Hexagram 5 Waiting

 

This hexagram precedes the hexagram on the dangers of conflict.  When faced with a dangerous situation, the wise do not rashly act, but instead they take a step back and wait patiently.  They penetrate the situation with understanding to discern the way forward and to prepare and strengthen themselves to act when the time ripens to do so.  In that way, they do not fall ignorantly into the negativity of aversion and self-cherishing, which would make the situation worse by acting out of ignorance and confusion.

When we have the courage to face things exactly as they are and take care of what needs attention, without any sort of self-deception or illusion, a light develops out of events through which we can see the path to that benefits all.  A dangerous situation cannot be corrected by force or by imposing our will upon it.  Within the danger the Creative provides an underlying lesson to not seek victory but to approach the situation and remain open to the way that benefits all.  The wise take the time to pay careful attention to their own feelings of self-cherishing and hostility toward the other

In a dangerous situation, the wise confidently resolve to adhere to the Way of humanity[1] and refrain from acting impetuously. They do not yield to doubt in the path or yield to their agitation.  If we guard against our negative reactions, even before they arise, then we preserve our inner mastery and can manage our aversion and selfishness when they do assert themselves. In the time of waiting, sages remove their faults and advance their virtues[2] to benefit all.  

Whenever the wise see that they have reached their limits to respond well, they take a step back from what challenges them to avoid acting hastily, an act of patience. If we can hold to the good and understand the forces in play, both within ourselves and in the world[3], then we will discern a way through and out of the danger.

All beings need nourishment from above, but blessings come in their own time for which we must patiently wait. While waiting for the opportunity to act, the wise continue to develop their inner strengths.  Only when we have the courage to face things as they are without self-deception or illusion does a light develop out of events by which we can recognize the path forward through the dangers in ways that benefit all. 

Once we have the inner capacities to overcome our faults and have prepared ourselves to manifest the spirit in the world, then we must wait for conditions to naturally evolve. While waiting means not advancing, it does not mean giving up an undertaking nor submitting to a hostile fate:  to defer is not to abandon.  We cannot make it rain:  we must wait for it.  Eventually, it will rain. 

Most people, especially the talented, do not like to wait, but only the strong can stand up to their fate as their inner security enables them to endure to the end.  When circumstances force the weak to wait, they become resentful and meet everything critically and spitefully.  A burdened, resentful patience is not the waiting of the wise. 

Waiting does not rely upon mere empty hoping but emerges out of the inner certainty of reaching the goal.  Such certainty supports the perseverance and develops the strengths needed to move through dangers and fulfill our purpose.

Because the wise know their great purpose will succeed, they do not lose the serenity born of inner cheerfulness.  Such joy does not reflect a shallow optimism nor depend upon circumstances.  This joy naturally comes from within, an enduring joy that will get us through dangerous times.

Once we know the path through the danger and the time has come to act, resolute and persevering action must follow.  Only those who go to meet their fate resolutely and fully prepared have the capacity to deal with dangers adequately.  They make the necessary preparations and then act skillfully to move through the danger. When the time comes, the sage unfolds its preparations and moves resolutely against selfishness and aversion for others by manifesting the spirit within the world. 

Hexagram 41 Updated

 

According to the changing demands of the situation, the wise repeatedly reduce their faults and increase their benefits to all to the point that nothing remains to reduce, nothing to increase:  strength balances gentleness.  Throughout the Great Path, we use this practice to decrease our willingness to harm others for self-benefit while increasing our virtues and the ways we benefit the well-being of all. 

All the harms people cause come from going too far beyond what we need to the point of depriving others. Everyone needs to feel they belong, but the selfish do so by dominating or exploiting others.  We all need the resources necessary for life, but the selfish deprive others so that they can have more.  We need to defend ourselves, but then the powerful go beyond that to wanting to dominate and control others. 

Within the world we experience dangerous reduction when those with wealth and power benefit themselves from taking from those with less.  The disadvantaged go deeper under, and the elites go even higher.  This situation destabilizes society and brings harm to everyone. 

The path of reduction requires we understand what needs reducing and discern how our faults harm others.  We also need to guard against the dangers of excessive or insufficient reduction. By not knowing when to stop reducing, we create an imbalance, which then reactivates our selfishness and aversion. 

