8/8/19

What happens when you consult an oracle?

I am not talking about the simple way how so many people ask an oracle. 
"Does he love me?" (yes or no??)
"Is this house a good investment?"
"Tell me if today will be a good day?"

Many just want the yes or no, but hopefully they will glean some advice from the answer.

Shenshu poem 40
In a clear water region like bluegreen jade
The boat sails upstream
with the moon right overhead
Steadily and in the center
I cannot understand the mysteries
But who runs counter makes mistakes
The seeds of losing his life

This poem of the Shenshu 'feels' very much like an answer of the Yi feels to me. I do my best, I stay in the center, I know about the mysteries, I feel them in my bones. But what to do? "I" has no access to the mysteries.

the seeds
This Chinese character of a previous blog-post (Nov.25, 2018) is part of this. The seeds, the tiny beginnings of what will happen. It is like the story about the butterfly flapping its wings causing a tornado somewhere else on our planet.

The seeds germinate in the 'mysteries'. We all feel their existence but nobody can describe the mysteries. They are like the invisible roots deep below the forest, but without their tangible reality. They cannot be touched, and yet they 'are'. Maybe they are pure energy.

An oracle has access to this realm, but it cannot do it on its own. It needs the cooperation of your soul. Or the other way around. Your soul has to turn the key and then the oracle is a means to actually open the door. An oracle is not the only way to open your soul.

Old pond
frog jumps in
sound of water
(Matsuo Bashô)

When you read a Haiku, you can only 'see' the image if you unlock your soul. 

It is very similar to 'understanding' an oracle. 
The words are only the key to the door. 
Your soul has to turn the key and open the door.