A thought for today

[ann]

Hello,

I am new here and this is my first posting. I am also quite new to the I Ching.

I have been very 'down' in the last year. I have been freelancing quite successfully, but work has been slowly tailing off and really I can see that things have to change - but to what?? Yesterday was a bit of a crisis so this morning I thought I would try to be more positive. So I consulted the I Ching and asked 'What should I do today that is most positive for all of us?' (meaning me and my husband and children)

My answer was 14 Ta Yu with a change at line 1
(that seems (to me) contradict itself)

And that became 50 Ting.

Honestly the thing I feel I don't have is 'Possession in Great Measure' of anything - even a state of mind at the moment. I actually feel overwhelmed with studies, family responsibilities and money worries.

I should add that I find the two translations used at clarity very difficult for a novice. I use the Sarah Dening translation to help me understand and I'd be interested to know what people here - with a lot more experience than me - think of this.

I shall be very grateful for any help anyone can give and I hope I shall be able to help too as my understanding increases.

Thank you

 

[candid]

Hello and welcome, Ann!

I can relate exactly to what you're saying. I've received 14 and then lived through that change, and still asked myself; "what was so great about my measure in all that?" Its perplexing, until we consider that, its at those moments when we're not aware of our possession, but just give of them without thought of the outpouring, that we are in fact, rich.

We are also admonished to remember that we are to curb evil (or what is destructive) and further the good (that which enriches). We are going to be held accountable for our choices.

Nine at the beginning: You stand at the beginning of your movement. No harm has yet occurred, since no opportunities for mistakes have (yet) arisen. "It's only by remaining conscious of theses difficulties that one can keep inwardly free of possible arrogance and wastefulness, and thus in principle overcome all cause for blame."

#50 to the rescue! *chuckles* ahhhh God IS good!
"The ting serves in offering sacrifice to God. The highest earthly values must be sacrificed to the divine." It doesn't get any more bottom line than that, does it? To gain it, we have to give it up. To own it, we have to let it go. Cosmic recycling, perhaps.

50 also reminds us to consolidate our fate by making our position correct. Again, this throws the responsibility upon the choices we make.

14 to 50 strikes a beautiful chord.. it harmonizes in a minor key. The mystery being resolved only by our actions.

Again, let me welcome you to this group of friends I've been fortunate enough to find.

~Candid

 

[willow]

Hi Ann,

In the topic "Hi..new to this...please help??" the Sarah Dening book is discussed very positively. You can find that topic by clicking on the "Last Week" view, as Rosetattoo just popped in to say she was liking the book.

I don't have a reading for you, but I do notice that much about 50 (Cauldron) has to do with cooking. Your question shows that you care very much about providing for your family, and maybe the answer is gently pointing you toward what a great "possession" it is to have that family and care in the way that you do. You may not have much to put in it, but at least you have a cauldron. You may not have much to feed them, but at least you have a family. You may feel inadequate to the task, but still you are passionate about being a "cook."

The fact that you have been persevering in the freelance path for a year shows that you have strength and clarity (attributes of #14). And the fact that you are aware that something needs to change in order to keep going shows that you're in place that the first changing line seems to indicate: "If one remains conscious of difficulty,/ One remains without blame."

Best wishes, and I hope these are helpful thoughts,
Willow

 

[candid]

Hi Willow,

I just read you post and appreciate your own perspective and insight on it. Very beautiful. Thank you, as its expanded my own understanding as well.

~Candid

 

[ann]

Thank you both of you. I also wondered about both of the trigrams being about the need for positive thought (as opposed to rushing off and taking action). I'm aware that a lot of my 'self talk' these days is negative 'you don't, you should, you're not...' and I wondered if I'm being prodded to start the change by thinking more positively?

I do find the I Ching difficult - which is why I like the Sarah Dening translation - much more Plain English!

I really do appreciate your comments - thank you.

 

[willow]

Candid,
I guess we were writing at the same time, because your's wasn't there when I started. I liked your take too, and it reassured me that, though we may feel blind, at least we're examining the same elephant!

Ann,
Maybe that is the message, but, from my own experience with "shoulds" and with the feeling of more and more cares being piled on, I would just caution that you don't just take on "the need for positive thought" as another external demand that you must fulfill with your limited resources.

I may be wrong, but I think there is more of an emphasis here on allowing yourself to notice the positive, the resources, not a requirement that you generate them. So I would say the need for positive observation, not positive thought.

Back to the cooking image, if you're working on dinner, and discover that you can't make what you wanted to because you're missing important ingredients, the difference would be between insisting to yourself that you can too make that dish (positive thought), and feeling that you can still make dinner, it's just going to be something else...now what will that something else be...aha!...we could have...(positive observation)

Just my perspective...

 

[ann]

My goodness. You know, the number of times when I have cooked and been in precisely that situation - and you know what? I have absolutely no trouble in creating a different dish that's just as good! And you are right, I do like cooking and would like to be doing more entertaining people like I used to. By the way, I've been freelancing for nearly 10 years - it's all gone pear shaped in the last year.

