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ginnie

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People who are temporarily unemployed receive hexagram 56. I have also seen in the threads that astrologers, diviners, scholars, and others 'on their own journey' receive this hexagram, in which case wandering is probably their ongoing way of life.

The traveler or stranger in hexagram 56 has no 'kith and kin' -- few acquaintances and relatives.

I'd like to discuss 56.4:

The Thomas Cleary translation writes on line 56.4: 'This is finding the right way to travel.... People in this state ... are journeying well...'

But why is the traveler's heart not glad in 56.4? Cleary, Sarah Dening and Stephen Karcher all agree that this person is hampered in some way from reaching their true goal. This traveler feels that he has not yet arrived, as the expression goes.

Alternatively, the Whincup states that such a person's wanderings are over, because his ruler has given him a weapon and wealth. Yet he remains dissatisfied, maybe because he wanted more of something or regrets something.

Titania Hardie assumes the traveler can't relax because he's on guard against others who can't be trusted. In agreement with that, Lynn says the traveler has only found an unstable place where he has to use an axe to make his resting place more secure: the wrong place for him.

I remember a thread in which someone asked the I Ching about studying for her Ph.D. degree and she received this line. I believe the meaning was that she could get her Ph.D. but that still wouldn't make her happy. Even though many of us know that external achievements cannot make us happy, we still ask the I Ching about doing things we hope will lead to a brighter or more prosperous life.

Many translations imply there are external dangers in 56.4, but the Blofeld seems to imply that lack of gratitude for what he has been given is at the root of this traveler's unhappiness.

The Legge says the traveler has attained 'a livelihood and the axe' but is still saying, 'I am not at ease in my mind.' Legge does not guess about why the traveler is unhappy.

Perhaps such a traveler's unhappiness is best left that way.
 
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rodaki

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hi Ginnie,

56.4 has always been about a transition period for me, a time for getting accustomed to a different rhythm as in from being restless and running around exploring to quieting down and keeping still (52). Maybe the wanderer found an inn to sleep awhile but is concerned about the journey of the coming day or maybe there's in the back of his/her mind the idea of leaving behind the unknown, open horizons with their multiple possibilities for a settled thus more limiting routine -an unsettling thought for those who like being on the go.

This line sometimes reminds me of 47.2: oppressed with food and drink, but I think that that is more like one's inner reality being tight in spite of comfortable outer circumstances, while 56.4 has felt more like outer circumstances being too tight for what the heart or mind aspires to . .
The other thing is that wanderers like to travel light, how can they do so if they start acquiring property and tools to till it? And even if they discover the joys of stability, will they ever stop dreaming the roads not traveled?


just a couple of thoughts, hope they help some . .
 

ginnie

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Thanks, Rodaki, yes, it does seem very much a transition. And meditation is the method suggested by the I Ching to reach a more settled state of mind.

Other people cannot be the Answer. Neither can be attaining any position the Answer. How many times do we have to hear this before we believe it? It must be repeated again and again that the Answer we seek can only be found within during periods when we have attained a quiet mind.

The movement in art called Surrealism, which I believe started in Europe in the 1920s (I'm no expert!), began to depict in painting and literature a hex 56-ish experience in the culture of the West. This Surrealist movement corresponded with the movement of large numbers of people to cities and countries where they had no family members. They traveled to places where they were basically alone where they lived. Various social forces resulted in the breaking up of families, leaving detached or displaced individuals who lived in far-flung places, wherever they could find work.

Of course such a situation is precarious for transient individuals, even if they are successful in finding a place to live and a source of income. I see this more clearly now that I'm older ...

Is 56.5, the fifth moving line, considered to be a solution for the traveler? Or do the praise received and the attainment of a new office just make the traveler more busy for a time -- and therefore more oblivious to the fact that he still is a stranger in a strange place?
 

auriel

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I like what you said about the Surrealists. Actively embracing the worldview of the stranger is heroic.

