Gate 24 · Rationalizing

What it is like

A single thought can keep returning to you for weeks, and that is its natural rhythm, not a loop. Pressure to finally close it often just pushes the answer further away.

When someone close has it

Around someone with this gate, a topic others think is closed often comes back. Give them time, because the answer tends to ripen when nobody is rushing.

A question for today

What thought keeps coming back to me lately, and what is it trying to show me?

The six lines of gate 24

1. Line 1 · Short Way Back

   This line returns to a thought before it wanders too far. You find it easy to notice that something does not add up and turn back after a few steps, before the error grows. Such a return gives footing, because each thought is checked at its source. When the ground is uncertain, you may turn back too often, and a thought that still needs road never gets the chance to reach its end.

2. Line 2 · An Easy Return

   Here coming back to a thought happens without effort. It circles in the background, while washing up, on a walk, on the way to work, and one day it settles into words before you get round to calling it up. It ripens best in peace, and somebody's question draws it out. When someone presses for a finished answer, you may hand over something half done and lose a thought that is almost ready.

3. Line 3 · Round Again

   This line comes to know a thought through repeated returns. You start, lose the thread, come back, and at some point you see that the earlier attempts make sense because they show what does not work. Each return adds something to the understanding. When the returns begin to circle in place, it is easy to mistake motion for progress and only later notice that the doubt comes back unchanged, without a new word.

4. Line 4 · Turning Back Alone

   Here a thought circles among the people you know. You talk, listen and walk along with others, and at some point you turn back on your own, because you see that the group's road is not yours. Those close to you often understand this turn only later and accept your explanation. When the leaving happens without a word, people may feel abandoned, though you are only going back to your own thought.

5. Line 5 · An Honest Turn

   This line makes others see a model to follow in the way you change your mind. You can admit that the earlier thought is not enough and turn back with dignity, and your new explanation sounds practical and fits many matters at once. People expect you to find the words for them too. When you do not, disappointment comes easily on both sides, because an answer was expected, not one more return.

6. Line 6 · Overgrown Path

   Here returning to a thought ripens at a distance and over a long time. Over the years you understand which questions are worth carrying for years and which to set aside, and others learn this by watching how you live with your doubts. Your persistence with unfinished thoughts is an example. You may put off returning to a matter that is waiting for too long, and the way to it grows over until it is hard to find.

The centre of this gate

• Ajna

Channels through gate 24

• 61–24 · Awareness