I've been perusing all the recent threads about hexagram 44 and I feel we're all missing something very important. I'm so certain that we're only skimming the top layers of the meaning of 44, that I asked the Yi, and they answered 20/1.2 to 61.
<BLOCKQUOTE>Boylike contemplation
Contemplation through the crack of the door</BLOCKQUOTE>
Well I guess so then. There's something about hexagram 44 that no one understands or no one dares to understand. But I need to. It's important.

Steve Marshall kindly shared his understanding of hexagram 28 when I wondered if 22 to 25 was about death. He said:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Hexagram 28 is what I regard as the primary death omen hexagram. I got 28/3 just before my father died. A friend got 28/1 the morning his mother died (the white rushes are placed under a coffin). The top line refers to a drowning.</BLOCKQUOTE>
And the top line of 28 changes it to hexagram 44. What does that say about hexagram 44?

Love,

Val

I doubt seriously if I have anything to say that hasnt been said. Or that I understand anything that dare not be understood. But I do have an opinion.

Both in hex 28 line 6 and in hex 44 is a situation in which we have within our reach something that we believe we want. The goal may even be noble. Or it may simply be seductive. It may be something that we have ever dreamed about. Some great success no doubt. And what we have to do to get it seems like it could do little harm.

What hex 44 tries to say I think is that there are no shortcuts. When we leave the path to get to our goals in a seemingly easier way, we get stuck in that easier way. We should not marry such a way.

Roger that, Wanderer. Don't think I could have said it as gently.

Val, things do die in floods, that's true. But many things are also born. Or renewed. When underwater its enough to poke your nose up for air. At such times its only the essentials that matter.

C

If you look at this series, 31 to 28, 28 to 44, 44 to 8, in that order, and think health, what do you think 44 means?

Love ya,

Val

I'm baaaa-a-aaaack...

No one seemed to want to tackle this one. I had before I posted it, and I just wanted to share. A month later I can say it appears my understanding seems to have been right on the money.

When I get a series of answers like this to unrelated questions, I know the Yi is telling me something more important than the things I'm wondering about. This one was as important as the difference between life and death.

I had been having symptoms of mini strokes when I got this reading. I didn't know it until after the last (maybe) mini stroke (the day after this series of readings) which left me debilitated all day...

I have a history of carotid blockage... developed a left carotid bruit. It was caused primarily by a medication my doctor prescribed when I was 36 years old. Of course, my smoking and eating habits were somewhat helpful in building the blockage, but minimally. I smoked very little at the time, ate fairly well, and was in otherwise prime physical condition... "cut up" was the term we used in those days to describe my physical shape.

There were other symptoms as well to indicate that it was the medication, so I stopped taking it and picked up the pace on "cholesterol eating" foods in my diet and continued in that vein until well after the carotid bruit could no longer be detected.

Well the blockage is back and this time it's primarily my smoking and eating habits and the pressure I'm experiencing here contributing to it. And it's all there in that series of Yi Jing readings.

31 -- Influence that springs from the heart... physically that would be the cardiovascular system, would it not?

28 -- Under pressure to the breaking point. 28.6 is under pressure to the point of causing death. and 28.6 takes us to the cause... and the solution...

44 with all those lines -- A temptation that would seem harmless, that's done its harm and that needs to be resisted. Smoking.

So on that day, one month ago, I started cutting down my smoking in steps with the goal of quitting and I started eating more "cholesterol-eating" foods again. Friday, I bought cigarettes for the last time. Today I woke with three left. I smoked one earlier. I have one for this evening and one to keep and resist for the rest of my life.

I haven't had a single mini stroke symptom since that day, and the symptoms of high blood pressure have been diminishing as well.

It could very well be that I interpreted those three readings entirely wrong, but I don't think so. I have had conversations with the Yi since about quitting smoking which seem to verify I understood perfectly well...my smoking is definitely 44.

Love,

Val

val,

i admire your ability to translate the language of the oracle to the skin and bones of your everyday life.... a talent.

"28.6 takes us to the cause...and the solution"

i wish you success in quitting the nicotene.

lately, as you know, i have been close to people who suffer from stroke, and their families. "you never think it will happen " until you meet the people for whom it has.

you are so wonderful, please stay fiesty and fierce and healthy.

all the best to you,
lov
tash

Admire you!! Absolutely great.

