The Toltec I Ching Blog

“….. the spirit warrior relies on the intuition for help navigating the road of opportunity.  Because the world is a web of intersecting strategies, rational thought and past experience cannot always be relied on to anticipate what lies just around the next bend of the road.  Because other strategies are based on misleading and confusing your rational thought, it is necessary to develop the insight to grasp the actual direction and momentum of change in a direct and intuitive way.  Because other strategies are based on taking advantage of the expectations you have derived from past experience, it is necessary to develop the insight to grasp the true potential of the future in a direct and intuitive way.  Just as a ship creates a prow wake by pushing water ahead of itself, all strategies create prow wakes in the spirit realm:  no matter how distant the strategy’s origin nor how much its effects may be attributed to random chance, its movement through the sea of spirit creates waves ahead of itself that the spirit companion senses and conveys as intuition.  Listening closely to your spirit companion, you are able to avoid mistakes and seize opportunities, timing your decisions so that you neither move too soon nor too late.”

—Hexagram 27, The Toltec I Ching

Ethical strategies allow us to respond to wrongdoing without doing wrong.  We can feel our way through the crossfire of competing strategies by keeping our own intent free of ulterior motives and ill will.  This allows us to avoid many pitfalls, since keeping our intent clear makes us extremely sensitive to the ill-conceived intentions around us.  Pure intentions, in other words, attune the intuition to pure intentions, making ill-conceived intentions stand out in stark contrast.  Likewise, ethical strategies attune the intuition to ethical strategies, making unethical strategies stand out in stark contrast.

But how to clarify my intent?  How to trust that my intentions are pure?

It is just this effort that makes up the greater part of the spirit warrior’s training to defeat the enemy-within.

Such a discipline begins by accepting that most of what I think is nothing more than my opinions.  Many of my opinions, of course, are handed down to me by others but nearly all are the result of my familial and cultural conditioning.  Others are formed from direct experience and continue to linger because of my irrational conviction that precisely the same circumstances will recur at some future date.  Nearly everything I once took for truth is eventually shown to be nothing more than my opinions.

The practice of letting go of my opinions is hampered by the fact the that a large part of my identity is formed around them.  A big part of who I am seems to be determined by my opinions about what things are, how they work, what kind of a world it is, why people act as they do, and why I’m treated the way I am.  Letting go of old opinions and not creating any more new ones has a profound impact on my sense of identity.  With fewer and fewer “guideposts” to tell me beforehand what I am experiencing and how I ought to react, I find myself concentrating more and more on the matter-at-hand and treating it in a more spontaneous and innovative way.  Clearing away the cobwebs of opinion, furthermore, turns out to be the surest and quickest way to rid myself of ill-conceived intentions.

The second step in this training involves looking for the purities among my intentions.  This is like picking gold flakes out of sand or a loved one out of a crowd.  Not all my intentions are ill-conceived.  Some are fundamentally pure, relics of my true self before it acquired the conditioning of this artificial personality.  Picking out these wholly positive intentions and then concentrating on them attunes me to other pure intentions, which initiates an emerging cascade of pure intentions.  This is like concentrating on a dream, picking out a detail or two, concentrating on those, which reawaken memories of other facets of the dream, which in turn reveal further details.  Concentrating on my pure intentions creates a new, or more properly a reawakened, sense of self—an utterly realistic and spiritual self able to participate in the world in the most beneficial manner possible.

Participating in the world, however, all too often means confronting injustice and oppression—

“There is no true victory in force because those overcome eventually use the moral high ground to achieve their independence.  Such a turn of events is made inevitable by the fact that the spirit of those who oppress is progressively sickened by their past actions at just the time that the spirit of those oppressed is made progressively stronger and finer by the hardship they have endured.  Force corrupts those who use it and ennobles those who endure it.  For this reason, those who use force fail because they are brutish and short-sighted while those whose spirit cannot be dominated succeed because they are humane and wise.  When those who are stronger seek to dominate and control us then we must develop a strategy that ensures we defeat our oppressors without repeating their mistakes.  In this sense, it is necessary that we commit beforehand to making no attempt to exact revenge from those who have wronged us.  In order to emerge unscathed from domination we have to recognize the indomitable nature we have inherited from our ancestors and then ally ourselves with others committed to preserving inner independence until outer independence can be openly celebrated.  Because you take the time to gather inner strength without arousing any suspicion, you succeed in freeing yourself without harming another.  Because your humaneness shines on your oppressors, you succeed in freeing them without harming yourself.”

