Just a moment to make one cigarette...
I'll smoke in the meantime, it helps, 
hope you don't mind
that helps me to think clearly
Ok, I'm ready for this
Subtitles by Bout Vercnocke
www.boutmanblog.com
[ In memory of Han Boering (1943-2015) ]
Freedom....
freedom is knowing and acknowlediging your personal boundaries
in my opinion
and you can only learn to know them
by trespassing them occasionally, preferably not too far,
by noticing in time 
what is beyond my capacities
and within that frame...
yes... let me think clearly now on what I'm about to say...
the Chinese have this expression: "Ming": 
your "mandate"
including the premise, which is just an assumption,
(there is nothing more to say about it)
that you receive a bundle of possibilities to....
to bring your existence to its full potential
for one that's creativity
for another it's just being productive
which is different from person to person
there is not one "Ming" (mandate) equal to that of another
that's different for everybody
but to carry out that mandate
gives you a feeling of freedom in my opinion (I suppose)
and yes... then...
the conflicts with...
the pattern in which you grow up and live
on this the "I Ching" says:
"the ordinary man uses power...
and the exceptional one uses the law's loopholes"
that too is an aspect of freedom
and furthermore...
what I think is the absolute groundrule:
"Never do to anyone else anything 
that you would not want someone to do to you"
that really is the only ethic law
and for the rest, in my opnion, anything is permitted
Money for me always has been at most a handicap
but if you have the "Ming" of a real banker for example
then you work with money
and if you do that in a constructive way
(most bankers seem to have forgotten that I think...)
but if you do that in a constructive way
then it becomes a source of happiness in life
carrying that out...
freedom also is a bit of the feeling of...
"I live my own life", "this is my life"
something like that
but freedom is a very difficult concept of course
well look, I'm a taoist oriented person,
I cannot say I'm a taoist, because nobody can
it's just as...
after the war everybody had been in the resistance...
I don't know what a taoist is but
I'm inclined to that sort of ideas
and I think that freedom and conditions of life
have very little to do with one another
I also can imagine someone living
totally unattached to society and still...
no, honestly, I really can't see any hierarchic link there...
of course this hierarchic side shows in the way
how you accomplish your life
indeed, there's a hierarchy in that
the more you can use your capacities in your life
the more you experience the feeling of freedom
but that has nothing to do with material circumstances
the" LoHan", the taostic saints,
all are misfits
one is hunchbacked,
another is clubfooted
they all have something
not one of them is "normal"
and also I think that society is thus that
that whatever form of society exists
only a very small part of the population is really able
to be free and creative in life
and that can have its advantages
because if I go to the baker's
and the baker indeed got up at 4am
and has baked bread
then I'm happy with that
and if he hasn't I would be very annoyed
but that is his freedom to be ok with that
[Can you say something on basic needs and self-realisation?]
Yes... I can tell something about that...
let me think a while...
I worked in jobs...
(I'll just take an anecdotic example)
I worked in jobs and...
it was always the same:
at arrival I was immediately placed in a "trail" of
going upward in the company
but always an obstacle occurred
the chief was not good for this one or that one
or he thought I had to do it this way
while in my opinion it was the other way
so there were always knots
so at a certain point, forced by circumstances though, seemingly
I started to work for myself
I was 28 at the time
and from that moment I had a little company myself
but that implied
that I didn't exploit my possible material potential
if I had a customer with a job that didn't interest me
that didn't appeal to me
this customer was of no use to me
and if I did take the job it immediately went wrong
then I have this kind of obstruction
so I think that the freedom is chosing your own talents
and take the consequences of that choice
and in a kind of miraculous way I always succeeded in surviving that way
at a certain point I had a small printing company, in 1974
I abandonned it, and during a year I lived...
not exactly homeless, but more or less
I had some "I Ching" draughts printed though
and I started out in the morning
and the first thing I heard about a location, I knew:
there is the place to be!
I put down my map...
and in no less than 20 minutes to half an hour
someone approached and asked: "What's in that map?"
and I replied: "That's what I sell"
I opened and I sold a set, and I could live for another 4 days
that continued the whole winter, incredible experience...
very strange experience...
and all of that worked
later I had a girlfriend again
and that evolved to a family
and then you arrive in frames again
but living outside these frames,
so I discovered then, is perfectly possible
also because you...
yes... let me give an example
I remember Sonny Van Dooren
that was an absolute cultural anarchist
I came to knew him because I had a jazz club where he performed
but this man on the one hand was scary for some
because he could rage terribly
but on the other hand he carried an amount of freedom in him
that people, once again....
that worked as a magnet for people...
so there always is a margin...
for example: The Netherlands have always had such things...
how is that one rocker called...
his name escapes me...
the one that jumped from the Hilton
["Herman Brood?"]
