Meng䷃, Hsu䷄, Sung䷅, Shih䷆
I left Brattleboro on foot with a full pack Wednesday morning at 9am to walk hexagrams #4 Meng䷃ (Youthful Folly or Innocence), #5 Hsu䷄ (Nourished While Waiting), #6 Sung䷅ (Conflict) and #7 Shih䷆ (Army)—my first full meditation walk, 100 miles, from Mt Wantastiquet to Mt Monadnock, and back. There were snowflakes in the air. I had 3 layers on. I wandered through a very quiet New England town center in a vintage, brown, polkadot dress, and off into the little bit of nature left on the NE coast, to underscore my place in time, in space, our time, on Earth, Coronavirus.
Would I be successful? Would my infected toe handle it? Where would I sleep? There are no legal places along the way. Am I embarking on a self-isolation or is this an act of quarantine breaking? Can this work matter in light of Coronavirus? What does the I Ching have to do with it?
I planned to be out for 4 days. I had 2 days of food and a $20 bill. No debit card. No phone service. No GPS. No USGS map. No poles to support the shelter in my pack. I like it lightweight and lean. I had a compass, a whistle and a pocket size I Ching. A handmade chawan (tea bowl).
I ran out of food. I bought a banana for $0.29. It rained one night. I used two sticks to set up my shelter. I drank from Indian Pond with a mini straw filter. I boiled river water for matcha on a hobo stove. I lost the trail 3 times. I re-found every time. The first time was costly. I walked 5 extra miles. I dropped my maps in a clear cut at the end of the second day. I was within reach of Monadnock. I knew the way there and back. I re-found the maps day 3, on Fern Hill, in Troy, NH, damp, but legible. I no longer needed them. I came too close to gunfire on the Cheshire Rail-Trail past Keene. It disrupted my mood, Hexagram #5 Hsu (Nourished While Waiting).
Some of the WMT is snowmobile track, active in the winter, empty in the spring. My walk is bookended by two popular areas. I counted 50 people between Daniels and Wantastiquet on my return. I intended to walk Monday-Thursday to avoid the congestion, but weather pushed me to start on Wednesday.
I am resting now, making chicken soup, baking bread. Soon I will make make kombucha and kefir. When I am rested and my toe is better, I will attempt a second walk.
Wednesday I walked Meng. “Meng cultivates a state of mind that not only allows you to stand at the threshold of awareness without judgment, it also brings the joy of discovery that ensures your success (Café au Soul).” I’ve had this experience a few times in life. I remember having it while performing Tahoma Kora (a walking artwork) on Mount Rainier in 2011. And again after a 10-day silent meditation in Onalaska, WA. It is a wholly contained response, completely still within oneself. In such a state, I can see without judgment. This is not a naturally achieved state. It is cultivated with isolation, silence and self-observation.
Meng䷃, “Youthful Folly,” comes after Chun䷂, “Difficult Beginning.” The seed has pushed its way through the surface and is eagerly and innocently growing. It is an eager mountain spring, gushing out and filling up all the spaces. It is time now to seek a teacher, to move forward with perseverance. We have time, The Creative, thanks to Coronavirus. And we recognize space, The Receptive. We are spending more time in our spaces. Perhaps we have moved past the idea of a different world are more seriously considering ways of beginning such an enterprise. We are at Difficult Beginning, with Coronavirus as our teacher. On the chance of being unpopular, I say it is wise to make peace with the idea of failing. I feel this a sacred moment, a pause in the action of life, but that idea of moving forward with right action I think can petrify us. Not wanting to get it wrong, we might freeze up, stand still. Can we commit to the ideas of failure and persevere, and try to let ourselves be led by nature, our nature. The goal is achieve a kind of balance that only nature can teach us, to heal our communities and heal our planet.
On day one, I walked beyond where I had walked before, to the far side of Pisgah State Park down Reservoir and Beal Roads. I passed two cemeteries deep in the woods dating from 1830. The woods look the same in every direction, white trunks, bleached leaves, dark rivers, white sky. Without the markers, I would be lost and relying on a compass.
#5 Hsu䷄ (Nourished While Waiting)
A barred owl called from the belly of the night. Bootes and the late winter stars wheeled round. I rose at 5:30am to the throat singing of wild turkeys. Thursday was Hsu䷄, Nourished Waiting, water over sky. Clouds ascending into heaven. No reason to worry when patience brings the same results.
I was in 645-acre Horatio Colony Preserve managed by Antioch University. The trail wanders through thin, flat woods by igneous rock, erratic boulders, pools in rock walls and viewpoints, before dropping to Hwy 9. A restored cabin sits at the base of the hill. It is open and contains information about the local flora and fauna.
Just then I encountered a shooter, across the Ashuelot River, which woke and disturbed me. It was the loudest unexpected gunfire I’d ever experienced. Was being shot at? I didn’t hear the bullets or anything being struck. I said something out loud. The shooting continued. I blew a whistle. It didn’t stop. Bang bang bang bang bang, a semi-automatic. It wasn’t wild turkey season. Perhaps he was out doing target practice?
I have now read the NH gun laws and hunting regulations. I learned it is legal to discharge a firearm within 15’ of a highway and within 300’ of an occupied dwelling or an occupied, developed, recreation area, including parking lots, camps, cabins, yurts, bathhouses, campgrounds, campsites, playgrounds, athletic fields, beaches, pavilions, picnic areas and boat launches. It does not explicitly list hiking/biking trails.
