A Guide to the Four Directions
Introduction
“The Four Directions” are a recurring theme found in forms of indigenous cosmology and spirituality around the world. In this article I would like to sketch, briefly, one interpretation and understanding of the Directions and offer a few thoughts on how to apply them in our lives.
In all the cultural forms I have encountered, the Directions refer not simply to the distribution of space around us but rather, almost primarily, to the temporal qualities of our lives. In briefest sketch, the East refers to the place of sunrise, and therefore it is the place of all new beginnings. It is the springtime, and in our own lives is the period of childhood. The South is the height of the day and the height of the year. In this direction the sun is shining brightly and all is manifest – the plants have all emerged, showing their forms. In our lives this is ‘the prime of life,’ when our bodies are fully formed and we are in the height of our vigor. The West is the direction of sunset and autumn. This is the time of harvest, when outer forms begin to retreat but we receive the richness of what was – a time of reflection and wisdom. The North is night time and the winter. In the North it is dark and things are hidden. Leaves have fallen from the trees and the sap is below the ground. Many other plants have died away entirely, present only in their most concealed and contracted form, as seeds in the ground. North is the direction of the ancestors, meaning that this is the phase of life in which we also are to be found ‘six feet under’ or at least in communion with those who have taken up that station.
Merely observing that there are corresponding daily and annual cycles may not at first seem particularly helpful. But this framework becomes quite relevant when we understand how to relate to the Directions, the kinds of thinking and action that are appropriate to each direction, and take them as a model to understand our lives. Traditionally each culture would guide this understanding with its own unique teachings on the Directions, adding significant detail and instruction to the outline above. What follows here, then, are some personal reflections to elucidate the relevance of the Directions in our lives. We will regard the Directions under the titles of Mystery, Regeneration, Sovereignty, and Transcendence.
East - Regeneration
Out of the unseen depths of reality, forms and energies emerge, rushing upward. There is hope and excitement and great potential is felt. In our selves, the East is experienced as our vital and untamed forces – our urges, instinctual and social, as well as our creative drives. Although we say that they are ‘ours,’ we do not originate or control them. They come from the unseen, not from us, and attempting to put too many rules or demands on them will only block and limit the uprushing of energy. So the central task of the East is to simply allow that energy to arise, move, and manifest.
It may be useful to reflect further and identify three sub-phases of the East. First there is a preliminary phase that we can call “safeguarding.” Here we must create a place where the tender shoots of new life will be protected and permitted, much as we would set up a fence before planting a garden or set aside time, space, and supplies before beginning a creative project. Second, there is the “main allowing,” in which life is permitted to move as it wishes – according to its own nature. In ourselves we must allow these untamed forces to move us however they wish, for this is our life force, and it is only by allowing them to move and appear that we can access them and learn what they are about. Likewise, when we wish to relate to other living beings we must begin by simply receiving, allowing the other to behave and express according to its own nature, revealing itself in its own time. In the later stages of the East, there is room to begin to engage in a guiding and harnessing of those energies. This still isn’t a matter of dictating exactly what form they will take – which would again would destroy their liveliness – but through familiarity with their needs, purposes, and nature we can begin to steer their expression.
I have found Chinese systems of internal physical training, such as qigong, to be particularly clear in teaching me how to work with energies in this way, but any practices which provide a structure in which we are able to explore spontaneous motion and free expression can be helpful for refining our ability to engage properly with the energy of the East.
South - Sovereignty
In the South we come into possession of ourselves and a responsibility for our conditions. Here we understand who and what we are, as well as the various relationships in which we take place. Here we have a sense of purpose. And here it is appropriate for us to actively pursue our aims, practicing the necessary discipline as well as making the appropriate choices and decisions. To be fully sovereign is to be self-possessed and wholehearted in all one’s actions and undertakings. The fullest sovereignty thus brings together a deep self-knowing with the power and effectiveness needed to accomplish our heart’s purposes.
In the first sub-phase of the South we come into our purpose, mission, and identity. In traditional societies this often takes the form of an initiation, in which one is given an identity and social role. These days, our identity is more often adopted by way of discernment of our own interests and by seeing where life takes us, and thus through the roles and relationships in which we find ourselves. In our society, the age of young adulthood tends to be focused on this pursuit: not working consistently at one overriding project, but trying out a number of situations and arrangements, looking for something that seems like a good fit. An important point here is that our identity and mission, though personal, is also inherently relational, drawing on cultural resources. For example if one chooses to be an artist, one is stepping into a particular archetype in our culture, and so must seek to live that archetype well.