Yes, a super junk
but yet...
well.. he was allowed to do that, you know
because he too, in a certain way, embodied the ideal of freedom
what all people in fact have in their heads
he made that appealing... so it became attractive for the people
and for a certain amount of people not
but still... that's the way those things work
you can look at it as a sort of "field" that's hovering around a person
by which he is allowed to slip through the loopholes of the law
["what has all this to do with intuition?]
["and what is intuition to you?"]
you don't ask easy questions I have to say!
if I think I know, then I don't know
intuition is....
yes... intuition...
inspiration also is something like that...
it has to have a certain form of purity
then you can set your course on that
and otherwise not
and intuition is utterly devoid from every form of egoism and egocentrism
if that comes in, intuition dispappears completely
but really: intuition is the safest compass there is
I had an uncle, now deceased, a while in fact,
he was a nationwide renowned pschycic
and he had a form of intuition
that exceeded the "normal limits"
and I can give you examples...
at a certain moment I had lost my keys, and I really needed them
my car keys, I think, I don't remember exactly
but we had to go
I think one of our children was ill, we had to go to the doctor
I couldn't find the carkeys, and I called that uncle
(he never visited my home) and he said:
"I see an alley and a stairway... with a bruised wall
you have to climb that stairway, there's a white closet
and the keys are in the third drawer on top..."
that's a kind of intuition that surpasses the ordinary
but in fact that's how it works:
with intuition one uses a "field"
what we, in our normal way of thinking,...
(well this is changing in the past two decades)
... consider as not existing
indeed: this is no "cause and consequence"
it is a connection with what I eventually call a "field"
for example: there is Sheldrake
he's talking about "a morphogenetic field"
also in quantum mechanics such" field" theories exist
a "field" is a thing....
... of course, a field is not a "thing"!
a "field" is a sphere of influence without limits
and so I think, if you consult the "I Ching"...
one uses an aspect of this "field"
just as Karma is a field
and 1 of the rules I also invented ....
(as much as I possibly can, but that apllies for all I say)
is: "if one wants to consult the "I Ching",
then one does this with "thoughtless (empty-minded) attention"
you can also call this, as far as I'm concerned, meditation
but these phrases have all become so diluted
by all these emerging little "fashions"
so "empty-minded, thoughtless attention", in my view,
is a nice way to formulate this
so you take up a question in your head
and you offer it as it were "in confidence"
I used the examples about these "old boys"
well, of course that was a little...
but to me the anecdotic power in this is enough
to let go of that "ego" for a moment, just for a moment...
[What in fact is the "I Ching"?]
If I'm not really sure about how to act in the best way...
then I use the "I Ching" as a mirror to arrive at a decision
but that probably isn't what your question is about...
so the "I Ching" is a medium by which one, through using coincidence,
gets advice
given by the "I Ching" in texts
and by putting these texts as in were on reality
one can get insight in where possibilities or dangers are luring
I want to remind you of (Cyrille) Javary though...
Let's start to say that the "I Ching" is a book
the book is 3000 years of age... and furthermore...
the oracle can answer all life's questions
but it cannot be considered as predicting the future
one has to view it as a good adviser
it offers guidelines for the alternations of man's fortune
and the changes that occur in life
you could call the book the "package leaflet of life"
so this is an old book
with 384 texts...
and you can always link these texts to reality
in fact, these texts are metaphors
Maybe it would be nice to tell you
of course I asked the "I Ching" about this interview
I casted Hexagram 32: "Duration"
that deals with continuities
the first line was moving
it says: "Seeking duration too hastily brings misfortune.."
so I thought: "we will first have to look how to work"
the second line was also a moving one:
it says:....
"Perseverance is ok"
so: proceeding with the interview
I also deducted your being a little too late
if that was moving, then the 5th line of "Duration" comes in sight, which says:
"don't be guided by the circumstances"
but under that there also is another line:
the 5th line of Hexagram 55
meaning that at a certain point in the conversation a pattern will arise
then we will know: that's where we want to go
and that changes to Hexagram 49
in this case that's the "I Ching" itself speaking:
"Revolution"... (the Change)
that's to bring all this in the present moment, now
[ Fascinating! ]
[ I think that a lot of people could be inclined to think...
that if you have an oracle as the "I Ching"
partially in charge of your life
that this, at a certain point, means giving up your freedom
Why is this not true? ]
yes, of course, that's complete and utter nonsense
First of all: you take the decision by yourself
the book doesn't say: "you have to do this!"
what it does say is:
"if you do this it can go well, or it can go wrong"
you really don't think I always do what the book tells me to do?
absolutely not!
that's not why I have this book
it's not a book of law!
but yes, if eventually things go wrong, I know why, yes...
it's a help, a kind of a tool...
life is more important than the book
no way I will live my life as a christian who says: "In....
