56. Lu / The Wanderer

[rosada]

Ah, Thanks Frank.
btw, I just goggled "time speeding up." Quite a few interesting opinions out there...
r.

 

[Trojina]

Trojan,
Actually I meant that it was I who didn't let go. She wouldn't stop talking but I continued to try to hang on to try to get her to calm down and listen to me.
I probably didn't need to tell you this, but I couldn't let go, and of course conversations that touch anywhere near 44 seem to go on forever!
rosada

I get ya

 

[rosada]

56.3
Nine in the third place means:
The wanderer's inn burns down.
He loses the steadfastness of his young servant.
Danger.

A truculent stranger does not know how to behave properly. He meddles in affairs and controversies that do not concern him; thus he loses his resting place. He treats his servant with aloofness and arrogance, thus he loses the man's loyalty. When a stranger in a strange land has no one left on whom he can rely, the situation becomes very dangerous.
-Wilhelm

 

[rosada]

...just noting how every other line here in hex. 56 seems to spell calamity, or maybe it's just the nature of 56 that nothing lasts..

56.1 He tries to be one of the gang and gets rejected.
56.2 Slows down and gets some acceptance.
56.3 Then gets carried away, starts imposing again and again gets slapped down.
56.4 Okay, rebuilds what he had in line two, but now is worried as he's experienced in 56.3 how everything he's worked for can be taken away so now more careful and...
56.5 Finally learns how to accept that he is an Outsider and how to introduce himself.
56.6 Only to once again be shoved out and on the road again....

r.

 

[fkegan]

Hi Rosada,
Here we have an interesting situation. The line commentary follows from that for the second line with the Wanderer not making the spiritual sacrifice, but expressing his own passion to bad result. However, hex 56.3 >>35 would suggest that passionate expression led to the very successful hex 35. Shows how timing matters. The fellow in hex 35 is part of the System and expresses his passion on behalf of his King. The Wanderer is on his own and his expression is self-indulgent (and careless).

Yet, hex 35 with an open Yin matrix except for Yang lines in the 4th and 6th places represents the expression of the heart moving things along toward the Next which is the middle stage of the process of love and family (decad beginning with 31).

Frank

 

[Trojina]

...just noting how every other line here in hex. 56 seems to spell calamity, or maybe it's just the nature of 56 that nothing lasts..

56.1 He tries to be one of the gang and gets rejected.
56.2 Slows down and gets some acceptance.
56.3 Then gets carried away, starts imposing again and again gets slapped down.
56.4 Okay, rebuilds what he had in line two, but now is worried as he's experienced in 56.3 how everything he's worked for can be taken away so now more careful and...
56.5 Finally learns how to accept that he is an Outsider and how to introduce himself.
56.6 Only to once again be shoved out and on the road again....

r.

I think i disagree with you that the goal of 56 is finding social acceptance. If all one wants is social acceptance ones never going to be going very far...and the traveller is .

I read somewhere, maybe Hilary, that the troubles in 56.3 and 56.6 were around not accepting support, thinking one has to do it all alone ? Not sure about that though

 

[fkegan]

Hex 56 is always and all ways about The Wanderer

I think i disagree with you that the goal of 56 is finding social acceptance. If all one wants is social acceptance ones never going to be going very far...and the traveller is .

I read somewhere, maybe Hilary, that the troubles in 56.3 and 56.6 were around not accepting support, thinking one has to do it all alone ? Not sure about that though

Hi Trojan,
Each of the lines of a hexagram exists within the overall context of the hexagram as a whole. Hex 56 is about the Wanderer and he is always uprooted and away from his home land in all of these lines. Only line 5 has a commentary that eventually he finds a new home, but at the time of the line its, even hex 56.5 is off traveling and firing arrows at pheasants which by various interpretations he either hits or doesn't, but by all that is just a prelude to eventually getting a good job and settling down.

The apparent "acceptance" in lines 2 and 4 is still limited to an "inn" or a "shelter" and thus only transient. In line place 2 he has lovely resources (a structure that supports him) and should be thinking of his ancestors. Line place has only a shelter and some property including a weapon which he needs to defend himself since he has no support or protecting alliances. Gia-Fu Feng and I rendered line place 4 judgment as:

THE TRAVELER RESTS IN THE HOTEL, HAS MONEY AND AN AXE. HIS HEART NOT AT EASE. He is not in the right place even though he is well fed.

Cheers,
Frank

 

[rosada]

"The wanderer's Inn burns down." This is a loss for him personally.
If he deals like a stranger with his subordinate, it is only right that he should lose him.

