Second Opinion Please

[dbus]

Hi everyone, http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/i_ching_discussion/clipart/happy.gif
I'm fairly new to the I Ching, so apologies if i'm asking the wrong questions or missing the obvious. I wouldn't yet claim to have an affinity with oracle, but I do firmly believe in the synchronicitous (?) nature of reality and thus divination (with all due checks and balances).
The I Ching for me (at least currently) is a valuable alternative point of view and so far has been correct and insightfull when I have consulted it.
The question I asked this time was "Will the company I work for fold". In all honesty I'm not sure if this is really the kind of question one should ask, and possibly for this reason I am unsure what to make of the answer.
The answer (from the free readings on-line) was Hexagram #41 (Decrease) for both the primary and the relating hexagrams with no changing lines.
My intuitive interpretation is that the oracle is saying yes (The company will fold), but I also think that I'm being too literal and may be missing an important point akin to death meaning change in tarrot.
If any of you could help with any advice or interpretations I would be very garteful.

As an asside I'd like to say hello and thank you to Hillary for this website. I noticed some threads about divination and whether or not it can work on-line, and have to say that it has worked for me so far, and without this website I probably would not be consulting the oracle at all. We are a society that has grown lamentably lazy (me included) and so this site offers the instant society instant access to a source of great wisdom. If it borught me to the oracle that must be a good thing, and if it brought me in touch with like minded people then that's got to be applauded.
Many thanks
Derek

[hilary]

Hi Derek,

Thank you for your kind words about the site! And also about the online oracle: that?s exactly the point of it, to allow people to discover the oracle without having to make the ?leap of faith? of buying books, learning methods, etc. IMHO, it?s entirely reasonable to ask about the health of the company you work for. You might, though, consider phrasing your questions so they don?t ask for yes/no answers. Most often in life the answer is ?it depends on??, and that?s very much the kind of answer the I Ching will give.

As for your question, there is a short answer: I don't know.
Good, having got that out of the way, I can start on the guesswork http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/clipart/wink.gif.

Hexagram 41 is not the image of a company that?s exactly thriving. On the other hand, you didn?t receive 12 or 23, or anything absolutely disastrous. I wonder whether the company might instead ?decrease? in size and hence workforce, in order to become more versatile and avert complete disaster. That?s the suggestion from the Great Treatise on how this hexagram works in times of trouble. After all, Decrease, skilfully negotiated, leads to Increase. Also, the nuclear hexagram - especially important in the absence of changing lines - is 24: returning to life, a positive turn-around, light at the end of the tunnel. Not an immediate return to thriving trade, but the beginnings of progress in the right direction. This is at least a possibility: perhaps it depends on what the management are prepared to give up.

So there?s my best guess, for what it?s worth. I hope your job will still be there in the end. If you could possibly find a moment to tell us how it goes, I'd be able to give a better answer than this to the next person who arrives with a similar question!

[candid]

Hi Derek.

In my opinion, Hilary's answer was as concise as anything I could offer, considering the limitations of the question.

The timing on this is interesting, as I've been contemplating opening up a topic which relates to this thread:

Does The I Ching answer our question, or does it point us to the proper mind set to deal with the answer?

Applied to your question, it could translate to: What is the proper mind set to face my future at my current position/job? The council as applied in this manner, warns to control your anger (or anxiety, insecurity, fear) and to restrain your instincts, or natural inclination. (your action based upon your anger, etc.) The encouraging news, is that it contains the seed or potential of "supreme good fortune." It asks, how is this to be carried out? Then it answers this question: "One may use two small bowls for the sacrifice." The two small bowls symbolize small emotions (described above) or attitudes which you are willing to give up so that you may turn decrease into increase. Hence, supreme good fortune.

Its a bit more complicated to interpret the I Ching this way, but it sure beats an answer like; yes, your company is going belly up, you're screwed. http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/i_ching_discussion/clipart/happy.gif

I wish you well through this transition. We're here to offer what assistance we can in interpreting your readings.

[dbus]

Hi Hillary & Candid, thank you for your advice.
What you say about avoiding yes/no qustions makes alot of sense.
I have always felt that the I Ching offers advice based on it's ability to divine future possibilities, rather that factual statements of what is to come (or indeed has been!). I tend to interpret the answers in the same way that you would take advice from a respected elder. Sometimes it is hard to hear what you don't want to or to extract your emotions from the present......

I'm afraid I have to leave the office now for a few days (my only access to the internet!), but I will consult the I Ching whilst away and let you know the results.

Many thanks
Derek