...in, well, take...
in some Bible book there's this or that text telling that's the way it must be!"
but if he looks further in the books, another text says the contrary
but he won't choose that text of course!
this is something alive
and also, if you didn't follow the book's advice
it's not so that the "I Ching" will not answer your question anymore
that's not the way it works
at most it will tell you: "you have acted in a stupid way,
so now you have to take the consequences!"
for the rest the book doesn't have a single moralistic approval or disapproval
and freedom and moral standards always are in conflict
because moral standards are an agreement
ethics is something different
but the ethic rules are simple, I already gave them:
"Never do to anyone else anything
that you would not want someone to do to you"
and that settles all ethics, nothing more to say about it!
morals are always complicated
always agreements between people,
always stupid in fact, when it comes down to it
have I led you astray now?
[ no, no, no...! ]
[ consciousness is also something I want to discuss... ]
[ what is consciousness in your opinion? ]
I cannot answer that...
no, I can't answer that...
I can't give a description
[ and why not? ]
consciousness in the concept of Tao...
of course the concept of Tao is essential
to people working with the "I Ching"
Toa is the highest authority of the universe
about which nothing more can be said
everything you say about Tao, by definition is nonsense
that is also explaind in the "Tao Te Ching":
all names attributed to it are nonsense
and I think....
pure concsciousness is something...
that also exists for reality in its totallity
nicely formulated, but we cannot achieve this
we can't, because we cannot see the entire reality
every form of perception always is coloured
by your history, your ego...
"being aware" is a difficult condition to reach
but that tiny little glimpse you have
well, to me, conciousness and intuition are very close to each other
[ so we almost live through that glimpse of our consciousness... ]
if you bring it back to very principle levels
that is: there is energy and there is form
then that energy's intention is to reach and maintain conciousness
the Dalai Lama says:
"what we, Tibetans, consider as Karma...
(and Karma is the passing through of life's pattern)
... mainly is focused on the continuity of consciousness."
but you can see here how difficult it is
to even tell something about it
because, by definition, human consciouness is limited
but the will to live:
that which creates everything,...
... also little plants, animals,...
... so: everything that keeps life rolling,
behind all that, there that great concsciousness is situated
I absolutely don't dare to tell something more concrete about it
because then I would be talking nonsense, knowing myself!
[ Are you searchig for the truth? ]
The truth.... a difficult word
My search is for a core of that thing
in the beginning,
the first decade of my work with the "I Ching"
my search was for "how does this work?"
well, then I decided to let it go
because it's impossible to realize that
at a certain point I assumed that it worked
but of course that continually is... a drive...
with the "I Ching" you can do the same as what Pirsig does
Pirsig says: "you have a motorbike,
and you can handle that bike in two ways:
How do I drive it? And how is it fitted together?
well, gradually I can easily drive this "I Ching" bike now
and yes, there is the willingness to know how that engine works
but I know that I will never get there
but still, that is a part of my research though
truth... in my opinion, is a difficult word
so many people, so many truths
an in one person there are as many truths as there are moments
that's... I just put that term aside
but this still remains: looking for a core
and eventually that core is: "why is there life?"
Leibnitz, one of my teachers
that I studied within my possibilities
then there's... let me think how to handle this...
Descartes says: "I think, so I am"
Leibnitz went further and said:
"Why is there 'something' rather than 'nothing'?", that's the question
of course that's the question, but why is there "something"?
because we don't know what there is,
but we do know that there is 'something'
and so for me, that's also one of my 'drives':
to think about that
[ what's the reason people start searching? ]
why shouldn't he?
you could ask that question just as well
[ if you look around, people are sitting in cars,
or are shopping in a store...
and at certain points some people seem to stand still ]
yes, I understand the question
[ perhaps those fools that study the "I Ching" ]
well, it is about that "Ming" you know,
and I consider that "Ming" as a drive, a motive
to the scope of someone's consciousness
(there is that juicy term again...)
giving that person better insight in what he is searching for
I mean, when I was young, and a car was passing by
my father and mother rushed to the window to have a look
that became their ideal...
they sold their soul and salvation for that
the system is not occupied now to take that back very soon
because really, something is going to happen
but it won't be something people expect to happen
but one has always that drive to give meaning to his life
for one that meaning is to have a nicer car than his neigbour
and if the car is equally nice
then there also is the drive to make a scratch in the neigbour's car
making his car the nicer one
luckily people don't always act like that
though they increasingly do during the last decade
but there is a drive from that life, and it is looking for a form
and everybody has it
even a murderer
a real murderer
his drive is to commit as many murders as possible
I admit, a bit distorted this example, I don't promote this of course
I'd rather want them not to do this
but everybody indeed has a drive
and if you lose it then you become senile
then that drive vanishes
I think this is a general human attribute
only: what to look for? where do you focus on?