The line is too hard, since it is hard in a strong place, Hence it does not show devotion to its superior, therefore the latter does not help it, and its dwelling burns down, Owing to its hardness, it is unfriendly toward its subordinates and so loses their loyal affection, which naturally means danger. The line is at the top of the trigram Ken, meaning hut, and Li, fire, is immediately above it, hence the idea of the hut burning down. The servant is the six at the beginning.
-Wilhelm

 

[my_key]

I think i disagree with you that the goal of 56 is finding social acceptance. If all one wants is social acceptance ones never going to be going very far...and the traveller is .

I read somewhere, maybe Hilary, that the troubles in 56.3 and 56.6 were around not accepting support, thinking one has to do it all alone ? Not sure about that though

I'm not sure that Hex 56's goal is social acceptance perhaps the essence of being a wanderer is not to have a goal, similarly I'd say that the traveller is 'going very far' may not be applicable either. He may well do, but there is a sense for me that the wanderer can reach be successful without moving an inch. As with all the hexagrams there is a number of 'meanings' depending on the level that you are inspecting the hexagram - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual and probably a multitude of other ports of call as well.

The wanderer feels a wanderlust because he is unable to feel at ease in the circumstances that currently surround him ( on any one or a combination of levels). Something doesn't feel right, he has an itch and he's just got to scratch it. To do this he has to give up his 'fixed home' and sets of in another direction, it may not even matter to him which direction he takes. He is looking for a change of circumstances to experience that will make him feel more at home, so that things will make more sense for him.

A wanderer does not have a fixed goal or destination. Whereas a traveller has a much more clearly defined agenda - I want to get from A to B; a wanderer just needs to roam. To feel the sun on his back where there was rain - alternatively he may even need to feel the rain on his back where there was sun. It's not beyond the pale for this to be able to be done from the comfort of an armchair, and equally can be done by moving to the other side of the world. Is this not perhaps pointing towards experiencing physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually new situations, which give us new answers allowing us to stretch our boundaries and limitations towards developing new truths.
Social acceptance may just be one of those new experiences that need to be felt by some people.

Mike

 

[rosada]

Okay, the "goal" of the wanderer is not social acceptance. Certainly the Judgement councils Keep Quiet and Keep Going! And the advice of the Image is to not get overly involved in anything. So not Social Acceptance, but Freedom is more likely the ultimate goal of 56. Still a successful Wanderer has needs and to have these needs fulfilled requires connecting with The Locals. So the lines read to me as though they are giving advice on the right and wrong ways to become socially accepted - at least enough to get one's needs met - with the ultimate suggestion being 56.5 Recognize you are the outsider and introduce yourself.
r.

 

[meng]

Does the wanderer need to fit in?

I think it's prudent for the traveler not to draw too much attention to him/herself. I don't see making friends as being necessary, though if circumstances joins together for mutual assistance, that is a valuable thing for sure, i.e. line 2.

I see a difference between a traveler and a vagrant. A prudent traveler will have something to trade as wampum, even his gift as a fortune teller, councilor or just a good listener. It's good manners, in the very least, to present a gift to those who offer assistance, such as a bed or a barn to sleep in, or their harvested fields to glean. In some cultures, the traveler may be honored as an angel or as Brahman. Then he'd better be careful, because they might just burn him and his house down. I think it's prudent for the traveler not to draw too much attention to him/herself.

 

[Trojina]

Okay, the "goal" of the wanderer is not social acceptance. Certainly the Judgement councils Keep Quiet and Keep Going! And the advice of the Image is to not get overly involved in anything. So not Social Acceptance, but Freedom is more likely the ultimate goal of 56. Still a successful Wanderer has needs and to have these needs fulfilled requires connecting with The Locals. So the lines read to me as though they are giving advice on the right and wrong ways to become socially accepted - at least enough to get one's needs met - with the ultimate suggestion being 56.5 Recognize you are the outsider and introduce yourself.
r.

If your question is about social acceptance or social acceptance is generally very important to you then social acceptance may be more part of 56 for you. But in context of our questions we have to take 56 much more broadly don't we. I've known 56 describe a relationship, even an intimate one, thats nevertheless just a passing thing. If one tries to make demands, that as a traveller one has no right to make, ones lodging burns down (tough imagery in 56 i always think ). Hence i think 56 usually for me anyway draws my attention to perspective in the situation..ie i need the perspective of the traveller, not the established citizen with all the rights he claims. If i get short changed in the local shop as a citizen and I'm going to be going to that shop each day for the rest of my life I might have it out with the shopkeeper and make a 'lawsuit'..if I'm passing through its going to be easier to shrug it off as 'one of those things'

So I reckon 56 also has a bearing on how much energy you invest in a situation. If its a temporary one one doesn't need to go too deep into motives, reasons, corrective remedies and so on..hence no lawsuits.