56.4 I take to be the Line of the Journeyman. He has to travel, misses his home and everything looks strange in his new surroundings. But he's got his professional skills. In 56.5 He's found a place that's accepted him, and he's useful, a Master craftsman. In 56.6 he realizes what he's given up for that success, and his lack of connection to his community makes him both sad and careless

I'm just passing through myself
 

pocossin

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But why is the traveler's heart not glad in 56.4?

As you say in the next post

Surrealism . . . began to depict in painting and literature a hex 56-ish experience in the culture of the West. This Surrealist movement corresponded with the movement of large numbers of people to cities and countries where they had no family members. They traveled to places where they were basically alone where they lived.

The traveller's heart is not glad because s/he misses the folks at home.
 
S

sooo

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Desperado, why don't you come to your senses
You've been out ridin' fences,
for so long - now.
Ohh you're a hard one.
I know that you've got your reasons.
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow.

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds boy
She'll beat you if she's able.
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet.
Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table.
But you only want the ones
That you can't get.

Desperado,
Ohhhh you aint getting no younger.
Your pain and your hunger,
They're driving you home.
And freedom, ohh freedom.
Well that's just some people talking.
Your prison is walking through this world all alone.

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine.
It's hard to tell the night time from the day.
And you're losing all your highs and lows
aint it funny how the feeling goes
away...

Desperado,
Why don't you come to your senses?
come down from your fences, open the gate.
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you.
You better let somebody love you.
(let somebody love you)
You better let somebody love you...ohhh..hooo
before it's too..oooo.. late.
 

rodaki

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz72aEUgIE0 (great song!)




One of the most interesting things to me is how a line can gather together different views -even more so when I manage to encounter those different meanings, not just imagine them or hypothesize them . . Last time i got 56.4 was about my students and about what I need to remind myself when things are not working and it came together with 56.5. At the time I interpreted it as 'this is a foreign language you're teaching, they have the books and all but it's gonna take time to get accustomed to it' but I see now how it could mean at the same 'they're missing their own language ' . . one more little piece in place :bows:
 

ginnie

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n 56.6 he realizes what he's given up for that success, and his lack of connection to his community makes him both sad and careless...I'm just passing through myself

Auriel, do you know anything from personal experience about 56.5?
 

Trojina

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i don't think the traveller is sad becasue hes missing the folks at home, what shes missing is somewhere she hasn't even found yet. I don't see it as a journey to whats already known but a journey to whats not yet known. The traveller feels comfortable on the physical level but knows theres further to go and can't stay or be satisfied with the current environment. Looking about they might not be able to articulate why they should not be satisfied since they have all they need and i think this is what gives rise to the sadness...it would feel good to be satisfied with this but they can't be as they are mid journey to somewhere not yet known before. I think in 56.4 a traveller is tempted to stay...(for some reason thinking of a book called Knulp by Hermann Hesse)....it may be even heart breaking to know you can't stay. Staying here, making this permanent, is the dream you have to forgo
 
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ginnie

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Sooo and Rodaki, thanks so much for DESPERADO.

Isn't it exciting when there's a song and a video matching the line?
 

ginnie

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I don't see it as a journey to whats already known but a journey to whats not yet known. ...it would feel good to be satisfied with this [what one already has] but they can't be as they are mid journey to somewhere not yet known before

Yes. Feeling of being in the wrong place. However, does a right place actually exist? If it does, in what direction could the traveler move to find the right place?

I suppose the answer to that question would be different for everybody ...
 

Trojina

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Yes. Feeling of being in the wrong place. However, does a right place actually exist? If it does, in what direction could the traveler move to find the right place?

I suppose the answer to that question would be different for everybody ...

(er did you insert ["what one already has"] into my quoted post ? :confused:....)

anyway no I didn't exactly mean you feel you are in the wrong place...When you are on a journey, or a quest just because you aren't yet at your destination it doesn't mean you are in the wrong place since you can't get to your destination without stopping off at places along the way, metaphorical inns. Though yes of course you may feel you are in the wrong place without being able to put a finger on why. I tend to think with 56.4 one often very much wants it to be the right place though

BTW IMO 56.4 can last for long periods (as well as short ones) of your life where you may feel you have all you need but aren't satisfied.

