16.5?! Yi was wrong! Why didn't I get the job??

[kiching00]

I had been training for the server position at a restaurant job, and I thought that things were going well, but the manager called me today and said" thank you for your past week of training, but we decided to pass and go with someone else."

I asked Iching last week "what's going to happen to my job opportunity at restaurant x" and it gave me hexagram 16.5 "preserving not dying" (16.4.5. To 8 to be exact) and usually when I get this line, it's means that the connection is still alive and i have the opportunity still.

I once asked about a guy I was seeing and yi once gave me 16.5, which meant that our connection would still be alive, and I'm still talking to him and friends with him to this day.

So I was under the impression that Yi was telling me that I would still be working at this job. Is there something about 16.5 that I'm interpreting wrong? Why was it right about the guy but not about the job??

I'm trying my best to remain positive and look for another job that's a better fit I guess . It's just weird how I got 16.5 and not some other negative hexagram.

 

[hmesker]

usually when I get this line, it's means that the connection is still alive and i have the opportunity still.

I once asked about a guy I was seeing and yi once gave me 16.5, which meant that our connection would still be alive

I think that is your problem: you have fixed the meaning of this line and are not able to see another meaning in it. If you do this with all the lines then the Yi has only 384 line meanings for you.

Every answer of the Yi is a new answer which you (in my opinion) should view in the light of the situation at hand - not in the light of a former consultation. The Yi predicts illness here (貞: 疾) which is not good. However, even though it might last for a while it will not kill you (恆不死) - eventually you will recover from it.

The Yi was not wrong. The Yi is never wrong. If you believe the Yi can be wrong, then what is the use of the oracle when you have lost your faith in it? "Oh, this can't be right, the Yi MUST be wrong." It would render the Yi useless.

 

[butterfly spider]

Can I just ask please why you say that each consultation should be seen in its own light and not that if a previous consultation. I always consider past castings and their outcomes and try and link them to the present query. Perhaps I need to rethink. I liked your Chinese writing in your posting - they are interesting to look at.

I can understand how the questioner here is confused by past outcomes and the present question

 

[hmesker]

I always consider past castings and their outcomes and try and link them to the present query.

That's good, but there is a difference between linking two consultations and interpreting the latest consultation as if it is similar to a former consultation.

It is like this quote which is attributed to Heraclitus:

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

Equally you could say: you do not receive the same hexagram twice.

 

[mirian]

Hi kiching00,

Sorry to hear you didn't get the job, but Hex 16 line 5 was saying exactly that. This line has been very clear in my experience that you don't get what you want, you are blocked, you don't feel a sense of achievement, you might even feel a bit ill, but you carry on anyway, life goes on, it will pass eventually.

The same with the guy you were seeing when you also got hex 16.5 and you now say that you are still friends, but is this what you wanted really? You are accepting the situation as it is, this is what is possible, but is it good enough?

So, personally I don't see the contradiction by looking at your both readings. Basically, the message is: you feel bad now and even think that the Yi is wrong, but you are still alive, this all will pass, and no major damage has been done to you. :bows:

 

[Fansong]

Hi Kiching00
just one little thing for sharing.

reading your words made me thought about Homeopatic remedies and the experience we got last month:
for years someone may need one particoular remedy -let's say Belladonna, for a specific desease -let's say "winter-fever". it's not "sure" that one day the same person may not need another remedy, maybe Aconitum, for the same "symptom"..

 

[peter2610]

16,4,5 - 8

Hi Kiching00

In 4th yang - The source of enthusiasm... - the I Ching is describing your approach to this situation, what you are hoping to achieve. In 5th yin the I Ching is telling you how it views your approach, it is a wrong approach/attitude that you have probably sustained or desired for some time - persistent illness. 5th yin keeps falling back upon 4th yang but 4th yang, in this particular situation, is full of vibrant enthusiasm that it keeps transferring to 5th yin hence - "The persistent illness of the six in the fifth place is due to the fact that it rests upon a hard line." The I Ching is asking you to strengthen your faith in YOUR path and independence, GATHER yourself together - Hex, 45

Your answer could easily have been 16,6 but the I Ching wants you to understand in detail how this wrong direction emerged in your thought processes. This is a mistake we ALL make so don't despair, the I Ching's guidance has been given in loving kindness. Use your female receptivity to absorb it gently and wisely and it will make you stronger and stronger....

Finally, I haven't time to explain but please try not to isolate a moving line from amongst a group of moving lines - THEY ARE ALL INTER-RELATED WITHIN THE ESSENCE OF THE SITUATION. Peter

 

[mulberry]

This is an instructive thread... I think you (and others) could have a real "aha!" moment about the I Ching if you closely analyze it.

As others pointed out, 16.5 is not auspicious. "Persistently ill, and still does not die." My interpretation of that in light of your restaurant job is-- well, they didn't fire you the first day. You lasted the whole week of training. But it was not going well and it was not going to work out (for whatever reason). As far as 16.4, it could be read as reinforcing the transitory, short-term nature of the position explained in 16.5. You managed to make the initial leap and hang on (through friendship connections? how did you originally get picked for training?) but that alone was not enough to see you through to permanence. 18 describes a situation that has failed or been corrupted in some way, that requires work to rehabilitate. Whatever went wrong with this job, whether it was your fault or an issue of the business/context, or a combo, figure it out so the same thing does not happen to you again at your next place of employment.

As far as having gotten 16.5 reading with your ex, and now you are "still friends"-- well, the relationship didn't work out on its original romantic terms, did it? "Persistently ill, and still does not die". That's possibly a quite astute description of an ended romance that still maintains friendly contact. But you have to understand that the I Ching does not exist in a vacuum... The way I read it, the time frame 16.5 described for your relationship with this ex is quite long, perhaps years; for this job, very short. 16.5 described one week. The training period. You weren't let go immediately ("persistently ill, yet still does not die..."). Beyond that, Yi was not saying. The job ended and the reading's influence ended as well.

Also, note that 16.5 alone leads to 45 (gathering together) which is much more stable and auspicious than 18.