How often can one be allowed to consult the I-Ching?

[jml]

I would like to enquire how often or many times can one be allowed to consult the I-Ching? Can we consult the same question a few times in a day? CAn we consult the same question again if we find the oracles unfavourable till we get a more favourable?

[hilary]

Hello JML, and thanks for the pertinent question!

Well, you can act like this, of course, but whatever for? If you're asking the I Ching because you want to know the truth, then what more is there to do once you have your answer, except to act on it?

I'm trying to think what the logic could be behind the course of action you suggest - keeping on asking the exact same question until you get a favourable answer. It's easy enough to do this unconsciously out of a need to justify yourself or just because you don't like the truth and would rather it were different. But you're obviously wide awake, so I wonder why you suggest this? What could it possibly achieve?? (Completely flummoxed here...)

[nks]

JML, perhaps you are attempting to use the oracle as a forecasting device, like predicting the weather or traffic. Is the question you are wondering about asking repeatedly similar in nature to a question like, "Is today a good day to plant?" or "Will enough people enroll in my class?"

I'm not enough of an expert to know what to say about such a case - just trying to clarify.

I do know that the oracle is well-known for resisting repeated inquiry, and even contains a few direct statements on the subject: See, for example, this part of the text for #4 - Youthful Folly:

Youthful Folly has success.
It is not I who seek the young fool;
The young fool seeks me.
At the first oracle I inform him.
If he asks two or three times, it is importunity.
If he importunes, I give him no information.
Perseverance furthers.

Also, if you really are concerned with insisting on getting a favourable answer just because that is what you want, consider that a big part of the purpose of the oracle is to give you a bigger picture in which to understand your desires, and how what is in the mind of the individual interacts with the rest of the universe on the way to manifestation. It might do you good to consider the story of the "Emporor's New Clothes" -- in which a king's attitude that he will only listen to what he wants to hear leads him to insist that his advisors encourage him to parade around town naked...

[jml]

Dear Hilary and Nks,

Thanks for answering to my post. Maybe I would have put it this way and it would be easier to understand. Assuming I consulted the oracle for an insight to my immediate problem for example my career. How long should I wait before I can consult the same question again? That is even after getting an insight and yet after about a month nothing changes in my life and even though the oracle indicate that soon things will change. When the oracle said "soon" how long should we expect things to change?

Thankyou

Warmest regards to all
JML

[hilary]

Hi JML,

Ah, I see what you mean. I thought you didn't sound as if you were setting out to deceive yourself. Well, in the case you describe, with nothing doing a month later, I wouldn't hesitate to ask again, 'What is going on?!'

I don't know what the specific answer was, of course, or what was translated as 'soon'. (If you want a time-scale in your answer, your best bet could be to put one in your question - 'What can I expect for the next 6 months?' for example.)

One important thing, though - it is somewhat rare for the I Ching just to say 'this will happen'. Much more usual is 'this will happen if you can do x,y,z to encourage it' or 'if you can avoid this particular mistake'. Supanatural, writing on another page, has said that all I Ching answers are challenges. I don't know about 'all' - but certainly many.

I hope I'm getting a little clearer...