Cyclic progression and transformation

RC

At the beginning of a new cycle we are more than ever aware of the cyclical nature of life. In the morning we get up from bed we act with diligence in accordance to our nature and finally we retire again to sleep. The same pattern repeats itself…and yet, it is not the same person getting up the next morning. We have advanced in age and in our thinking. The philosopher Heraclitus quoted by Plato in Cratylus said: “You cannot step twice into the same stream. For as you are stepping in, other waters are ever flowing on to you.”  Science confirms that the body is continually replacing cells in the body and rejuvenating cells. As the body transforms the spirit evolves. Everything is in a process of change and transformation.

At the beginning of a new cycle the one certainty  is that there will be change. The question we each have to ask ourselves is whether the change within us will be haphazardly or purposefully. Stewards of natural and spiritual laws we are equipped to master their lives and to direct to some extend their own growth and change. Life is a process of navigating through the storms of uncertainty. Through quiet and persistent inner work we manage to find calmness within ourselves and a steady pattern of growth and transformation. Along the way we are to dispense the truths we learn and the wisdom gained in service and not hold it as a rightful possession for personal gain only. When insight is not put to service in the vineyard of mankind then it would constitute failure to meet the obligations and duties of stewardship knowledge and wisdom. Diligent studies without practical application will constrain inner illumination and growth in being. To evolve we must allow wisdom to sink into our own experience. Ultimately it is our understanding of natural and spiritual laws that will change our reality and lead to self mastery. We have a responsibility to change the world and we can accomplish that fete only when we change our attitude towards the world.

The primary cycle of human life constitutes a progression of cyclical periods where each period brings about its own definite results upon our growth, development and mastership. In the same manner each annual cycle contains its potential for growth and will present opportunities to ply natural and spiritual law in service of mankind. Different periods offer us with different possibilities through conditions that are favorable or unfavorable to do the things we must do in the course of our earthly existence.  The annual cycle of four seasons offers us all we need for an alchemical process of inner transformation. 

The process of transformation begins by giving birth to alertness, curiosity and a sense of wonder. We discover individuality as we explore the objective world through our senses. The challenge, however, is not to tie our happiness to the external world but to look beyond that to our full potential. Individuality is crystallized as we strive towards achieving goals.  However individuality can not find its full purpose in selfish aims. The full potential of individuality is realised when it contributes to the advancement of a collective. Love and compassion empower the seeker of truth to give without expectation.  The fullness of our potential becomes evident with the discover that spirit transcends the material world. Our potential is defined as we expand our experience of the Divine as the Infinite.

 

 

 

Chinese new year celebration

Photo blog

Yesterday was the start of the Chinese new year. We left the year of the dragon and entered into the year of the snake. Significant for me because I was born in the year of the snake.

I was honored to be going to the opening of my new Tai Chi school’s venue. These are a few pictures of the day:

1) Opening with the lion dancing

 

 

2) The Dragon had to run

 

3) A welcoming by Shirfu Lan

 

4) Sword demonstration by my new instructor

 

5) Push hand demonstration

 

6) Telling the myth of the monk and how Tai Ji started.

 

 

7) Shaolin demonstrations

 

 

8) Sitting for a 12 course meal – Dining together

9) One of the highlights was when the Grand Master faced the Dragon

The spiritual journey

A work in progress….

Every journey has its beginning and its end, but one…

The end is not the purpose, but the knowledge gained en route
Each stride an experience with its own fragrance
The trumpet call is but transition

Awaken! Awaken! Awaken!

