56. Lu / The Wanderer

[fkegan]

Where do you get the idea that the image of the fire on the mountain is sunRISE, Frank? I would have thought that after 55, the sun at mid day, 56 would point to sunset. Sunset would also fit in with the idea that there isn't much time to linger, tell your story now because the sun is setting.
Maybe 56 is pointing to both sunrise and sunset. If it is indeed sunrise, then the wanderer also knows from his previous experiences that this day too shall pass and although nightfall isn't quite as eminent as it is at sunset, even so we know it is coming.
rosada

Hi Rosada,
I experienced hex 56 during a sunrise over a mountain which looked for all the world like fire upon the Mountain top. Wilhelm speaks of trigram fire flaming up while trigram mountain stays still, again an image of sunrise.

Hex 55 trigrams are given as thunder and lightning. The reference in the Judgment refers to the experience of Noon, a primal Yang/Yin experience that as something develops to the height of its powers, it begins to decline. It does not in any way follow that the next hexagram would be sunset.

It is sunrise which expresses the opposite dynamic of what happens to the darkness of night when it culminates in the darkest hour--that before dawn. But this hexagram is not about sunrise itself, try hex 35 for that. It is about the sun already risen but not yet visible behind the mountain happening to light the mountain top as it brushes by as if it had set the mountain top on fire--that is the wanderer.

At Sunset, you don't get to hurry on, there is no more natural light, you must be at your stopping point. Sunrise and sunset are not a pair of bookends, they are totally different in traditional situations without street lights and auto headlights.

Hex 36 refers to sunset--the Sun having sunk into the Earth, paired with hex 35. Hex 55 is a brief though glorious event, more like a total solar eclipse than a sunrise, thus the reference to noon which is just a moment but the shadows immediately start to change direction.

Hex 56 then is ongoing and not very glorious activity of the wanderer who is in transit a long time but has nothing to show for it all until the traveling stops (cf. line 5).

Frank

 

[rosada]

Ah! Thank you!
:bows:

 

[rosada]

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain:
The image of THE WANDERER.
Thus the superior man
Is clear-minded and cautious
In imposing penalties,
And protracts no lawsuits.

When grass on a mountain takes fire, there is bright light.
However, the fire does not linger in one place, but travels on to new fuel.
It is a phenomenon of short duration.
This is what penalties and lawsuits should be like.
They should be a quickly passing matter, and must not be dragged out indefinitely.
Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged only temporarily, as guests are.
They must not become dwelling places.
-Wilhelm

 

[ravenstar]

((((((rosada)))))) Congratulations on the birth of your grandson!!! I zipped over to 55.5 and saw you radiating with beams of joy!! ompom:

I think I understand what you're saying here.....we need to courageously take a different path...Let Go and Let God? If it's something we don't feel comfortable with, we can walk away and say "This is not for me."

Kind of saying, releasing the old, opens the door to one's higher desires.

ravenstar :bows:

Hi ravenstar,
If the sequence can tell us why now the man becomes The Wanderer, I think it would be because in 55.5 Abundance he has reached the acme of his planned success and whether things turned out as well as hoped for or whether the highlight of his career wasn't all that great, there is a feeling that you had your chance to take your shot. Did you when the lottery or didn't you? Doesn't matter, once the winning number has been drawn there's no point in hanging around. Time to move on.

So maybe it's an instinctive sense that there isn't anything more to be gotten out of the moment. To try to hang on is to get stuck in 55.6. So even though there may not be any new goal at this point, still, knowing when to leave is the smartest thing to know.
On a personal note, now that my grandson has been born, my husband and I are heading out to meet him next week. I'm not sure where all we'll be going or when we'll get back. The big focus for the last 8 months was just that the baby was going to be born. Now that he's here (sunrise?) we don't really have any new goal, just taking things one day at a time. Well, actually, we do have a goal, to see the baby. Is that like The Wanderer going off to seek the guru? Anyway, it's a sense that there is no further reason to be staying at home, maintaining stability. Life beckons..
rosada

 

[ravenstar]

Hey Ravenstar
It is good to have your input again on this thread. Welcome back.
To try and answer your question.
There are perhaps two things that force us to do something which are to satisfy our wants and our needs. Looking to satisfy the wants tends to be the things that rush us around like crazy. Changing our focus to satisfy our needs takes us to a completely different place altogether.