[ if there is one common global drive for all people
then I presume that it could be summarized as: "being happy"
something everybody wants, I think ]
no, once again, because...
[ being happy ]
being happy
well, that is not always the case
there also are strange exceptions to that
a certain feeling of satisfaction, yes
but that needn't be only "being happy"
there also are people who very much like to be unhappy
for example: very important saints of the Catholic Church
they became saints because they continually had and received wounds
I even knew someone who really had them
he had these stigmata, around Eastern
he suffered extremely
so you can't say someone like that is happy
but in some way, in her feeling, that made her life important to herself
so yes... being happy... what is happiness?
[ that's often the difficulty with words
you have to have the same definition in mind
before you can talk in a satisfying way
and talking in the same language is not enough ]
yes, very difficult
communication between people...
language only covers a very small area
80% of communication is body language
well, hear me in English...
that's why I think that things as email and...
and even worse: what they have now... what is it called...
with those 140 characters...
Twitter, yes
that's not communication anymore
email comes in handy if you have to send each other messages
we are working on a project
and you have no camera
then you send me a message:
"I have no camera, so today is cancelled
that are business-like things
but that is not communication
communication is much more than that
and I think people become really happy
when they can feel this all over on a existential level
but that will change again
it's always a going back and forth of the social ideal
and regarding that, I think we live in an exceptional period of time
[ if you look at history
do you see a kind of evolution
concerning the freedom of people in Western society? ]
I think you have to look at it in a cyclic way
indeed it is evolution,
but in the shape of turning around
not in the way that it only increases
things don't do that
a comparison: my grandmother was born in 1880
and at age 8 she had to go to work, that was customary then
I grew up in the time I had contact with her, the 50ies
and the image, sprouting from socialism then, was a very hard time
people were paid little
everything was very difficult
and that was what my grandmother said too:
you don't have to tell everything in a factory
you meet someone, and we will talk somewhere for an hour
that was possible in those day
that freedom has become restricted
in contrast with that you had more economic freedom
and acces to education and all those things
but that alternates too
today there was a declaration from university
that scholarships have to be cancelled, that happened today
an insane measure of course
again that is this cyclic principle
I don't think it will go this way
but again this is the wish to impose the structure in a way
that people are compelled to live in that structure
and that always is only possible for a little while
the moment a structure is imposed on individuals
be it that they agree or not
then we're talking about tyranny
that's "Darkening of the Light" (Hexagram 36)
Light is always consumed by itself
and it's remarkable that in the Arab world
there is a kind of attempt to create more space within the systems
and here the trend is that the system says:
"ok, let's put an end to this freedom,
everybody back in their cage"...
villages for criminals, whatever... imprisoning, punishing...
act with iron fists...
well... iron fists, I mean
in Heerhugowaard boys of 15... under 16...
no, under 17 they are forbidden to drink alcohol on the streets
and this while the drug problem is bigger than ever by all this forbidding
I think I'm getting out of line now...
but it is evolutionary
and always two forces are pushing against each other
I consider the force "Yang" as a drive for freedom and creativity
and the force "Yin" as one into the pattern, the structure
there is an evolution, but it always turns around
this period will definitely be followed by a kind of Renaissance era
and maybe it is inevitable
that after a movement as occurred in the 60ies
(what in fact was a kind of little Renaissance)
that afterwards a structural power has to come to life
and when it reaches its highest point
then immediately it starts descending
and I think this is happening now
I think that this drive for structure has already surpassed its height
really: how do you come to this?
to forbid boys in Heerhugowaard to drink beer on the streets...
I would know what to do!
I would immediately buy a can of Cola,
rap that in a beer can cover,
and parade in front of an policeman
of course he will arrest me now,
not so in 3 months, but now he will
he'll take me to the office
but it's not forbidden to have a beer can cover around my Cola
that's not written in the law
so you see: that's not maintainable
so now, continually laws are enforced
80% of the Dutch doesn't want troops in Afghanistan
but the democratic descision is: "we go!"
so, what democracy are you talking about?
I think you're better off in Belgium:
there simply is no government at all now!
these follies only happen here
so it always is cyclic, everything is cyclic
the idea of: "we go from the Youngest Day
to the Last Judgement
that's a typical christian misconception
we do go from birth to death,
but it doesn't end there, I think
[ do you have an image of what happens after death? ]
very, very, very vague
but I do believe, together with the Dalai Lama, I say:
that there is the drive for continuity of consciousness
how that happens, I don't know
that's outside...
but something inside of me confirms that, yes
of course I have some experiences on that
but they are personal and anecdotic
they can be al kinds of strange mechanisms only in my head
I can't look at them
but I'm convinced life always has the urge to continue
and always it is about the same force of life, yes
and this cyclic principle I would say....
absolutely is a law of nature
[ when you talk about this cyclic principle that implies...