Circles within circles – the octave rises
Seek the truth with a heart of innocence
Where the heart is pure the Divine appears
Boldly giving birth to mirth

Expend energy to build on a stable foundation
The Divine seed incarnate in the earthly body
Creative force is released for benevolence

Ardour conquers enmity
Fidelity searches for community
Gather experience and knowledge
Prudence avoids rashness
With purity life is augmented with joy
Withdraw to contemplate

Intuition is possible only with intelligence
The wise route traveled with dignity
Radiate leadership with power, warmth and love
Purge the soul of earthly gross
Memory awakens conscience
Acknowledge the fruit of your labour

Silence refreshes the balance
Experiences weighted on the scale
Retain only the worthy and seek beauty

Act boldly with courage
In service offer selflessly
Advance through indifference

Become the conduit for flow
Reason exposes error and upholds truth
Aim consciousness towards a worthy goal
Desire aspiring upward
Accomplished through insight gained
Universal love born in man’s heart

Radiate the Magnificent within
Let compassion encourage cheerfulness
Ever exercising charity towards those in need.
Find justice within cosmic law
embrace harmony with all men
seek and find mystical unification

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Oldies

Photography

My sister posted these photo’s of me as a young boy on Facebook. Wow some of these I have not even seen.

1) Looking very confidently naughty

2) Ready to go fishing

3) November 1987 where I have eyes only for my dog Tiger

 4) In a pensive mood

 

Interpreting the minor arcana of the Tarot

Tarot

It is helpful to have a way to understand where we are in life when we face issues. The Tarot is more than a divination system, it is a philosophy about life and archetypical patterns in life.  The lessons of the Tarot can enrich our thinking irrespective of whether we use it as a divination system or not. You will benefit from pondering the philosophy underlying the Tarot even if you are not interested in the Tarot itself.

I have read many Tarot books and have 21 books in my personal library on the Tarot. Explaining the minor arcana to a friend of mine I was reminded of one of the best depictions that elucidate the minor arcana. This interpretation method is based on a archetypical journey with which many of us can associate. This journey acknowledges the cyclical nature of progression. 

Source: 21 ways to read the Tarot by Mary K Greer’s

In short the description for each phase associated with the corresponding four cards are:

1) Realization that the journey is needed but not you are not yet sure where to go.
2) Deciding where to go and packing. A decision must be made and a direction in the road chosen. The path is plotted onto a map.
3) The call to action. You must take a step to start the journey at the foot of the mountain see how things get together. You must create the momentum to overcome inertia.
4) Achieving some progress and finding a plateau to evaluate and can look back with satisfaction at progress made. You can still turn around if you want to. Often a time to rest and taking some refreshments before continuing the journey.
5) The challenging and most risky part of the journey is against the steepest part of the mountain. It requires focus to overcome obstacles and yet we can no longer turn back.
6) Achievement…the goal of the journey had been achieved. You are on the top of the mountain and see the big picture with the moment The path is making sense. The journey however is not completed.
7) The journey is not completed the mountain must still be descended. The result of the journey must still be integrated. Happy to have achieved, but the situation is still precarious. Completing this phase give is the true victory!
8) The results of the journey is now visible, the risk has been circumvented and the final stretch cleared. Last minute adjustments can still be made that effect how the journey will end but little can be done in terms of creativity.  The going gets easier down the slope of the mountain.
9) The journey is completed and loose ends must be tied up. Finalize the journey.  The gear for the journey packed away.
10) The journey is part of your personal history and you can share it as a story with others  from beginning to the end. It is time to start wondering about a new journey. You experience the longer term outcome that results from the journey as its impact becomes part of the momentum that sets the course of your life.

 

 

I had a few days off in the beginning of this year, which allowed me to explore Xanga and discover new bloggers. One of the blog entries I read and recommended had a list of websites which I was keen to investigate a bit further. The one included http://www.vocabulary.com . This Website is an excellent website to start to improve your vocabulary. I enjoyed the way the website challenges you to learn new words and it is actually very smart in identifying words you do not know. I have now made it my new years resolution to improve my English vocabulary using Vocabulary.com. Hopefully it will stimulate new blogging on my part.