The Cheshire Rail-Trail runs along Highway 12 in NH. NH is a swing state, 94% white. From the trash and graffiti and flags and over-sized Trump signs, I sense a healthy dose of American nationalism. Gun deaths, where I live in Vermont, are the lowest in the nation. Gun deaths are NH are low. They are high in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Florida and Pennsylvania.
I thought Vermont was progressive, but gun laws and hunting regulations are even more lax. Vermont owns more guns per capita than NH and no permit is required in either state to purchase or carry a weapon from the age of 16 in VT and 18 in NH. After the shooting incident, I saw a woman on the path, stretching on the bridge. We talked about the gunfire. She said she lived on School Street, implying children and a school, and she said she regularly heard gunfire and didn’t like it.
Day three was Sung䷅, Conflict, Sky over Water. I grappled with the idea of quitting. I could end this on Monadnock. I could end it in Keene. Not having enough food seemed reason enough to end it. But then I had a turn around and, today, committed to finishing it. Sung/Conflict says a cautious halt halfway brings good fortune. Not quitting, but continuing with a clear mind and resolution.
New Hampshire is the 2nd most forested state in the nation. Maine, Virginia and Vermont are also top forest states. This does not translate into wilderness exactly or to natural habitat for large animals. There are 1,300,000 human residents in New Hampshire. The bear population is 5,000. The moose population is 3,000. The deer and wild turkey populations are 100,000.
Thursday, I walked Sung䷅ (Conflict), Sky over Water.
Thus shall ye think of this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream.
(The Buddha)
To see clearly from an immovable place, to have a center and to not add judgment of good or bad to the outside world. To let the emotions evaporate.
#7 Shih䷆ (Army)
On Saturday, I walked Shih䷆, Earth over Water. I was walking home. I had one meal. A sandwich. I ate it at 7am. I had a cup of matcha after. In Keene, I entered the Food Co-op, filled my water bottles and bought one banana. I ate it immediately. Then I walked and walked and walked. Bear Mountain was all uphill. Daniels too. Wantastiquet, the final uphill, challenged me. My muscles were tired. A beagle was howling continuously. He was not unhappy, only being what he was, a beagle.
Shih䷆ (The Army) is about discipline. It overrides emotion and takes right action, conforming itself to the group. How do we go back to being a community? How do we start a new economy? When heads of state and famous actors and average citizens and homeless citizens get infect and get infected equally. For the health of all, all must be in place. No one left behind. Economist Kate Raworth calls for this approach in her book Donut Economics--healthier, fairer, inclusive, sustainable. If we don’t know to what end we are working," Raworth asks, "how can we say what success looks like? The US Congress, in the 1930’s, wanted a single number to measure the output of the economy. Simon Kuznets, provided it, the GDP, with a caveat. He said the welfare of a nation can scarcely be calculated from this number. It tells us nothing about the unpaid work of caring parents, the value created in communities, the stocks, the living world, the forests that get run down to create this value.” We ended up blindly pursuing the GDP.
Kate Raworth is offering her theory as a compass for 21st century prosperity. Imagine humanity’s use of earth’s resources radiating out from the center. In the hole in the middle is where people don’t have enough food, health care, education, housing, gender equality, political voice, access to energy. We want to move people out to a social foundation of wellbeing, where they can lead dignified lives with opportunity and community. Earth system scientists impress upon us how deeply dependent we are on this delicately balanced living planet and how gravely we are undermining the life supporting systems on which we depend. Raworth defines an inner limit (poverty) and an outer limit (ecological degradation). As we move forward, every action and law must serve this model.
Mountains of thanks to my west coast climbing partner and friend Scott Davis for loaning, and mailing, the gear necessary to undertake this work. My own gear is in my mother’s closet four states away and I am unable to go there or replace it with the pandemic. I bought one new item (a pack), one secondhand item (a sleeping mat) and was loaned the rest by Scottie, a compass, a sleeping bag, a liner, a tarp/tent, a ground cloth, a water filter and sundry other items. Some of the gear is so high end I am afraid to use it. Too nice for a thrift shop hiker like me, but I feel cared for and will be warm. Thank you!
Consulting the I Ching
1. Consider a question that goes beyond yes or no, such as the effects of some action on a current situation.
2. Write it down.
3. Keep it in mind while tossing three coins six times.
4. Record the outcome of each toss, number of heads & tails.
5. Each toss produces one line. Build your hexagram from the bottom up. The first toss is the bottom line. The next toss is the line above and so on until you have six.
6. Heads have a value of 3. Tails are 2. A dot • after a line distinguishes a line that is changing.
3 heads = 9 = old yang ––––––– •
3 tails = 6 = old yin ––– ––– •
2 heads + 1 tail = 7 = yang –––––––
2 tails + 1 heads = 8 = yin ––– –––
Thank you for your questions about your health and the health of our planet. Please keep them coming. I am beginning to walk the I Ching, hoping to better understand your questions and the answers. I am keenly aware of the language you are using, the intentions you are offering and am reading your coin tosses in Wilheim/Baynes, Thomas Cleary and Café au Soul.