GUA 32 · HENG

The storm seems like drastic change to those confined to one place: first it comes and then it goes. But the storm merely moves, it wanders the earth, always behaving like climate, always a timely expression of timeless seasons. Its energy conserved through the changes, it is never really exhausted. It connects to the ever-enduring and so it never runs out of motion. Even the doldrums and the motionless eyes of the storms are part of its moving force. The wise, like the storm, connect with the ever-enduring. Therefore, to stand firm, or to hold a direction, means balance and adaptation. All one might keep is the long term goal, or a bearing or higher purpose.

Only some things that humans now do will still be unchanged in ten thousand years. To persist, survive or continue means learning and changing, being open to power and change, and turning, with these, to advantages. Thoughts, and other things with sharp edges, do not do well against time if they don’t get refreshed and rebuilt now and then. We like to think of our conscious minds, or selves, as continuous beings, although once a night they seem to be nowhere at all. We like to think of our spirits surviving through time, but who can say where one goes between lifetimes? What thread through time is this entity? Between yourself and your cells, what is it that you reduce to or keep? What will cohere or repeat? What truly needs to continue? The moon seems to go through radical phases, yet in our lifetimes, it really hardly changes at all. Ways of living or methods of coping are passed down from being to being, like we pass torches and titles. This process life has for learning endures. We are what remains of that plucky, old lungfish who first crawled up onto shore. Some of that fellow endures. We persist by adaptation, not by remaining the same.

Duration, protraction, longevity, persistence, coherence across time, consistency Regularity, constancy, stability, maturity, integrity, proficiency, learned versatility Self-renewal, self-regeneration, self-succession; the long run; alignment, meetness Keeping to path or vow, holding true throughout outer changes, dynamic balance Perseverance, not always predictability or a sameness; resourcefulness, resilience