Just where do our memories and what appears as our imagination begin and end? What is real verses what we imagine?
A famous saying by Chuang Tzu that serves as a thought going forward is called the story of the butterfly dream. We’ll talk a lot about Chuang Tzu in the future. He became a famous storyteller and writer in what would become Taoism over the centuries. The butterfly dream is the story of a man who dreamed while he was asleep that he was a butterfly. When he woke up, he could not recall if he was a man who had transformed into a butterfly, or a butterfly transforming, dreaming he was a man.
As though, after a sudden awakening, one is able to see a distinction between the real and the unreal. This constitutes a transformation or change in outlook. The transformation is a transformation in consciousness from the unaware lack of distinction between reality and fantasy to the aware and definite distinction of being awake.
Much more on Chuang Tzu later. The important thing is the time in history when Chuang Tzu said this. It was a time of universal great awakening. In Western culture it was the time of ancient Greece, when Aristotle and Plato were laying the framework of what would become western civilization. A time of universal great awakening. It was the awakening of individual spirit to something outside of who we saw ourselves and becoming someone or something beyond who we think we are in or as spirit. It was a time of growth as to who we are still today in the state of becoming our true selves.
As a prelude to this occurring, the I Ching told the story of origins and importantly what today we call joy. Finding entry into who we are in nature, either as a butterfly or a man. The eternal nature of both man and our surroundings and our willingness to take the next step.
Number 58 of the I Ching
Seeing and Hearing for the First Time
Adhere simply to the road ahead and be only salutary toward passing strangers. Keeping to oneself your innermost thoughts and directing them only to the attainment of the ultimate there is to find.
Speak softly when addressing others confident of what needs to be said. Paying more attention to what is not said versus what is.
Know your own feelings and speak honestly with a knowledge of the eventual outcome to come and know the results before they arrive. Stay quiet except to break down barriers put up to defend what otherwise should not be defended or contested. Look always for disagreement and mediate the outcome with good humor and defend the lesser position. Always knowing that neither side is correct, but may
simply be able to prove a point. Knowing that honesty prevails, protects the outcome and those bound and determined to it.
Sincerity and compassion prevailing only when the hoax is spread on the table for all to see what is best for all involved. Teach others the way and they will be eternally thankful once they have opened their eyes to see.
Culminating the outcome suggests what is to come. Simply keep silent and stay calm until the arrival of what is inevitable. Do not keep the dragons waiting.
An original composition and interpretation of the Chinese Classic the I Ching (58 LAKE / Lake over Lake). 3/25/94
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