Gate 28 The Game Player

Hallowspleen poster for Gate 28, Game Player — Fear of Death: finding out for oneself that life is of value, and the awareness to struggle or not. Biology: the kidneys

Line Companion

‘Here, we move to the individual process and we stay with awareness as potential. Rather than taking you through the natural stream of all of these potential gates, that is, rather than going from the 32 to the 44, which I leave to you in your own process, I want to show you the harmonies that exist, not simply line for line throughout but to recognize that all three of these potentials (the 32, the 28 and the 18) are doing the same job. They are just doing it differently. We have looked at the instinctive potential in the 32. Now we come to the channel 28/38, to the channel of Struggle, to a design of Stubbornness.

Wte come to the 28th gate, The Preponderance of the Great, the gate of the game Player. The potential is the awareness to struggle, or not. Individuality is acoustic, so it is literally the ability to respond acoustically and, in that response, we have the awareness whether to struggle or not. Not the awareness to transform or not. Because this is spontaneous, it is taking place existentially, in the now. The awareness potential is the stubbornness to listen, to make sure that one listens so that one can take the best possible risks.

This is all about risk taking. The 28th gate represents a primal fear in us: the fear of death. That fear is to be understood as a fear of whether or not life is of value. Just as the 32 is afraid that their work in this life will be a failure, the 28 is afraid that their way in this life will be a failure, that is, that they themselves, their lives and what they live for is not really worthwhile. This is one of the deepest themes of individuality: to see whether life is really of value or not, and this is rooted here in the 28th gate.

In the heading of the 32nd gate we find that the only thing which endures is change. When we come to the heading of the 28th hexagram, it says: The transitoriness of power and influence. It is the same thing. It is all about change and evolution. It is an ongoing process. The transitoriness of power and influence is what the Preponderance of the Great is all about.’
Ra Uru Hu | Gate 28 | Line Companion

(6) Blaze of Glory

Sacrifice rather than capitulation of the law of deterioration.
Pluto Exalted: Regeneration and renewal no matter what the price. The deep intuitive drive to win no matter what the cost.
Neptune Detriment: Self-destruction. The deep intuitive fear of defeat and a profound hopelessness in times of struggle.

(5) Treachery

The abuse of trust.
Pluto Exalted: The manipulation of the collective, that while pitting one faction against the other, does not directly support or reject either. The intuitive capacity of the game player to provoke struggle amongst others.
Sun Detriment: The breaking of alliances with trusted forces to align with more powerful forces and its attendant destabilization of the whole. The intuitive recognition in times of struggle to know when alliances must be broken and its destablizing effect on them.

(4) Holding On
The ability through whatever means to keep one’s grip.

Jupiter Exalted: The application of knowledge to exploit opportunities and usually for the greater good. A depth of intuition at its best in struggle and often of value to others.
Mercury Detriment: The application of intelligence to hold on, exclusively out of self-interest. A depth of intuition that is stubbornly selfish in its capacity to hold on.

(3) Adventurism
Saturn Exalted: A basic conservatism that even in adventurous acts is necessarily prudent. An intuitive caution in risk taking in times of struggle.
Jupiter Detriment: Here a perverse manifestation of Jupiter’s expansiveness where risk taking is rationalized and failure ensured. Intuitive rationalizing of risk taking in times of struggle.

(2) Shaking Hands with the Devil
Sun Exalted: A means, however, unsavoury, that is justified by its end. When the game turns to a struggle, the intuitive acceptance of any alliance in order to win.

Jupiter Detriment: The anxiety engendered by sacrificing higher principles when there is no guarantee of success. The risk in sacrificing principles when there is no guarantee of success.

(1) Preparation
Mars Exalted: The desire to be effective manifested in the application of energy to detail. The intuition to potentially apply energy to detail.

Venus Destriment: The aesthetic appreciation of planning that may have no real application. An intuition for detail without the potential for application.

Biology
Kidneys

An illustration of a human kidney and it's parts (Hilum, Renal Artery, Renal Vein, Renal Pelvis, Ureter, Major Calyx, Minor Calyx, Renal Cortex, Renal Medulla, Renal Papilla, Renal Pyramids, Renal Columns, Fibrous Capsule)

The kidneys are bean-shaped organs located on either side of the spine, below the rib cage. They perform important functions that keep the body in balance, such as filtering blood, regulating blood pressure, and removing waste.

Kidney Function

1. Filtration and Excretion: The kidneys filter waste products, such as creatinine, urea, and excess electrolytes, from the blood. These waste products are then excreted in the form of urine.
2. Fluid Regulation: The kidneys help control fluid balance by adjusting the amount of water and electrolytes that are excreted in the urine. This ensures that the body has the right amount of hydration.

3. Blood Pressure Control: The kidneys release hormones that regulate blood pressure by controlling the volume of fluid in the body.
4. Acid-Base Balance: The kidneys help maintain the body’s pH balance by excreting excess hydrogen ions (acid) or producing bicarbonate ions (base).
5. Red Blood Cell Production: The kidneys produce a hormone called erythropoietin, which stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells.
6. Endocrine Function: The kidneys produce and secrete other hormones that regulate blood sugar levels, calcium metabolism, and vitamin D activation.

