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Yes/no questions

Yes/no questions

As you might know, I’m very keen on keeping things as simple as possible – not least the questions we ask the Yijing. But this can cause some bafflement when I advise against asking questions that are looking for a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer. What could be simpler than ‘yes’ or ‘no’? If you want to know whether to do something, isn’t it simplest to ask the first question that comes to mind: ‘Should I do this?’

It seems as if it ought to be, but it really isn’t – probably because an oracle doesn’t answer questions like a human being.

Humans vs oracles…

If I want your advice on whether to do the thing, I’ll certainly ask you,
‘Should I do it?’

You might answer,
‘Yes, because if you do, it will probably work out like this…’
or,
No, because if you do, it’ll probably work out like this…’
or even,
‘No, and here’s what I think you should do instead…’.

In any case, I’ll understand what you mean because you started your reply with ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and then you explained what scenario you were about to describe. That is, you’d tell me if you were about to paint me a picture of how it would work out if I did the thing, or a picture of what I should do instead. And then you would get into the details and show me the future scenario you want me to imagine – where I’d end up if I follow the path I have in mind.

So there would be three steps to your reply:

1) ‘Yes’ or ‘no’
2) Telling me what you are about to describe for me.
3) Describing it for me. 

Here’s where Yi is different: it doesn’t normally do steps 1 or 2.

Instead, it goes directly to step 3: it paints you a complete and vivid picture. Since we need to know what its painting depicts, step 2 belongs in the human half of the conversation – in your question. If you ask, ‘If I do this, what can I expect?’ Yi can paint you a picture of that. If you ask it ‘What should I do?’ it can paint a picture of you, taking the best course. In each case, you asked for a description – exactly what Yi’s good at – and you know where you are with the answer.

But if you ask, ‘Should I do this?’ then the first thing you have to do with the answer is guess what it might be describing. Is this a picture of you doing the thing? Is it a picture of what you should do instead? You can’t even start to understand the answer until you’ve guessed, and you will always be wondering whether maybe you guessed wrong and it might all make more sense if you read it another way. The question may have been simple, but it can make the business of interpretation disconcertingly complicated.

‘But it works for me!’

Some people ask yes/no questions and find they get clear responses with no problem. If you’re one of those, and are wondering what I’m on about and why I’m complicating something completely straightforward… then good for you, and obviously don’t change anything. What you’re probably doing without realising it is reading the oracle’s response as an answer to your implied question. Often people will move seamlessly from asking, ‘Should I do x?’ to reading an answer to ‘What if I do x?’ – and why not?

Also, you might find it easy to guess which scenario the answer’s describing. Suppose I ask,

‘Should I get stuck in and do this work?’

and receive Hexagram 8, Seeking Union, without changing lines. If the work is something I hate doing, something I’d have to discipline myself into, then I might take that as a ‘No – do something that brings you delight instead.’ That works because I can recognise the work I’m contemplating as something like Hexagram 7, the Army, and can’t believe there’s any way doing it could be like the natural flow of Hexagram 8.

Hm… unless… this were saying that I need to change my mindset about the work, choose it wholeheartedly and get on with it, since ‘for the latecomer, pitfall’… . Even with a single hexagram and an imaginary reading, I’m already second-guessing myself.

But if I’d asked ‘What if I do it?’ or ‘What should I do about it?’ and received 8 unchanging, I’d know it was calling for that change of mindset. If I’d asked ‘What if I don’t?’ then with the same answer I would know not to attempt it, but to look for something that comes more naturally. Simple – no second-guessing required.

If in doubt…

If you’re just getting started with readings, do keep your questions simple! In practice, that means knowing what you’re asking the oracle to describe for you. What do you need to see? You can always imagine your question starts with ‘Please paint me a picture of…’ or ‘Please tell me the story of…’.

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