Greetings all,

Hilary glad you are back. My question to my Yi Jing mentors is:

"How much influence do we have over the Yi Jing?"

If one is in an extremely emotionally charged state...does this affect a casting? If one is hoping that the Yi will give me the answer that I want to hear, can this slant the Oracle? How "clear" does one have to be in order to understand the Yi? Is it at all possible that we as the aspiring Chun-tzu, can in any way affect or perhaps "cloud" the Yi Jing, because of where we are emotionally or spiritually?


Thanks,

grnd

Personal opinion - no, we can't influence the hexagram that's cast. I've never seen any sign of that. But slanting the way we read the answer is another matter altogether...

grnd: Listen if we have influence over the Yi there in no need for a Reading as we would not trust in the answer as it will be scued by our own involvement.

My agreement is not necessary to Hilary's but it is the same, our humanity being what it is may prejudice our feelings and come through into an interpertation.

LOL, gotta love the tough questions.

Take an individual instance of tossing the coins. On a purely physical, material level - if you ask the same question and toss the coins for a reading at a given time and your emotions are turbulent, then, physically, you will get a different reading than you would have if your emotions were calm.

This is just logical. The reason is slight variation in things like how you hold the coins, the tilt of your hands, the energy in your coin toss, etc.

So clearly, physically, different emotional states at time of casting would (should) result in different readinngs by simple physics, the same way asking a question 10 seconds later than you asked it would result in a different response. Slightly different set of (purely physical) starting paramaters when you toss coins.

Now, *does that answer the question in your post*? It all depends on your assumptions about how the Yi works/does not work.

So, I certainly can't say for sure. However, it's worth pointing out that different attitudes towards the same (objectively) situation would call for different advice from an advisor.

What if you were a high school counsellor and 2 kids come in asking about going to college next year. You know them both well. One loves academic work and is a bit of a gregarious partier. The other one *can't stand school*, doesn't fit in socially, and really really wants to be a Marine. Would you tell them both the same thing?

Food for thought...

- Jeff

Jeff,

I'm glad you LOVE the tough questions LOL. This forum is chock full o' my posts as of late!!! So please, feel free to indulge yourself

grnd

I don't think you influence the oracle particularly. You can influence yourself though, and if you succeed in changing yourself that will be reflected in what the Yi gives you and how you interpret what the Yi gives you.

Influence the oracle? No, I don't think so. I think you invite it and interpret it. That's just about it.

I'm going with Jeff on this one.

These things aren't always black/white. Sometimes even the state of mind you are in effects Yi's answer. That is to say, it could be addressing your state of mind about something more than the actual thing you're asking about. We ask the question and Yi shines the light for us to see. But the light doesn't always shine directly on our question. Sometimes it shines on us, instead.

Just for grins, an example.

Mary is beside herself with worry and fear. Her lamb has disappeared. The wolf has been seen in the area! In desperation Mary asks the Yi, ?did the wolf eat my lamb?? She receives 23. ?Oh!? exclaims Mary, ?surely my lamb is dead!? Crying, she wanders out to the pen to mourn. Looking up through her tears, she sees the lamb grazing happily among the others.

Questions:

What was Mary supposed to lose?

Did Mary?s state-of-mind effect Yi?s answer?

Normally when I see 23, I see "no", so it answered her question exactly, although I would have mis-interpreted the same way.

Jeff;
There is an article on just the idea you have broached about holding the coins and consistency of you toss and so forth in a research on the validity of the I Ching which was published. You can find the paper in The Journal of Parapsychology June 2001 issue written and researched by; Lance Storm and Michael Thalbourne, Check out web sight Looksmart Findarticles.

Thanks for the info, Jerry. Appreciate it!

- Jeff

your welcome:>)