Hello everyone!

I've been getting to know the I Ching over the last 3 years and I'm looking to forward to meeting everyone in the Community here.

Apologies if I ramble on a bit but I recently finished reading "Let It Blurt: The Life And Times Of Lester Bangs" by Jim DeRogatis.

(Lester Bangs was a music critic, arguably the man who invented rock journalism as we know it).

Anyway, as I was reading the first few pages it struck me that the events on some of the pages seemed to correspond to the hexagram given by the page number. For example, page 7 has reference to the Army, page 8 talks about the family finding a friendly community, page 23 describes Lester's disdain for authority "breaking up" the entire class, page 24 describes the turning point in his early life and so on.

Now I would have dismissed all this as coincidence and my overactive imagination were it not for this quote from Lester on page 37:

"As was my wont at the time, I threw the I Ching to find out which drug I should take."

I was startled but then I thought, "Well perhaps I'd unconsciously noticed the reference to the I Ching and that made me notice the chance references."

Then I thought again. The I Ching is not mentioned anywhere else in the book so I started to look at how hx 37 might represent the I Ching.

I remembered a reading (from Hexagram-8 mailing list) where Hilary had asked about the difference between the I Ching and dream interpretation and received the answer hx 37 (changing to hx 63 if I remember rightly?).

At the time I suggested that perhaps hx 37 was a reference to the family of trigrams?

Has anyone else got any thoughts about hx 37 and how it might represent the I Ching? And has anyone else had a similar experience reading a book which they thought had nothing to do with the I Ching?

Best wishes,

Mick
http://www.north-node.com/

Greetings Mick

I'm glad you shared this with us. This is a very interesting discovery, you must be very observant, with an eye for detail. Tooshay....I'll have to pay more attention when I read from now on.

Hello Mick,

I've been looking through my recorded dreams logbook to see if I could find any similar 'coincidences' to the hexagrams. So far my search hasn't yielded much but I *did* find one dream--dated the 23rd of that month--where I dreamt of changing sheets on a bed. My exact words were "stripping the bed down". Sounds like hexagram 23 to me. Not much, but something, right?

Dharma

Hi Mick.

The more relationship or communion we have with the collective mind, the more these synchronistic events pop up in our lives. At first, they are quite startling, causing one to ask, was this just a coincidence? And, if one believes it isn?t, we can be inclined to become excited over the synchronistic event.

Its like thinking a thought a split second before the exact, and sometimes rarely used, word or phrase comes over the radio. One asks, what are the chances of that happening by accident?

The question I?ve had to ask is, what am I supposed to do about it? What is it telling me? My conclusion is that its not necessarily telling me anything. Neither is it not telling me something. Its giving me a peek at the big picture. Its an interface, a connection with whatever we choose to call it; God, collective unconsciousness, Mind, etc. In the big picture, nothing is an isolated occurrence. Everything is synchronized; atoms and planets alike. When an incident such as you?ve described pops ups, it?s a snapshot of that big picture, viewed from our finite experiential level.

I know longer plunge into pondering its meaning when it happens, but it always makes me smile in awe, always makes me feel connected to the universe. Which of course, we all are.

Dharma,

I like the dream on page 23 connecting to hx 23 - that's nice.

I think I agree with Candid when he says, "The more relationship or communion we have with the collective mind, the more these synchronistic events pop up in our lives."

Maybe we should just notice these little I Ching "coincidences" as they pop up rather than go looking for them?

Best wishes,

Mick

Ditto for me!

But it IS interesting going and deliberately looking for the coincidences. Sometimes it actually yields a few golden nuggets. It's kinda like searching for the holy grail or just simply looking for God on purpose --just because.

Dharma

Hi Mick and all,

Coming in a little late here, harking back to the beginning of the conversation.

Ah, 37 again. Uppermost in my mind of late as an image of this Community, and most especially its self-regulatory properties! (Ah - I've only just noticed again the image I chose for the banner for this forum - the fire in the hearth!)

At the time of the I Ching and/vv dreams reading, I thought of 37 as indicating the I Ching's huge architecture, like entering a cathedral with 64 doors. Complements and changes and sequences and nuclear hexagrams and archetypes and all... In practice, using the I Ching to divine about dream interpretation (which seems to be a practice at least as old as the oracle), this greater architecture is much in evidence - a very personal dream image will be set into a larger context, so you can see how all fits together. (If I can stretch my mind to the dimensions of the answer!)

Now, another very obvious (with hindsight!) view dawns on me - the gigantic family of diviners at work in the I Ching. The Zhouyi itself carries countless human voices, divining and reading omens... and then the Wings... and however many hundreds of generations of continuous use... and hello, here we are now.

I begin to feel like the Family's pet pygmy hamster or something.

