58 UC The chosen road

[Hujambo]

With a little help from Hilary's Opening Questions document (I spent the day getting back to basics), I asked the following.

What is this road that I've chosen?
58 UC
The Joyous

Never had that one before.

Prior to asking the question I did a few pages of writing, jotting down everything that was racketing around my head without censoring. At the end I wrote this. I do not know how I will experience more joy - except that a day without drama or remembering/dwelling on my problems will feel comparatively, quite joyous. Is that the idea? To be happy despite... I don't want to be enslaved.

One the one hand I started the post just to share. On the other, after finishing my typing I find that I would be very grateful for any insights/interpretations.

 

[Trojina]

I don't know if you mean 'road' in general life terms or career terms here, it seems quite a broad question. Simply, I'd think it was to do with sharing, open communication, exchange, being open and responsive to others, bouncing lively ideas around, fun, laughter, talking, social liveliness. This isn't a sitting alone in your room and meditating kind of a hexagram. Actually it's very opposite, it's complement, is hexagram 52, so it isn't that. If you change all the lines of 58 you get 52, they are interdependent. One is quiet then one goes outwards. The road you have chosen shares and exchanges in lively communication. I very much believe the answer you actually cast is your answer however regardless of all the fancy patterns and associations and wotnot. These other things can help add dimensions to our understanding but they are not the actual answer. So this is 58uc plain and simple. Here's a thread on it if you haven't seen it http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/frie...eriences-with-Unchanging-Castings-Hexagram-58

Nice answer. Fun ! Open...sharing

Oh BTW where is this ?

With a little help from Hilary's Opening Questions document (I spent the day getting back to basics), I asked the following.

I thought it was part of her beginners course or maybe this is from the free beginners course ? I'm just curious.

 

[Lavalamp]

You are the road to happiness.

- LL

 

[bradford]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism

 

[Hujambo]

Hi Trojina & lavalamp

It's from the going deeper section of the Friends Area ---> http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/members/deeper.php

My question was in relation to general life. I find myself in very difficult circumstances, every attempt to improve my situation has unexpected results, every thing I understood and believe is being challenged, re-examined and reassessed. There are a few internal decisions I made just prior to this period I am now going through. They seemed like subtle adjustments. This reading shows me that while previously I seemed close to living the life I wanted after a lifetime of challenging circumstances, there were in fact, fundamental errors of judgement based on my experience at that time. Unconscious incompetence.

So in a way, it was a question of, what is that I really want that would bring about the events of this time. Why is it necessary to walk this rocky road and not some other more peaceful one? Will it stay rocky? Where am I actually trying to go?

In this reading, perhaps the message is that I want to share with others that which is inside me (when I'm not feeling sorry for myself). Joy.

In hindsight, every day I witness the effects of my joy on others. Last night walking through the park, there were hundreds of white birds (seagulls maybe) all pecking at the ground. An unusual sight there. We had storms and lots of rain earlier in the day so the ground was very soft. I was delighted by this and took a photo. An older couple walked by. I grinned at them, pointed at the birds and said "it's a worm feast!" Their faces lit up, the man said "oh yes, that's what it is, I was wondering..." and they walked off smiling and chatting like a couple of carefree kids.

I love these moments. Being happy when everything is perfect feels as nothing compared to being joyous when everything is falling down around your ears. For me it's time to be grateful for this gift of life, for our overwhelming tendency and capacity for joy. This has long seemed to be my "mission" in life, whether I understood/accepted it or not. It's been consistent. Delighted faces are among the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Like attracts like, yet it also comes with it's opposite. Choosing which face to focus on. In simplistic terms, one connects me to the whole world, the other isolates me.

I interpret this as the road I've chosen is the cycle of joy. Especially now after I've read Trojina and lavalamp's comments. I thank you both for taking the time to share your insights with me.

Whenever I am engaged in mutually beneficial exchanges, arising from the place of joy, then it could be viewed as - I am actually living my dream in that particular moment.

 

[Hujambo]

Hi bradford, I just saw your response. Having a grand old time reading about Epicureanism. Who would have thought I'm on the road to an ancient "ism"...? Thank you!

 

[butterfly spider]

I am going to join you Hujambo -
Have a lovely day

 

[Hujambo]

Bradford, you are the bomb! A thousand times, thank you.
:bows:

I am now feeling as though I can probably deal with all stuff I have to. Once when I was standing in the horse stance for about an hour during Tai Chi/QiGong practice, there was a series of clicks that rippled along my spine as everything came into alignment. I am reminded of this when reviewing the effect of receiving Hex 58, pondering the meaning, then discovering Epicureanism. It really resonated with me. It isn't going to become my religion, but it did surprise the hell out of me...

I talked it over with a really good friend yesterday, we met for a wonderful feast at the local izakaya - a warm and friendly place where everyone knows my name. I introduced him to the wonderful delight that a native finger-lime can be...magical. I am flat broke, the day before I was drinking lots of water to try and quench the hunger pains. I am not evolved enough to live on prana, hehe. My friend laughed like I did when I told him there was a 2000 y/o 'ism" for the ideas we were both living our lives by. We probably thought we were the only two people in the world who had come to these kinds of ideas. Hilarious.

Astounding word of the day - hypolepsis. What hypolepsis is this, that you would find it reasonable to smack me over the head? Seriously though, the Hex 58 seems like a good way to approach my interactions with Yi.

Favourite, eye-opening, have-you-been-reading-my-mind, sections of the wikipedia article.

Epicurus believed that what he called "pleasure" is the greatest good, but the way to attain such pleasure is to live modestly and to gain knowledge of the workings of the world and the limits of one's desires. This led one to attain a state of tranquility (ataraxia) and freedom from fear, as well as absence of bodily pain (aponia). The combination of these two states is supposed to constitute happiness in its highest form.

To the Epicureans, virtue in itself had no value and was beneficial only when it served as a means to gain happiness. Reciprocity was recommended, not because it was divinely ordered or innately noble, but because it was personally beneficial. Friendships rested on the same mutual basis, that is, the pleasure resulting to the possessors. Epicurus laid great emphasis on developing friendships as the basis of a satisfying life.

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly (agreeing "neither to harm nor be harmed" and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.

Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get, and
What is terrible is easy to endure.

Hey Butterfly spider, thanks for the kind wishes. Hope you're travelling well and enjoying it all