A Word To the Wise -- Guidance

Date: Thursday, November 18, 2004 17:23:18

A Word To the Wise By Reverend R Clark <clark@acceleration.net>

An odd and questionable phrase to me is this "A Word To the Wise" thing. I reckon it means a confirmation and reminder of a particular teaching. As I hear it, “The wise don't need advice and fools won't heed it.” On the other hand, If you receive advice you can and do make use of it is a marvel, as most advice is given away all dusty & moldy because it isn't being used! Often it seems the graceful streamline greased slam dunk way to succeed in life is to act on the fresh and all sweet smelly advice we give others. Clue: If it is your voice and it is giving advice, the idea is to listen as the expression could be important, however if preceded by "As a matter of fact" or other preamble you can go back to standby mode and not miss anything of consequence. We also hear it is “better to give than receive,” and I think this is doubly true about advice because it's what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn't, and crave consensus and confirmation, at least, even if no "tea and sympathy" is available at the moment. There are two types of advisement generally available from humans, and it breaks down to price, if it's free, it's "advice" although if we pay for it, then it's called "counseling" or "consulting" isn't it? A consultant is a person who borrows your watch, tells you what time it is, pockets the watch, and sends you a bill for it. A consultants basic credibility seems to be they aren't dumb enough to work at your company. Ostensibly we would be paying more than money (and our watch) for consultations, we would also more likely be paying attention. If you can't learn something from the daily trials and adversity, then you haven't been paying close enough attention, for true. Attention is kule.

“Counsel them and advise them;
if they do not listen, let adversity teach them.”
- African proverb

Questions
“Asking good questions is half of learning.”
- Muhammad quoted in Essential Sufism edited by James Fadiman and Robert Frager

If we ask a question we don't want an answer to, we may reasonably expect an answer we don't want to hear. Indeed if we don't know what we want it stands to reason we may well find ourselves with what we don't want. The "straight and narrow way" is by definition straight and narrow, deviation from that or "error" is immense.

”Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.”
- Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist and theorist (July 26, 1875 1961)

Although, according to Mr. Garrison of South Park fame (above), “there are no stupid questions only stupid people” clearly, asking a stupid question Is better than repairing a "stoopit mistreak" and possibly needing to ask for forgiveness and or mercy.

“If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?”
- Scott Adams, Dilbert cartoonist
“No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.”
- Charles P. Steinmetz
When Isido Rabi, the 1944 Nobel Prize winner in physics, was interviewed about his achievements, he said he owed it all to his mother. “When we got out of school, all the mothers would ask their children what they had learned that day. My mother would inquire instead, 'What did you ask today in class?' ”
- Rabbi Nilton Bonder, "Yiddishe Kop"

It is always good to seek consensus and confirmation at least, a touchstone, a reality check even, which is of the biggest boons granted by the Internet and this listserv, others being the opportunity for connection, mutual support & admiration with celebration of our commonality.

“Each well-considered question can lead to a whole universe of wisdom, because one insight leads to another as the answers come.”
- Evan T. Pritchard, "No Word for Time"

Decisions--Decisions
“I have often thought morality may perhaps consist solely in the courage of making a choice.”
- Leon Blum
“No decision is, in itself, a decision.”
- William James
“My case is a species of madness, only that it is a derangement of the Volition, and not of the intellectual faculties.”
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Decisions have often been tough for me in my life. The fear must be of choosing the wrong alternative, of embodying "Stupidity" or taking on some such judgement of my judgement or lack thereof. Some lurking dread that this seemingly insignificant (or not so seemingly insignificant) issue is really (Really) important and will have serious repercussions and I would keep hearing the monotone words--This Is All Going Into Your 'Permanent Record'. Solidly in the realm of ego with the need to control my surroundings and favorably impress others. Ouch.

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”
- Frank Leahy
“I weighed the odds that my idea might work against the odds that I was doing something stupid.... but then I did it anyway.”
- Crow T. Robot

The subject of Stupidity is so Stupendous it has taken on an essay life of its own. Stay tuned.