The wants are the material things we strive for, perhaps motivated by or coming from the ego. The needs come from a higher place, that we can find only by moving beyond the wants and arriving at the place of finding our truth. There is link I feel to Jilt saying " We realize we own nothing and have no possesions, we are only passengers in this life."

Mike

And a right back to you Mike ! Being busy and rushed creates an imbalance, we're totally off center. (yup! This is what I was recently doing!)

Hmm, I like how you wrote about the "Wants" and "Needs". When I 'want' something really really badly, I'm bursting with excess energy, my nervous system feels like any moment it's going to blow a fuse ! Nothing else matters!

Staying centered and grounded at this time is not an easy task, believe me! It takes all I can muster to calm my emotions and restless mind to reconnect with the 'true source' of energy and inner wisdom. Breath work has really helped me. When I do, (eventually) let go of 'wants' I feel a major shift in focus, a refreshing relief of silence.

I think this is about listening to the needs, whispers, urgings of one's inner guidance/inner child....But....when we have difficulty communicating within, and we need to voice and let out our feelings (wants/needs) can we do this with a'trusted' friend who will understand?

ravenstar

 

[my_key]

I think this is about listening to the needs, whispers, urgings of one's inner guidance/inner child....But....when we have difficulty communicating within, and we need to voice and let out our feelings (wants/needs) can we do this with a'trusted' friend who will understand?

I know my truth about this question........What do you feel? What is your truth?

 

[rosada]

Thank you Ravenstar!

I'm starting my own wandering journey tomorrow. Going south to see the new kid in town and also to help Dad get the 1971 VW bus running. Who knows what new adventures that will lead to?

Should be in touch with a computer by the end of the week so I will catch up with where ever you all are eventually. (I was going to say "Friday" but The Wanderer must avoid making long term commitments!)

Later,
Rosada

 

[fkegan]

Hi Rosada,
Good luck on your travels, though I do not believe that hex 56 The wanderer is a traveler on an itinerary at all. The Chinese are a settled people, being footloose and fancy free, traveling wherever one hears might be of advantage is extremely unusual. Gia-Fu referred to his family being recent immigrants to Shanghai since they were uprooted from their ancestral home by the invasion of Genghis Khan.

Hex 56, the unattached Wanderer moving along like fire upon a mountain going where the wind and available fuel may direct is what is being referred to. Hex 56 is in the decad of hex 51Thunder, the action of the Divine upon the human heart. Hex 56 is in the 6th place in that decad, the final resultant process of the Divine hitting like thunder in the human heart. What begins in hex. 54 with the thunder strike of human desire (younger sister is marrying as a concubine for love) and develops in hex 55 with the instantaneous coming together of kaleidoscopic elements (the moment of the thunder stroke --the peak of high noon or the Total Solar Eclipse) finally results in the young man being shaken loose from his roots and moorings and taking off wherever opportunity might be sought in hex 56.

Frank

 

[rodaki]

have a happy and safe journey Rosada!

 

[ravenstar]

I know my truth about this question........What do you feel? What is your truth?

Well, yes I would entrust a true friend 'if' I could be totally honest (bare all) with him/her and myself! If not, the answer given, won't be totally honest either.

ravenstar

 

[ravenstar]

have a happy and safe journey Rosada!

DITTO

ravenstar

 

[ravenstar]

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain:
The image of THE WANDERER.
Thus the superior man
Is clear-minded and cautious
In imposing penalties,
And protracts no lawsuits.

When grass on a mountain takes fire, there is bright light.
However, the fire does not linger in one place, but travels on to new fuel.
It is a phenomenon of short duration.
This is what penalties and lawsuits should be like.
They should be a quickly passing matter, and must not be dragged out indefinitely.
Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged only temporarily, as guests are.
They must not become dwelling places.
-Wilhelm

Franks post really said it all with the image rosada wrote....

fkegan - Hex 56, the unattached Wanderer moving along like fire upon a mountain going where the wind and available fuel may direct is what is being referred to. Hex 56 is in the decad of hex 51Thunder, the action of the Divine upon the human heart. Hex 56 is in the 6th place in that decad, the final resultant process of the Divine hitting like thunder in the human heart. What begins in hex. 54 with the thunder strike of human desire (younger sister is marrying as a concubine for love) and develops in hex 55 with the instantaneous coming together of kaleidoscopic elements (the moment of the thunder stroke --the peak of high noon or the Total Solar Eclipse) finally results in the young man being shaken loose from his roots and moorings and taking off wherever opportunity might be sought in hex 56.