Over a year ago I was annoyed by a dog barking all evening in the house next door. It continued very late and i couldn't sleep. I got annoyed and thought of posting a note through the neighbours door about it...but they were new neighbours and they were out and....complaining to neighbours is something one needs to think through..hmm so i consulted Yi and got 56, forget which line but it turned out that dog was a traveller.
No need to complain, he was just passing through. He just stays there occasionally from time to time and i think that first time he must have been nervous or something....so I'm glad i didn't complain. Sometimes I've known 56 indicate simply 'don't bother with this it ain't going to last'.

Anyway its good you bought the 'lawsuit' issue to my attention...not really paid attention to it before. In hex 55 "The superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments".. In 56 he refrains from doing do....hmmm so if I'd had 55 in answer to the dog question I guess i would have made the complaint ? Did we touch on why its good in 55 to decide lawsuits, ie take punitive or corrective action ?

 

[Trojina]

I'm not sure that Hex 56's goal is social acceptance perhaps the essence of being a wanderer is not to have a goal, similarly I'd say that the traveller is 'going very far' may not be applicable either. He may well do, but there is a sense for me that the wanderer can reach be successful without moving an inch. As with all the hexagrams there is a number of 'meanings' depending on the level that you are inspecting the hexagram - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual and probably a multitude of other ports of call as well.

The wanderer feels a wanderlust because he is unable to feel at ease in the circumstances that currently surround him ( on any one or a combination of levels). Something doesn't feel right, he has an itch and he's just got to scratch it. To do this he has to give up his 'fixed home' and sets of in another direction, it may not even matter to him which direction he takes. He is looking for a change of circumstances to experience that will make him feel more at home, so that things will make more sense for him.

A wanderer does not have a fixed goal or destination. Whereas a traveller has a much more clearly defined agenda - I want to get from A to B; a wanderer just needs to roam. To feel the sun on his back where there was rain - alternatively he may even need to feel the rain on his back where there was sun. It's not beyond the pale for this to be able to be done from the comfort of an armchair, and equally can be done by moving to the other side of the world. Is this not perhaps pointing towards experiencing physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually new situations, which give us new answers allowing us to stretch our boundaries and limitations towards developing new truths.
Social acceptance may just be one of those new experiences that need to be felt by some people.

Mike

Agree with what you say but the underlined made me ponder if we are talking about a wanderer or a traveller here. As you point out they are quite different beasts. A traveller has a journey hes committed to..a wanderer may just be wandering somewhere different with no especial goal in mind

I think its one of those times once agan where we might get too hooked up on the English title of the hexagram.. maybe need to check out how different authors entitle 56. Karcher sees 56 as both wandering and "soldiers on a mission'

 

[meng]

I don't see aimless wandering anywhere in 56.

Itinerant:
Traveling from place to place to work
"itinerant labor"; "an itinerant judge" (itinerant troops)

 

[fkegan]

Hex 56 is a Wanderer. He has been uprooted from his native home by some thunderstrike in his heart (hex 51) and he is on the road as a permanent condition. He does not want to get into trouble since he in his permanent restless condition. Ultimately, he is en route to his ultimate quiescent result (hex 60) where he will find his lake or natural fit between his fluid travel and some new local topography.

Frank

 

[meng]

That sounds more like the dreamer, which would be in with 4.

 

[rosada]

I see 55 as meaning the perfect moment, and the advice in the Image of 55, "Thus the superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments," as not so much meaning that a person SHOULD file a lawsuit, but rather that IF one is ever going to, now is the time. The opportunity for getting things settled is here and this is as good as it will get. Tomorrow the moment will have passed and it will be too late. Strangle the dog now, tomorrow you'll already have lost a night's sleep.

Anyway, I like the idea that 56 can be advising, "This too shall pass." It seems to be a more affirming way to interpret the advice than, "You're an outsider so no one will listen to your complaint."
r.

 

[heylise]

I think hex.56 applies to anything which feels like being "on the road". That can be in a car with the whole family towards a holiday cabin, or a troupe of 500 men on their way to a battlefield, or trying to get back home again after the fight, or a lonely effort to find your place in life back. Or a relation which has no footing yet.
Things like that, all of them and a whole lot more.

