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Blog post: Book of (very big) stories

hilary

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This entry is part of 4 in the series Book of Stories
The fourth kind of Yijing story I mentioned when I first called it a ‘Book of Stories’*was

  • the huge narrative arcs of the Sequence – ‘you are here’ on the grand scale.
Which is an easy bullet-point to write, but not so easy to expand on. Also, I’m no longer entirely sure that ‘narrative’ is the best way to describe these bigger patterns: they’re not so much telling stories as*they’re revealing correspondences and relationships, conversations that bounce to and fro across the Sequence, not just unfolding in a straight line of ‘before’ and ‘after’.
Besides, what these bigger stories do for readings (at least for me, so far) is hard to describe. They place the reading in a big, broad context, and give you a sense of an underlying theme, which*colours the rest of the interpretation in ways you can’t really pin down.
Perhaps a couple of examples would help…

An example reading

Question: ‘What next with this work?’
Answer: Hexagram 3, Sprouting, changing at lines 1, 2, 5 and 6 to 4, Not Knowing.
Receiving a pair of hexagrams as an answer*offers rich food for thought, including an emphasis on this place in the Sequence: ‘You are here (nowhere else – only*here).’* ‘Here’ is, naturally, the very beginning of everything: growing, reaching out, exploring, experimenting. Something as simple as that is useful to know.
This hexagram pair also stands at the beginning of the Vessel Casting arc that reaches from 3 to 50, creating a ‘container’ for the hexagrams*in between, full of interesting reflections and symmetries – see the Vessel Casting posts. So the answer to ‘What next?’ is not only ‘Begin!’ but also ‘Begin casting – you’re creating the mould, the shape, for something solid, well-founded and potentially transformative.’

Another example reading

‘What about buying this webinar software?’
A ‘webinar’ is an online event accessible through your browser, normally a talk with slides with some Q&A. I haven’t really found a use for these in Clarity – too much broadcasting, not enough conversation – so when there was a special offer for lifetime access to a provider, I wasn’t that interested. But then again, considering it was lifetime access for something like the normal monthly fee, maybe I should think about it? So I asked Yi.
Answer: Hexagram 34, Great Vigour, changing at line 2 to 55, Abundance.
That was enough of a nudge that*I bought the offer – which is odd, since I still don’t really know what to do with it.
So… I might look at the big Sequence patterns to get an idea of where I am with this, or where I need to be. This one is part of a more complex pattern in the Sequence that I haven’t written about before, so bear with me…

‘Livestock hexagrams’, 25 to 34

Hexagram 34 is the last in a set of ten hexagrams, originally pointed out by Scott Davis as part of a pattern of hexagrams with ‘big’ and ‘little’ in their names. I’ve noticed two things that make this a distinct set: the trigrams, and the imagery.
Trigrams first: the central pivot of the set is the pair 29-30 – Repeating Chasms and Clarity, ‘below and above’ according to the*Zagua, water and fire. Flanking and reflecting across this centre are two pairs composed of the trigrams*wind, lake, thunder and mountain*(27-28 and 31-32), and the decade is framed by two pairs composed of*thunder/mountain with heaven*(25-26, 33-34). Perfect symmetry.
And imagery: there’s a lot in here about keeping livestock. (Livestock do show up elsewhere in the Yijing, but generally as offerings, whereas this decade concentrates specifically on farming.) The animals seem to be deliberately*placed, in the outer pairs – 25-26, 34 – and in the centre, where hexagram 30 refers to ‘rearing cattle’. (‘Rearing’ there is the same word translated ‘Taming’ or ‘Accumulating’ in the names of hexagrams 9 and 26.)

What*does that mean?

Well… I think there is an overarching theme for this 25-34 decade, about being guided in the use of power.
The outer hexagrams (25-26, 33-34) express a challenge: can you have a clear, functional relationship with heaven, in your action and stillness? You might call it ‘being in*dao’, being guided. How might someone attain that?
The central pair, 29-30, provides the key: there must be light, insight and culture, a framework of connections to think with – Hexagram 30’s net, that catches the bird. And this doesn’t mean detaching from or expelling what’s dark*and wild: 30 follows from 29,*as the suns are bathed and renewed each night in the pool at the end of the earth. Rearing cattle is good fortune: we need to include and tame nature, so we can build up*a resilient, flexible security that comes from inner resource, not from aggressive power.
The flanking pairs, 27-28 and 31-32, perhaps suggest the means: we could build a living structure to contain and nurture, and that might become a sustainable way of life.
Perhaps there could be a virtuous cycle: if you have sufficient understanding*to keep and rear livestock, then animal vitality can nourish and sustain*higher culture, which makes possible a more fully integrated*relationship with heaven, so you are guided to greater*insight and can exercise Great Vigour…