This feels like such an exciting and volatile time! The emotional intensity is rich, intense and real. It is the energy of attraction! It's about elevating what we feel to the highest possible expression.

But what is the penalties all about? Is this where someone has responded to judgements and criticisms of others and therefore keeps living the experience over and over, not letting it go. All this can make a person continually beat up on themselves. It's like we look for and point to others or experiences that are responsible for our imbalance of energy. Or we keep ourselves embroiled in fear, anger, blame, etc., unable to express what we feel. THen, at an inappropriate time suddenly scream, curse or strike out at someone. Does Wilhelm mean that we need to 'face' (fire) what we are feeling by getting to the root cause? And when we do this it will defuel the fire? Is he saying the moment we experience an emotionally charged energy, we should express and validate what we're feeling?

ravenstar

 

[rodaki]

. . how about some Richmond?
(from 'I Ching Oracle')

In this structure we make our reality in
feelng (lines 2 & 5 are yin) and we are not
involved in the inner reality of our
circumstances (line 6 is yang); the outer world does not
provide a reality we can 'get into' (lines 3 & 4 are both yang)
so we feel but we do not feel nourished.
This feelings leads to a rejection of
our present circumstances and the search for new situations;
the common name of the hexagram is
'the wanderer', our feelings become like feelers
searching for something that would be more real for us.

:bows:

 

[rodaki]

and

The life force emerges into stillness (Ken)
makes outer structure (Sun), gives hope
for a movement (Tui), and it is taken hesitantly (Li)
by our inner being; we seek to transform our outer reality
and find circumstances that feel right for us,
so we wander into different situations
to find this sense of rightness.
This tao comes about when we do not accept the circumstances we're in

(from the same)

 

[fkegan]

Franks post really said it all with the image rosada wrote....

This feels like such an exciting and volatile time! The emotional intensity is rich, intense and real. It is the energy of attraction! It's about elevating what we feel to the highest possible expression.

But what is the penalties all about? Is this where someone has responded to judgments and criticisms of others and therefore keeps living the experience over and over, not letting it go. All this can make a person continually beat up on themselves. It's like we look for and point to others or experiences that are responsible for our imbalance of energy. Or we keep ourselves embroiled in fear, anger, blame, etc., unable to express what we feel. THen, at an inappropriate time suddenly scream, curse or strike out at someone. Does Wilhelm mean that we need to 'face' (fire) what we are feeling by getting to the root cause? And when we do this it will defuel the fire? Is he saying the moment we experience an emotionally charged energy, we should express and validate what we're feeling?

ravenstar

Hi Ravenstar,
You give great depth and passion to the hexagram.

Wilhelm isn't quite that intense, he is translating the Confucian commentaries which are just based upon the trigrams. Hex 55 is about justice in the Image he only refers to the hexagram being composed of trigrams thunder and lightning. If you look at hex 21 which is the other hexagram composed of the trigrams for thunder and lightning you see similar comments. Lightning and thunder always occur together one following the other, so they were an image of Divine Justice or Karma.

The notion of the Wanderer, footloose and fancy free isn't much of an image for a proper Imperial bureaucrat who Confucius in his commentary was lecturing. So, he had to make some adjustments with hexagrams like 56. So he notes the grass fire traveling fast, so he says make short work of having to inflict penalties and don't dwell on lawsuits. He puts the best face upon this moving on vibe for his audience of employees of the Emperor who just sat in their cubicle and never moved on at all.

The comments and emotions you refer to are much more of our time than Confucian era. Fortunately, the Yi is abstract symbolism so it works for your reality as well as ancient government workers.

Frank

 

[ravenstar]

In this structure we make our reality in
feelng (lines 2 & 5 are yin) and we are not
involved in the inner reality of our
circumstances (line 6 is yang); the outer world does not
provide a reality we can 'get into' (lines 3 & 4 are both yang)
so we feel but we do not feel nourished.
This feelings leads to a rejection of
our present circumstances and the search for new situations;
the common name of the hexagram is
'the wanderer', our feelings become like feelers
searching for something that would be more real for us.

The life force emerges into stillness (Ken)
makes outer structure (Sun), gives hope
for a movement (Tui), and it is taken hesitantly (Li)
by our inner being; we seek to transform our outer reality
and find circumstances that feel right for us,
so we wander into different situations
to find this sense of rightness.
This tao comes about when we do not accept the circumstances we're in

Thanks rodaki These two quotes from Richmond make a lot of sense. Is the name of this book the I Ching Oracle by Ricmond? If so, it's on my wish list! You and Meng have quoted Ricmond a few times now and he brings the hexagrams down to earth.