But be very careful with mini-strokes. They can be a warning for a serious one, so have both your bloodpressure checked regularly (best get a device yourself) and let a doctor check the coagulation-rate (don't know the right word) of your blood. There are two kinds of strokes, one from pressure, the other from little lumps formed in your veins.

I know what can happen, I have seen it from very close. It can be horrible. But mini-strokes are a blessing if you listen to the warning.

LiSe

Tash and LiSe...

Thank you so much for your kindness. The mini strokes were scary enough... especially the last one. I definitely don't want to experience a serious one. I really can't imagine. And yes the mini strokes were, after all, a gift... there's no permanent brain damage with them. Not so with a major stroke. And they are a loud and clear warning that a major one is not far off.

My lungs have been healing and yielding up the disgusting black and noxious poisons I've been depositing in them and my skin has been breaking out to rid itself of the toxins trapped within. I didn't allow myself to think about these things when I was too weak or lazy or whatever to break free of the nicotine prison. But seeing the damage I've done with my eyes, I've felt remorse and have been apologizing to my body for the harm I've done it.

I thank the Yi for trying to warn me and protect me. I was getting 44 frequently to many questions... I couldn't understand why. I'm not getting it any more... and now I do understand why.

A potential side effect of the medication I was prescribed is that it prevents the liver from turning cholesterol into estrogen, and, instead, the cholesterol forms long chains and deposits itself on the artery walls. While my carotids and other arteries were filling up with cholesterol deposits, being deprived of estrogen, my endocrine system went haywire and my ovaries became polycystic... undetected until one of them burst nearly killing me before the cholesterol deposits could. I was in the hospital for eight days. And while I was (necessarily) making myself at home... watching television in the lounge after visiting hours with the staff, a health story came on the news... recent research showed that people who try to control their feelings and/or have trouble asking for what they want are more likely than people who speak their mind and don't have trouble asking for what they want to suffer a stroke or heart attack. I said outloud, "Im safe," and three of the staff members burst out laughing and agreed. So I believe it's safe to say my condition is more of the artery-deposit variety than the pressure kind... *grin*

Love,

Val

Val,
You'll find that quitting the habit will allow you to really smell things again. Smokers don't realize that they've just plain lost the scent

About 3 months after I quit smoking (many, many long years ago) I found myself running around my apartment convinced there was a fire somewhere. My kids thought I was crazy cause there wasn't a flame in sight and no one else could smell it.

But it was so unbelievably strong to me. So I closed my eyes and I just followed the smell. I ended up four floors down outside someone else's apartment. I knocked on the door and rang the doorbell incessantly but no one answered. Eventually, smoke did actually begin to pour out from under the door -giving me a solid reason to call the fire department finally.

Turned out the tenant had left something cooking on the stove, fell asleep and the smoke knocked them out.

I had smelled something long before anyone else could because my ability to smell the world around me was literally like a completely new faculty at my disposal. This totally changed my perspective on the whole "quitting" struggle I was engaged in. It didn't quite feel like much of a struggle anymore after this.

Hopefully your challenge will open up many unseen worlds for you too Val.

Tash...

Thank you so much for your love and support. It means a lot to me.

Dharma...

This is an amazing wonderful experience you had. Thank you for sharing it here. I've been savoring it. You saved not only your own life when you stopped smoking... but how many others???

Wow.

Thank you very much for the warm wishes and support.

With much love and graittude,

Val

<BLOCKQUOTE><HR SIZE=0><!-Quote-!><FONT SIZE=1>Quote:</FONT>

You saved not only your own life when you stopped smoking... but how many others???<!-/Quote-!><HR SIZE=0></BLOCKQUOTE>

never quite thought of it that way, Val. i guess the world would be a little different without me, wouldn't it? thank you for holding up the mirror
<CENTER> </CENTER>

<BLOCKQUOTE><HR SIZE=0><!-Quote-!><FONT SIZE=1>Quote:</FONT>

You saved not only your own life when you stopped smoking... but how many others???<!-/Quote-!><HR SIZE=0></BLOCKQUOTE>

never quite thought of it that way, Val. i guess the world would be a little different without me, wouldn't it? thank you for holding up the mirror

<CENTER> </CENTER>