Back then in 1994, it was obvious that this was not simply writing as a hobby. Something and/or someone was speaking to me, and I was to just write it down. This was to become the job I have chosen that speaks directly to endeavor and destiny. But first, you must learn the true meaning of the word freedom of spirit and where it is meant to take you. What I was to learn here, was the way, or path, going forward. Even though at the time thirty years ago, I did not know where the outcome was to lead. Following dragons in the sky would become the metaphor for freedom, for myself the rest of my life.
Throughout Chinese history the dragon was/has been seen as a metaphor for finding and following the path of the sage… to virtue and our highest endeavor and destiny.
Number 7 of the I Ching
One Must Have Merit
To be one with dragons requires great strength and demands discipline. Leadership requires courage based simply on merit. A cause pursued for or by dragons must be pursued with merit. If not, the cause must be abandoned.
Arise from obscurity and retirement. Find your place in the Tao and find a oneness with the universe. Requests from Heaven are difficult to comprehend on both land and water.
Without strength, the most sincere and righteous cause will not prevail. Find patience and your inner chi, or breath, and you will find strength. Find strength in the Tao and you will come to know dragons in the sky.
Once merit is found discipline can follow. Finding courage brings respect from friends and neighbors.
To find balance and harmony one must be worthy of dragons. To be one with dragon one must have merit to be seen dancing on clouds in the sky.
An original composition and interpretation of the Chinese Classic the I Ching (7 THE ARMY / Earth over Water). 2/8/94
Beginning with having not only a basic humility simply of virtuousness, but an ontological, or cosmic humility as someone who fully realizes his own “nothingness” and is forgetful of himself. This became the first step in seeing beyond an identify as self. To move beyond what defines my current presence. Becoming one with dragons, or even mentors, as my peers was to create a new identity. Remembering and aligning an identity that defines an eternal presence would be paramount.
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