We have millions, probably billions of brain cells just waiting for us to make a decision so that it can give direction to our thoughts and ideas and put them into action.

ravenstar

 

[ravenstar]

Hi Ravenstar,
You give great depth and passion to the hexagram.

Wilhelm isn't quite that intense, he is translating the Confucian commentaries which are just based upon the trigrams. Hex 55 is about justice in the Image he only refers to the hexagram being composed of trigrams thunder and lightning. If you look at hex 21 which is the other hexagram composed of the trigrams for thunder and lightning you see similar comments. Lightning and thunder always occur together one following the other, so they were an image of Divine Justice or Karma.

The notion of the Wanderer, footloose and fancy free isn't much of an image for a proper Imperial bureaucrat who Confucius in his commentary was lecturing. So, he had to make some adjustments with hexagrams like 56. So he notes the grass fire traveling fast, so he says make short work of having to inflict penalties and don't dwell on lawsuits. He puts the best face upon this moving on vibe for his audience of employees of the Emperor who just sat in their cubicle and never moved on at all.

The comments and emotions you refer to are much more of our time than Confucian era. Fortunately, the Yi is abstract symbolism so it works for your reality as well as ancient government workers.

Frank

Thanks Frank, :bows:

When I first read this, I felt as if I was in the audience.....you could have heard a pin drop it was so silent. It was scary to have this commentation presented with such intensity and directed right at me! I didn't know what to do, I felt powerless.

I really appreciate you taking the time to explain Wilhem's interpretation of the Confucian commentaries. I bashfully admit, I have little knowledge of these at the moment. But I'm willing to learn. Albeit slowly

ravenstar

 

[meng]

You and Meng have quoted Ricmond a few times now and he brings the hexagrams down to earth.

Neeeww, I don't quote him, but I like what he says each time I run across it.

We have millions, probably billions of brain cells just waiting for us to make a decision so that it can give direction to our thoughts and ideas and put them into action.

A science program on TV showed graphs of brain learning activity, and the peaks of that activity was at 6 and 62 years. I saw this after I had posted something similar in Open Space, where I said ages of 4 and 60 were most able to learn anew. Your comment reminds me of it. I like your idea, as it reminds me a lot of 7, which has something in common with 56, if as LiSe says, itinerant troops is accurate for 56.

 

[rodaki]

I had actually forgotten where I had come across Richmond books, but recently Mary (if I'm right) posted the link & here it is again :
http://www.biroco.com/yijing/richmond.htm

hope you enjoy them . . I don't always get them, so sometimes I end up mumbling incoherently after reading him, but sometimes they just click!!

A science program on TV showed graphs of brain learning activity, and the peaks of that activity was at 6 and 62 years.

. . I'm almost in the middle of that -darn! there go all my hopes for learning
just kidding D) but maybe 6 and 62 are optimum times for beginnings (64s) . . the rest of us just wading thru 63


have to run, b back soon

 

[meng]

. . I'm almost in the middle of that -darn! there go all my hopes for learning

How do you think I feel? I'm already past my later prime!

Sure does come quickly, so enjoy the hell out of those middle ages.

 

[fkegan]

Thanks Frank, :bows:

When I first read this, I felt as if I was in the audience.....you could have heard a pin drop it was so silent. It was scary to have this commentation presented with such intensity and directed right at me! I didn't know what to do, I felt powerless.

I really appreciate you taking the time to explain Wilhem's interpretation of the Confucian commentaries. I bashfully admit, I have little knowledge of these at the moment. But I'm willing to learn. Albeit slowly

ravenstar

Hi Ravenstar,
The Wilhelm text is the standard I Ching text nowadays. It was his German Protestant translation (rendered into English by Baynes) of the Imperial Edition of 1716 which is the Chinese standard (like the King James Bible in England) containing both Confucian and Taoist commentary.

Your description of your mystical experience of Yi commentary is quite impressive. Enjoy! You are on the path and the Yi itself is guiding you. My remarks were just background for your own focus within.

You will likely feel less concerned about your transit speed after awhile. What you describe as feeling powerless and not knowing what to do could also be an awareness of its being a mystical process.

Clearly you are doing very well at this point, congratulations. :bows:

Frank

 

[rodaki]

duh/randoming thoughts/wander finds

-
oh dear, no zero meter after 62? . . . where is that instruction manual again??