 

[my_key]

I think hex.56 applies to anything which feels like being "on the road". That can be in a car with the whole family towards a holiday cabin, or a troupe of 500 men on their way to a battlefield, or trying to get back home again after the fight, or a lonely effort to find your place in life back. Or a relation which has no footing yet.
Things like that, all of them and a whole lot more.

Hello LiSe
So are you saying here that being the wanderer "on the road" is more about the journey than the destinaton?
And that journey can happen from an itsy-bitsy part of a personal level right up to a humungous global level.

Mike

 

[fkegan]

Hello LiSe
So are you saying here that being the wanderer "on the road" is more about the journey than the destinaton?
And that journey can happen from an itsy-bitsy part of a personal level right up to a humungous global level.

Mike

Hi Mikey and LiSe,
The reference to "on the road" and thus to Kerouac and the Beats who were uprooted by the Korean War is an excellent example of hex 56.

Hi Rosada,
Hex 55 is composed of trigrams chen and li and thus like hex 21 refers to thunder and lightning or cause-and-effect or Justice or Karma. Hex 55 is the exquisite moment, like the path of the sun and the moon crossing to create an eclipse.
Hex 56 is about being out of your native soil, visiting or traveling or wandering or rambling in any case not having a family or other solid connections to protect you and thus a remarkably dangerous time to get into trouble or start a lawsuit.

The image in the Wilhelm about lawsuits and punishments is an interpretation of the hexagram in terms of good advice for Imperial bureaucrats who can't go On the Road like Kerouac or just get restless and ramble away. It isn't the essential of the hexagram being noted in that Confucian image but a gloss in terms of proper Confucian ideals imposed upon the gua.

Frank

 

[rosada]

56.4
Nine in the fourth place means:
The wanderer rests in a shelter.
He obtains his property and an ax.
My heart is not glad.

This describes a wanderer who knows how to limit his desires outwardly, though he is inwardly strong and aspiring. Therefore he finds at least a place of shelter in which he can stay. He also succeeds in acquiring property, but even with this he is not secure. He must be always on guard, ready to defend himself with arms. Hence he is not at ease. He is persistently conscious of being a stranger in a strange land.
-Wilhelm

 

[fkegan]

Hex 56.4 >>52 by line structure and Decad

Hi Rosada,

Each moving line changes the hexagram out of its ongoing process toward another different hexagram process. Here the line place of the heart's feelings or the soul's self-expression is the moving Yang line expressing and exhausting itself, leaving the heart then open Yin. The result is that the timing of the Rambling Boy or Wanderer then becomes hexagram 52. Keeping Still or Peaks where the effort to bring about change to the next (line place 6) is being attempted solely by personal passion (line place 3).

The resultant hex 52 is the negative Dyad of the same Decad of the thunder strike to the heart. Being a negative Dyad, it is the background context or Planet Earth Topography. Mountains are tall, powerful, impressive things just by their topography not what they get up and do. Similarly, the two Yang lines only in the hexagram are like hex 15 where there is just one Yang line in the line place of personal passion being purified or isolated. Here it is also working to cause the change to the Next. Trying to achieve change or progress by only one's own clear passion is a formula for meditation or the like.

In this case it is hex 56 with a moving fourth line which is expressing its heart's desire, so it has property and an ax and some sort of shelter; however this line is not settled and its interests are purely materialistic and confrontational (peaceful folks don't carry an ax on the road).

Frank

 

[Sparhawk]

Only if what was contained in the roads were ever peaceful for a traveler... The concept of unarmed travel is quite a modern one, and perhaps reasonable, given the amount of damage one can do with some weapons.

56.4 reminds me of Zatoichi, the fictional blind samurai...

 

[meng]

This captures the spirit of line 4 for me.

He is persistently conscious of being a stranger in a strange land.
-Wilhelm

An ax isn't only a weapon. It may be the means of earning food and staying warm, as well as staying safe.

The cane sword makes sense, Luis. The equivalent of today's CCW in the US.

 

[fkegan]

Only if what was contained in the roads were ever peaceful for a traveler... The concept of unarmed travel is quite a modern one, and perhaps reasonable, given the amount of damage one can do with some weapons.

56.4 reminds me of Zatoichi, the fictional blind samurai...