By their generosity and reducing the inequality of the disadvantaged, the wise become secure.  Sages curb their urges for more than sufficiency and stay close to basic needs to align with natural limits.  Through right reason, they set restrictions upon themselves. We can experience within presence the wanting without acting on them.  When we experience feelings of ill will within presence, they dissolve and allow us to return to calm and gentleness.  We attend to the call of the situation to respond in ways that benefit all, which gives enduring joy. Our appreciation and contentment grow for what we already have.

We use reduction and increase, each according to the time, as the means to move on the path.  Daily we reduce our faults and increase our virtues again and again until we have nothing more to increase or decrease, becoming wholly integrated with the design of nature.  This practice finds the middle way between yielding and strength, gentleness and firmness. At first this path seems difficult as we have yet to master our selfishness and hostility for others, but then it becomes easier as we gain confidence in living the Way of humanity.  In this way, spiritual capacities increase within reduction.

The Way of humanity calls us to willingly reduce ourselves to serve others.  However, those helped must not ask for too much and injure those who serve them.  Inconsiderate and selfish demands take the joy out of giving and service. 

People who throw themselves away in order to do the bidding of a superior or spinelessly comply diminish their own position without giving lasting benefit to the other.  Those who blindly follow orders in the name of loyalty do not know the meaning of loss and gain.  To render true service of lasting value to another, the wise serve others without relinquishing their aim to benefit all.

Reducing our faults manifests our devotion to the sacred in an essential and meaningful way.  Such an offering increases our confidence that we can persist in undoing our selfishness and ill will.  Even in harsh external conditions, we can still offer small acts of selflessness.  When decrease has reached its goal, flowering begins. 

Hexagram 22

 

Natural form 

We perceive natural forms as the most beautiful.  Any effort to add to how nature appears detracts from its beauty.  Nature does not conceal what is within but fully reveals the inner value. 

For the sage, form is never fundamental; what matters is the substance.  What we do manifests our being, not our appearance or possessions.  To devote care to form for its own sake without regard to inner content reflects foolishness. 

Those who contemplate the movement of the stars discern the changes through the year. Those who contemplate the forms of people’s behavior and understand what they value and how beliefs shape the world through their application.Sages govern their behavior through clearly defined (7) and firmly established (4) virtues.[1]  Those on the path of the Way of humanity[2] are moved by love (content), which their express in the world in ways that benefits all.

Simplicity

Efforts to beautify objects are shallow.  The display of wealth does not approach the beauty and value of a simple life.  Our most perfect form depends not on external ornamentation but in allowing our being[3] to stand forth. Sages model their lives upon nature.  At the highest stages of development, sages discard all ornamentation.  Persistence in fulfilling the great purpose of caring for the Earth and all life reveals all that matters.   

Within daily life, sages firmly keep to what benefits all.  They avoid going beyond meeting their basic needs as excessive consumption leads away from the Path.  They do for themselves rather than cause harm for others and the Earth even if it takes more effort to live simply.  At first we may struggle with renouncing conveniences, yet we find peace of mind in taking more responsibilities and reducing the harm we inflict upon life and the Earth by the way we live.  We must make the effort of doing for ourselves.  Sages want what they have.

The world[4] does not value the self-discipline and righteousness of the wise.  Thus, the I Ching encourages withdrawal from contact with those who seek nothing but magnificence and luxury.  Yet within this retreat, the wise find others who they can emulate and who can support their path.  Faithfulness to what benefits all creates a mutual attraction among those on the path of simplicity.  Such spiritual friends may have even lived in ages past, but because of their sincerity to the good, such sages transcend all limits of space-time.

Cultural forms

Every object holds two things:  the substance and the form.  However, the form needs to be transparent to the content and must not distract but promote it. The content always speaks for itself and communicates its own value independent of cultural embellishments.

The language of cultural forms of behavior and appearance make us comprehensible to others.  A decorated object translates its function into a cultural message.  Sages express themselves through cultural forms to manifest the spirit. 

The way we form ourselves into groups and community reflects the ways of our culture and the group’s purpose.  When beings associate with one another, they do so through forms of conduct ordered and organized by their species and culture.  What people actually do as a group reveal their true substance, what they consider most important. 

The highest form is transparent to the substance.  The form of the Way of humanity manifests the universal virtues of love, morality, justice, and wisdom expressed through firmly established rules of conduct in culturally dependent ways. 

Upon the achievement of selflessness, the being’s connection with the spirit naturally becomes visible.  Those who value plain simplicity do not lose the Way.  The wise nourish the arising experience with love, calm, and gratitude, devoting themselves to the sacred within the moment by caring for all and the Earth, the temple in which we live.

