The Book of Changes

"The Book of Changes" Thoughts arrived before words, 1000s of years before the crossing of curves always seen to be swimming upstream against the current thoughts … and feelings, in the flow, always arrive before words, they are cast in the lines, like some divination, hexagrams etched, embedded in the yin and yang of strangely falling scattered wisdom - thought, then written, then read, then spoken mystically spelled, felt in the soul, like poetry, strange and tercet clearly the simple now understood, marked over multiple choice under and around, all calling the heard, within, the living synchronicity rising like breath rising like stars in a dark long night undressing the veiled unveiling the myst, heavenly bodies, work as 1, the fiery sun, the missed caressing the cool luminescent lake swimming moon kissed in eclipse, pearls form, in dimensions above, so below 6 wings oscillating like lines burning transparency like seraphim following homeless infants to no home broken lines, faces upturned, all lost in the desert of woe, their cherubic thoughts transmitting prayers, like hungry war cries the ways, many, like words chartered numbers, all, forever are known by the unknown, that 1 number, the manifest known, that luck dragon, fathomless source, like a Lion walking a forgotten ocean opening minds like cavern doors labyrinthine leviathan reaching halls of shadow and winding around cloak worn devotion, a universe unfolding in the origami folds of a paladin sweeping the floor with metanoia and royal redamancy penetrate through the skin beyond mind ticking like a bomb, the thick and the thin, where inner truth like a bull takes its stand to something foreign universal within, eyed as something, more, slightly off-kilter new and peculiar, something, untouchable, 3 lines, unbroken, doubled within 6, outright, the lines boldly drawn, The Creative, the source words and thoughts like a game of knuckles before styx thrown up in the air fall and held captive, become something else transformed, feelings, to be transcribed, as if in odd cuneiform something, much higher in translation, ataraxia an odyssey to be further explored like words and thoughts in a Book of Changes The Creative, the force, older, much ancient than all those other books bandied as better informed I Ching unusual clarity relevance pinned and unpinned in the irrelevant forever changing relevant flow of all things 10 Wings (LadyLabyrinth / 2023) “Thus, in all his transactions the superior man Carefully considers the beginning.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “Sheng/Pushing Upward, Ascension. Within the earth, wood grows: The image of PUSHING UPWARD. Thus, the superior man of devoted character Heaps up small things In order to achieve something high and great.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “The dark force possesses beauty but veils it. So must a man be when entering the service of a king.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “The superior man is on his guard against what is not yet in sight And on the alert for what is not yet within hearing …” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “Through resoluteness one is certain to encounter something. Hence there follows the hexagram of COMING TO MEET.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “K’uei/Opposition Above, fire; below, the lake: The image of OPPOSITION. Thus amid all fellowship The superior man retains his individuality.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “K’an means something deeply mysterious …” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “Heaven has the same direction of movement as fire, Yet it is different from fire …” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “The fate of fire depends on wood; as long as there is wood below, the fire burns above …” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “… flowing water, which is not afraid of any dangerous place, plunges over cliffs and fills up the pits that lie in its course …”(The I Ching or Book of Changes) “As water pours down from heaven, so fire flames up from the earth.”(The I Ching or Book of Changes) “Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal: The image Of the Abysmal repeated.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “T’ai /Peace No plain not followed by a slope. No going not followed by a return. He who remains persevering in danger Is without blame. Do not complain about this truth; Enjoy the good fortune you still possess.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “… if one is intent on retaining his clarity of mind, good fortune will come from this grief. For here we are dealing not with a passing mood, as in the nine in the third place but with a real change of heart.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) “Confucius says … Life leads the thoughtful man on a path of many windings. Now the course is checked, now it runs straight again. Here winged thoughts may pour freely forth in words, There the heavy burden of knowledge must be shut away In silence. But when two people are at one in their inmost hearts, They shatter even the strength of iron and bronze.” (The I Ching or Book of Changes) (1) 1 Qián: The Creative (Force, Strong Action, The Key, God) (2) 61 Zhong Fú: Inner Truth (Inner Trust, Center Returning) (3) 51 Zhèn: The Shaking (The Arousing, Shock, Thunder) (4) 46 Sheng: Pushing Upwards (Ascending) (5) 2 Kun: The Receptive (Field, Acquiescence, The Flow) (6) 44 Gòu: Coming to Meet (Meeting, Coupling) (7) 11 Tài: Peace (Greatness, Pervading, Smooth Going) (8) 58 Tui/Dui: The Joyous (Open, Exchange, the Joyous Lake)