The second sub-phase of the South is of accomplishing one’s purposes. There is little that needs to be said about this phase, as it is very familiar to us all. The modern, materialist approach to life is basically an attempt to reside completely in the South: intellectually, to understand everything in terms of fully graspable, self-existent objects; and practically to exert control over as many conditions as possible so that things will be and do what we want. The economy is our primary mode of public engagement and hence we come naturally to regard people primarily as individuals in pursuit of personal, self-given agendas. There is nothing inherently wrong with this instrumental approach to life – indeed, a life would not be healthy without it – but drastic problems arise when it is pursued without being adequately informed and balanced by the other Directions.
The third phase of the South is that of developing judgment. After undertaking a project, regardless of success or failure, one engages in debriefing, noting what went well and what didn’t, as well as what could be done differently the next time. This is an aspect of reflectiveness, though still remaining focused on building one’s life skills.
West - Transcendence
In the West we must begin to let go of what we acquired in the South. Our powers wane, and at the same time greater inner riches and wisdom are discovered. In this direction we not only begin losing our outer form but must learn to re-identify with something beyond our personal selves. The truth is, our personal identities and projects were never the whole of our being. They were and are in fact just tiny, transitory tips of the great iceberg of reality, which is our underlying being and truth. In the West it is time to remember this and live accordingly. In the West, there is no room for our selfish games.
The actions of the West – among which I do not discern a clear order – are: appreciation, humility, and being-there for others.
When watching the sunset we are able to see how beautiful the whole day was. Laying down one’s narrow agendas, one can make room for the world as it is and one can adopt an attitude of kindness toward all phenomena. Thus in the West we recognize and appreciate the beauty and richness of all that is, regardless of how we fared on life’s battlefield.
Humility is perhaps the core Western process, as it is one of increasingly recognizing the smallness of our personal identities and projects, and thereby recovering an awareness of sharing our being with a much vaster reality.
Being there for others can be likened to living like a wise, loving grandparent. In a way, their time is past, but because of this they can be there for others, providing the nurturance and guidance that promotes a broader welfare.
North - Mystery
About the Mystery itself, there is little that can be said. Its depths cannot be fathomed and it defiantly evades our grasp. It does not submit to our conceptualizations, as it is not something which can be made an object of our personal consciousness. Nor can it be possessed in any other way, for we belong to it and not the other way around. Instead, we can only let go into the Mystery and let its abiding power be the truth. In fact, the only way to properly relate to the Mystery is to surrender our personal existence, for in the truth of the absolute North, It is and we are not. Although we speak here of death, the Mystery is not something that lies on the other side of some great divide. Rather, we are in the Mystery right now, but we are generally blind to it because our minds attend primarily to the experiences constructed by our senses and self-concepts.
The action appropriate to the North is simply being. Nevertheless there are yet three aspects of the North that we might consider.
As we approach it from the west, the Mystery is experienced as our destiny. It is that into which our personal being is surrendered. This phase of the North is also the location of those who have passed beyond the grave but still have some specific existence. This is the place of the saints and ancestors – beings whose wisdom has multiplied by stepping consciously beyond the grave and experiencing the surrender of their personal being, and yet who retain some degree of specific existence in order to transmit wisdom to us, much as elders who are no longer physically strong but are able to teach and guide.
In the depths of the North, due North, even this post-mortem existence must eventually dissolve, so that the Ultimate itself can reign absolute. Here all must fall into silence. Here there is no relationship with the North at all, as we do not exist. It simply Is. Although we cannot know it, it abounds with resplendence.
Finally, the third phase of the North is the Mystery in its generative capacity. Here we may relate to the North as the unseen source from which all comes, and especially as our own ground or underlying reality. It is important to dissolve fully into the Mystery, because whatever holds itself back from this dissolution will be an obstacle to vigorous renewal in the East.
Non-dual awareness practices such as Dzogchen and Zazen are the pre-eminent spiritual practices for developing our Northern abiding.
Conclusion
In our culture, we have lost sight of life and what is good for life. In fact, there are almost no models that put life at the center and help us to see what life is. On the one hand, the modern mode encourages us to relate to the whole world through the South, damaging life by objectifying and over-exploiting. On the other hand, our major world religions – through which many people seek spiritual orientation – valorize living predominantly in the West or the North, which, when taken to the extreme, damages life through disengagement and neglect of its needs. Thus even those who would value life have few tools to help them relate to the world in a truly life-enhancing way.
I hope these reflections help elucidate the proper place of all four modes – those of spontaneous, free-flowing expression, of structured, goal-oriented pursuit, of expansive appreciation and generosity, and of transcendent abiding – making it clear that they are all inherent, important, and necessary parts of life. I encourage you to recognize and honor all these modes in yourself and find ways to cultivate, strengthen, deepen all of them, so that life can have a fullness.