Hexagram 9

Image:  The wind blows across the sky, restraining the clouds.  Ancients saw wind as the breath of the Creative.  The wind makes the clouds grow dense, but it does not have the strength to turn the clouds into rain.    Many clouds promise needed rain, but no rain yet comes. 

The gentle temporarily restrains and shapes the strong Creative force, which surges powerfully outward.  Wind, the least visible of all experienced phenomenon, acts to concentrate the strongest force to make it visible.    

Creative forces surge outward into experience.  At this turning point in history, we have the task to concentrate and shape human forces into new forms, a new era.  While we have this critical responsibility, we individually lack the power needed to manifest the new era.  No one person can create a new culture out of nothing. 

In our time, those who work for a new beginning are average people.  We feel the responsibility and know the necessity of the task, but no leader appears whom we can follow.  In our time, a great leader will not come forth to bring the new and creative era Instead, the new era will become visible through the cooperative efforts of many wise people manifesting in the world[1] what benefits all.

Restraining our selfishness and aversion for others while cultivating virtues[2] within ourselves and in the world shape the chaotic powerful forces of the Creative. This development of the spiritual path prepares the ground for the new beginning and serves as the fulcrum to move the world.  We must do this work to prepare for the new era ourselves as nobody else can do it for us.

The time has not yet come to give the new era a definitive form within the world that has the integrity to hold the powerful energies of the Creative.  Chaos has not ceased. Many seek the final shape of things to come.  First one vision emerges, then another.  A great strong movement arises, firing enthusiasm and hope but then collapses, and new shapes emerge from the chaos.  The wise continue to learn and share what their discoveries with others also engaged in making visible the new era.

Collectively, we still need to restrain and shape more Creative forces and substance.  We have to build a broad large form in which everything and everyone has a place.  Those excluded from active participation in creating this work would sabotage the process if the shaping prematurely concluded without them.  We must continue our shaping efforts until the maximum point of expansion is reached in a form so comprehensive and inclusive that all within the surging chaos finds its place therein.  Only from within such depths can the shape of the new era finally be known.

In these times, the most harmful aspects selfishness and aversion for others still have the power to stop and oppress the many.  The wise do not have the strength and capacity on their own to transform the situation. The spirit, the weakest force within the world, cannot yet prevail against the harmful forces and amorality.  While we can always tame and limit, we at this time cannot overcome the strong and powerful negative forces.  We can only try to prevent the worst so that at least a future remains possible.

Confronted by the urgent search for the great, all-encompassing form in which everything has a place, patience and faith in the Way of humanity[3]  alone prevents despair.  The inner certainty that our efforts will give shape to the new era gives us courage and resolve.  With a glad mind, we persist. 

This unresolved chaotic situation demands our gentleness and patience.  No benefit comes from forcing a resolution and harvesting prematurely the unripe fruit of our efforts.  We wait, but that waiting is not inactivity.  While it is not the time to conclude or perfect, we must pour our energy into the small efforts of shaping, which in themselves never reach greatness on their own.  The accumulated efforts of many will lead to the world we seek.

This work begins with our efforts to shape whatever arises in our daily experience.  We can refine our response to the new era by using the ways of that new era, the Way of humanity.  This daily work within this thin zone of freedom may not move the world, but it has a large influence in increasing our capacities to extend this creative shaping into ever greater complexities of experience.

Creative forces transform and surge outward.  They are never gentle and mild.  We must make the transformative forces visibly apparent in our world.  The only thing that can give these energies and power a shape is our gentleness and powerlessness.  Only these seemingly small and insignificant encounters with the moment can tame the chaos of creation.

This is not the time to cultivate the new era secretively and in isolation.  We must join with those who mutually share the understanding of what must be done and with whom we can openly make known to the fullest extent the force of our nature.

That which is inside must overflow to the outside.  In this way alone can we help prepare the new way.  New paths will appear, enabling us to manifest the spirit in greater ways.  Eventually the time comes when the shape of the new era will suddenly appear complete.  Our task is not to wait for that day but to prepare its conditions, to satiate the time with possibilities so that the spark of creativity will penetrate and ignite its completion.  This is the fruit of the slow preparatory work of small development.

The shapers of the new era have this thankless work, an effort that seemingly never succeeds but just tames.  These laborers never see the harvest.  We may glance only from afar into the promised land.  While others may gather the fruit, this vanguard plants the orchard.  The success of the harvest is prepared at the height of renunciation, at the time of small battles of resignation and taming.

