state of emptiness, and we know visualizations of many kinds.
Some of these meditations require a high degree of discipline and perseverance, others require that the individual have a talent for creating inner images.
When we are looking for an answer to a life question, we do not want to push our trouble into the background to feel comfortable in an artificial foreground, nor do we want to place it in a focal point that will intensify it. I have often heard clients say, "I can't meditate." I understand you well. But I can reassure you:
In the context of the Cosmic I Ching, meditation means that we learn to see the presented problem in a different light. In order to be able to assess the situation at hand correctly, we try to see it from a broader perspective. We want to be able to see the underlying issue so that we can then act in a constructive way.
When we turn to the I Ching to find a solution, we are often encouraged to consult the Sage in a "short meditation". What does that mean?
First of all, short means short!
The meditation lasts no more than about 3 minutes. (Maybe 5 minutes in the time of learning). But if by then no information has come, it is an indication that the connection with the Sage is blocked. What to do? Stop. Today is not the day. Now is not the moment.
It is very likely that our controlling ego has interfered which leads to an answer we are not looking for. ( it was most likely our ego that got us into the situation in the first place. So we don't ask for advice there!)
We open our minds.
Easy to say. What does it mean? When we ask the Sage for help, we need a clear and direct connection. For us, the Internet generation, this is a simple idea. We leave aside any special mediation techniques we may have learned unless they include the Sage and the Cosmic Helpers (I'll say more about them another time). The point is to create a shared inner space.
The space of your inner truth.
That's why I talked earlier about walking this path alone because this space is just for YOU and your cosmic relations. And I've also heard this question many times, "Does the Sage tell everyone the same thing?" No. It doesn't work like an instruction manual. Because our inner truth is very personal. It corresponds to the path we want to take in life, it counts in our talents and dispositions, and it corresponds to our heart's desires.
Wanting nothing.
When we approach the Sage with our request, we should make sure that we do not want anything in particular. We do not bring forward a goal or a result in a relationship. We do not anticipate the outcome of any matter! "I wish that..." is not an open mind.
The inner No to the ego.
Yes, many of you have heard me talk about the Inner No. Here's the short version: put your hand on your heart, close your eyes for better focus, and say a clear "No, no, no!" three times internally. Direct it to your ego and let it know that it is not playing along at this moment! It's as simple as it is effective. Typical phrases that the ego pulls out of its hat in this context are: "I just can't meditate", "I don't want to meditate either", "I don't have time for that...". No. No. No.
Making the connection.
I recently watched my electrician bridge an electrical connection. This is a striking way to illustrate what is meant here by creating the inner connection. We ask the Sage to lift us for the moment out of the bias of our problem, and (as the electrician did) to make a bridging.
We feel the connection.
Everyone. It is something we are all born with. We feel and know that connection! Any kind of bias or devaluation of this connection (for example as esoteric) is due to some kind of conditioning. We have learned it somewhere and by believing it we have given up our connection to our inner truth.
Waiting.
Into this space, we repeat our question. The sage often speaks in images and words. It feels like a flash of inspiration. Suddenly there is this word! Or a picture. The images are sometimes a bit disconcerting, but they always contain the core of the issue. They illuminate something that has eluded our everyday consciousness.
We simply allow these metaphorical images to appear.
We best write them down.
Those who already know the I Ching a little better...
will now know how to "deprogram" these images most effectively. They are thought forms, they are beliefs, they are fragments from an early time, and they are word forms to which we were exposed as children (often with the best of intentions). They are projections of others onto us and our expectations of others. They are attributions that act like bad wishes. They are constraints and automatisms, similar to an "if, then..." clause in computer language.
For the newcomers...
here again, the Inner No is on the program. All impressions, realizations, and aha experiences, which have come about through this 3-minute connection with the Sage, are dismissed individually and one after the other with the insistent Inner No. (But, it also happens that they can be accepted with an Inner Yes!). But for today we speak about the things we want to discard. Such connections are "cut", so to speak. Often you immediately notice a relief.
The next 2 days...
It happens that these realizations have a reverberation. Sometimes as a dream, sometimes as another flash of thought, and sometimes as an image. We also keep these impressions in writing, because we forget fast!
With every Inner No that we express seriously and with a certain depth, something comes off. something detaches.
Our perspective changes, and we have a better point of view. Our viewing range becomes larger, we feel less agonized.
We have come a little closer to our inner truth.
Now that's something, isn't it?
Remember I said this form of meditation is short. Probably shorter than the time it took you to read. But we have to start somewhere, don´t we?
Thank you for your attention!