A Cosmic Wake-Up Call

I missed blogging yesterday because I had to go to the hospital. Nothing catastrophic, obviously (I'm back here now); but certainly a wake-up call to Life. As many of you know, I like to get the I Ching's perspective on things, whether of global or personal importance (there's really only a formal difference between those realms, after all). Here's what I learned when I asked what the larger meaning was of the event that landed me in the hospital yesterday:

I cast Hexagram 22, Grace, with lines 2 and 6 changing. Grace is about cleansing our consciousness of the forms of propriety and the obsession with appearances, to reveal the things within ourselves and the universe that truly matter—in other words, those things that are natural, that reveal true beauty, that endure.

According to the simple method described elsewhere at this site, I asked the Cosmic Teacher for some personal detail on the hexagram and lines I received. Line 2 points out that there is a situation involving a mistaken reading of appearance for reality; the text says, "He lends grace to the beard on his chin." When I asked for phrases that embodied the error implied by the text, the expression, "The body is merely a machine, and the cardio system is simply a system of plumbing" came to me. It was quickly confirmed by the rtcm that this was indeed the primary obstruction to healing and forward movement; and that deprogramming this phrase was the Cosmic recommendation at hand.

Line 6 reminds us that "simple grace is without blame." In other words, the more we clear our psyches of self-images and projections of science, religion, government, and other errors of societal conditioning, the more we approach "simple grace" and hold to the center of our being, which I've also discussed elsewhere in this blog.

This doesn't mean that Science, Religion, and Government are always wrong! (This is one of those conclusions that people often leap upon when they read some of my work). All it means is that we have to stop and question previously unquestioned beliefs and the various systems they come packaged in, especially when something alarming or unbalancing has occurred to, around, or within us. If you'd like to try this approach for yourself, the best place to start is still by getting a copy of this book and applying its insight and instruction to the questions and challenges of your own life.

Meanwhile, I've got some book reviews completed. Aside from my review of the new Harry Potter, which will be viewable at later this week, I've also written a review of the controversial book Freakonomics, by Univ. of Chicago economist Steven Levitt. Since nobody seems to want to publish that review, I may as well make it available here.