Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Seems we are mixing up code pages here.
The webpage is ISO-8859-1, and I think I've been posting Chinese in a format more or less compatible with that. Sparhawk seems to have been posting Chinese in UTF-8.
You'll have to switch character encodings to read it all.
Let's backtrack for a second to the main themes running throughout 29 -
In any sort of crisis, voluntary or not, we need to focus on what needs to be done,
and we can't lose heart or else the abyss will EAT us alive. I think it's pretty obvious
thatmy own interpretation is based on this: you strip the situation of all its nonsense
and do what needs doing first, driven by necessity, all else being distraction.
How about the others?
This was my idea of the main themes:
29.M, Key Words
Repeated, multiple, familiar with + crisis, risk, hazard, peril, exigency, trial, danger
Pit, chasm, canyon, gorge, strait, test; living on the edge, the way out is through
Immerse, plunge in, undergo, commit, fall to, get involved; fear, vertigo, anxiety
Concentration, alertness, challenge, unarguable constraints, the will to live, heart
Flow, water’s approach to givens, necessity to perform; fluidity, grace, courage
Enlightening confrontations, the hard fact as teacher; Castaneda’s having to believe
Agreeing mostly, except:Let's backtrack for a second to the main themes running throughout 29 -
Repeating/multiple doesn't work for me.
English Senses For: er4 (貳)
in ancient China - a deputy / to serve as a deputy / to suspect / to doubt / to distrust / changeable / an elaborate form of " two "used in writing checks etc. to prevent forgery - / to repeat / double ness / a Chinese family name
Luis, couldn't two, then, mean a binding agreement? Such as, each party receives a duplicate contract?
And, perhaps offering both copies to someone was a sign of trust, that they are not legally bound to uphold it. Completely a matter of trust, or that they in fact owe nothing in return.
About the parsing:Here is something interesting:
I have conflicting information about the meaning of
簋. Apparently, it is a round as well as a square basket or vessel of bamboo, that is made of bronze, which is used at sacrifices and feasts, and nothing in particular. It can hold grain as well as food. So I take it to be a bowl.
So the Gui was probably big and heavy.
It's interesting that this would explain the 終 "eventually," and fits with the hexagram theme of danger (here avoiding it).Giving ceremonial objects through the window could be a similar way of deceiving evil spirits.
About the parsing:
I'm not taking the parsing that was handed down to us very seriously. The original text doesn't have interpunction. I have found countless times that a more logical, convincing text is possible by applying my own interpunction.
"An elaborate form of " two "used in writing checks etc. to prevent forgery."
Was this meaning in use in Zhou times? Not all meanings in a dictionary are, you know. There weren't checks then, as that requires a very developed money system.
An elaborate form of "two" still is a "2," it does not mean "preventing forgery," that's just the intention of its use. So it doesn't mean "making certain."
One of the meanings for 樽 is "lush, luxuriant." Yes, but only when it's about vegetation. Apparently not when it's about wine.
Apparently, it is a round as well as a square basket or vessel of bamboo, that is made of bronze, which is used at sacrifices and feasts, and nothing in particular. It can hold grain as well as food.
So I take it to be a bowl.
Definately
Definately
"An elaborate form of " two "used in writing checks etc. to prevent forgery."
Was this meaning in use in Zhou times?
Someone is in jail, a friend visits, hands the prisoner a jug of wine and a couple of bowls of rice through the prison bars. They are poor, so they only have earthenware plates and the one jug, it is done out of friendship, there is no obligation here, thanks is all that is necessary.
Literally it's a jin or metal carriage, but those were never very practical, so just like at 04.3 it refers to wealth, the chariot of a person of means.
This makes the state of depression or ingratitude all the more incongruous
or comical, and Hex 47 uses caricature a lot to snap us out of these states.
Hi Luis-
I should expand on an earlier statement - ALL meanings of Er concern the number two, which is and was it's primary meaning - even doubt and distrust - second guessing, having second thoughts, wanting a second opinion, not liking the ambivalence or ambiguity, being torn, having two hearts, being on the horns of a dilemna, etc. Two is the root meaning. Doubt and distrust are secondary, even if these were in use in the Early Zhou.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).