—Hexagram 41, The Toltec I Ching

Ethical strategies are especially crucial when confronting opposition—

“…..the spirit warrior accumulates force in order to resist the use of force.  Whether they are internal or external, it is necessary to confront the forces working in opposition to our goals.  This is a matter of grave delicacy, however, since the passions tied to self-interest run equally deep and strong among all concerned.  Old grievances and resentments, in particular, stand in the way of a peaceful and mutually advantageous resolution to the current discord.  For this reason, confronting others means we are forced to confront ourselves, restraining our own anger and righteous indignation by seeing how our own actions have contributed to the present conflict.  Only by holding our anger in check can we avoid escalating the problem at hand:  an uncompromising stance of having been wronged serves no one’s purposes here since it merely forces others to do the same.  The danger is that real hostility can be ignited under these conditions—hostility that can inflict profound suffering on all concerned and take a long time for any party to heal.  This is a time to treat your opposition with all the respect due a great warrior:  avoid inflammatory and provocative statements based on half-truths or a one-sided view of things, since slyly provoking others to hostility is doubly hostile.  This is likewise a time to act like a great warrior:  accept responsibility for past mistakes and make good faith commitments to remedy injustices and imbalances among all concerned immediately, since demanding others right their wrongs without following suit is doubly wrong.  For the spirit warrior, true force is exercised by not resorting to hostility even when it promises the shortest route to success.”

—Hexagram 32, The Toltec I Ching

Foremost among ethical strategies are the qualities of restraint and self-control, especially when under pressure—

“Whether you are the pursuer or the pursued, this is a time for holding back:  where the mother bird tries to hold back the hunting fox from discovering her nest, the hunting fox tries to hold back his first reaction to jump at every opportunity.  In the world of nature, both the nesting bird and the hunting fox are spirit warriors.  Every moment of every day is a battle for survival of the individual and the bloodline.  Each moment of each day requires unbroken attention to the strategies that enable them to successfully play their part in the on-going work of creation.  True spirit warriors master the art of holding back by studying what motivates others—and themselves—to act as they do:  the nesting bird succeeds because she knows the fox chases anything that runs from it; the hunting fox succeeds because he knows the bird runs away from the nest to protect her eggs.  Study what others hold valuable, study what you yourself hold valuable, and you can successfully act on the purposes you perceive behind every action.”

—Hexagram 35, the Toltec I Ching

Inspired Action likewise utilizes ethical strategies for resolving internal conflicts—

“….. the spirit warrior gazes into the smoking mirror of the true self without blinking.  It is a time for exhibiting the character traits you believe you should have exhibited when facing a similar dilemma in the past:  because you take advantage of this second chance to prove yourself to yourself, you erase past regrets and reveal your true self to the unseen forces.  By turning our perception upon ourselves, we are able to sense the lessons we have learned from past mistakes.  Until we have had the opportunity to act on those lessons and put them into effect, however, part of us remains frozen at that stage of our development.  For that reason, there are few more fortuitous times than those in which we can prove we are stronger and wiser than in the past:  by discerning our own patterns of behavior that run consistently beneath the surface of appearances, we are able to stop repeating past mistakes and emerge victorious over our own self-defeating attitudes and behaviors.  Because you intuitively know that turning points periodically return until they are finally resolved, you are fully prepared to act when the time comes:  because you wait vigilantly for the opportunity to revisit a period of darkness, you do not fail to use the present turning point to extend the continuity of your light further back into the past.”

—Hexagram 54, The Toltec I Ching

As the examples above demonstrate, Inspired Action adapts to circumstances but always reflects the balanced strategy of the spirit warrior, whose masculine and feminine halves constantly intermingle to produce just the right blend of metamorphosis and nurturance.