On this website there are various articles including one written to teachers on how to teach children to broaden their vocabulary. I wish more teachers will read this article. However I had rewritten it for myself from a more mature perspective by using the same principles in order for me to apply it to improve my vocabulary:

Broadening your vocabulary

• Make a list of unfamiliar words when you read a book. If you know all the words then find a different book outside of your comfort zone. Find words you don’t know, words that you think a toastmaster should use in a speech
• Don’t make it your goal to memorize a bunch of words and corresponding definitions.  Focus on understanding words in a context and using words in a meaningful way.
• Emphasize morphology (word parts) over etymology (word origins) – recognize common patterns in words so that you can approach unfamiliar words with a head start.
• Pay attention to word choice when you write or blog.  Take time to read through your speech and encircle a few lacklustre words and then use a thesaurus to find more appropriate words to replace these words.
• We all tend to stay in our own comfort zones – rarely taking risks with hard-to-pronounce words or words that do not come naturally with us. When you reveal a little vocabulary vulnerability and risk, then you are creating an environment where word experimentation and word study are encouraged and practiced.

I hope that today I encouraged you to become more word sensitive. Turning over a new vocabulary leaf does not have to be painful but it does take concerted effort. Take charge of your ability to express yourself better by taking charge of your vocabulary.

(The original article was: For the new year: Five simple vocabulary resolutions for educators by Georgia Scurletis on 3 January 2013)

The world we live in

Pondering

We live in a world very different from that of a few hundred years ago. We learn to look differently at the macrocosmos. The earth and the planets revolves around the sun. The sun is an insignificant small dot in the scope of the size of the universe. The universe despite some regularities is an place where chaos rules and where forces are at play that we can hardly imagine. We learn about black holes from where nothing can escape and where things are compresses to infinitely small sizes. We learn that the bigger part of the material cosmos is still unseen. Our universe is expanding and everything is moving away from each other. Nothing in the universe seems to be permanent…the sun will die…the universe itself will seize to exist.  From a pure statistical perspective we have to consider the possibility of life elsewhere than earth.  we know there are water on other planets and that there are many earth like planets.

When we look at the world smaller…then we find a strange world that defies our expectations and logic. Uncertainty that prevents us from seeing location and velocity at the same time. A world where observation defines what something is. A thing can be two different things totally irreconcilable simultaneously. The ability for one thing to influence another immediately irrespective the distance without any delay.  Space or nothingness is the most abundant thing in the universe and that everything is just vibration.

In the world we see a pattern of evolution of which mankind is nothing but just a continuation. We unraveled the makeup that defines who we are and call it DNA.

Despite this we still can not properly define life and consciousness. We can not eliminate war and poverty. We  are exhausting the earth of the very resources we need to live. We communicate across the globe in an instance and yet we can not maintain even the simplest of close relationships. We can see the most beautiful views and images of nature and yet we destroy nature with carelessness.

 

 

Reincarnation

Philosophical comparative musings

If you believe in reincarnation, you believe that after death a person’s soul is reborn in another body. Certain religions hold this belief as a central tenet, including Hinduism and Buddhism. Different religions however has different views on how the soul return.

The theory of reincarnation basically states that that life (eternal and spiritual) and transcends the body (finite and material). The theory includes the concept of karma which implies that the actions of one’s life will continue to have an impact on future life. A person is building up in the present a debt or inventory of future experiences. Some religions maintain that the soul can regress by coming back in a lower conscious form while others maintain that life is evolving and therefore can only maintain a state of development or improve on that state of development. It is like the assumption we have that once you grew past an age in life you can not return to that age…e.g. a mature man can not in flesh return to be a baby. The evolutionist perspective on reincarnation therefor maintains that life continues to evolve. Consequently they differ from other schools that maintain that reincarnation is some sort of returning cycle in which man is stuck and mus strive to escape at all cost. This line of though maintains that ultimately the soul will fully reunite with the divine and ultimately become part of the divine, aware of the divine as if it has become the divine itself but lost all awareness of an identity. Meditation practices of clearing the mind and experiencing the stillness is often means of experience this feeling of merging with the divine through the loss of identity.

