Not Reactive Sideswipes

From the Brady Tarot, the Three of Arrows (Swords); from the Holitzka I Ching, Hexagram 43:

          Western scrub jays mourn one of their own. I too, am in mourning. This election (and current administration) has divided friends, families and the nation. I've removed myself from groups and friends who have gleefully posted online or stated openly things that were untrue, hateful and filled with venom. I don't mind if people have a different religion or political party from what I've chosen. But I do mind when they react aggressively and vindictively in an attempt to assassinate another person's character simply because they don't like that person. Hexagram 43 is titled Breakthrough, a suggestion to find equilibrium without polarizing a situation. I can find new friends and groups without denigrating those I've left behind. I can act, as Timothy Morton put it, with "proactive choices, not reactive sideswipes."

In the End

This week I'll be using the New Era Elements Tarot, created by Eleonore Pieper and published by U.S. Games. I'll also be using the Tao Oracle, created by Ma Deva Padma and published by St. Martin's Press. Today's draws are Death and Resoluteness:

In the end

these things matter most:

How well did you love?

How fully did you live?

How deeply did you let go?”

― Jack Kornfield

          Birth, aging, sickness, and death are natural laws, not retributive justice. That which dies decomposes and fertilizes the soil to make way for new life. Instead of worrying about what may come, Kornfield reminds me to focus on the actions and attitude I have now, which are the patterns that will pave the road to my future. Hexagram 43 (Resoluteness) is illustrated with a painting of Bodhidharma, a sage who carried the teachings of Buddha from India across the Himalayas to China, arriving around 520 CE. His journey portrayed the tenacity and integrity that is possible when we are deeply rooted in something worthwhile. I often have days when I feel like a Roomba that is stuck bumping against a wall and then loses its charge.  Kornfield would likely tell me to let things be and focus on loving and living; things will change.