Hi Luis,
The line in the commentary isn't a video from the Wanderer's hotel room. Whatever might have been required personal security weaponry on the road is NOT AT ALL what the commentary refers to in any way. The wanderer is sitting in his hotel room brandishing an ax and clutching his pack with all his worldly possessions. It is an image not a reality. Gia-Fu rendered the text like this:

THE TRAVELER RESTS IN THE HOTEL, HAS MONEY AND AN AXE. HIS HEART NOT AT EASE. He is not in the right place even though he is well fed.

It describes the timing of hex 56 the Rambling Boy or Wanderer or Kerouac On The Road with the heart line place ( filled to bursting line places 3 and 4 filled to bursting) expressing and exhausting its feelings, not in a good way but in a rush of anxiety that is moving the heart line pair from full/explosive toward questing/expanding. He isn't calm enough to meditate nor does he have anywhere he can go since it is night and he is in his hotel room, so he is 'going through changes' or being very anxious and upset.

Structure yields narrative...
Frank

 

[Trojina]

Hi Rosada,



In this case it is hex 56 with a moving fourth line which is expressing its heart's desire, so it has property and an ax and some sort of shelter; however this line is not settled and its interests are purely materialistic and confrontational (peaceful folks don't carry an ax on the road).

Frank

I have always taken the axe in 56.4 to indicate the right tools to bring ones livelihood, ie means of chopping wood and making fires. In 56.4 one does have everything to keep oneself alive and well.., yet one is not happy at all, one needs to move on not settle into domestic routine perhaps ? Never been sure what the advice is in 56.4.

I think if one intends harm to another an axe is really not the best weapon to carry about ones person...its rather large and obvious. I don't think theres any confrontation in 56.4...if anything i think theres an air of indolence about it, ennui, ones cup is full and it means nothing as its only material needs being met..but you think the axe is about protection from threat ? Well maybe, thats new to me...

 

[rodaki]

I'll attempt a stab at this (tentatively . .)

56.4 feels like a meditation on the use of tools
. . also like a place of ritual
in ritualistic performances warriors turn into dancers, journeymen into acolytes

did these itinerants posses already of the axe or was it given to them in their new place?
maybe they are being taught new uses for their weapons
a moment of transition -something's being tamed, a new potential revealed and being put to use
maybe if this lesson is assimilated successfully, armory will be turned into an accessory for tributes and offerings (line 5) . .


:bows:

 

[meng]

Rambling Boy

"Water is something that of necessity flows on. When the spring gushes forth, it doesn't know at first where it will go." Wilhelm 4

 

[fkegan]

Rambling Boy

"Water is something that of necessity flows on. When the spring gushes forth, it doesn't know at first where it will go." Wilhelm 4

Hi Meng,

Water of necessity water flows on--until it reaches its natural end place, hex 60, the flowing water has come to its quiescent final destination in the topography of the Lake.
This isn't the first decad of the Water Cycle, hex 4 but the 6th decad of the effects of the Divine thunderbolt to the heart (hex 51).

Hi Trojan,
There could well be many views of the term "ax" in various contexts. However, the line judgment is set in this case within the Wanderer's hotel room. No one needs to brandish any sort of ax within the confines of their own bedroom. This is an upset and internally disturbed Wanderer who needs to heed the positive and peaceful implications of the resultant hex 52. Come to accept the silliness of the dead end into which the Wanderer has come to rest, meditate, regroup, get oneself still. This is the implication of the oracle hex 56.4 >> 52.

Hi Rodaki,
No need to try to stab with an ax. The context of the narrative of the line judgment is an uprooted Wanderer in his hotel room with money and an ax. Clearly, he is objectively OK; however, he is not a happy fellow. This implies he is suffering inner turmoil--he is after all an uprooted Wanderer in a traditional ancient culture where individual choice is not generally an option. This is not the Old West of Western TV serials, the Wanderer is a strange and unusual condition and the fourth line is the place of the heart. The Wanderer is expressing the fullness of his heart while on the road. He is brandishing his ax and holding tightly to his money in an attempt to make objective inroads upon his psychological state--it isn't working out very well and his one hope is to move along to the resultant hex timing of hex 52. Get himself still, rest, meditate and hope to solve his subjective trauma.

Frank

 

[meng]

As a once traveling soloist musician, I can think of no clearer example of 56.4. The road is a lonely place. Even on nights when the audience is receptive and joyous, going back to a hotel or motel room is not a happy experience. You don’t know anyone, and you’d better be careful in this strange place. A little additional synchronicity is that a guitar is called an ax: ones tool for making music, and a living. I've also seen it used as a defensive weapon in a pinch, lol.