To continue on Master Zhenzan Dao’s lecture, he then talked about the Fire Element. In Chinese philosophy, there are five elements, and fire is one of them. It represents summer and heart energy. This is what he said about fire and how it relates to our lives.
This is the element of decisiveness. Move into the element without apologizing for who you are. Be in your brilliance. Do not squelch your fire. This is the time to outshine your doubts.
There is no fire without sacrifice. Fire is consuming and transforming. The fire element asks you to move into a situation that will be unacceptable to some.
In brilliance, something is lost as you continue to grow. You must be willing to shed, let go and move forward without turning back. Listen to the innermost corner of yourself.
Comfort is not the greatest success. To be comfortable may not be the height of your power. The irony is that to fully accept that concept makes you comfortable.
You can’t develop and not share it. Sorrow is a sense of regret, a missed opportunity. The calling of yourself as a unique being can be so awesome that it mighty be hard to take.
Your weakness hurts other people. Don’t try to take care of someone else by diminishing yourself. He told a story about being in a martial arts match with a man from Korea. When Zhenzan Dao was winning the match, he let up in his energy. His opponent came at him in tears. He said, “You insult me by easing up on your power.”
As you can see, there is a lot in his lecture to think about. His ideas make sense to me and I can think of examples in my own life where these theories ring true and explain feelings that were confusing to me.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, even if you are just beginning to sort them out.
The statement, You insult me my easing up on your power, is so important and I’ve never looked at being my best in that way. It is especially timely for me to read today because I was going to give up on a friend who is struggling right now. My gift is to listen and help someone find their power and truth within them and with this friend there has been so much growth in the past. Of course something else came up in her life and she cannot hear me or herself right now and I was ready to say enough but your words have allowed me to see I cannot ease up because that would be dishonest to us both.
Thank you Ellie, don’t ease up ever! <3
Thanks so much for your thoughts, Barbara.