Without definition, defying expectations, free of contrivances of any kind, Inspired Action reflects the mystical philosophy of Flower-and-Song, grounding us in the ever-present center of the world and, paradoxically as always, giving us the wings to take flight into the Beyond—

“Just as someone who has mastered a musical instrument can improvise at will, you are able to move through this time with an untroubled spirit, adapting and responding to sudden and unforeseen changes by initiating sudden and unforeseen changes of your own.  Just as living music gains vitality and power when played by more than one musician, your efforts are in harmony with the unseen forces and aided by innumerable spirit helpers.  Just as master musicians become the music they play, you become the moving source of renewal that you express.  Just as the perennial presence of music is given new forms of expression every generation, your actions advance the collective work of renewing the perennial truth every generation.”

—Hexagram 48, The Toltec I Ching

The Toltec I Ching, by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and William Douglas Horden has just been released by Larson Publications.  It recasts the I Ching in the symbology of the Native Americans of ancient Mexico and includes original illustrations interpreting each of the hexagrams.   Its subtitle, 64 Keys to Inspired Action in the New World hints at its focus on the ethics of the emerging world culture.

Inspired Action cannot be defined or even imagined beforehand.

Why?  Because it must be tailored to the moment.  It has to be a response that circumstances evoke from us.  It needs to be an act of collaboration with the Living Whole.

It cannot be premeditated or calculated because we cannot know what the moment holds until it arrives.  We cannot sense what the whole of circumstances requires until we are fully immersed in it.  To imagine how we ought to act beforehand causes us to fall into predictable patterns of behavior that fail to express the miraculous nature of the ever-new creation within which we live.

Inspired Action reveals the wellspring of rejoicing forever bubbling just beneath the surface of appearances.  It engages the world as a vast mystery of unimaginable potentials and aims to participate in its ongoing creation in ways that benefit the most.  It is not so much something we do on our own as much as it is music we hear and feel and long to play, a dance we cannot wait to join.  It arises from our depths to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s talking to a stranger, shopping for food, driving to work, watching a movie, starting a new endeavor, walking in nature, meditating, repairing a relationship, making love, or creating art—if where we stand is authentic, our actions will be inspired.

Flower-and-Song

For the ancient Toltecs and the civilizations they spawned, the highest expression of a spirit warrior embodied the mystical philosophy of Flower-and-Song.

“Flower-and-Song” is a difrasismo, a common form of expression in Nahuatl that uses two words to form a metaphor for a third, more expansive, concept.  It is often translated as “poetry” but its meaning is more comprehensive than that, demanding that its practitioners live a “poetic life”.  Examining the difrasismo a little makes this clear.

“Flower” in this context involves a three-stage engagement with the world.  The first stage involves seeing each moment—and whatever that moment holds—as perfect as a blossoming flower.  The second stage involves seeing each moment—and whatever that moment holds—as already fading and passing into death.  The final stage involves bearing these two visions simultaneously in the heart, engaging the moment and what it holds with the full emotional realization that it is “perfect and dying.”

Far from an intellectual exercise, this practice demands the greatest courage, for to face these two soul-shattering emotions at the same time requires us to open ourselves to the profoundest joy and grief all at once.  Without flinching from the perfection before us, we are driven to our knees in awe at the impossibility of spirit taking form in matter.  Without flinching from the inevitable death of everything we know and love, we cannot help but burst apart with grief and empathy.

“Flower” forces us to a profound gratitude and appreciation in the face of perfection even as it forces us to honor each perfection for its nobility in the face of inevitable death.  It is the spirit warrior’s courage to authentically feel, Everything I know and everything I love is perfect and dying.

“Song” in this context means that the most authentic act a spirit warrior can perform is to give expression to the dual realization attained in “Flower”.  This is the reason that the difrasismo is generally translated as “poetry”.  But the deeper implication of this mystical philosophy of life means that “Song” involves treating every moment as an opportunity to express the truth of “Flower”.  It involves treating this entire lifetime as a single act of expressing the continuous vision of “Flower”.

