The strongest factor in conditioning is sex, in the sense that the first thing that a person is really taught is whether they are male or female.
Male and female are the first things we learn because they represent the polarity of existence.
We really have no choice in the matter. We are given a description of the world that is much more potent and much deeper than you might realize.
The limitations that we can see of the sexual description of reality are very apparent. Very few men attain enlightenment, even fewer women.
There's a sense of productivity which cripples us terribly. We either have to be doing something worthwile or not. We are back to our little binary male-female code.
It's either good, bad or somewhere in between. It's either ying, yang or it's a combination. You're either male, female or somewhere in between. You've got to be somewhere on the map.
The I Cing is a study in duality and what lies beyond duality.
The dreams of existence of that we call time, space, matter, subject, object, yin, yang - everything flows forth from this tai chi.
Learn not to be attached to other people, to certain types of experiences. Allow the flow of life to guide you wherever it is supposed to and accept with equanimity, with balance, with poise, whatever happens.
Without innocence, nothing can further, as they say in the I Ching.
Unconscious of the existence of Tao, beings live supposing themselves to be separate from the universal intelligence, supposing themselves to be powerful or to be weak, thinking that they live their lives and die their deaths.
