Law of Initiation, Week Four, Sample from 1,000 Day Wisdom Wheel Tour

[This sample page shows you what the 3 Year Wisdom Wheel course looks like. It covers one Law per month, in greater depth, than this Year on the Wisdom Wheel blog. You can learn more at www.thewisdomwheel.com]

Day 441

Hope is how capitalism binds us to the wheel.  Richard Vine, author in 'New Criterion' magazine essay (May 1989)

Daily Guidance: What keeps us intellectually, emotionally or spiritually tethered to social systems after our Initiations? What does it take to break away? As your time with this Law comes to a close, make some notes about what you've learned after your initiation to the Law of Initiation.

Spent my day at the Babson College Executive Education Center, initiating 16 managers, in the practice of sitting circle and using the Wisdom Wheel. Malcolm and another faithful CircleKeeper, the one who set up this opportunity - were also present and co-facilitating. We arrived early, to lay out the large stones and the pillows in a special room, before joining the leadership development group so we could listen to the session which preceded ours.

The group was discussing a book they’d read, Just Enough, by Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson of Harvard Business School. The book had not stirred up any excitement and most admitted they had forced themselves to finish it. One man said, 'The title alone makes it sound like you have to settle, for mediocrity.

I glanced through the pages and found everything so measured and careful, as if all the passion had been bled out. Are they implying that it is too dangerous to want more or to care too much?  Just Enough might work for some people, but those who follow its philosophy are not going to change the world or challenge the status quo. (Harvard is known for producing conformists and conservatives for the most part.)

The book did contain a spiraling kaleidoscope model I liked, with four principles; Achievement, Happiness, Significance and Legacy. These made a natural segue into the Wisdom Wheel presentation after lunch. Everyone took a pillow and sat on the floor, and the change of posture helped to initiate a different kind of exchange. After a brief orientation to the Wheel and the quadrants, I invited the group to place the four principles of the book onto it:

Achievement went into the East, the place of Right Action and intellect Happiness went South to the place of Trust and emotions Significance was placed in the West, the place of Higher Purpose Legacy went North, the place of Integrity, elders and syntheses.

I noted the fact that the word wisdom was not used anywhere in this book, except in conjunction with the wisdom of entropy. We had only two hours with the group and that is not enough time to teach them how to apply the Wheel, but at least they had an introduction to the Laws. About half of them signed up for the daily email service to learn more.

Today was the first day of summer for me. This marks the beginning of the actual month of the Initiation Law which is the Birth Law of all those born under the astrological sign of Cancer, the Crab - June 21- July 21 approximately.

Initiation blog

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