I do find the I Ching extraordinarily difficult to follow myself. This evening while pondering my reasons for doing my course of study, I asked it 'What effect would it have on us if stopped doing this course' (largely because I feel exhausted with it). I got 46 with a change in line 2 making 15 Modesty. Now, to me, 46 seems to be saying 'just carry on, keep going and you'll be fine'. But the funniest thing is Willow, that the Sarah Dening translation of that line 2 says:
'You are not, on the face of it, in a strong position. Your RESOURCES are limited.'

Are you sure you didn't help write this??

Thank you for your time and your insight, it is very much appreciated.

 

[hilary]

Hello Ann!

Tuesday's are my 'day out', so I'm a little late here. Better that than never, I hope. I've really appreciated what has been written here, especially that insight about not adding on 'I must think more positively!' to the 'to-do list'!

Part of the ideogram for #14 - the 'Possession' bit - shows a hand holding a piece of meat or something. Commentators say perhaps it's possessing it, perhaps offering it. Aha! Perhaps you can't have one without the other - perhaps possessing actually means offering?

Yes, I like Sarah Dening very much also. The only proviso is that her book is ?just? a very good commentary - not a translation, you don't get the I Ching's actual words. Sometimes this won't be a problem, of course. At other times you might need to see the underlying stories and images the I Ching was using to link things together - not just the more abstract interpretations that come out of this.

Anyway, in 46, line 2, this is also about making an offering. But it's specifically the one you make in spring and early summer. Looking out of the window now with lots of food in the freezer, spring is glorious. But for a farming people, it was the moment when your supplies from last year ran low and nothing much had grown yet for you to eat. But you can see that things are growing - and your offering at this time, out of resources you can ill-afford to spend, is very much an act of faith in the future.

Actually, this seems rather a teasing image. I was going to write ?so there you go, taking the course is like making this offering?, when I suddenly remembered what you?d actually asked. Taking this answer literally, it looks as if giving up the course would be the spring offering. Hmmm.

I thought I?d include this moment just to prove that you are not the only one who finds this oracle difficult! Usually at this point I?d go away and sleep on it, and hopefully there would be some sort of clarity by morning - but I?ll see if I can push through to a resolution now.

Hexagram 46: pushing upward. There may be no insurmountable obstacles dropped into your path, but nor is good fortune dropped into your lap. You have to go to it: steadily, like a growing seed, ?building up small things to reach the high and great?. The Judgement is very encouraging - again, not in the sense of ?everything will go right? but in the sense of encouraging you to do things. You can ?make good use of seeing the Great Person.? OK, who?s that? Two possibilities: your own higher self and inner knowing, or another person who represents this and offers you the opportunity to move onward and upward. I?m slightly handicapped by not knowing what course this is you?re doing, but it seems to me that this - and the whole hexagram - could refer to the process of learning, and how it fits into your general desire to make things improve.
?No cares? - worrying is not so useful. ?Setting forth to the south, good fortune.? Moving on, acting to create what you want to see, to create the conditions for more progress - all this is good. It sounds (to me as if taking the course fits well with this.

Hexagram 15: humility, integrity and realism all rolled into one. Staying connected to reality - which as well as not being ?too full of yourself? can also mean not underestimating yourself, and especially not overestimating your own responsibilities. Really seeing yourself? and saying exactly what is there, neither more nor less. Shedding the roles that generate ?shoulds? and ?musts?. Beginning with Great Possession (#14), a mountain of real achievement, talent and purpose, and setting this in its context in the middle of the earth, using it to create equilibrium? This is not an easy hexagram to negotiate - it calls for great versatility and imagination. It sounds (to me) as if this is the attitude you?re trying to bring to the question of the course - do the resources really stretch that far, am I taking on too much?

Going back to the line, I remember that the spring offering is marked out by sincerity of spirit, not by the amount you offer. You don?t have to burn everything on that altar! A gesture to show your faith in all the growing things is enough. I expect you can translate this into action about the course, keeping commitment at realistic levels while still focussing on pushing upward. (Can it be suspended, rescheduled to make it more part time, subdivided into smaller goals??)

I hope this helps!

 

[ann]

Hilary, thank you so much for your thoughts and for taking so much trouble to reply. I am about to go out, so have printed your reply to think about it properly. Will come back later.

Thank you again.

 

[ann]

Hilary, I've thought about your answer a great deal. I'm still not sure whether or not to give up the course (which is an OU degree). However a couple of things you said certainly ring bells:

"Beginning with Great Possession (#14), a mountain of real achievement, talent and purpose, and setting this in its context in the middle of the earth, using it to create equilibrium? This is not an easy hexagram to negotiate - it calls for great versatility and imagination. It sounds (to me) as if this is the attitude you?re trying to bring to the question of the course - do the resources really stretch that far, am I taking on too much? "

I started doing the course - psychology - because it leads on from the teaching I have been doing freelancing. What I want to do is move on to more personalised teaching/training/whatever. Not to be a 'life coach', but certainly to help people through the fear, uncertainty and doubt that are so rife now. However the course is such a monumental undertaking when I am still working (though not as much as I'd like), and have a young family. It maybe that there are other ways to fulfill my strong intuitive feeling of the general direction in which I'd like to go. So, I think I will continue with the course for a little longer while also looking around and talking to some people to see if there may indeed be another way.

Again, thank you for your help, and I'll continue to use the I Ching. I just wish it were a little more direct sometimes!!