”I have always been impressed by the fact that there are a surprising number of individuals who never use their minds if they can avoid it, and an equal number who do use their minds, but in an amazingly stupid way.”
- Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist and theorist (July 26, 1875 1961)
“What you do is of little significance; but it is very important that you do it.”
-(Mahatma) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948 Hindu Indian nationalist leader)

SO, This is the day for firm decisions! ...Or is it? I don't know, Indecision may or may not be the problem because I also Vacillate. I Am prepared to make a final decision now, Provided I can change it later. Because indecision is the Key to flexibility, isn't it? Increasingly, however, the choice is not really a choice, because the best that can be had from any particular juncture stands head and shoulders above all the lesser "goods" clearly the best "choice" or at least the tallest.

“You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought once. So did we all. And the truth is at as a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do.”
- Ursula K. LeGuin
“The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.”
- Henry Kissinger
"Nothing contributes more to peace of soul than having no opinion at all."
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"The Way is easy, for those that have no preferences."
- Lao Tsu

However, many decision points remain where clearly all ways it could go are equivalent. "Menu choices" I call them, clearly calling for a preference and increasingly I find I have none to offer.

“When one door opens, so does another one.”
- A.C.H. Smith (Labyrinth)

Answers -- Divination

This is where things got "dicey" with me. I've used dice to make decisions, any number of faces on a die or number of dice would do and the best were ones easy to read in terms of value, percentage or probability. I've also flipped coins and this works interestingly for a friend of the heart, she says to tune into the emotions involved at the moment the flip decides the issue and if there is any disappointment in the answer you get, it is the other answer. Dr. Who (as played in the TV Series by Tom Baker) did something similar for different reasons, he would flip a coin and point in the direction it indicated and turn around and go the other way!

“The greatest wisdom is listening to the guidance of the heart.”
- Kabir Helminski, "The Knowing Heart"
“Longing is a compass that guides us through life.
We may never get what we really want, that's true, but every step along the way will be determined by it.”
- Joan D. Chittister in The Psalms: Meditations for Every Day of the Year

Let's see, for divinatory purposes I've counted things (with macabre incantations like "eeny, meany, miney, mo" or mantras like "om mani padme hum"). I've used I Ching sticks (40 years now, it is like sitting down with an old friend that always reminds me what's important and keeps me honest with myself), Houry Astrology, the Eight Ball^Ž, Taro and other cards (my favorite is the Philosopher's Stone^Ž deck as they are pretty abstract, lending them to being open to interpretation and thereby using smoke and mirrors pull out the answer from behind the inquiring psyche's ear and put it in their face where it can be dealt with), long skinny Tibetan dice, Rainbow color dice and they all work great for describing the moment and divination. As I recall Carl Jung said, “If we had a system for interpreting the information in a box of safety matches dumped out it would also describe the moment.” An interesting method of divination along these lines is to go to a book shelf, pull down a book at random, and open it anywhere and point, invariably there is something there for us. Without these tools I've stewed, hemmed and hawed or deferred and procrastinated (I have a book around here somewhere on how to 'overcome procrastination the easy way' and Bless me, I keep putting off reading it and applying it's principles, whatever they might be). It is Blessed uncomfortable "on the horns of a dilemma" and "sitting on the fence" willing or not to go either way. We can try to avoid making choices by doing nothing, and even that is a decision, by default.