A great and difficult task engages us.  No sphere of activity is too small.  Each sphere of influence that fate has allotted to us matures with us and serves as the ground where we work, where the small concentrates the creative.  Eventually, the winds change and the rain comes.

 

Hexagram 18 Overcoming Indifference to Suffering (Gu)

Ignoring the suffering we cause others and the Earth degenerates social and natural conditions.  This situation has roots in the abuse of human freedom:  people choose to willingly harm others and the Earth for self-benefit.   These harms can only be undone by humans freely choosing to benefit all.  In this challenging time, unless we stop harming others and the Earth, then we as a species, along with the rest of life of Earth, will struggle to survive.      

The I Ching speaks to those who belong to the group that have willingly harmed others for self-benefit but who come to regret the suffering they cause.  These people seek another way to live with others on the Earth that benefits all.   Those already on the path may have reached the point in which forsaking some deeply cherished attachments to worldly concerns[1] challenges them, and they have reluctance and doubt blocking the deepening of their spiritual path. 

People have the power and capacity to choose between self-benefit and benefiting all.  This choice has great consequences.  We return to the Way by through our intentions to master our selfishness and ill will, turning toward the spirit for guidance.  When we understand the fundamentals of the Way of humanity[2], the path develops our willingness to get rid of what harms and return to the highest good by benefiting all.

This work of spiritual transformation comes about through correcting degeneration in the midst of the experience of great selfishness and ill-will.  When people have allowed the worldly concerns[3] to proliferate within their lives and in the world over a long time, we come to consider these crimes against others and nature as normal.  We see no clear way to undo the harm.  Yet whenever we are strained by great danger, we must look for the enormous workings of change beneath the surface and act.  Growing awareness of our dire situation moves people to action and nourishing virtue creates fresh strength and resolution to do great things – including crossing into the new era.

Success depends on proper deliberation.  When we do not fathom the cause and instead rely on speculation, our efforts will not get to the root of the danger and likely make it even more dangerous.  We need to take the time to fully understand the root of suffering and then more time to discern the path to resolutely and effectively remove it.  This steady application of attention frees us of our own selfishness and ill will that blocks our responsibilities to others and the Earth.

When they understand the root cause, the wise can then work on removing it.  Such an effort accords with the possibilities of the time.  Once we act to remove the source of suffering without abandoning gentleness and trust in the transformative power of the good, healing and regeneration begin.  We can neither imagine nor predict the shape of the new era, but its emergence depends upon us creating the conditions in which it can emerge and thrive. 

We cannot recoil from this work that will lead us through great danger and difficulty.  The task is now to bring awareness and action to the place that suffering begins: selfishness and domination.  Decisiveness and energy take the place of the inertia and indifference that have led to the decay so that uprooting the cause leads to a new beginning.   We need to courageously go beyond the normality of worldly concerns and do what is best to for all and the Earth.  

It is only by the shouldering of responsibility and acting despite our conditioned fears that we become the courageous leaders we have sought.  There is no other way. 

Love must prevail and extend over both the beginning and the end.

Line 1:  The rigid adherence to cultural conditioning leads to decay.  However, as the harmful conditions have not yet penetrated deeply, the line easily remedies them.  However, the situation cannot be ignored.  The line knows the dangers connected with social change; thus, its efforts turn out well.

The line is the one who remedies the decay.  If the line has the necessary care and diligence, it will handle the situation well. The line, in charge of important affairs, remains cautious and wary of its own attachment to worldly concerns.  Only by releasing our attachment to the worldly concerns and their conditioning can we open to the beneficial influences of the spirit

Line 2:  Injustices allowed by weakness and complicity have brought about decaying conditions.  In setting things right, the situation requires the line to exercise gentle consideration.  In order not to wound, the line does not proceed too drastically.  It restrains its anger and self-righteousness and approaches the situation as if correcting the mistakes of a beloved mother, gently helping her make beneficial decisions.    

The strong and talented line does the work of those who have the duty to do so.  It helps those responsible to fulfill their responsibilities in ways that benefit all.  If those responsible do not go along with the line’s advice and bring about failure, the fault lies with the advisor who did not guide well.

An aggressive and brusque approach with those responsible for harmful conditions will cause them to resist.  The line finds ways to agreeably guide the reform of injustices. 

An underlying fear keeps us from seeing the truth.  The wise gently but persistent locate and release the fear.