Inspired Action makes use of every thought, word and deed to embody the ancients’ philosophy of Flower-and-Song.  Treating all things as miracles that pass away too soon, our thoughts, speech and actions take on a new caliber and timbre:  We concentrate on what is present instead of what is absent and we discover new depths of patience and tolerance.  Our lives take on greater meaning and our contributions meet with greater success.  We treat everything and everyone more nobly and we are enriched immeasurably.

Inspired Action enters each moment asking these two questions—

What is in front of me?

How am I treating it?

The answer to the second question is much simpler than the first.  What is in front of me? forces us to confront the ultimately unknowable nature of the world.  It forces us to accept the extraordinary mystery always veiled by ordinary appearances.  It forces to us to look harder:  Is this merely what I have become accustomed to through daily contact—or is it the sea of spirit in all its manifest forms?

How am I treating what is in front of me? demands that we watch our inner actions—our thoughts and intentions, our wishes aimed at things outside ourselves—as well as our outer demeanor and reactions.  Am I acting nobly or mean-spiritedly?  Am I ennobling my life or trivializing it?  Am I rising above pettiness or descending into it?  Am I treating others like superiors and inferiors, all in pursuit of my self-interest—or as peers bravely facing their own death as well as they can?  Am I spreading ill will, discord and sorrow wherever I go—or compassion, collaboration and joy?

None of this, however, should be interpreted as thinking or acting naively.  Of course, not everyone will treat you as you treat them.  Of course, there will be those who seek to take advantage of you.  Of course.  But how others treat you is beyond your control.  None of us can control what happens to us.  The only thing we can control is how we respond to what happens to us.

Inspired Action does not imply being a doormat or punching bag for untrustworthy people.  Wisdom is based on solid clear-eyed discernment, seeing things for what they are.  Understanding is based on a wide array of experiences, providing a keen grasp of human nature.

The question of ethical strategies is one we will take up in the third installment of this Inspired Action theme.  But to study strategies before we work to clarify our intent is to invite cynicism and self-interest in the back door even as we’re showing false hope and naiveté out the front.  There is little purpose to devising strategies, in other words, until we have undertaken the effort to rid ourselves of ulterior motives.

As we read in Hexagram 6, “Fostering Self-Sacrifice”—

“One of the ancients’ great teachings is that acting out of self-interest to the detriment of the whole injures all.  Because profit brings gain for one at the expense of many and benefit brings gain for many at the expense of one, the logic of benefit is superior to the logic of profit.  Because self-interest cannot injure the whole without injuring oneself and self-sacrifice cannot benefit the whole without benefiting oneself, the logic of self-sacrifice is superior to the logic of self-interest.”

And again, in Hexagram 62, “Conceiving Spirit”—

“…..the spirit warrior breaks through the barrier separating matter and spirit.  Such a barrier is erected in our minds by the constant training we receive from those who find advantage in promoting the separation of people from nature, from each other, and from their own true self.  If people everywhere perceived matter and spirit to be the same thing, after all, the ignorance, cruelty, and suffering that makes up much of human history would end:  if we were all to experience the material form of nature as spirit, we would stop harming it by diminishing it faster than we help it replenish itself; if we were all to experience the material form of people everywhere as spirit, we would stop harming one another by acting as if our own rights and desires were superior to their own; if we were all to experience the material form of our own individual bodies as spirit, we would stop harming ourselves by doubting that every thought, feeling, and action play a pivotal role in eternity.  Breaking through such a mental barrier is a matter of constant training, as well:  if we do not use every thought, feeling, and action to intensify our experience of matter as spirit, we continue to desecrate the temple of nature, the temple of civilization, and the temple of individuality.  Because you increasingly see the invisible within the visible, your thoughts are filled with insight, your feelings with good will, and your actions with benefit.”

The Toltec I Ching, by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and William Douglas Horden has just been released by Larson Publications.  It recasts the I Ching in the symbology of the Native Americans of ancient Mexico and includes original illustrations interpreting each of the hexagrams.   Its subtitle, 64 Keys to Inspired Action in the New World hints at its focus on the ethics of the emerging world culture.

