There are some beautiful new papers at Denis Mair’s Yijing Poetics site. I’m currently engrossed in ‘Maybe a daisy chain’, a new story woven from the Sequence of hexagrams. What I find most remarkable – and liberating – about this is how utterly different it is from the story I tell myself from the same sequence. It’s beautiful work, full of little gems of ideas. Like
“When firelight casts its circle, illumined forms are recognized in #30, and this paves the way for strong resonance among living things in Feeling.”
– and bigger ones:
“From #31 through #40 we have tasted many flavors of feeling, from which we distill a choice about two possible paths in life—the way of Decrease (#41) and the way of Increase (#42). Decrease means letting go of accretions until we reach what is fundamental in our own nature. Increase means enhancing the expression of our nature through accumulation and improvement. We must make this choice when we are challenged to bring forth what is within our nature, as symbolized by the “elements” of Heaven, Earth, Water and Fire in #43-#50. The decision in favor of Decrease or Increase will point to what kind of Breakthrough (#43) we can have—either to arrive at what is simple and essential, or to engage with instrumentalities of growing complexity.”
(I’ve always thought of 41-42 as a cycle, never once as a choice.)
Other new work here:
Not eating at home
Qian is a salamander
Kun is a tease
Janus-Concepts in Li2
Take a deep breath – this is lovely work, but not light reading – and go see.