Fear is a human and an animal emotion. Fear of the unknown can make people jumpy and nervous, if not driving them crazy. Not only do unscrupulous leaders and New Agers know that, they capitalize on this very emotion, fear, to sell their ideas in speeches, books, and films filled with Doomsday theories.
One of these Doomsday or end-of-the-world theories that have garnered much worldwide attention recently is the so-called 2012 phenomenon. Many people across the world especially after watching the movie titled, ‘2012’ have been moved to believe that such global catastrophes can really happen. They tend to say that the ancient Mayans and the I Ching cannot be wrong in predicting the end of the world.
Yes, the ancient Mayans may not be wrong, but did they write of such an event?
Yes, the I Ching cannot be wrong, but who was the person who consulted or interpreted the oracles?
No, they do not want to know that or get right down to the facts; they just want to believe, even if directed to look up this so-called Doomsday theory in the Wikipedia. I therefore append an excerpt taken from the Wikipedia to put things in perspective:
“The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012, which is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae related to this date have been proposed.
A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that during this time Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era. Others suggest that the 2012 date marks the end of the world or a similar catastrophe.”
When there is much hype given to an uncertain or unlikely event in the global news media or publications, people become fixated with it. For instance, the ‘expected’ Y2K problem with computers, where global titans paid hundreds of millions of US dollars to the experts and advisers in 1999 for trying to resolve it before all their computers freeze up and malfunction at the turn of the next century. Contrary to common belief, nothing happened as the clock struck one second past midnight taking the world into year 2000.
In the previous entry on this 2012 phenomenon, I had asked if the world could end so easily. Maybe it could, maybe not. Whichever way it will turn out, the ancients have left behind these verses in the Da Zhuan (Great Treatise) for Yi aficionados to ponder how the end of the world will arise:
“The Creative and the Receptive are the real secret of the Changes. Inasmuch as the Creative and the Receptive present themselves as complete, the changes between them are also posited. If the Creative and the Receptive were destroyed, there would be nothing by which the changes could be perceived. If there were no more changes to be seen, the effects of the Creative and the Receptive would also gradually cease.” [W/B]
Perhaps readers may understand why I had asked that question, or perhaps not?
There is no reason for me to debunk the Doomsday theory or support it. Let it be since people can believe what they want to believe. There are surely better things to do in life.
Cheerio!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
No more bets, please!
Whether you are swimming in liquidity or holding onto your stocks and/or realty investments, nothing much can be done over the weekend when financial markets close.
You can no longer scramble to place more chips onto your favorite number(s) in roulette when the casino croupier calls out, ‘No more bets, please!’ Neither can you withdraw your bets fast enough, if rules allowed, before the spinning ball drops.
You have made a bet and place your fate on Lady Luck. Life and fortune are often like that, unless you possess foreknowledge of time and space to master your fate.
But such foreknowledge is difficult to come by even if Yi aficionados have studied and consulted the Book of Changes for many a decade. Just be earnest and sincere in your Yi studies and consultations and continue to persevere. Your time may come with the ability to divine like a spirit.
Meanwhile forewarnings have been given to regular readers, to prepare in advance, in previous entries. Nothing else to do except, wait.
You can no longer scramble to place more chips onto your favorite number(s) in roulette when the casino croupier calls out, ‘No more bets, please!’ Neither can you withdraw your bets fast enough, if rules allowed, before the spinning ball drops.
You have made a bet and place your fate on Lady Luck. Life and fortune are often like that, unless you possess foreknowledge of time and space to master your fate.
But such foreknowledge is difficult to come by even if Yi aficionados have studied and consulted the Book of Changes for many a decade. Just be earnest and sincere in your Yi studies and consultations and continue to persevere. Your time may come with the ability to divine like a spirit.
Meanwhile forewarnings have been given to regular readers, to prepare in advance, in previous entries. Nothing else to do except, wait.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Understand what you read
In any studies, the student would be provided a suggested book list to read either by teachers, schools, or peers. Even if students happen to read the same book or classic, we may each come away with a complete different understanding especially on profound subjects like the Tao and the Zhouyi, as is often seen in the World Wide Web.
Some differences in understanding these two ancient Chinese studies have been covered in previous entries. It seems pointless to go through them again which is in line with Heaven and Earth, and the sage.
While the Yi can be treated like a parent, whether we use the ancient classic as a Book of Oracles and/or a Book of Wisdom, we could have completely ignored its guidance(s) if we do not understand what we read. Unable to understand what we read, we may bend with the wind instead of getting the clouds and the wind to follow us.
If we understand what we read, it is easy to discern spurious claims of which there are many. And we would not sway whichever way the wind blows since our knowledge or roots have deepened.
In line with the times, and as a continuation of the previous entry on ‘Fei Ren in the seventh month’, I append some of the in-depth thoughts of the ancients taken from the Ten Wings for aficionados who have a minimum of ten years of Yi studies under their belt, since the commentary deal with Tao and the Cosmos:
Judgment:
Standstill. Evil people do not further.
The perseverance of the superior man.
The great departs; the small approaches.
Commentary on the Judgment:
Thus heaven and earth do not unite, and all beings fail to achieve union.
Upper and lower do not unite, and in the world, states go down to ruin.
The shadowy is within, the light without; weakness is within, firmness without; the inferior is within, the superior without. The way of the inferior is waxing; the way of the superior is waning.
Confucius says about the (fifth) line (of Standstill):
Danger arises when a man feels secure in his position. Destruction threatens when a man seeks to preserve his worldly estate. Confusion develops when a man has put everything in order. Therefore the superior man does not forget danger in his security, nor ruin when he is well established, nor confusion when his affairs are in order. In this way he gains personal safety and is able to protect the empire.
[W/B Books I & III]
There are several layers of thoughts depicted here, some over our heads as usual.
Test your Yi knowledge on these ancient thoughts and see if you can really understand why so many warnings had been given?
Some differences in understanding these two ancient Chinese studies have been covered in previous entries. It seems pointless to go through them again which is in line with Heaven and Earth, and the sage.
While the Yi can be treated like a parent, whether we use the ancient classic as a Book of Oracles and/or a Book of Wisdom, we could have completely ignored its guidance(s) if we do not understand what we read. Unable to understand what we read, we may bend with the wind instead of getting the clouds and the wind to follow us.
If we understand what we read, it is easy to discern spurious claims of which there are many. And we would not sway whichever way the wind blows since our knowledge or roots have deepened.
In line with the times, and as a continuation of the previous entry on ‘Fei Ren in the seventh month’, I append some of the in-depth thoughts of the ancients taken from the Ten Wings for aficionados who have a minimum of ten years of Yi studies under their belt, since the commentary deal with Tao and the Cosmos:
Judgment:
Standstill. Evil people do not further.
The perseverance of the superior man.
The great departs; the small approaches.
Commentary on the Judgment:
Thus heaven and earth do not unite, and all beings fail to achieve union.
Upper and lower do not unite, and in the world, states go down to ruin.
The shadowy is within, the light without; weakness is within, firmness without; the inferior is within, the superior without. The way of the inferior is waxing; the way of the superior is waning.
Confucius says about the (fifth) line (of Standstill):
Danger arises when a man feels secure in his position. Destruction threatens when a man seeks to preserve his worldly estate. Confusion develops when a man has put everything in order. Therefore the superior man does not forget danger in his security, nor ruin when he is well established, nor confusion when his affairs are in order. In this way he gains personal safety and is able to protect the empire.
[W/B Books I & III]
There are several layers of thoughts depicted here, some over our heads as usual.
Test your Yi knowledge on these ancient thoughts and see if you can really understand why so many warnings had been given?
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