I am part of a Living Whole that wants the best for me and all others at the same time.

This is the lesson I’ve learned in my sixty years.  It’s the lesson I repeat to myself constantly.

Like a favorite song you hum to yourself all the time.  Or the heart of a story you don’t want to forget.

I am part of a Living Whole that wants the best for me and all others at the same time.

We don’t have to go far or look hard to see this lesson at work.  The sun shines everywhere and on everyone equally.  Water nourishes everything and everyone it touches equally.  The soil nourishes every seed equally.  Air breathes life into all equally.

The lessons we repeat to ourselves, like the songs and stories we identify with, become part of us.  They color our moods and influence how we see things.  They are like a filter on a camera that changes the whole tone of light before it is ever recorded—they form a predisposition toward interpreting our experiences in a certain light.  We are open or closed to things, ready to be excited or irritated by things, primed to encourage or criticize others, already leaning forward or holding back, already wanting to smile or scowl—all before the experience has even begun.

In this sense, the lessons we learn determine ahead of time how we will react to whatever comes our way.

The problem, of course, is that the early lessons of life are learned without our consent.  We are too young and lack the independent sense of self needed to reject lessons that will prove self-defeating later.  In fact, we lack the criteria by which to make such judgments—and even the awareness that such rejection is possible—until we reach a certain level of maturity.  By that time, such lessons have become ingrained, part of our unconscious disposition, habits coloring every thought, emotion, memory, and reaction.

Such habits are the opposite of Inspired Action.  They result in thinking the same thoughts, feeling the same feelings, reliving the same memories, responding with the same reactions, over and over and over.  Rather than inspiring us to new and surprising insights, demeanor, and behavior, they lock us into a rigid and routinized way of interacting with the world.  Rather than sparking our spontaneity and creativity, they make us predictable and, therefore, prone to manipulation.

But not all lessons lead to self-defeating attitudes and behavior.  Those we learn voluntarily and accept consciously can lead to thoughts, emotions, and actions that are better adapted to life and therefore bring us greater happiness and success.

Since habits are kept alive by repeated reinforcement, trying to eliminate them by focusing on them merely reinforces them all the more.  For this reason, they have to be replaced, not eliminated.

We replace old self-defeating habits by focusing our attention on new lessons—lessons that we consciously choose to learn.  By focusing attention on these new lessons, repeating them to ourselves all the time, we find our feelings changing and our reactions to events surprising us.  Like musicians and athletes training to peak performance, we train ourselves through repeated practice to see the world in a different light and participate in it with a greater sense of purpose.

We unlearn self-defeating lessons by holding our attention on new ones that bring us into closer harmony with people, nature, and spirit.  All people, not just those it is convenient or easy to get along with.  All nature, not just those parts it is convenient to care for while ignoring the harm done to the rest.  All spirit, not just the conventional idea of spirit but the living presence of the sacred everywhere at hand.

I am part of a Living Whole that wants the best for me and all others at the same time.

We live in a time when intense competition and self-interest is promoted as the greatest good.  A time when natural resources are not protected by the governments who should be stewarding the land.  A time when religious ideology spreads hatred instead of love and factionalism instead of universality.  Not precisely a time promoting harmony with all people, all nature, and all spirit.

After more than 5,000 years, the Mayan Calendar is coming to an end and starting anew on the Winter Solstice of 2012.  People everywhere know that things cannot continue as they are.  The future doesn’t exist yet.  There are more than six billion of us.  We can create whatever we collectively choose.  We do not have to let governments, religions, corporations, or the media choose for us.  We are a world of peers and we can decide our destiny.  We can learn new lessons.

We can create the Golden Age of Humanity if we choose.

I am part of a Living Whole that wants the best for me and all others at the same time.

Inspired Action transcends self-interest and benefits the whole.  It arises from a sense of trust in the world and reveals itself in acts of generosity.  It is fascinated with how accurately it can discern others’ needs and how well it can benefit others.  It is self-sacrificing in the sense that it places the needs of the whole ahead of self-interest.