“A person with half volition goes backwards and forwards, but makes no progress on even the smoothest of roads.”
- Thomas Carlyle
“A very powerful question may not have an answer at the moment it is asked. It will sit rattling in the mind for days or weeks as the person works on an answer. If the seed is planted, the answer will grow. Questions are alive.”
- Fran Peavey in By Life's Grace
“What does it mean, to be whole? It means that we must be willing to conceive of, to contain within ourselves, whatever is "other than" any limited idea. It means knowing that when we create a positive, we are at the same time creating a negative. When we choose an ideal of knowledge, then we must deal with the ignorance that is *other than* the knowledge. When we emphasize an ideal of holiness, then we must live with the sin that is its companion, and accept our responsibility for having created it. However, if we remain constantly open and unresisting to such negatives, we are not compelled to dwell on them: If we allow that ugliness is always within us, then we are free to create beauty. If we know that stupidity is always within us, then we are free to emphasize this intelligence. Love is the highest and holiest action because it always contains that which is not love within itself, it always and ever moves to include the unloving.”
- Thaddeus Golas (The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment)
“I know that astrology isn't a science,“ said Gail. “Of course it isn't. It's just an arbitrary set of rules like chess or tennis or, what's the strange thing you British play?” “Err, cricket? Self-loathing?” “"Parliamentary democracy." The rules just kind of got there. They don't make any kind of sense except in terms of themselves. But when you start to exercise those rules, all sorts of processes start to happen and you start to find out all sorts of stuff about people. In astrology the rules happen to be about stars and planets, but they could be about ducks and drakes for all difference it would make. It's just a way thinking about a problem which lets the shape of that problem begin emerge. The more rules, the tinier the rules, the more arbitrary they are, the better. It's like throwing a handful of fine graphite dust on a piece of paper to see where the hidden indentations are. It lets you see the words that were written on the piece of the paper above it that's now been taken away and hidden. The graphite's not important. It's just the means of revealing their indentations. So you see, astrology's nothing to do with astronomy. It's just to do with people thinking about people...”
- Douglas Adams in "Mostly Harmless"
“As long as one is in the position of "choosing" to view life from either a dualistic or non-dualistic perspective, then the decision has already been made in favor of the dualistic perspective. Consider what it means to choose - it means that one is separate from the act of choosing, and from the choices. A person "exercising free-will" is operating under the illusion that he/she is a separate entity with the ability to "choose" without having a reason to do so (if one has a reason for making a certain choice, then it is the reason making the choice..) This illusion can be considered the very definition, or basis, of dualism. For what it's worth, this all seems very confusing to me, too.”
- Gerald Bryan on talk.religion.newage
“The goal is non-dualistic - as long as there is a "knower" and "known" you are in dualism.”
- Baba Ram Dass in "Be Here Now"
I am at one with my duality <grin>.

Listening 4 & 2 Guidance
“We are either in the process of resisting God's truth or in the process of being shaped and molded by his truth.”
- Charles Stanley

Nowadays, I'm simply open to guidance from Spirit(s) in sacred decision making and for most mundane Material considerations I let my body advise. To hear this advice I find I need to be mentally quiet and especially open to guidance as for many years I was conditioned out of paying attention to intuition and feelings in favor of logic and reason. When the inner or outer voices are not attended to then they can grow quiet and hard to "hear."

“Often you just have to rely on your intuition.”
- Bill Gates
“I call intuition cosmic fishing. You feel a nibble, then you've got to hook the fish.”
- Buckminster Fuller
“We hear and apprehend only what we already half know.”
-Henry D. Thoreau

Sensual Guidance
“Lose your mind and come to your senses.”
- Fritz Perls

Most all of these decisions are about Material Plane stuff, right? What is the sole interface with the material realm? You got it, the body, the senses. If there is a choice to be made at the market, one amongst many nearly identical ones, I check for the ones that are just a bit brighter than the rest, it smells different, the aura is different or something as subtle. Restaurant menu choices the area of the page containing a great choice looks like someone tried to erase it with pencil eraser and failed utterly, leaving it just noticeably changed up and lighter when I first look at it. While shuffling and laying out cards for a reading I close my eyes and as each card surfaces from the shuffle I see which position it fills as a different patch in the layout behind my eyelids.

God U and I Dance
“When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other. My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw "G": I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i". God, you, and I dance ("God," + "u" and "i," + "dance."). As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.”
- Jean Rhodes
“God is the lead dancer and the soul is the partner completely attuned to the rhythm and patterns set by the partner. She does not lead, but neither does she hang limp like a sack of potatoes.”
- Thomas Merton, "Listening to the Music of the Spirit," David Lonsdale
“Don't confuse an open mind with one that's vacant.”

