31.3....sexual?

[clarissa]

31.3 sounds very sexual..."persuaded in one's loins"...running after something without thought because one is sexually excited. Someone here mentioned that it was about an "automatic" response...which seems to fit in with this idea.

Am I on the right track or way off?

 

[bruce]

Way off!

Nah, just kidding.

I can see the association you're making. Seems reasonable to me, though it's not limited exclusively to a sexual urge or drive. Any passion that hasn't first been cultivated with all our facilities can and usually does lead to some regret and embarrassment. But then, many creative and productive ventures begin from such passion. It's a matter of how to proceed forward from the passion that 31.3 speaks to, imo.

 

[clarissa]

Bruce,

Wilhelm makes it sound like the "thighs" are following a desire that starts in the heart. This seems to be saying that a desire of the heart, a passion, pushes one to take action (thighs for movement) before having thought things through.

On the other hand...

Bradford's translation says "persuaded in one's loins"...which makes it sound like the desire starts in the "loins". (Perhaps he will comment. I could be way off here.)

Without knowing how to read the original it's very difficult to know what to think. This is one of the things I find so frustrating. I'm at the mercy of the translator.

I'd like to know about the word being translated "loins" or "thighs"...because "loins" definitely has an association with the genital region.

 

[bradford_h]

Hi Clarissa-
Ideally, 31 is about Eros and mutuality, much broader than sexuality, although this is an important part of it. In line three the resonance is felt in the loins. It doesn't need to start there, but one's attention is there, and this may distract one from a higher love (that could be even more sexual). This is natural, but if this isn't integrated into a higher symbiosis then one is just dragged from affair to affair. The advice is to get this feeling into some broader perspective and under some wiser leadership than one's loins, to subordinate the impulses under something superior.
As usual, of course, the question could have been about car problems or making a mortgage payment. In such a case, the advice is still to get things into proper perspective and your impulses under wiser leadership.

 

[bruce]

Thanks, Brad. You also mention calves in your Section K, as I'm sure you already know. lol

As nutty as it sounds, my loins get stirred up when looking at hand-made "boutique" guitar amps on eBay! Is that sexual? Yes, for me it sure is. Hide the credit card!

 

[luz]

Somewhere in this forum I had read that this line was about 'infatuation', or maybe I'm wrong...
But there's nothing wrong with being infatuated with guitar amps!!!

 

[gypsy]

I think guitar amps are rather cute, myself

 

[luz]

Yeah, and they never, ever disapprove of you!

 

[bruce]

(swooon)

 

[luz]

Is that your maiden of bronze, Bruce?

 

[bruce]

LOL! Yes! Well, one of them anyway.

 

[gypsy]

Lightangel, you are tooo funny! LOL. Lightangel is the perfect name for you

 

[hilary]

 

[bruce]

What, no air conditioning? Sheesh, the working conditions in this place!

 

[luz]

Hilary,

I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but this has "summer fling" written all over it!

 

[luz]

Gypsy, thanks!
I'm glad you find some of my posts funny because I enjoy reading yours very much.

 

[jeb]

Clarissa. Hi I,m Jack and I'm very new to this site. I'm also new to the use of the I ching. In my limited experience I have found that the responses I get are almost like planting a seed in me that grows into an answer.I don't believe it matters whose interpretation you use.The forces at work here are guiding you using what you have available. I doubt very much that the forces at work refer to anything other than what you have when placing a response before you. Anything less really makes a complete nonsense of it as in the caose associated to the various interpretations of the Bible! Just take a deep slow breath and let the answer come to you.