Inspired Action arises from a sense that all things, including human beings, are sacred.  It is based on the lesson that all matter is spirit.  It reveals itself in the personal experience of all spirit being immediately present.  It is self-transcending in the sense that it draws us into ever-closer communion with all spirit, all nature, and all people.

The Toltec I Ching incorporates the common lessons of the ancient cultures of Asia and the Americas.  The sum of these lessons embodies a worldview in which humanity stands precariously balanced between nature and spirit—a worldview that forever balances between (1) the guilt of having to take other lives in order to live and (2) the awe of being consciously alive in the maze of matter.  These roots of the indigenous cultures produced a brand of moral ethics based on personal responsibility for (1) genuine sorrow and remorse for taking the lives of plants and animals and, consequently, taking no more than absolutely necessary, and (2) making this life as meaningful and as rewarding as possible by treating everyone and everything honorably and nobly.

With this introduction to the concept of Inspired Action under our belts, let’s consider the worldview in which people can communicate with spirit through the practice of divination.  In ancient Mesoamerica, divination was conducted using the Sacred Calendar, or Tonalpoalli, while in ancient China, it was accomplished through the Oracle of the I Ching.  The logic of that worldview can be seen as we follow the line of reasoning outlined in the book’s Glossary—

Oracle The means by which the One Spirit gives voice to the essence of situations and the trends developing out of them.  The natural, appropriate, and spontaneous response of the One Spirit to an individual’s act of divination.

Divination The art and practice of interpreting signs and symbols to see into the essence of things.

Essence The living presence of the One Spirit manifesting itself in every creation at every moment.  The unchanging background of all change that makes up the underlying harmony of all creation.  The timeless perfection of all things underlying their apparent imperfection.

One Spirit The single immaterial living awareness of the material universe.  The origin and destination of every individual soul and, thereby, the eternal repository of all the memories and experiences of all who ever lived.  The marriage of the masculine creative force and the feminine creative force, whose union of Light and Love creates and sustains all of creation.

Soul The personal aspect of spirit.

Spirit The invisible half of nature.  The living awareness within all matter.

Nature The visible half of spirit.  The single body of the One Spirit.  The living and aware form of the sacred.

Masculine Creative Force The creating half of the One Spirit.  The natural, appropriate, and spontaneous catalyst of all creation, whereby all things are inspired to take form and strive toward continual metamorphosis.  The universal principle of fire, which ignites all it touches and, within the individual, manifests as the masculine half of the spirit warrior.

Feminine Creative Force The sustaining half of the One Spirit.  The natural, appropriate, and spontaneous benevolence of all creation, whereby all things are accorded an equal measure of essential benefit.  The universal principle of water, which nurtures all it touches and, within the individual, manifests as the feminine half of the spirit warrior.

Spirit Warrior A man or woman engaged in consciously defeating the enemy-within.  Women or men consciously training themselves to unite their feminine and masculine halves in order to promote and share in the good fortune of all.

Enemy-Within The conditioned and artificial aspect of every individual’s personality that is acquired unconsciously from their surroundings and must be consciously extinguished through training in order for each to return to their essential nature.  The set of self-defeating behaviors and perceptions that the spirit warrior defeats.

Metamorphosis The natural, appropriate, and spontaneous return to essence, understood as the result of self-liberation, which does not imply liberating the self but, rather, that liberation can only be achieved by oneself.

Benefit The natural, appropriate, and spontaneous response to need.

Need A temporary blockage in the free flow of benefit among all things.

Training Consciously working to eradicate the thinking errors based on self-interest by concentrating on thoughts and feelings based on good will toward all.  Consciously working to quiet the inner monolog and experience each moment of life just as it is, without interpreting it in reference to oneself.

The Toltec I Ching, by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and William Douglas Horden has just been released by Larson Publications.  It recasts the I Ching in the symbology of the Native Americans of ancient Mexico and includes original illustrations interpreting each of the hexagrams.   Its subtitle, 64 Keys to Inspired Action in the New World hints at its focus on the ethics of the emerging world culture.