... no beginning, no end, no corners nor turning points...
... no ups, no downs, no lows...
... all this in theory of course ]
yes, indeed: the circle is round of course!
but, together with the "I Ching",
I see the manifestation of a top and a bottom in it, yes
and of course, the top always is a more pleasant experience
but the bottom always offers more information
that's where you learn more!...
[ can you tell something about the times we live in now? ]
from which point of view?
[ just a while ago you said: "we live in exceptional times..." ]
there absolutely is a major turnaround in our culture now
I'm convinced about that!
this is my personal conviction of course...
(I won't make it a law)
but this is a very important turnaround, yes
in my opinion maybe this could be as important as The Enlightenment
or, let me reduce this a little...
at a certain point there was the steam technique in society
society changed enormously by that
we all have forgotten about that now
but that was a massive turnaround
the "I Ching" text as we have it now
is a turnaround from the hunter-gatherer
to a culture of farmers
the electricity technique equally is such a turnaround moment
we now are in a turnaround moment of the digital world
with enormous consequences
it's... let me try to give an example...
there's the rising of socialism...
organisation of labourers
a huge structure had to be built for this
unions,... a whole administrative system and so on..
nowadays this can be done "ad hoc" (instantly)
starting with those hooligans
fights between Ajax and Feyenoord
I don't know if you're informed ~ you're not Dutch...
there's a fight and rivalry between those two groups
all is exchanged through mobile phones...
at any given moment masses of people can thus be set in motion
we see the same with the Arabic revolutions
everything is exchanged through those digital channels
and this will have to have consequences
all this is going to be embedded in society
and the funny thing about this is....
(and maybe now we arrive at a point we can better elaborate on...)
the way through which all this passes...
("the medium is the message", you know the expression)
all this works through "resonance"
because those phones...
... internet and so on: all this is the work of resonance
and up to now, this wasn't the case
because from the days of Enlightenment until the 60ies...
everything worked mechanical
everything fitted together as cogwheels in a machine
and that's also the way we started to think:
everything is causal
soon this will be gone...
which doesn't mean causality ceases to exist
of course it still exists!
if, 200 years from now, you drop a stone...
it surely will fall down to earth, that remains
but the effect of resonance being a pattern...
that becomes part of the way we look at reality
that's a major turnaround
gigantic!
the "I Ching" also works through resonance
[ In fact I'm already thinking now about my next documentary...
which I'd like to give the title: "Frequency",
and of course that leads to the centre of this all...
and by practicing I discovered...
that astrology isn't mere fiction...
and that there is a connection between my life
and the position of the heavenly bodies
and if you give thought to it a little...
everything that moves (and everything does move)
because matter is energy... ]
(energy) also moves
[ and everything has its own frequency...
... everything which has a frequency can resonate with each other...
harmonic or disharmonic...
but everything we describe here deals with very small (high) frequencies...
but starting from a certain frequency...
(I don't know what that frequency could be)...
there's no interest at all from a scientific point of view ]
not yet, not yet
[ but the spinning of planets and earth per se is also pure frequency...
why shouldn't that have an influence too?...
it seems, no more than very logic...
that this sphere of influence should continue itself ]
yes, in my conviction...
and really, I'm convinced of this
up to the deepest part of my very being
this will completely become part of society
because now there is quantum mechanics
it's not about causality any longer
but about probability
it can fall this way or that way
there's Odjick in computers
if you play a CD you're making use of quantum laws
that's the way this enters society
and in general it is so that every major scientific switch in thinking
more or less takes one or one and a half century
to embed itself completely in society
in a way that people in the street too
have this embedded in their pattern of thinking
up to a certain point of course
but that it is seen as a power
well: that is happening now
quantum mechanics starts in 1920
and now we're nearing 2020
and now it's starts being part of the devices around us
also implying...
(because nobody seems to realize this...)
but if you switch on the radio...
if you really want to find out how it works...
we don't have a solution for that!
I know that it works
and we're very good at working with it technically too
but the real foundation of it still is unknown...
because radio too is based on resonance
there's a transmitter vibrating
and here's a receiver that is co-vibrating, if it is tuned correctly
if it is not tuned correctly,
you think it doesn't receive?.....
yes, of course it receives
does something happen in the receiver?
yes, of course it does
only: there's no expression of it
the idea that all those "fields" we live in nowadays
are influencing our "field of thinking"
~ because that is a resonating thing too ~
of course, that is absolutely true!
and that this will have consequences
is absolutely true too
we only don't know what consequences...
but in my opnion this is a very important turnaround
and perhaps it will take a couple of hundred years
before this completely is uncovered
and I already notice this
in the work of Ilya Prigogine, on the theory of chaos
he says: "resonance is a difficult subject..."
