During my journey to find a path for personal growth, I have tried many methods and tests. Traditional astrology didn’t work for me. Those astrological reports often categorise people into two groups: rich or poor, lucky or unlucky. They might suggest whether you have good relationships with others or not. Astrology is a kind of statistics, showing some of our tendencies and innate personality. However, it doesn’t offer me a solution in this way.
In Chinese Astrology, the solution (prediction) is something like, during certain years or time period, you will have good luck, so you can be more active during that time. While during certain years or periods, you will have a higher chance of bad luck, so you’d better be conservative at that time. Moreover, there are “Five Elements” each person belong to. You will have luck working in specific element-related industries and jobs, while you are weaker in others. It just gives me the sense that “my destiny is fixed”. My strengths are fixed in certain areas, and I’d better follow the advice and avoid something bad to get the best result, so that everything goes smoothly. I had this mindset for around ten years. This is because when I was told these instructions, I felt much more secure. I felt like I had figured out the problem and had a sense of direction. I believed the future would be much better, the situation would improve, as I had worked so hard and learnt so much.
However, finally, nothing came of it. I felt like I was cheated. I cannot deny that at the time when I needed a solid answer to minimise my anxiety, the above solution worked for me. It did work in short term. Also, the answers I got were through one-to-one consultation, tailored and specific to my situation. However, in the long term, it just doesn’t work. The difficult things kept happening. My life still felt ruined. I felt even more frustrated, as I did not find the solution and answer.
Can you use a wrong formula to get the correct answer? You cannot. That is the same principle. Can we use outer tools to make our inner world better? We cannot. I have tried so many methods that just focus on outer tools and techniques. It’s just like the story of “Akinori Kimura’s Miracle Apples” 1. He spent many years on how to plant apple trees without the use of insecticide. After many years of failure, he wanted to commit suicide on the mountain, because of harsh financial situation of his family. Suddenly on the mountain, he found an apple tree growing there. Without any insecticide, the apple tree grows well. Then he discovered the main core issue was the soil. In the past, he just worked on the things that above the soil, that’s why he failed. Starting from putting focusing point on the soil, he began to find success, finally grew “Miracle Apples”.
In the past, I was seeking a tool to explore and understand my outer world problems and solutions. After many years of trial and error, I know the root cause is an inner world problem. Once I found that the root cause was an inner world problem, I found the solution more quickly. The outer world problem looks complicated, I assume that, the inner world problem is also very complicated. However, out of my expectation, the inner world problems is far more simpler. There are specific patterns for inner world problems, and corresponding solutions to each problem. It is because I have a very rich life experience, lots of trials and error in my life. Therefore I can spot out these patterns easily, based on my comprehension and life experiences.
All these valuable knowledge, actually they come from the ancient wisdom of the I Ching. I am just an interpreter or translator, translating this learning and knowledge for ordinary people. So that we can apply this wisdom in our daily lives. The key is to apply the wisdom and knowledge. Otherwise, it will be just useless or inapplicable.
Reference:
1. Akinori Kimura’s MIRACLE APPLES (https://miracleapples.com/):
It is a true story of how an apple farmer worked for 10 years to find a way to grow apples without using any insecticide.