In an unusual dream experience, in which I heard a disembodied voice without anything visual accompanying say loudly: ‘enslaved heart’ followed a little whilst later by ’embattled soul’ and wanting to learn more about how to create a hexagram based on an event or experience, and searching for a book on the Plum Flower method which I already have read a few short chapters on in Jou Tsung Wa’s I Ching Divination book, I stumbled on the works of William Douglas Horden, one of whose many volumes is entitled ‘The Mind Flower I Ching,’ I then finally encountered is seminal contribution to I Ching YiJing literature and wisdom called ‘The Toltec I Ching.’

One of his many I Ching techniques involves selecting a Hexagram and Commentary whose qualities or process you wish to develop over the coming year. Then each month one line of that hexagram changes. The second month the bottom line changes, the third month the second line changes and so forth. Once all six lines have changed you do it again until by the thirteenth month, after twelve changes, you end up back where you started. The idea is to contemplate each successive hexagram quality month by month.

I started three months ago (with King Wen #62 Preponderance of the Small which in Toltec is #13 Concentrating Attention because at the time I was focusing on going back to square one with meditation and working on basic mindfulness again and this Hexagram in the Toltec presentation seemed to relate. Plus the image if that of a spirit with a human face and the heart of the sun in a mountain with lightning come down from heaven onto the top of his head and one hand at the base of the mountain. I liked the picture.

Now three months later, I’m contemplating #25 Radiating Intent.

This I Ching is original in that it is designed with each Hexagram commentary and Image fashioned around a picture. They were designed with the author and painted by the author’s sister-in-law who designed and co-founded the Nahuatl University pyramid campus in Ocotepec, Morelos and is a fully trained muralist. So next I shall paste in the text, which the author has given all permission to share.

The picture above is a cell phone snapshot; it is copyrighted but hopefully it is alright to show this way. (I shall check later and if it isn’t will remove!):

HEXAGRAM 25

䷡
RADIATING INTENT

IMAGE:
A male warrior inscribes symbols onto a stone for the pyramid upon which the whole community is working. On his shoulder is perched a sacred bird, whose outstretched wing directs all this activity.

INTERPRETATION: This hexagram depicts the way purposefulness moves outward from the center, manifesting itself in ever-widening spheres of activity. The male warrior symbolizes the way of testing and training human nature that increases its versatility and fortitude. Inscribing symbols onto a stone means that you find your voice and perform acts of lasting meaning and value. That the stone fits into the pyramid means that your actions are part of a greater design of harmony, symmetry, and balance. The whole community working together on the same project symbolizes people united by a common vision. The sacred bird perched on the shoulder means that your spirit guide accompanies you everywhere and is always nearby. The wing directing all this activity symbolizes the guiding spirit’s creative intent, which inspires both individuals and groups to devote their energy to something greater than themselves. Taken together, these symbols mean that far-reaching accomplishments can be achieved by conscientiously attuning yourself to your spirit guide’s intent.

ACTION: The masculine half of the spirit warrior joins with others in order to advance as far as possible during a time of progress. The difficulty here is deciding which group to ally yourself with, since there are many competing for members. In a time when cooperation and collaboration produce great benefit for many, there still remain groups committed to authoritarianism and the control of resources: it is essential that you avoid groups serving only their own narrow interests and consider only those serving the widest possible good. In particular, avoid those repeating familiar catchwords and phrases in an attempt to hold their members to outworn ideologies and practices. You can recognize constructive and progressive groups by the startling aspects of their speech and action, which reflect your own emerging way of looking at the new and untried alternatives to failed solutions. Work with egalitarian groups whose wider vision is demonstrated by what they accomplish locally. Incorporate everyone into the work, include everyone who wishes to contribute: together, you can make changes that bring benefit to others far beyond your sphere of activity. Above all, follow the spirit of intent: do not hesitate to change groups if yours betrays its original and fundamental principles.

INTENT: Times of progress emerge from times of stagnation, times of advance follow times of hardship: a common vision emerges from shared adversity. When people no longer seek guidance from those with all the trappings of power and authority, then they create projects that are supported by their peers because they provide a meaningful outlet for people’s pent-up energies. Because such projects are conceived from the ground up, they are the collective work of the community, made up of all the lives and talents and efforts and contributions of its members. It is a time when greatness is defined by community spirit, the totality of individual expressions bound together by a common purpose and shared lives. In an atmosphere of equality and creativity, people undertake altruistic projects voluntarily because they feel responsible to contribute to the whole of which they are a part.

SUMMARY: Your influence is growing, take care what you think. Act as though your every thought was being inscribed in stone. Live as though every moment is a stone upon which you are inscribing a wish. Dedicate each of these spirit-stones of your intent to the living pyramid of creation. Cultivate good will toward all. Collaborate with those of like mind. Help organize community endeavors.

The intent behind this post is to highlight the Summary at the End, albeit without seeing the entire context I think it would make far less sense. Here it is again:

SUMMARY: Your influence is growing, take care what you think. Act as though your every thought was being inscribed in stone. Live as though every moment is a stone upon which you are inscribing a wish. Dedicate each of these spirit-stones of your intent to the living pyramid of creation. Cultivate good will toward all. Collaborate with those of like mind. Help organize community endeavors.

As I have remarked elsewhere, am still somewhat uncomfortable with the flowery, New Agey feel of the language at the same time finding that it resonates deeply. I am the sort of person who has little problem holding contradictory thoughts or feelings so this is not a problem, but it does take some getting used to. That said:

Have often wondered: ‘how does one form intent without it being a merely conceptual exercise?’ I have found this description, not coincidentally in a Hexagram entitled ‘Radiating Intent,’ quite helpful. ‘Act as though your every thought was being inscribed in stone…. Dedicate each of these spirit-stones of your intent to the living pyramid of creation. Cultivate good will toward all.’ I find this a clear, admirable expression with which I can immediately connect.

But it has also brought up challenges which have been wrestling with in the past few Articles, namely that the cultivation or awareness of good immediately involves being aware of and managing bad. (I don’t really like terms like good, bad, evil, etc. because they can too easily become judgmental but anyway.) If once considers each thought as being inscribed in stone as the text recommends, it makes inner experience more substantive, meaningful, and it inspires one to avoid the banal trivialization of time, of life, that most of us tend to indulge in too much, usually without realizing. Much of our modern culture is steeped in triviality, though a good work ethic and sane family life can help counteract of course. Still, one doesn’t often consider each thought as being something that ‘echoes in eternity,’ even though of course it does.

That said, it is not the conceptual meaning of the thought which echoes, but the intent behind it, the felt meaning. And so ideally we mean what we think rather than thinking mindlessly, that is also what this suggestion implies. And if one begins to take one’s thoughts and actions more seriously, as vehicles for helping one to ‘cultivate good will toward all,’ then not only does one begin to encounter the enemy-within (both in oneself and others) resisting such a call but also one begins to sense how forming an intention can be something both tangible, doable and not overly dependent on abstraction or over-thinking. Because, funnily enough, taking one’s thoughts more seriously as lasting ‘spirit-stones’ which go into the construction of a ‘living pyramid of creation’ helps skim away trivializing froth and chatter, revealing the nourishing bone broth beneath and within.

Food for thought!

Some wise person said: ‘Time is all we have.’ I am not sure if we even have that, but I get the point: we don’t have our bodies or the external world, they are always changing and we don’t get to either fully control or keep them. But we do have time, one moment after the next, one day after another, one year after another, until it is no more. So for a time, we have time, time in which to experience. How well do we spend or use this time? That is the question.