"resonance is the mutual enhancement of two voices"
that's how he formulates this
at least that's how this female Belgian journalist noted it
a very interesting book by the way
but there also is that mutual interference of two voices
if a microphone is placed too close to a loudspeaker
you will get a feedback loop
and all your talking will be lost
that's also something to be taken into account
I have to answer that!
[ freedom and joy...
being free... being joyful...
how do those two relate? ]
to me they are almost identical
Well: "Huang Ze"..
that's freedom and joy at the same time
and joy can take the strangest forms
I even think if you really live a realised life
quite an expression... but ok, I have no other words
that you even can die joyfully
like.... "finally it is completed, I'm allowed to leave here!"
I think that is possible
I don't know if I'll manage that, that's another thing
but would have fun though if I succeeded in that!
humour and joy ...
they can cut loose bonds
and cutting loose bonds, after all is freedom
[ perhaps a little step back....
as I said before...
I started my search for freedom...
from a certain idea, by thinking, talking about it...
and all of a sudden, because freedom seems so difficult to grasp...
suddenly it becomes something suffocating...
since you just have talked about cutting those bonds...
do you think joy...., a kind of superficial joy...
isn't that a way to reach freedom...
precisely by cutting bonds... ]
but now you add something: "superfical joy"!
at that point I rest my case!
because a superficial joy....
if a joy doesn't sprout from the core
then it has nothing to do with freedom
the kind of joy with having a new computer on the desk
that's a joy that disappears very quickly
the new car is beautiful until the first scratch
better to scratch it yourself!
because then that disappointment is already behind you!
and since you did it yourself, then it is freedom!
just a joke!
I think freedom without joy
is almost impossible
and now I have the inclination to take the lead of the conversation....
I shouldn't do that and leave it to you
you just had the example of joy and suffocation
there is a hexagram in the "I Ching" dealing with liberation
hexagram 40: "Deliverance", one of the Karmic gua's
it only differs in 1 line from hexagram 47
and that one really has a suffocating effect
the "I Ching" says that if you have that freedom
ps: the hexagram lines constitute a hierarchy in one's personality
the bottom line stands for the subconscious
the second line is the daily awareness
the third line: your personal ambitions
the fourth line: how you organize things
the fifth line says: "I want to organize this because..."
and the sixth line says: "Ok, I have seen it all, no more for me!"
the 5th line of "Deliverance" (hexagram 40)
so the one that changes to "Oppression" (hexagram 47) says...:
and now I have to take the text, so be it...
"though tied up, the pupil can free himself, good fortune"
"he finds confidence, even from ordinary people"
from the moment you experience this suffocation
you have to focus on the freedom you have within these bonds
in that way you can solve that bonding
if you can persevere this, if you can maintain that feeling...
then as by itself ~ and we talked about this at the start ~
then people will project their lack of freedom on you
and they will say: "well, after all, he's ok!"
you know, if I look at my own life
until age 30, socially I was considered a misfit
after that I was declared chief master screen printing
screen printing is finished now
and now I'm a 'man with the "I Ching" '
I'm exactly the same person as I was before age 30
I don't behave differently, on the contrary,
I behave even more crazy, because I have that space now!
and it's because of that strange, crazy behaviour
like: "absolutely no bullshit , be yourself'"
that's why people understand what I say
it's a kind of modesty
if you want to cross over from "Oppression" (47) to "Deliverance" (40)
then there also is a good example:
that's the 5th line of hexagram 47
and finding that confidence, again comes forth through resonance
we talked about it a while ago
47, line 5:
"Nose and feet cut off"
"Oppression at the hands of the man with the purple knee bands."
(that's the power of the system, so to speak)
"Comprehension comes slowly"
"It furthers one to show respect and to make offerings"
so here it is: you can't kick out the guy with the purple knee bands!
because then you blow it completely
I remember that from my time with bailiffs:
enter the bailiff: "have a seat, perhaps a cup of coffee?"
"ok, what's the problem?"
and then: listen to the man, not out of fear
or out of a kind of misapprehension:
I'm superior, and you're nothing but a dirty bailiff
if you start like that, you blow it
but by "makking offerings" and "showing respect"
by listening to that man
that man is not used to that, you know...
bailiffs became my best friends, as a matter of speaking
they still come to drink coffee,
but no longer with summons
that effect has disappeared out of my reality
because I still continued my own way of life
and by slowly but surely being offered the space to do that from the system
also on that level a resonance is at work
those rules are all in this book
you only have to read it while putting things in perspedctive
because I've never seen anyone entering here
with purple knee bands
that's not the fashion here
but they are metaphors for a man who respresents the power
the purple knee bands were the messagers of the Emperor
they came down from the highest level
[ I wonder - to come back to "joy" - ...
