TWO WAYS

     Those of us walking down spiritual paths these days are definitely strangers in this strange land of deceit, greed, and violence. In the I Ching, in the Hexagram called The Wanderer, it is said that "when a man is a wanderer and a stranger . . . he must be cautious and reserved; in this way he protects himself from evil."
     So what can we spiritual wanderers do in this time of great peril? In the I Ching, in the Hexagram called the Creative, in the fourth line, it is said that "A twofold possibility is presented to the great man: he can soar to the heights and play an important part in the world, or he can withdraw into solitude and develop himself. He can go the way of the hero or that of the holy sage who seeks seclusion."

     In the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit Frodo and his companion Samwise decided to choose the way of the hero. They volunteered to carry the Ring of Power to the fires of Mount Doom in Sauron's stronghold of Mordor. They volunteered to enter into the very heart of darkness, at great peril to themselves, in order to destroy the Ring by letting it fall into the fires of redemption.
     And they succeeded. They heroically defeated the evil lust for power in their world by letting go of their own lust for power. By this they became true heroes--and love itself was their only weapon! Interestingly enough, it was their love that kept them from slaying Gollum, so that, at the very end, he could play his own very important and quite decisive role in saving Middle Earth.

     Confucius, however, decided to choose the way of the holy sage. He was one of the two main tributaries to the great flowing river of wisdom that is the I Ching. He was a high spiritual brother who lived in China in a time similar to ours, a time when inferior people had seized power. Realizing that he could not alter the events of his time, he retired to the seclusion of the country, and there, together with others of like mind, he worked to realize and to maintain the highest spiritual aims of mankind. He and his companions kept the light of consciousness and compassion burning in their own time of darkness. And although he lived far from the centers of power in China, Confucius had, nevertheless, a much greater and much more far-reaching influence than even the most powerful of his contemporaries.
     How was it possible for him and his spiritual coworkers to have had such a positive and global influence? Several times the I Ching itself describes the magic that happens when we are in the Tao, when we have become the superior person. In the Hexagram called Gathering Together, in its second line, it is said that "We should make no arbitrary choice of the way. There are secret forces at work, leading together those who belong together." How would the I Ching know this about us? More importantly, what are these secret forces and how may we come to understand and work with them?
     Again, in the Hexagram called Inner Truth, in its second line, it is said that "Whenever a feeling is voiced with truth and frankness, whenever a deed is the clear expression of sentiment, a mysterious and far-reaching influence is exerted. At first it acts on those who are inwardly receptive. But the circle grows larger and larger. The root of all influence lies in one's own inner being: given true and vigorous expression in word and deed, its effect is great." Confucius himself says about this line:
     "The superior man abides in his room. If his words are well spoken, he meets with assent at a distance of more than a thousand miles. How much more than from nearby! If the superior man abides in his room and his words are not well spoken, he meets with contradiction at a distance of more than a thousand miles. How much more than from near by! Words go forth from one's own person and exert their influence on men. Deeds are born close at hand and become visible far away. Words and deeds are the hinge and bowspring of the superior man. As hinge and bowspring move, they bring honor or disgrace. Through words and deeds the superior man moves heaven and earth."
Confucius and his spiritual fellowship were able to maintain, even increase the light while they were in spiritual retreat from the darkness of the mainstream culture of their day. They succeeded in this because they had let themselves be led to one another. They had made "no arbitrary choice of the way." They had stayed open to the Tao. Then, once they had gathered together and had begun working on their personal and spiritual development, they began to exert a "mysterious and far-reaching influence," one that transcended both space and time and is still being felt in the world today.

     Those of us walking down spiritual paths these days of darkness also have this choice of whether to be a hero or a holy sage. Each of us must decide which path we wish to travel. However, once we have chosen, once we have committed ourselves to our own unique way, then the next step, no matter what our choice has been, will be to let ourselves be led to those who will accompany us upon our adventure.
     If we feel called to take up arms against the evil manifesting in our world today, if we wish to be heroes, we might first consider the example of Frodo and Samwise. Without their courage and perseverance, neither Aragorn nor Gandalf nor any other of those great warriors or wizards, with all their swords and spells, would have been able to stop Sauron from his quest for world domination. If Frodo and Samwise had failed and the others had tried to stop Sauron by force of arms, they would have lost even if they had won. They would have ended up just like him. As the Hexagram called Breakthrough says, "the struggle must not be carried on directly by force. If evil is branded, it thinks of weapons, and if we do it the favor of fighting against it blow for blow, we lose in the end because thus we ourselves get entangled in hatred and passion."
     However, if we find ourselves unwilling to try to affect political or social change in the context of today's paranoid and destructive culture, we can still make a difference. We can do this by following the way of the holy sage. We can let ourselves be led to one another, those of us who belong together. Then we can work together to develop higher consciousness and greater compassion. We can keep the light burning in our own time of darkness. And like Confucius, we will have much more of an effect upon the future than all those unconscious criminals of today who have temporarily gained secular power.

(© 2002 Eugene Marks)

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