Some people think they need drama in their lives in order to feel alive. This seminar is not for them.

If you have come to a point where you are fed up with playing a tragic hero role in a drama, welcome to this seminar.

Drama is another word for Fate. The I Ching teaches us that Fate is something people create themselves when they follow a particular idea or belief that is not in harmony with the Cosmos. Fate has a circular trajectory: like a boomerang, the consequences, or energy of the mistaken idea or belief returns to its originator to make him aware of its disharmonious effects. Our continuously running into dead-ends can be the consequence of a family fate.

When it comes to family fates, anyone in the family, including the members of past generations, can be a potential originator. A personal fate becomes a family fate when other family members, often unconsciously, assume “roles” in it. These roles are dictated by the definitions of duties and rights attributed to each member of the family according to his or her status within the family ‘system.’

The I Ching makes us aware that there is such a thing as a natural family that has the function of raising a child in the awareness that he is a gift from the Cosmos. The Cosmos is also the source of all the child’s needs even though the parents, as a rule, are the ones through whom the Cosmos gives its blessings. For there to be harmony in the family, each family member needs to be aware that he or she is first and foremost a member of the Cosmic Family. “Cosmic Family” is the name for all the different kinds of consciousness that make up the Cosmos in its visible and invisible aspects. Thus, we are members of Nature’s family as it is expressed in plants, animals, microorganisms, and rocks, while at the same time being members of the invisible aspects of the Cosmos we know as Cosmic Helpers. The natural human family is thus an expression of the Cosmic Principles of Harmony.

By contrast, any family ‘system’ is a human-made order that implies that a harmonious natural order of the family does not exist and that every family member must take the place given to them by the system, and accept the corresponding rights and duties defined by that system. It is this human-made order that sets the stage for family dramas.

Once we look at a fate as a drama played on a stage, we have the liberty to view it from the perspective of an observer. From this place of separation, we can see more clearly what is going on. We can ask ourselves: what is the name of this drama, and what is the name of our role in it? Who plays the main role? We are ready to ask these questions when the role we have been playing has become unbearable, i.e., when the drama has reached a critical point. This critical point is also the moment of opportunity to consciously free ourselves from the systematic oppression we have been laboring under.

Just as the I Ching shows us that we can end a fate at any time, it also shows us how to end our family drama. The main prerequisites are that we recognize its title and the names of the roles given to each player. As indicated by their names, family dramas involve other members of our families, dead or alive. Fortunately, no matter whether we have played the main role or a side role, the whole family system shifts toward increased harmony when one of its members questions the meaning of the script, and his role in it. People who have experienced the work done with “family constellations” know about the benefits of the domino effect created by one person’s ability to initiate the end of the whole drama, by recognizing its setup and quitting his role. However, the concept of family ‘systems’ remains untouched, with the result that individuals remain caught in them. No enduring harmony is possible on those grounds. The I Ching makes us aware that in order to express our uniqueness as individual human beings we need to dissolve all bonds with our family as a “system.” Only then can our true feelings for our other family members be known, be they feelings of love, or of true sadness. Then, our feelings attract all the help needed from the Cosmos to heal our relationships.

Our role as seminar givers is to show the participants how they can use the I Ching (a) to identify the key factors – the name of the script and the roles – and any possible hindrances they may have to their liberation, and (b) to learn the methods needed to end the whole drama/fate.

A wise use of the Retrospective-Three-Coin Method (rtcm) is something that needs not only practice, but also a deeper understanding of the attitude that we need in order to successfully communicate with the Sage.

The main use of the rtcm is in the context of our consulting the I Ching. It is not meant to replace our intuition when interpreting its counsel, but to complement it. We do need our intuition when it comes to putting additional questions to the Sage to make sure that we have understood the message well enough. There is also the possibility of communicating with the Sage without the need to develop a hexagram. We may need to remember, however, that the rtcm, as in the case of asking questions of the I Ching, does not respond to an attitude that presumes it already knows the answer.