... we just talked about how some people continue living...
... without asking questions...
... while some of them seem to stand still....
one could have the impression...
that most people are satisfied with a football game, or...
or nice clothes, or whatever makes them free ]
and they can, as far as I'm concerned!
[ yes, of course, no problem with that...
but the people that are standing still
often have a somewhat bigger problem
precisely because they are standing still
so... the people that are satisfied with the superficial:
a football game, good dinner, clothes
those people are easily - well "easily" is incorrect...
those people experience joy more directly
and it seems as if people that are standing still
need a long journey of searching
to discover their freedom and their joy...
can you relate to that premisse, or... ? ]
first of all... people that are "standing still..."
I don't believe anyone ever is standing still
[ well, people who start out searching... ]
o yes, people who start out searching
"seekers", yes
I often encounter them in my life of course
certainly the past 30 years
to some seekers I can offer useful advice
but also there are a lot of people who become very insecure then
because they expect a kind security from me
which I can impossibly offer them
so we said that this is an important juncture in time:
there is an ongoing changeover in culture
consequently there are masses of seekers
because the old standards are no longer certainties
and the new ones are still lacking
so the question is:
what will arise then in the structure,
so that people can create something common again
and we, at any rate, can talk again about
could be about the "I Ching"
it could be all sorts of things
only: it must have force
and what I presume and hope is
that the ongoing chaos in society
because I can postulate this easily:
this society is in panic
which is a repetition of the panic in the 30ies
only: my hope is now that this panic
as opposed to then, can find a gathering point
and I think this digital revolution can play a role in that
because new movements
needn't only arise from a formal connexion
this can happen spontaneously now
previously, that was not possible
it's inevitable that people are seeking
me too, I also started seeking
and at a certain moment I had this clear distinction
of what to seek and what not to
if I can do my work in a satisfying way
and laugh a little with this world too
not always of course
because I'm affected too by some events
it's the same as with an eartquake
that affects me too
if 2000 are totally wiped out, seemingly meaningless
but that's how the world works, it's all part of it
this searching is....
something happens by which these seekers can gather
we don't have to talk about the 30ies
but: was is left now from this entire "Osho" movement for example?
not a thing...
but there still is a chair...
with a small hierarchy around it
and some people still take part
seekers with no insight whatsoever in what to seek...
and first they have to pass through a detector...
to reach a chair!, an empty chair!
to see if they don't carry weapons
next they have to pass a man...
he's sniffing if they smell well...
because Osho couldn't stand people who didn't smell right
well, this is not at all what it is about!
but that's what you have with guru's...
and guru's... I can't stand them...
and if, somewhere in the far distance,
there's a very small movement
inclined to decare me a guru...
I'm running away from it as fast as possible!
because that's something dangerous
I have the feeling of vanity too, you know
me too, at a given moment, could be surrounded by an entire household
a. that makes money out of me
and b. cuts me of from the ordinary people
because that's what I am: an ordinary person
if I don't keep that in mind
if I think: here's "the" Dutch I Ching expert
put me away then, because then my evolution is finished
totally, that's for sure
in that respect I'm really "Zuang Ze"
then I would rather "lie in the mud", as Zuang Ze says,
"please step aside a little, you're blocking my sun"
and that's that joy too
joy sprouts from being able to be who you are
and that's the same for freedom
because freedom isn't about wanting to be someone that I'm not
so of course, I had to swallow now and again:
the times I wanted impossible things in my life
things beyond my capabilities
but that's a habit you learn to abandon
in that respect life is a very expicit teacher!
and of course the "I Ching" protected me
from some very wrong moves...
but freedom and joy, to me, are one and the same
and superficial joy...
that's the joy of an alcoholic:
trying to keep up with it as long as possible
because he knows the next day the terrible hangover awaits
no use in that...
[but by "superficial freedom" I mean...
sorry: "superficial joy"...
I mean: joy doesn't need to be fed...
it just "is" there...
it doesn't need to be explained...
there's no need in joy
that's why I call it "superficial"... ]
well... listen...
nowadays it isn't possibe anylonger in cities
but I can remember long ago,
that terrible light pollution was absent
and when at night you looked up at all those stars...
that created a massive feeling of incredible joy
is it that joy you're talking about?
yes... well, that is both and freedom
and awarenes of your own futility at the same time
[ and is that sort of joy not a kind of shortcut for seekers?...
you don't always need to seek so very far...
if you're able to be in that zone... ]
I completely agree with you...