For yes or no questions, I "muscle test" what is called "applied kinesiology" if you want to be formal. I make a two link chain from my thumbs and forefingers and simultaneously attempt to pull my hands apart And keep the links unbroken. If the chain is difficult to break I am strong and the answer is affirmative. If the answer is negative it is surprising how easily they pull apart. Pendulums appear to hook into the same level, the answer appears translating from our bodily knowledge base, our deep knowing. This is done by deciding what movement means what. This can variously be the x-y axis or direction of rotation, e.g. North-South--Yes, East-West--No Or Clock-wise--No, Sun-wise--Yes. Some folks use pendulums to see what direction a person's Chakra is spinning, useful information I'm told.

Extra-Sensual or Spiritual Guidance
“We turn to Spirit for help when our foundations are shaking, only to find out that it is Spirit who is shaking them.”
- Dan Millman, "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior"
“Your life is not predestined, as in Calvinist thought, where everything is written down in the book of life long before your birth and is inescapable. There are choices, accidents, hints and wrong paths, and the ego you, or whatever you call yourself, is a factor in all this. But there is still this other factor that keeps calling. At some moment, people turn, in despair or when they are unable to go any longer on a certain route, and this inner voice says, "Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you to turn to me for a long time." ”
- James Hillman

Since the inner and outer voices not attended to grow still and small. I find a hand "mudra" helps me to listen up (Mudra 101; Sanskrit glossary) some folks call this particular hand mudra, "Attitude Of The Source" (Yoni Mudra) others call it Jyoti Mudra, a dual hand clasp where the first pads of the thumbs and fore-fingers find their complement and the other six fingers mesh, by tightening this clasp the forefingers and thumbs are bent back slightly. This mudra strongly suggestive of a vulva is certainly symbolic of the receptive mode. In Palmistry as I recall the angle to which the thumb can be easily bent back to, is determinant of how stubborn a person is, or their degree of inertia might be more polite, maybe not. My sense is that stretching the thumbs back this way increases my ability to listen not only to Spirit, it also opens me to hearing ALL my companions and relations corporate or not, better than a hand behind the ear.

All things and all men, so to speak, call on us with small or loud voices. They want us to listen, they want us to understand their intrinsic claims, their justice of being.... But we can give it to them only through the love that listens.
- Paul Tillich, "Your Mythic Journey," Sam Keen

Listening to people is so important. One well worn path to psychosis is when a one tries to tell their story, their heartsong and no one will ever listen, at some point this all important story can break and the sharp edges of it may be seen in some to cut and abandon all moorings and no telling when they might next come in to port.

“Hospitable people are also good listeners, which explains why listening has long been considered one of the most important habits to cultivate if we wish to get closer to God. In my own life I've found that when I am able to listen carefully enough to anyone, listen to them with my full heart, then the walls of separation come crumbling down. Martin Buber believed that such "active listening" is not only the secret to fulfilling relationships between people, but a vital passageway to faith.”
- Phillip L. Berman, "The Journey Home"
“Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”
- Paul Simon, "The Boxer"

Commitment

It seems that seeking Guidance goes hand in hand with some prior Commitment to at minimum taking it on advisement to outright following the proffered advice. For instance, I rarely visit a doctor, there is little that they can do for me, because I would be paying them for advice that I could be reluctant to follow. I can get pretty much the same treatment plan from Merck Manual, anyway. When I do seek guidance I find that I must commit to at minimum a strong consideration of the game plan. Another helpful online tool is the Hitchhiker's Guide.