When our attitude is free of ego, the Sage draws on our inner truth to give us the answer. The Sage is not a ‘spirit’ somewhere outside of us, rather, it is our inner Cosmic Teacher. Like the I Ching, it does not interfere to run our lives; it responds only when asked. Its way of teaching contrasts with that of most human teachers in that the Sage knows that we already possess the answer in our inner truth. Expressed in a metaphor taken from the I Ching, the Sage helps us draw the clear water of our inner truth from our own inner well of knowledge.

The main reason why we consult the I Ching is that we have become estranged from our inner truth. For example, we were told that “the truth” is to be found in books, or with human teachers, or people of authority in their field of knowledge, or in customs, or ancient wisdom; in short, that the truth is to be found outside ourselves. We come to the I Ching because those “truths” have failed us. We come to be shown the matter at hand from an entirely different perspective – the perspective of our inner truth, which is also the Cosmic perspective.

One of the main difficulties we may encounter in first using the rtcm is that we are so used to ask questions purely from our mind. Obviously, such questions cannot lead to new understandings, because they reflect the very mindset that has caused our problem. Our inner truth does not hold the answer to these questions, therefore the Sage retreats. While this may look like an impasse, it is not: the Sage returns the moment we retreat from questioning further in that direction, and instead desire to understand what element in our attitude is causing the difficulty in our communication.

This seminar is designed both for those of you who are new to the rtcm, and those who have tried it out, but have run into difficulties.

We are living in a time of great need in all areas of our social, economic, and personal lives. Meeting any kind of need requires creative solutions that originate outside the conventional mindset that has caused the crisis.

Examining this mindset in the light of what we have learned about the Cosmos as a system of Principles of Harmony, we can see that it is characterized by ideas that violate these principles in all respects, the most basic of these ideas being the idea that ‘humans are at the center of the universe and as the ones who do it all.’ The creative solutions we most need come as gifts from the Cosmos when we recognize the crisis as an opportunity to revise our exalted view of ourselves, and are willing to take our true place in the Cosmos as equal to every other aspect of the Cosmic whole.

Until the middle ages, the idea that humans are at the center of the universe was accompanied by the image of the earth as a flat plate from which one could fall into an abyss, if one ‘went too far.’ This idea resulted in people’s clinging to general belief systems that corresponded to that image. The official recognition of Copernicus’ discovery that the earth is not the center of the Cosmos at large has taken 500 years, despite the fact that science has meanwhile discovered laws of physics that recognize that the earth takes a wholly different place in the Cosmos. The present crisis wants to make us aware of the consequences of our clinging to the idea that humans are at the center of the universe and that they are destined to do everything themselves. The I Ching makes us aware that the present crisis is our last chance to correct our arrogant point of view. It is a matter of taking our true place in the Cosmos by recognizing that every aspect of the Cosmos has dignity and therefore is of equal worth. Acknowledging this fact means nothing less than radically changing our way of thinking to enable us to return to our natural unity with the Cosmos as a Whole.

The I Ching shows us that every new need, no matter how big it is, is met by the Cosmos when we create the necessary conditions within ourselves. Our creativity plays an important role in this process. No one lacks creativity by nature. Creativity is the natural expression of the unique combination of talents we are born with. Unfortunately, our urge to be creative is often suppressed by the ego through its promise to make us successful in life, and through our desire to be validated and/or seen as superior. When this happens, our creativity becomes blocked and replaced by contrivance.

We cannot ‘make creativity happen’ — all we need to do is to free it from those aspects of the ego that are blocking it, and/or stand ready to appropriate it. Since there are many aspects of the ego that negatively affect our creativity, it is not possible to free ourselves from all of them with one big stroke.

The participants will be guided to find out, with the help of the I Ching, the main obstructions that prevent them from fulfilling their creativity. The methods taught in this seminar are universally applicable, and will therefore also allow Feng Shui Practitioners to find out about possible obstructions in their specific practice. This is particularly important, since it is the declared goal of Feng Shui practice to create harmony. Furthermore, the participants will learn how to protect their creativity in the face of the ego’s desire to steal it.

Prerequisite to sign up for this seminar: It is recommended that participants be somewhat familiar with one of the following books by Carol K. Anthony and Hanna Moog:  I Ching, The Oracle of the Cosmic Way, or The Psyche Revealed Through the I Ching.