I once had a little printing firm, a little one man company
but I didn't have a cutting machine
and nearby there was a sheltered workshop
I put my printing work in my carrier cycle...
and I biked to that place...
~ when I go out I always have a hat on, Stetson, Borsalino...
nowadays a Borsalino, they're better!
and when you entered that workshop
all those mongols were present
(you're forbidden to call them like that nowadays...
there's another word for them, but... )
and they always got in a kind of excitement...
also because always I had pastry for them
they looked at me as a very strange man
and I had pastry!
and the joy of these people is totally genuine!
there is nothing fake about it!
there's no greed...
because really, it wasn't about the pastry, though it helped
they reacted in the same way if I didn't bring them pastry
so, it's not an intellectual achievment
it is the joy of "just being present "
and you really needn't be an intellectual for that
it's easier for a mongol to have this kind of joy
than for an average intellectual...
let's not generalize...
yes, that's absolutely true
that's the feeling of being alive
so yes, I agree with you, then it's identical
[in other words: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ]
yes, that's an example
yes, in this case you can relate to these words of Christ
such a pitty that they played around with that man so much 
the past 2000 years
they made a farce out of it, don't you think?
he won't loose any sleep for it!
have look at the 11th century mystics...
or Meister Eckhart...
great thinkers....
no need for the I Ching there, because they had the Bible
and I know people now
for example, a woman in Haarlem I knew pretty well
she uses the Bible as an an I Ching
she opens it, and pricks a page
and it works for her
she only does this with the New Testament by the way
these people have real faith, that's possible
that's absolutely not impossible at all
she is on that level of resonance...
that opens the "field" for her
I only think, because the I Ching is such an massively structured work,
probably only a part of the people,
surely not everybody,
should make use of the I Ching
in my text, I aways warn people too
who are in a pre-psychotic phase:
"leave this texts please!"
because those people already have this difficulty
between inside and outside
for them these are already very much entangeld
because, in certain way, you could call psychotics "clairvoyant"
or sensible in hearing and feeling
only, this is a bit disturbing in society's patterns
society isn't up to that
in the Middle Ages some of these people had a function,
as a Medicine Man, or whatever
so, yes, I expect...
~ also by the rising of this Chinese culture
and the collapsing of the USA culture
that the I Ching will, more and more, come in sight of people's attention
I'm convinced of that
I didn't start with it for that reason
in the 70ies and 80ies I didn't have this view
it's only since the last 15 years that I thought:
"wait a second, something is happening,
we are in the midst of a cultural evolution"
and again you notice the connexion with the culture of resonance
because the Chinese are...
out of their culture
used of thinking in these kind of patterns
I have this quote from Joseph Needham:
"The Chinese primarly think in patterns
~ and patterns are systems of resonance", he adds
(all this is in short now of course)
and that's embedded in that culture
so this vast culture of programming existing now
more and more is moving to that eastern world
because those people already have that in them
it's already in their culture
and not in the American one
meaning: the USA culture
these all are mechanical thinkers
they think: "if I turn a handle here, than there will.... "
and what is the consequence?
the second gigantic bank crash
heralding each time a new crisis
as was the case in 1932, and it happens again now
yes... something like that...
"Millefolium"
for Han Boering
"Millefolium"
Today the millefolium is flourishing in the garden
its leaves impossible to count
its colours of amazing beauty
just as many visiting, they tasted their smell
like as a huge 100
talking in strange tongues
it seemed like Babylon
they asked a lot of questions
but still the same sun shone on all
and all of them,
without much thought, they picked a stalk
and 50 then were left behind
and then came 1
gathering their catch
what questions then
were left to them?
and on what leaf was written then?
and to what colour then was their attention drawn?
what smell kept burning in their eyes?
yet all of them are singing to the selfsame melody
and all of them are lavished by the selfsame well
so as today the fish around, around are dancing
as princes and princesses
so once spoke Appolonius:
"though this be madness, 
yet there is method in it"
today the millefolium is flourishing in the garden
gripping then the looking
and shrouded then the memory
what use in counting if the sum is known?
today this monument is flourishing in the garden
built for eternities
with hands invisibly erected
we watch, we cannot understand
as 1 who knows:
"nowhere is there a habitat for answers,
for those wo only seek solutions"
why not then to the garden disappear
where now the millefolium resides
the home of 1000 questions now,
like as a huge one hundred
and where all stalks, once counted,
this answer offer:
"the woman here, dwells in the centre,
and nourishment will follow
when bonds in families will shine out clear and bright
that's how connexion grows
today the millefolium is flourishing in the garden
the questionning is solved
and Love is growing
for Han Boering
Namasté
