23 – Laundry – Shedding – Mountain upon the Earth

          Sometimes our clothes get dirty and we must take time off from the world to process this internal affair.  We have been soiled on all sides and a destructive force has managed to gain power over us.  It is useless to fight this force as all of our cards have already been displayed.  Now is the time to cut our losses and go into retreat to allow this negative energy to be washed away like a stain upon the shirt.  This also implies standing complete and alone; forgoing and letting fade away ties we may have to certain people or places.

1^st – Sorting the Laundry – He separates the light from the dark and recognizes each with an unbiased viewpoint.  Those under our care display no consistency in their action.  Best to be done with them and focus on other things.

2^nd – The Neighbors Laundry – These are not my pants!  The wise man recognizes and is able to differentiate between his own problems and when another attempts to project their problem onto him.  He now politely ignores them with an iron will, even if he previously had called them ‘friend.’  We should not take this lightly, we must stand firm or we will be destroyed.

3^rd – Bleaching the Laundry – He uses the whole bottle, no color will remain!  The wise man internally isolates himself and cuts relations to those who stand above and those who stand below.  It is only in this way that we may be free!

4^th – An Intruder in the Laundry – A red sock mixed in with the whites?  Everything will be pink!  It is an utter disaster.  How could have we avoided this?

5^th – Folding the Laundry – The handmaiden folds the fresh clothes, imbuing them with her jasmine scent.  This external affair being taken care of, we are free to move forward without regret.

6^th – The Laundry is Wrinkled – He does not accept help when it is offered.  The man who is unkind in word and action will be stripped of his own home.  Whereas, the kind man will be offered passage to new and exotic frontiers.

All Six – Handwashing the Laundry – Disregarding the washing machine, we take the high and lonely road to achieve our goal.  Working in the shadows, the wise man remains diligent and focuses on details of the process.