Preparing for the final entry of the I Ching is like being told, okay you are now ready to come forward with dragons… but knowing that you are to keep to the lower clouds for now. It gives direction to the steps to follow going forward.
At some point in our lives there is a transition like a snake shedding its old skin. Sometimes though it takes many seasons as if removing old layers of who we thought we were are late or resisted in coming off. Old worn out ideas that we thought defined what might be referred to as our old persona that no longer fits. We change with our memories better understood as our role in nature changes too.
A transformation occurs, often painful, that forces us to change directions and our attitude going forward. Over time and thousands of years of human interaction, we learned that change could be both a good and bad thing. It was putting change and our reaction to change to the forefront going forward that was to become the embryo for both endings and to new beginnings. Telling the way forward and understanding how the past evolved to the present became what would be known as the I Ching. How our actions were to mirror future events that would grant us protection from the coming storms we are to face became the reason for structure and discipline that would guide us to safety. Knowing in advance of what would occur, allows us to better prepare for eventual outcomes.
Never a one size fits all with our own human tendencies needing to be reconciled with both the present and future. Easy interpretations often giving way to simply calling it fortune-telling. But simply tossing sticks or what appeared earlier as reading imprints on tortoise shells that would relate to one of sixty-four entries giving an answer would always leave our answers unclear and half understood as to our response. Without knowing what brought us to the table for answers we can only guess as our self-interests takes center stage
What is it that the great teachers understood but that we are to see things as though the past has evaporated, the future pointless, and all expectation worn away. It is in this place we live within the now. What we are to learn is that it is our own nature combined with the nature we find ourselves that are to best serve us. The purpose of the I Ching was and continues to be to relate who we have always been with the best of ourselves going forward. When we are ready the journey stands ready to take us there. With this we become both our own best teacher and student.
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