(And I certainly don't believe in coincidence any more. Last night I read about a story entitled 'Who goes there?' This morning I heard about a radio programme with the same name, and received 20, line 5. I'm still waking up )

I'm so glad Candid has said that he feels coincidences are like glimpses of the larger picture, but they don't necessarily mean anything particular to us. Since reading books like Celestine Prophecy I am often at a total loss at the meaning of coincidences in my life. In that book the author feels that if we really take note of coincidences, look for the meaning in suposedly 'chance' encounters etc then they will guide us to our destiny/correct pathway. I can never find any meaning in even quite amazing coincidences. I thought I couldn't see the meanings in them perhaps just because I was a bit dim. But if what Candid says is right thats great, it means I don't have to give myself a headache thinking about the meaning of coincidences, I can just enjoy the feeling of connectedness, the snap shot of the 'big picture'.
Having said that I'm dying to know what Hilarys coincidences above meant. Please tell us Hilary

Hi Hilary,

So, you got 20 changing to 23? hmm ooookaaay *chuckle* Nothing synchronistic here.. hmm

I love the image of the cathedral with 64 doors! (6 windows around each door?)

I've gotten 23 a hundred times or more. I've lost a friend to death once after receiving it for that person. If I were to get it now, I wouldn't be thinking, its the demise of my body.

Louise, your interpretation is correct. If my friend gave to those below (her parents) and made peace, her position above would have been more secure. Her soul would have been at peace with that part of her life. As I said, I don't suspect that this had happened, but it may have.

The other thought is that her soul may have a mission which is still attached to this realm, and by aiding in whatever ways are available to her, she may actually be able to assist in bringing happiness to some who are still here. I'm not claiming this as truth, but it does make sense to me on a personal level and it isn't unreasonable.

One more thing, Louise. I didn't say that synchronistic events never had meaning. But much like dreams, some are merely the natural movements of things around us and in our lives, and other times, they act as guides and messages from the universe, and still other, actually messages from another soul or souls.

I traveled through the Carlos Castaneda books (A Separate Reality, etc.) and found myself obsessed with finding the meaning behind every nook and cranny. It was as close to being clinically insane as I've ever been. So I'm understandably cautious about encouraging someone to venture into that world.

My best advice to you and to myself is, enjoy the phenomenon. If something is particularly striking about a dream or synchronistic event, ponder it. If it continues to knock on the door of your heart and mind, follow where it leads you. Those events can be milestone changes in ones life.

Tai

...just passing through at breathless gallop...

There is a tradition a few thousand years old of asking the Yi for the meaning of an omen, aka synchronous event. The odds are that you can tell whether the message is just 'Hello, the cosmos is alive and well!' or something meant personally for you. But the oracle is - surprise - a wonderful way to sort this out. There is a very good example of the Yi encouraging sanity in this regard in Diana ffarington-Hook's The I Ching and its associations:

Scenario:
Man slips on rug on polished floor and is knocked unconscious. Being a great believer in synchronicity, he asks the I Ching why this happened. (Um, once he's come to, that is.)

Answer: 52 changing to 18

(My version, sketched out quickly...) He walked through his chambers not seeing anything. 'Decay' from the past was waiting for him in the form of a witlessly-placed rug. And the line is a picture of someone whose calves stop when their forward impetus continues. Translation - I think - you were 'meditating' while walking, oblivious to your environment; the rug slipped backwards; maybe you should move it?

Diana ffH has a different version, that he should have kept still, and his feet had run ahead of his thinking processes, and yes, he should move the rug.

Either way, thank heavens for ancient wisdom!

BTW, it was 20 changing to 7. I'll share it with you later, I hope, but now I must get a seriously military grip on myself and do what I was supposed to be doing!

...disappearing in cloud of dust...

Hi Hilary,

How does #20 with change line in 5th place (only) change to #7? Does not Sun above change to Ken? Ken over Kun = Po (#23?)

Confused and dusty.

Ah, remarkably good question . Lines 2 and 6 were also changing! it's just that it was line 5 in particular that was brought to mind by the little synchronicities.

The question - a business one, about whether to keep writing an I Ching email course rather than getting on with the new site - brought up issues of who I think I am, and who other people think I am.

It's not quite on topic for this particular page - I might just start another one over at the Friends' Area and ask for some advice on this.

BTW, thanks for your readings there

Hi Hilary,

Ahh the ole hidden change lines trick.

Toward question: Seeing and being seen combined with self discipline. I'm uncertain if you're asking for advice from us/me or just stating the question you had asked. If you're asking me, my response is: It depends on the amount and kind of feedback and participation you have received for each project. It also depends on your business objectives and how it looks from a monetary "viewpoint, and an overall gratification view point." (#20 fits nicely here) Establishing your objects clearly, is always a good idea. Then, identifying the available niche within that (target) market. Once the target market has been identified (the clearer, the better) you'll have a clearer idea as to it's potential of fulfilling your marketing objectives. You can base this off of what experienced you've gained from this and past ventures, or you can approach it with a new page and with a new outlook (#20) and a new strategy. (7) (Marketing is warfare.. a battle for the mind)

As for the readings; its my pleasure to do readings here. I gain new insight from doing them, as I'm sure you understand well.

I may be offline for at least a couple of days during the move and my current email address will no longer be valid. After tomorrow, please mail to: [email protected]

Tai to all.

Hilary/Candid and everyone,

I love these images of the I Ching's huge architecture:

"A cathedral with 64 doors and 6 windows around each door"

How about adding, arranged so subtly and skillfully that the light can pass through any window into any other window according to the time.

Hilary, you made me laugh. Yes, I also feel just like a pygmy hamster desperate for some crumbs from the table of people like Confucius, Mencius and Cheng Yi!

Best wishes,

Mick

Interesting thought, Mick.