Line 3:  The line works on what the past actions have spoiled.  In this situation, it expresses anger for their degeneracy and exerts excessive energy to right their mistakes.  The line may have a slight cause for regret, but it remains free of blame as its good intentions compensate for the imbalance.  The line regrets its blaming behavior as it did not have the capacity to reform those responsible in a loving way.  The line regrets correcting degeneracy too adamantly.

To proceed too vigorously in righting our mistakes or injustices within the world invites discord but no serious harm results.  In this time, too much effort is better than not enough

Line 4:  The line’s weakness prevents it from taking measures against decay, which has its roots in the past and has just begun to manifest itself.  The line will regret allowing the decay to take hold.  We gain nothing by allowing things to drift.

People who adhere to conventional selfish norms do not have the courage to go beyond what the culture accepts as normal and correct themselves and others.

The wise remain firm and immediately correct degeneracy when it occurs.  They remain vigilant and do not let corruption grow.  However, this weak line cannot correct degeneracy. It knows only how to yield without firmness.  It ignores degeneracy when it occurs.  It knows the abuse but does nothing about it.  It reaps nothing but regret.

Tolerating what is wrong leads to ruin.  Decay must be met with clarity and firmness.

Line 5:  This line confronts the corruption originating from neglect in former times, but it lacks the power to ward it off alone.  Even with partners, the line cannot create a new beginning, but at least it can bring about a thorough reform, which has great value.

Epoch-making work needs people of strength and understanding.  When weak leadership delegates responsibilities to strong and wise people, the Way of humanity will manifest.

The flexible and receptive line gives credit to others and uses the strength and clarity of others to break through its own ignorance and correct selfishness and ill will within the world. 

Some may feel obligated to conform to the existing unjust society or even support it.  The duty of the sage is to always uphold proper principles and to resist injustice.

Line 6:  The highly developed distance themselves from the turmoil of the world life in order to create incomparable human values for the future.  They do not enter public life to reform it.  However, they do not remain idle and merely criticize.  They work not for one era but for all life and for all time.

When sages cannot engage with the time without violating the Way and cannot contribute positively to society, they turn inward and do not conform with the world.  Such a withdrawal is justified only when they strive to realize in themselves the higher aims of humanity. 

The strong line, at the highest point of the mountain, does not condemn or serve the world but sets its goals higher. 

---

[1] Worldly concerns are the ways in which the selfish willingly harm others for self-benefit and then ignore the suffering they cause.  Selfish individuals seek power and domination over others and willingly use violence to do so.  The selfish accumulate wealth through the unlimited exploitation and ultimate destruction of people, other life forms, and the Earth.  The selfish believe themselves superior to others and express their self-cherishing through patriarchy, discrimination, and subjugation, willing to use violence to protect their rung within the hierarchy and support the powerful.  The selfish consume as much as they can and seek constant distractions for the pleasures they derive from their addictions, enriching the exploiters.  

[2] The Way of humanity:  The path of love that creatively responds to the experiences of life in ways that benefit all.  Sages shape the energies of Creation through the virtues of love, morality, justice, and wisdom.  The sage finds happiness by obeying the command of heaven to reduce inner faults and manifest the sacred within the world.  Suffering ends when we have the lived experience that our being and the other are the same and arise from the sacred mystery.

[3] Worldly concerns are the ways in which the selfish willingly harm others for self-benefit and then ignore the suffering they cause.  Selfish individuals seek power and domination over others and willingly use violence to do so.  The selfish accumulate wealth through the unlimited exploitation and ultimate destruction of people, other life forms, and the Earth.  The selfish believe themselves superior to others and express their self-cherishing through patriarchy, discrimination, and subjugation, willing to use violence to protect their rung within the hierarchy and support the powerful.  The selfish consume as much as they can and seek constant distractions for the pleasures they derive from their addictions, enriching the exploiters.  

 

Hexagram 48 - The Well

Jing:  A well at the center of a field; rise and flow of water in a well; life-water surging from the depths; to found a capital city.

Structure:  Wood 6 is below, water 6 above.  The wood goes down into the Earth to bring up water.

Ideogram:  Two vertical lines cross two horizontal ones, representing eight fields with equal access to a well at the center.

Situation:  The waters of life surge up from the spiritual depths.  The sage persistently maintains a clear access to this central life source for well-being and fulfillment.