The evolutionist approach is a bit different for it maintains the purpose of evolution is not to merge back into the divine but rather an evolution in being. Being is defined as a measure of togetherness. The implication is an evolution of the spirit to more wholeness. In this view reincarnation is a necessity of life…like a seed must return to the ground to grow so the spirit must infuse with the material world to grow. The material world slows down the spirit so that it can experience within the awareness of a time continuum. Entering into the density of the material world provides for the opportunity for the spirit to grow. In both schools the underlying assumption is that life is from the divine of from God. Where one sees reincarnation as a return to God the other sees it as a development to reflect more the image of God and recently some would say it is not either or but the paradoxity of both.  The schools of reincarnation almost all say the spirit comes into the material world to learn lessons. A less answered question is why learn lessons? The evolusionists response is that it is through living life that the spirit evolves and add to its progress towards greater wholeness or being. Another question often asked by sceptics is why don’t we remember previous lives if we lived them. A person who believes in reincarnation would be quick to point out that we remember very little consciously even of this life. Most people can not easily give a full description of what they have done a week ago…never mind a life time ago. The evolutionist reincarnation supporter have an additional answer…is it due to the lack of being that the spirit forgets and remembers only through what is subconsciously been integrated during the previous reincarnation that is maintained. They reach the conclusion that memory is not lost but in the contrary maintained and visible through behaviour of the person in a present life. They further maintains the more an individual works at growth in being the more the person will be able to remember past lives.

Reincarnation is an interesting way of viewing life and give its own perspective. Whether one beliefs in reincarnation or not will not change what is true. Since this perspective is today as much prevalent as in the past it is not something to be ignored because it tells something of the spiritual process of awakening.

Uncertainty

Philosopical pondering

Uncertainty according to Vacabulary.com is a state of doubt and or where one is dependent on chance. A polarity is not alway opposites but the certainty – uncertainty polaraty is an interesting polarity to investigate. If the one is the affirmative and the other the receptive, what then would be the reconciling. The reconciling will be freedom. In a world of total certainty there can be no freedom for everything is determined. In a world of total uncertainty there is no freedom for no action can lead to any defined outcome. Freedom of will demand a balance between certainty and uncertainty. Even science is arguing that uncertainty is woven into the fabric of the cosmos. When we look at our philosophy of life we can not just deal with certainty but have to deal with uncertainty. With uncertainty always comes opportunity for the outcome has not yet arrived. What informs the uncertainty is not certainty of the outcome but the perspective we use to illuminate the uncertainty. I maintain that uncertainty contains within it the seed of hope. Where there is uncertainty there is the hope for advancement and/or improvement.

Leaving my Tai Chi school

Life event

Today I sadly made the final decision to leave my Tai Chi school. This is due to a typical East meet West clash…or at least the way we generalize them. The Shifu announced that he wants his school to be more traditional Chinese since he is the seventh generation master of his particular line. The implication is however a far harsher means of discipline through punishment. Not greeting properly might for example demand 200 push-ups. The Shifu is to be obeyed at all times without question since he is the master.

For me it was too much of a price to pay. I could not sacrifice my individual right to this approach no matter how beneficial the Tai Chi was. I could not see eye to eye with the Shifu and consequently saw no other avenue but to resign.

This event took me back to the rights and liberty for which so many people have thought. The concepts of individual freedom that grew from the Greek Athenian culture to philosophers like  Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire who were no genius but had the boldness to recognize the value of the individual.  This sense of equality and freedom was exported by the founding fathers of the USA to the new world. There liberty and equality was established as basic conditions of life. Today I realized how deeply I value the premise of equality and freedom. We so often see it as cheap because it is taken as the norm. However equality and freedom is something far more important and we should never forget how long it took to establish those values.

Sure, I might have over reacted and maybe the intent will not be applied with the same fierceness but for me it was a matter of principle. I had to stand up in this small way for the ideal of freedom and equality. We should never allow anything to erode these principles.

So now i am without a Tai Chi teacher but my conscience is clear.

 

I stand for the freedom and equality of all.