Potential

The awareness, in the now, to struggle or not. To find out, for oneself, that life is of value.

The word ‘game’ comes from the Proto-Germanic word ‘gaman,’ which combined the collective prefix ‘ga-‘ (people) with ‘mann-‘ (person.) The core meaning is ‘people together,’ which suggests a sense of shared activity or participation. The word was first recorded around 1200 and referred to ‘joy, fun, amusement.’

By the 1300s, it began to specifically refer to a ‘contest for success or superiority played according to rules,’ such as in sports and hunting. This evolved into the modern use of ‘game’ to describe any contest or activity involving skill, chance, or endurance.

The potential of intuition is to know, in the now, whether it is of value to struggle or not. This knowing comes in response to what has been said, because the knowing lies in acoustic frequency. If the Game Player can be stubborn enough to be present and listen, they can pick up intuition, or the knowing that they should or shouldn’t struggle, fight, or take a risk.

Individuals build their intuitive capacity through trial and error in this process. They listen, take the right / wrong / no risk, and learn their own intuition in the consequences that follow. They also learn that each risk and consequence is theirs alone to accept in the aftermath, because this is a deeply individual gate.

Once the individual can be present and listen, they can take in the frequency of the sound, gain the knowing, and respond from the knowing. This is how we struggle together and alone. Cheers to the original ‘gaman!’

However, the spleen is easily ignored. The mind makes things up instead of surrendering to the pulse of knowing, because it cannot stand the uncertainty that comes with ‘not knowing’ until you do. It flails because it cannot grasp splenic intuition, and at its best, the mind typically talks us out of listening to our momentary intuition.

When gurus talk about the ‘power of now,’ they are talking about the spleen’s ability to know… now.

‘Everything about the nature of purpose is this deep uncertainty which is a fundamental theme that rides through all of individuality, because it’s in a pulse, this ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, oh I know,’ and in this uncertainty, the ability to be prepared for tomorrow. And of course, the way you prepare for tomorrow is that you’re clearly present in the now. That’s what it leads to, being rigidly present in the now.’
Ra Uru Hu | Centers & Their Gates

Cross of Planning Application

I read about the life of Frances Perkins this week, and I feel that she demonstrated this energy so perfectly. She was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position.

Frances didn’t understand poverty as a child, so she asked her dad why some people were poor. He told her that they were weak or lazy, which she knew could not be true. She followed her own path to understand the truth for herself, despite her parents and everyone else.

This is it! Her individual knowing is the only way she could go against everything she had been told by anyone and everyone. By listening to her dad’s response, she knew he was wrong and that it was her purpose to struggle with understanding and changing poverty. She took every risk to study and stand against oppressive working conditions.

During the course of her life she played a pivotal role in creating key New Deal programs and legislation, including the Social Security Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established the minimum wage, the 40-hour work week, and restrictions on child labor. Her work significantly improved working conditions and laid the groundwork for modern labor laws and social safety nets.

The entire world can thank Frances for following her intuition, which granted the world the weekend.

Fear of Death

The fear of death is actually a fear of whether or not life is worth value, which is why people who haven’t found the value of life will take any risk to find it. We can become so afraid that our way of life is a failure, that we are willing to take any risk and try anything, while simultaneously being unable to change or commit, which typically leads to harsh consequences.

In doing this, we are attempting to outrun death because we are afraid that we will die before we discover our individual purpose. The paradox happens when we realize that life is the purpose of life. In that realization we can stop obsessing over individual purpose and be here now, which is the only place and time that an individual can be who they are, and as a result, begin to live their purpose.

In order to be present, we have to face our fear of death, which is extremely hard to do when we are controlled by the mind that avoids this fear at all costs. Most of us adopt a mental philosophy, preferring to live in a belief that lasts forever, vs. facing the uncertainties of life while embracing the fears involved.

The dogma of religions, science, and systems keeps our uncertainty underground because the mind does not like change. It can cling to something that has been artificially created rather than witness and respond to the unpredictable life that actually happens. It convinces us that our purpose will be found in the future, rather than seeing that our purpose is happening right now.

In doing this, humans will sacrifice their body now to gain something like a promotion later, telling themselves that they will finally be happy once they have achieved whatever their mind has convinced them is more important than being present. In doing this, it appears that they are much more afraid of living than dying, and therein lies the tragedy.

As we embrace this fear, we gain the ability to be present, change, and commit. We can learn our intuition process and begin to honor it. We can be who we are and live our individual purpose.

You can ask yourself:

Can I allow my mind to not know? Have I recognized and honored spontaneous knowing?
Does my mind attempt to understand life, self, and others? Or does it assume it already knows?
Do I listen to others? Does my mind consume my attention while others are speaking?
Do I find purpose in presence? Do I recognize my value enough to be here in this moment?

Have you had any interesting events involving the concept of ‘purpose’ or ‘death’ over the last 6 days?
What are you holding onto about it? Can you let it go?