Looking at these times from an Eastern philosophy perspective
I talk with so many people disheartened by the current events. I am too. But I do believe we put ourselves here, now, to help make a great shift in consciousness. But we must go through the fear and seeming hopelessness first.
As a practitioner and student of feng shui it is easy to forget that these ancient ideas are not only applicable to our homes and our personal lives but serve as wisdom for our global experience as well.
The basic principles of feng shui come from Eastern philosophy. Feng shui’s principles guided people on how to live. It provided a framework to understand their place in this universe.
This is an important point for our current world situation. Stay with me here…
“…to understand their place in the universe.”
This requires the ability to stop and reflect. Okay, I made my point.
One of the basic concepts in Eastern philosophy is yin and yang [opposing, yet complementary forces of nature]. Yin is the feminine or receptive energy whereas yang is the masculine or creative force.
Both yin and yang are woven into everything in the universe. They are relative in comparison to another “thing.” [For instance, a wood floor is yang when compared to a carpeted floor, yet it’s yin compared to a stone floor.]
Neither yin nor yang are good or bad. The important point is their relationship to one another. Balance between the two brings harmony. Imbalance creates stagnation (too yin) or chaos (too yang).
The I-Ching (also known as the Book of Changes) is one of the oldest known texts that use yin and yang to help us understand the transformation of energy in the universe. The I-Ching was created through observation of the patterns in the natural world. And its text is used to describe the patterns of human nature and life situations.
Over the course of the history of the earth, energy has shifted from yin to yang and back again, creating periods of harmony (balance) and disharmony (imbalance). And periods of stagnation (too yin) and chaos (too yang.)
Humankind has experienced increasing yang energy (the masculine). The conquering of land, resources, and indigenous people, then, industrialization and now, technology. Yang’s positive qualities (active, energetic, and creative) were overtaken by the acceleration of its excessive qualities of aggression, enslavement, and inequality at all levels.
When Trump was elected in November 2016, it seemed incomprehensible that a sensible people would put a man like him into this most important role in our country and in this ever-increasing globalized world.
But if we look at this period through the lens of yin and yang, and the I-Ching, it makes perfect sense.
We need to go to the extremes of yang energy before the energy can cycle back into balance.
We need the rise of the Divine Feminine. The #MeToo Movement is in perfect harmony with these times. We need not only women but also men who inhabit the yin qualities of stillness, tolerance, and compassion.
It’s also as if the Divine Power is taking us by the shoulders and saying “Wake up!” We need to awaken at a much faster rate than we’ve currently been on track. More people are needed.
On a personal level, we understand that when things are going well, there is no growth. It’s unease and discomfort that pushes us to move forward.
Same is true on a societal and global level.
The I-Ching shows us patterns of energy. If we study it, we can see that, just before periods of true power and enlightenment (balanced energy), we have the aggressive energy clasping to what it knows…force through fear (out of balance).
This is our collective path. We must keep our hearts light. We must find joy and laughter in our lives. We must make our homes places of sanctuary. We must create luminous spaces wherever we go…
I am not naive enough to believe that this journey will be easy, nor is it our predetermined destiny. As always, we have free will. We must act, not out of fear, but from love and compassion.
“What would the Dalai Lama do? or say?” He would say that we should not stand for injustice, inequality and lack of integrity, but we should not “fight” it either. Fear with fear. Aggression with aggression.
We should continue to shift our energy, raise our consciousness.
Three things you can do to raise your consciousness?
- Take responsibility for what is going on in your life (no blame)
- Smile, laugh, and give sincere compliments to those that you meet every day
- And, vote from your heart.
And when there is enough of us living from a higher consciousness, we will not be dealing with such low consciousness energy.
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