Look To The Signs
By maestro. Filed in Productivity |
Most traditions use some type of oracular practice as a tool to determine the next step in a difficult situation. Through the ages, inspiration and guidance were found by opening a favorite book or religious text randomly and selecting a passage with closed eyes. In the Christian tradition, this is a form of contemplation, called Lectio Divina. The text that “jumps out of the book” holds the answer to the question; the mind is quieted to understand it. The randomly selected text is read multiple times or repeated during meditation. The contemplative then quiets the mind to understand an expanded meaning of the message. Medieval priest St. John of the Cross described this process in four stages: read, empty the mind, pray or ask a question, then contemplate or listen.
The Taoist tradition calls on the I Ching, or Book of Changes, both as an illuminating text on the sixty-four states of change and conflict and as an oracular tool. To use the I Ching, one asks a question and throws three coins or sticks six times. The landing position of the coins or sticks is used to build a six-line symbol or hexagram that translates into one of the sixty-four states of change described in the I Ching. The reader then contemplates the advice given for that particular phase of change. In shamanic and Buddhist traditions one asks a question and then contemplates the answer by listening to a fast, constant drumbeat or to a series of bells or gongs. It has been proven that these sounds temporarily alter brain wave rhythms, which opens us up to new insights and images. In shamanism this process is called “journeying” to find an answer.
Taken From : The Way of Conflict—Elemental Wisdom for Resolving Disputes and Transcending Differences
