Sabian Symbols: Canoe approaches safety
Canoe approaches safety
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This universal idea is best expressed through planets in
Libra 10 (9° - 10°)POISE AND CALM REFLECTION
Adventures bring new experiences, yet quiet time enables assimilation, appreciation and a realisation of what has occurred There is yang and there is yin. Life is struggle and surrender alternately - we push then we relax and accept. We wake at dawn and sleep at dusk, we have exciting projects and relationships, and they all end. During periods of stress and danger it is helpful to know as a certainty that 'this too shall pass' and there will be relief. Wryly we may also observe that periods of calm relief are only nourishing temporarily - until dire boredom sets in. We need relief from that too.
Rudhyar: HAVING PASSED SAFELY THROUGH NARROW RAPIDS, A CANOE REACHES CALM WATERS |
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Having passed safely through narrow rapids, a canoe reaches calm waters
Competency
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Humanity has a genius for coping and finding ways to succeed
There is a dimensional difference, which indicates an accumulation of wisdom through experience, between trust that is well-founded and blind trust in sheer good luck. The love of risk and adventure can be nothing more than primitive stupidity. Or it can be a very conscious self-challenge, designed to improve our skills. We can ask ourselves whether such skills are in fact apt and are developing our resources on the road to success, or whether the love of risk comes out of some other, less serious, motivation, such as thrill-seeking. Humanity’s genius is sometimes invested in nothing more telling than pleasure itself – for example for the feeling of self-love that comes out of skilfully overcoming danger. A whole new industry has arisen around this theme, which includes white water rafting, bungee jumping and sky diving. Yet, however insignificant or indeed trivial it may seem, such a practice serves the race itself by constantly creating fresh new challenges. As with everything, if entropy is to be avoided, the genius we have for coping with unexpected threats and finding ways to succeed also needs to be practised and renewed. What once were survival skills, and perhaps nowadays are used only for leisure, serve the same function as ever – to develop powers through the commitment to achieve a goal. Without an external aim we tend to let our abilities and finer qualities atrophy, whereas to experience danger will pull more out of us than otherwise we could access. Even in daily life there are constant demands that call upon us to come up with a useful response when we have no previous history to guide us. We come to depend upon an inventive level of creative resourcefulness that is, in fact, quite remarkable – but which we tend to take for granted. All experience therefore is validated according to our willingness to accept the associated risks. We recognise that life is, quite simply, a dangerous activity and, like it or not, we need to deal with that. |