I don't think 56.4 tells you what is the right direction...well you probably are in the right direction but whereas you might have wished this was it 'end of journey' it isn't.


From the wiki link Tom gave "homesickness for freedom"... that could be some of 56.4 yes...
 
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ginnie

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(er did you insert ["what one already has"] into my quoted post ? :confused:....)

Ya. I had truncated your original post and I thought I'd put in brackets a few words so what remained made sense. Probably that wasn't necessary.

When an addition is put in brackets, doesn't that indicate to the reader those were not your words but were added by someone else?

Anyway, I put the words in brackets to indicate that I had added them there for what I thought was the sake of clarity, since I had used the delete key mercilessly in shortening the quote.

BTW IMO 56.4 can last for long periods (as well as short ones) of your life where you may feel you have all you need but aren't satisfied.

Not being satisfied (or not being easy in one's mind) is such a ubiquitous condition that I think the Buddha made it the first of his Four Noble Truths. In my opinion, there is more going on in this 56.4 than meets the eye. It does seem to point at the vanity of all worldly ambitions ...
 
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elias

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fwiw, I got this static today. I typically get this when I'm at loose ends. This is a hexagram that I usually either receive static or as a resultant, and consequently have little to relate about the various lines.

A very busy stretch at work is finally drawing to a close and there's a bit of down time before the next crush, there was an unexpected death of someone near to us which throws family schedules into a whirl, my wife is awaiting word on her dream job with my employer (and I'm trying very hard to behave around the bosses without appearing obsequious)... and I have writer's block, and alternately feel emotionally empty and constipated... and it's fall, and I get very strong migratory urges...

It's 56 weather. The "fire on the mountain" is the rust-red and yellow-ochre leaves, windblown scouring dust devils, slippery when wet.
 

heylise

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Traveling

From the Osho zen cards

Traveling

Life is a continuity always and always. There is no final destination it is going towards. Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life, not reaching to some point, no goal--just dancing and being in pilgrimage, moving joyously, without bothering about any destination. What will you do by getting to a destination? Nobody has asked this, because everybody is trying to have some destination in life. But the implications... If you really reach the destination of life, then what? Then you will look very embarrassed. Nowhere to go...you have reached to the final destination--and in the journey you have lost everything. You had to lose everything. So standing naked at the final destination, you will look all around like an idiot: what was the point? You were hurrying so hard, and you were worrying so hard, and this is the outcome.

Commentary:
The tiny figure moving on the path through this beautiful landscape is not concerned about the goal. He or she knows that the journey is the goal, the pilgrimage itself is the sacred place. Each step on the path is important in itself. When this card appears in a reading, it indicates a time of movement and change. It may be a physical movement from one place to the next, or an inner movement from one way of being to another. But whatever the case, this card promises that the going will be easy and will bring a sense of adventure and growth; there is no need to struggle or plan too much. The Traveling card also reminds us to accept and embrace the new, just as when we travel to another country with a different culture and environment than the one we are accustomed to. This attitude of openness and acceptance invites new friends and experiences into our lives.
 

anemos

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nice card ! thanks for sharing.

travelling in a 25 way. :)

this card reminds me of a Greek poem, where the poet incorporates Odyssey's wanderings to our personal wanderings.


ITHACA~C. P. Cavafis

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.
 

susannah

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I can't find the thank you button. : (

Trojan's post at #9 is spot on from my recent experience of drawing this line. THANK YOU!

"What's his position in this relationship" 56.4>52

I drew this immediately after a break up, wondering if there was an opportunity for reconciliation.
We have a lovely connection but he wants kids in the future; I've already got kids and don't want any more.
He's definitely pining for something he hasn't got yet.
"Still haven't found what I'm looking for" springs to mind as another 56.4 song.

Whose heart is sad? His or mine? Or both?

In this case, the sadness is connected to bad timing.

Yet there is a deep sense of integrity (52?). Sticking to your own path, tao, even if it means renouncing something that seems pure & good.

Thank you Trojan and I hope you read this.
Your interpretation has helped me to gain a deeper insight into this situation.
Susannah xxxx
 

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