Reflections Seeded from the I Ching
Seeking Union

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Seeking Union

When we want to establish a relationship that may lead to a constructive union, we need to see all the parties involved with great clarity.

That is where our remarkable capacity for empathy can be problematic unless we have learned how to regulate it. We need to empathize with one person’s position without being so completely absorbed in their emotional resonance that we cannot empathize with another person’s different position.

To unify needs the skill of empathy in the service of detached insight. As if we see things from a great height. We do not discount anyone’s perspective, nor do we accept any particular view as absolute.

From this engaged position, where we have no personal stake, we are well placed to see how a union may be possible even amid conflict.