A Zen story tells of two monks who met on the road. After their initial greetings, one monk asked the other, “What are you going to do tonight, my friend?” The second monk replied, “I will meditate and pray in the temple. What are you going to do?” “I'm going to spend a night of pleasure with the ladies,” he answered. The monks then went on their own ways, and that night in the house of pleasure, the monk was quite distracted. All he could think about was his friend meditating and praying. But was the other monk at peace with himself? No, he continued to think about his friend enjoying an evening with women. When you make a choice, accept it completely and surrender to all the experiences that go along with your decision.
- Dick Sutphen in "The Oracle Within"
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to pull back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no (wo)man dreamed could have come (her)his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832)

Responsibility
Our #1 problem is that nobody wants to take responsibility for anything!
- Please-Don't-Quote-Me
“The bigger the life
the larger the space in that life
that should be given to the Creator.”
- The Reverend Akaiko Akana (Hawaiian Minister and Kapuna)
“A man should first direct himself in the way he should go.
Only then should he instruct others.”
- Buddha
“Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend.”
- Albert Camus, French writer and philosopher (1913-1960)

"Response-ability" in the aftermath, after doing the math, we find ourselves led by guidance. Rather than an abandonment of responsibility inviting guidance is a call to accept our ability to respond appropriately in the light of what we receive, to do it honor. What works well for us may also work well for others. So it seems that we need to refrain from putting our light illuminating a truth or the stretch of path on which we find ourselves, under a bushel basket. It is proper to share our experience with others in the interest of all. For our newfound behavior speaks volumes to the folks around us if we allow it and people will follow in our footsteps more readily than they will follow our advice. It is good to be a path smoother or trailblazer because unless you're the lead dog ahead of the pack, the view never changes. It seems that the folks that are above/ahead of us on the enlightening ladder/path might need -- congratulations and an occasional push, beside us -- consensus and confirmation, behind us a hand up/on--with encouragement for all. Like the person who never stands taller than when they stoop to help a child.
“There is no greater act of generosity Than to grant to the extremely unfortunate Who are bereft of some aspect of the Dharma The happy opportunity to receive teachings on it.”
- Nagarjuna (Indian Buddhist scholar & yogi, 2nd century C.E)
“There is a transcendent power in example. We reform others unconsciously when we walk uprightly.”
- Anne Sophie Swetchine (1782-1857) Russian-French author
“Mankind's history has proved from one era to another that the true criterion of leadership is spiritual. [People] are attracted by spirit. By power, [people] are forced. Love is engendered by spirit. By power, anxieties are created.”
- Malcolm X, "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," 1965, Chap. 19, p. 424.
+If you must choose between two or more evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
+Bush is the perfect leader for folks who are willing to base their decisions on their own ignorance.
+A humorous question on an exam is called a "Testicle."
+Question Authority and the Authorities will question You.
+We must believe in free will. We have no choice.
+Therapy is expensive, denial is cheap, bubble wrap is more fun than either.
+How come we choose from just two people for president and 50 for Miss America?
+How much Healthy Choice Ice Cream can I eat before its no longer a healthy choice?
+The human race is faced with a cruel choice: work or daytime television.
+In life, you have two choices: get over it or die with it on your mind.
+“The most patriotic act in times of war is to ask questions.”
- Howard Zinn (American historian)
+Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
+While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.
+They say that Love is the answer, Sex is not, However, according to Kinsey, Sex is curious and it raises some pretty good questions. The best answer to them is usually YES.
+My spouse gives me sound advice. That's 99% sound and 1% advice.
+I always give waiters a tip, but they never seem to appreciate my advice.
+Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers.
+Ever notice that 'What the Heaven' is always the upful decision?
+If You look in fortune cookie, you are a pathetic fool who seeks advice from bakery products.
+Man who look to stale cookie for advice probably make good busboy. Ask waitress for application.
The large print giveth (above) and the small print (below) taketh away or is the take-away.
“Go beyond reason to love - it is safe. It is the only safety. Love all you can, and when you are ready all will be shown to you. The state of mind that most needs enlightenment is the one that sees human beings as *needing* to be guided or enlightened. The sin that most needs to be loved and forgiven is the state of mind that sees human beings as sinners.”
- Thaddeus Golas, "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment"
All answers questioned here.
Thanks for Everything!
One Love, R

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