The way of Earth Interbeing.
Benefit from obeying and yielding to the spirit.
The I Ching has a deep history. Its roots go deep into the oracle bone divination of the Chinese Bronze Age, and its philosophical commentaries dating to the third century BCE secured its place as a central text for Chinese thought. It eventually found its way to the West.
The I Ching teaches us what is important in life. It gives us insights into the fundamental issues of our lives and instructs us on how we can nourish the virtues necessary to connect with the spirit and to manifest its ways within our lives and in the world. It guides us to know our common need to live in harmony with the spirit and builds our capacities to respond to life in ways that benefit all.
People who consult the I Ching have a complex relationship with it. Many approach the I Ching as a spiritual teacher. However, the I Ching shares more than wisdom; through its readings, it offers a conversation.
Louise for the past several years has worked on her own I Ching commentaries, a collection of hexagram essays, which she calls The I Ching of Earth Interbeing, a project, she says, remains very much a work in progress. You can access her I Ching commentary at wayofhumanity.net
We asked the I Ching what it wanted to share in its second Meat, Complicity and Thou reading. We received from the I Ching Hexagram 37 with a moving line in the 1st place. This appears below, using Louise’s I Ching hexagram essay.
For the words balance, complicity, cosmos, exceptionalism, harmony, interbeing, virtue, ways of the spirit, world, and worldly concerns, please visit the Glossary, which provides a brief definition of their meaning as used in this essay.
Hexagram 37 Way of Earth Interbeing
The Great Spirit weaves the ways and love for Earth Interbeing into the sacred tapestry of Creation. We know ourselves as Earth and a natural process that has led to our moment of being. The Earth Interbeing has the fundamental responsibility to maintain its dynamic balance and harmony to sustain its ongoing Creation and survival. All beings have the fundamental purpose of life to care for the Earth and all life. The well-being of all depends on that of the whole.
The relationship between the Interbeing and the Great Spirit serves as the model for all life, from family to community to place, to Earth Interbeing, to cosmos. Balance and harmony emerge from the morality of restraint and reciprocity. Kindness, calm, and sharing express the love of the Great Spirit that flows through Interbeing and brings about harmonious relationships. We learn the ways of the Great Spirit and pass this knowledge to rising generations.
The powerfully seductive path of exceptionalism denies the Great Spirit and promotes the delusion that we as isolated individuals have dominion over Earth Interbeing and the whole. Those who follow this dangerous path willingly harm other beings and the Earth for self-benefit and then ignore the devastating imbalance and discord they cause. When people act in ways that separate them from Interbeing and the Great Spirit, arrogance and fear take over the direction of their lives.
The wise choose to serve Earth Interbeing. The harmony and balance they promote come from knowing the sacred within all life and the Earth. By faithfully following the spiritual path, being and actions harmonize with the way of the Great Spirit and restore the balance of the whole.
We value the wholeness of the sage. It takes wholeness to fulfill our responsibilities of caring for Earth Interbeing and restoring its balance and harmony when disrupted. The sage persistently and firmly turns away from beliefs in its exceptionalism and complicity with what harms Creation.
Universal reciprocity subjects all to its rule for it sustains balance and harmony. All life takes from the Earth Interbeing to survive, and all life returns these gifts in some way back to the whole so that it may recover from the taking, a rebalancing and restoration of harmony and balance. Earth Interbeing embodies this complicated web of giving and taking: a bee takes the flower’s nectar and gives back by pollinating it.
People, like all other life forms, have the responsibility to care for Earth Interbeing, a relationship of reciprocity, which goes beyond a transactional exchange as it involves generosity, caring for others, and the sharing of all the blessings we have received. All of nature gives to people. Caring for life and the Earth keeps the community whole. Giving and receiving turns the wheel of harmony and balance. When beings only take, they do great harm.
Balance and harmony depend upon the flow of good feelings within interactions: love, patience, respect, and gratitude. The culture of Earth Interbeing sets these positive interactions as its norm, and beings thrive on these feelings. Children learn the ways of good feelings from how adults interact with them and each other and from the encouragement they receive when they relate to others in the same ways. Before misunderstandings solidify into conflict or isolation, others help to resolve the difficulties in ways that support kindness and gratitude. The culture further supports these values through celebrations, feasts, and cooperative efforts, which bring the community together to enjoy each other while doing needed collective work.
Sages respect the wholeness, strength, and knowledge of others. Thus, they refrain from imposing their will upon others as that would diminish the others’ wholeness, strength, and knowledge. Every being of the incredibly diverse Earth Interbeing has its own ways of understanding a situation that differs from our own. The sage has the wisdom to learn from the points of view of others. From this collective wisdom, the Interbeing discerns how to respond to challenging situations in ways that all benefit. In a society of equals, we need to have a proper perception of others.
Diversity only makes the Interbeing stronger. A community of equals recognizes and values differences in individual skills, knowledge, and abilities. The talents and gifts of individuals do not make them special nor give them power over others. The willingness to understand and learn from others comes from valuing others and the knowing that everyone belongs and has a voice.
Actions have consequences for the actor and the cosmos. We have responsibility for our choices and take it upon ourselves to make amends for any harm we inflict upon others.
Natural and moral limits constrain all beings. Exceeding them degrades the Earth and life relationships; thus, living within these boundaries protects us from danger. The wise community disciplines itself by limiting its needs and remaining ever grateful for all its blessings. It lives contentedly within the natural and moral bounds that it voluntarily accepts, knowing that its well-being depends upon the well-being of all life and the Earth.
The community guards against behaviors that disrupt the balance and harmony of Earth Interbeing. They vigilantly discourage the accumulation of wealth or asserting power over others. The community upholds equality as a moral principle to hold everyone to the same rules and to avoid hierarchical relations and authoritative leadership.
The purpose of life centers on the well-being of whole within all its spheres. The family centers on the well-being of the community. The community centers on the well-being of its place. The place centers on the well-being of Earth Interbeing. Imagine Earth Interbeing as circles overlapping circles within circles and including other circles, each with their own centers and all wanting this mystery of creation to continue, all having the responsibility to keep it going. Within our lives, all these ways of being intersect within our center, the place we live. This place becomes our temple, refuge, responsibility, and family.
Line 1: A community needs clear rules and standards for behaviors to protect the integrity of the community and of all those living within the community to avoid regret.
