Clarity,
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London.
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It can also be easily tested if disbelieved because it offers itself as being repeatable in a controlled study.
What it does do is accurately reflect your mental and emotional state and opinion in regard to the query. Nothing more, nothing less.
As a result, it is proper to ask someone who is not emotionally engaged with the situation or for you yourself to disengage through meditation or some other means of relinquishing your emotional and mental state. Ideally, if the question is significant, causing emotional or mental angst in some way, then it is best to have someone who is not associated to the question do the answering on your behalf if you have any hope of achieving an objective answer.
Positive ? All answers given by I Ching is positive.....
Hi Lisa,
if I had asked about an electrical blanket, and got anything with Hex 29 in the answer (danger) I would immediately think of electrocution so, another way of saying "don't do this"!
Now here is where for me your argument falls fully down:
You posit that
1) any answer from the I ching only reflects back querents inner state
2) If I want an objective answer, someone else must ask for me.
What will this answer give me then, except the current inner mental state of that other person???
In other words, I'll see whatever that person thinks/feels about my question?
24.6 :"Returning and losing the way" (1) don't sound positive... But I find it positive to know beforehand this to be aware of. To example to take into consideration: "Straying from the right path will result in a long-lasting setback. Aggressive action will only deepen your woes." (2) But OK, what is positive ? When I wrote it I was thinking it in the way of knowing, to know versus not knowing, ignorance... Helpfull contra misleading.Really? Most of the time when I get 24.6, for example, I'd hardly call it positive. Honest, yes, and constructive (if I've messed up I suppose it's better to know it). Maybe we mean different things by "positive"?
But OK, what is positive ? When I wrote it I was thinking it in the way of knowing, to know versus not knowing, ignorance... Helpfull contra misleading.
You posit that
1) any answer from the I ching only reflects back querents inner state
2) If I want an objective answer, someone else must ask for me.
What will this answer give me then, except the current inner mental state of that other person???
In other words, I'll see whatever that person thinks/feels about my question?
Not helpful, and much easier in that case just to ask that person outright what they think about my problem.
To Maui–
You said:
Now here is where for me your argument falls fully down:
You failed to explain how it falls down. I assume this is due to your not understanding what I am stating. For one, if you could ask the person directly (he/she who is the subject of the query) what the situation is, then you would never have to consult the Yi-Ching. Right? You are assuming that all question can be answered by asking the other party what is going on. Here your statement "falls completely down" because there are issues that the other party will not want to answer and, more often than not, will not actually know what the answer is.
Yi-Ching is a means of accessing your own intuition. This is not some magical means by which the cosmos comes down and picks the perfect hexagrams for you.
To each their own.
I don't feel that any further discussion here would lead to more than diminishing returns and repetitions of the same arguments.
Each of us will, I guess, continue to use the I ching in the way they feel its meant to be used.
best wishes
maui
my thesis: The Yi-Ching does not necessarily foretell the future nor does it necessarily state the totality of the situation with the primary hexagram with an objective, truthful statement (i.e. hexagrams). What it does do is accurately reflect your emotional and mental state. Nothing more, nothing less. [/B]
Having read this thought provoking thread I did a cast with question
What is ideal state for divination? 45.7 → 26
Of course!
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).