-randoming thoughts
doing the math
it just occurred to me
what lies between 6 and 62
is just 56 . . .



-wander finds

Real life irony
At the 56th second of 9:14pm, 2/28/2006, she mourned the lost of her youth;
at exactly 9:15pm, she suffered through deep grief for her maturity has
never come.

by Dana Chang (http://foolstale.blogspot.com/)



:bag:

 

[meng]

24 makes a good zero button. Didn't Richmond write something to that effect? I always expected to die at 56. Don't ask me why, it was just in my head that way since being a kid. So in a way 56 was my zero button. Everything past that is gravy. At 56 I became single again.

Playing on with years, I think adolescence may be the most 56 time of life. In fact, for me at least, it was a compressed and intensified version of the entire book of changes. A crash course in change. After that it's graduating from one floating iceberg to the next, and then, maybe, accidentally stepping onto dry land. That's middle age to me. A place to nest. So many nests burn up quickly these days. Too much party left in the wanderer to settle. But that's how it goes. Soon he finds himself waiting on the shore for the next iceberg out.

 

[rodaki]

I guess there are many ways to see and to be a wanderer . .
some see it as the embodiment of opportunism, others as the constant exploration of unknown lands -the hexagram has both great and awful . .
I think that one think that does characterize 56 is a 'no demands' banner
being a wanderer means you can place no demands . . you accept as gracefully as possible what is offered, share what you have to share as generously as possible, see how you fit or not and accordingly take a step back, keep still, work on it or take off
I don't think it's mindless at all or juvenile . .

 

[meng]

I think that one think that does characterize 56 is a 'no demands' banner
being a wanderer means you can place no demands . . you accept as gracefully as possible what is offered, share what you have to share as generously as possible, see how you fit or not and accordingly take a step back, keep still, work on it or take off

Yes, a wanderer should be no mad.

 

[Sparhawk]

Yes, a wanderer should be no mad.

At least until careless smoking results in 56.3 and goes on to blame the poor servant... 56.3 is the Cheech and Chong moment of the Yijing...

 

[meng]

At least until careless smoking results in 56.3 and goes on to blame the poor servant... 56.3 is the Cheech and Chong moment of the Yijing...

Funny you mention this now, Luis, as I just wrote these lyrics for my son's band.

Andy, the bass player one, comes over to hang,
and I go outside with him when he wants to smoke.
Doesn't bother me. He quit before I did,
and encouraged me to give it up.

But he hooked up with a chick
with big, fake tits, who smoked,
and he started up again.
A man has to have his priorititties.

Oh, I'm gonna burn (one) in wanderer hell for that one. :bag:

 

[Sparhawk]

Oh, I'm gonna burn (one) in wanderer hell for that one. :bag:

Fight, fight that lion!! Take a deep breath and concentrate on the fake tits; it is still an oral fixation, albeit much healthier...

 

[mary f]

24 makes a good zero button. Didn't Richmond write something to that effect? I always expected to die at 56. Don't ask me why, it was just in my head that way since being a kid. So in a way 56 was my zero button. Everything past that is gravy. At 56 I became single again.

Playing on with years, I think adolescence may be the most 56 time of life. In fact, for me at least, it was a compressed and intensified version of the entire book of changes. A crash course in change. After that it's graduating from one floating iceberg to the next, and then, maybe, accidentally stepping onto dry land. That's middle age to me. A place to nest. So many nests burn up quickly these days. Too much party left in the wanderer to settle. But that's how it goes. Soon he finds himself waiting on the shore for the next iceberg out.

((CTRL ALT DEL)) I know what that is
Anyway, congratulations on your "graduation".

 

[meng]

((CTRL ALT DEL)) I know what that is

Ah, yeah.

chuckling at 'graduation'. doesn't feel at all like graduation. feels like one foot in front of another, and trying not to trip.

Back in my solid Christian daze I used to sing and lead songs. There's one favorite still to this day, which is this wanderer's favorite. If the word "Christ" doesn't feel right, use what feels right: Great Man, Spirit, whatever.

Where do I go when there's nobody else to turn to?
Who do I talk to when nobody wants to listen?
Who do I lean on when there's no foundation stable?
I go to The Rock
I know He's able
I go to The Rock

I go to The Rock of my salvation
I go to the stone that the builders rejected
I go to the mountain and The Mountain stands by me (56)

When the earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ, that solid rock I stand
When I need a shelter, when I need a friend
I go to The Rock