The Tao brings forth the good and great, which we experience as love. The Tao causes all life to develop and flow within natural limits, regulating and organizing love, which we call morality.  The Tao transforms life so that each attains its true nature, which we call justice as each achieves its potential according to its being.  The Tao transforms life so that each accords with the great harmony, which we call wisdom, separating what endures from what perishes.  These immutable ways of the Tao create enduring conditions. 

All experience life as the same and abundant:  a vivid arising experience; a process of growth, maturation and decline; the giving and taking of life.  Generation after generation, life comes and goes, neither growing more nor less.  It simply is, an ever upwelling experience available to all.  The situation and times may change, but the foundation of life forever endures.

All life has a spiritual potential, the innate capacity to fathom the Tao and to manifest it within the world.  However, we have the choice to develop these virtues[1] or to ignore them.  All have access to inner spiritual energies, but only a few have the insatiable diligence and persistence needed to break through the barriers of selfishness and fathom their spiritual depths to bring forth the sacred into the world and fulfill their destiny.

Commonly within all traditional rural communities, the well provides the life necessity of water.  Anyone can come to the well and bring the water up from its source.  Likewise, anyone can draw from the inexhaustible wellspring of the sacred through the depths of their being.  Just as stone cases a well, deeply established virtues provide the means to a lasting connection with the springs of life.  Virtue develops as we move on the path away from worldly concerns[2] and toward benefitting interbeing. 

Yet dangers arise on this path.  We may fail in our education to penetrate the roots of life and remain fixed in greed and violence:  a partial education proves as good as none.  Some may suddenly collapse and neglect their self-development.  Those who nearly reach the culmination of the path but do not go all the way achieve nothing. Others wander in a muddy life without benefit, ignorant about how to develop themselves or that they even can. The sage persists in overcoming the attraction of worldly concerns, both in good times and bad, to complete the path.

Breaking through our self-cherishing to transcend what most consider normal and to face the spirit causes fear and doubt as we must renounce all defenses of conditioning:  comfort seeking, self-importance, aversion to others, addictions, and status-seeking. The wise learn how to persistently align their lives with the Way of humanity[3] despite all their disappointments and mistakes made along the way.  We must try again and again to break through selfishness, learning from our mistakes and move through the many dangers of the path.  For the rope to reach the bottom of the well and the waters of the spirit, seekers must have the strength and endurance to penetrate all delusions and to finally understand what is, the sacred within the moment.

Once we break through our selfishness and experience the spirit, then we have the duty to draw from the waters of life and bring them forth into the world.[4]  Those who have spiritually fulfilled themselves have the responsibility to develop others and to manifest good within the world.  We deepen our virtues to reach the waters of a spiritual life and then allow others to draw from us to quench their spiritual thirst. 

Sages fulfill their purpose by supporting those on the path and benefiting all.  Yet thinking we can do this before we have developed ourselves creates confusion.  We cannot teach what we do not know.  Only when we can develop ourselves both in comfort and adversity can we consider ourselves practitioners of the Way of humanity. Then others can draw upon the fruits of our development inexhaustibly.  The more others take from the sage, the more the sage has as the process of taking nurtures and renews.  

Not making this spiritual quest leaves life unfulfilled and of no benefit to others.  Time passes by those who throw their lives away and ignore their spiritual nature.  Others neglect their good qualities, and their insufficient development prevents them from accomplishing anything worthwhile.  A well achieves its purpose through its use.  People fulfill their purpose when they nourish and benefit others.  To be near attainment but not to have applied practice is like not yet having lowered the rope into the well.  If we do not make our practice available to others and the world, our practice has no value.

When sages finally reach the divine springs of life and can bring what they have experienced to life, they become the inexhaustible source from which others might quench their spiritual thirst. Just as the well’s purpose is fulfilled when others draw its water, so should we benefit from what sages have created, translating their wisdom into our lives. 

The wise do not permit the difficulties of the Path to vex them.  No matter how often we feel disappointed by what happens, we must start again.  Then this divine yearning for the springs of life remains alive, always in motion, always striving forward. Then even hardship, even misfortune, becomes a source of strength.  The spiritual life transforms the sage who then transforms the world through continuing the work of bringing the spirit to life in the world.

Sages take in the waters of life that well up from the depths, keeping a clear access to the central meaning of life and ever holding fast to the good.  A clear overflowing spring nourishes all without hindrance.  In this way, sages fulfill their lives.

We have the heart, mind, and hands to reach out lovingly to all life and Earth, caring for them in the most beneficial way.  The Way of humanity transforms our lives so that we may fulfill our purpose.