Applying the story to the reading

The trigrams of hexagram 34 really represent quite a tall order: heaven inside, absolute truth, to be translated into thunder’s action and initiative out in the world. Not easy, to apply all that energy without hubris and self-destruction; how am I to keep my horns out of hedges?*Or – to put this in terms of my question – how am I to use this quite high-powered marketing tool in a way that’s truthful, gentle, helpful and not obnoxious?
(It’s one of those tools*that’s regularly used to be thoroughly obnoxious, for instance by announcing a live event – ‘Show up now or miss out, there won’t be a recording!’ – and just setting a recording to play at the scheduled time, leaving unwitting visitors to wonder why the questions they submit in the ‘live’ chat aren’t answered. Ugh.)
The*big story*of the ‘livestock hexagrams’ is on a much grander scale than my little question about buying a webinar solution, of course –*it really makes the question look remarkably silly. But it also acts*as the individual steps of the Sequence often do, pointing me back towards what it takes, what’s required*before this hexagram.
Buying the webinar software means Great Vigour – but Great Vigour, in this context, isn’t just about what I own.*It’s about knowing how to use energetic resources, within a*living structure that secures*the connection between heaven and thunder, between inner truth and outward action.*For me that might mean business structures or the patterns of my working life – both, I should think. This’ll mean Great Vigour – once I’ve travelled through this process of learning, understanding, nurturing and building.
So*I still don’t know how to use webinars*– but after looking at the Sequence, I at least have a much clearer idea of*what it is I don’t know.
arch.jpg


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Liselle

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Perhaps there could be a virtuous cycle: if you have sufficient understanding*to keep and rear livestock, then animal vitality can nourish and sustain*higher culture, which makes possible a more fully integrated*relationship with heaven, so you are guided to greater*insight and can exercise Great Vigour…

You know what? :D Each part of this makes so much more sense when you put it all in context. I read the part about livestock in WikiWing, but mostly just thought, "okay...noted...". The reading, on its own - if it had been mine, I probably would have thought it didn't say much at all, let alone answer my question. I would have wondered, confusedly, "Constancy to what?" Buying it, since that was my question? Not buying it? (I haven't needed it so far, I don't know what I'd do with it now, keep on as I've been?) Great Strength zhi Mandate - okay, but is that just the framework, within which the line is saying...what, exactly? And could the 'great strength' be the money still in my pocket?"

I probably would have asked another (irritable) question, like "But should I buy it??".

In this larger scope of cattle-keeping, though, it's much easier to see and justify a conclusion of "yes - accumulate this - it will put you in a strong position - for whenever there might be a mandate in the future."

(Easier, that is, when you spoon-feed it. :eek:uch:)
 
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hilary

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I would have wondered, confusedly, "Constancy to what?" Buying it, since that was my question?
Yes, exactly. I default to this literal-minded approach whenever I can: if I ask for advice, the hexagram I receive will give me advice; if I ask 'what if I do the thing?' then the answer will be about what it would mean for me if I do the thing. Of course, Yi isn't obliged to give me a straight answer, but in general taking the readings this directly makes interpretation a whole lot simpler.
 

Trojina

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I've not read the blog properly yet....but am wondering what on earth the picture is and how it connects with anything in the blog ?
 

Trojina

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unless the point is you don't know what it is
 

TaoYinYang

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I wanted to offer my own insight & divination style in your webinar purchase reading.

As I understand the I Ching a changing line (or lines) supercede the hexagram text itself. So Power of the Great's second yang is not directly demonstrative of a great power. Instead its aspects are confined to its individual reading. Otherwise how else would it make sense when lines are at odds with a basic hexagram's text. So I would focus on the below (Wilhelm, for instance) to the exclusion of the hexagram's meaning.

"Nine in the second place means:
Perseverance brings good fortune.

The premise here is that the gates to success are beginning to open.
Resistance gives way and we forge ahead. This is the point at which, only too
easily, we become the prey of exuberant self-confidence. This is why the
oracle says that perseverance (i.e., perseverance in inner equilibrium, without
excessive use of power) brings good fortune."
 

TaoYinYang

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Furthermore, you arrive at Abundance, so two readings here. The line or lines changing & then the second hexagram. Abundance was indeed your confirmation.

I would disagree that the I Ching was offering advice. I think that was your interpretation and the I Ching foresaw that. The I Ching is more mapping out the direction things are going. It answered in a very small time frame. I find it can go back in time infinitely but only forward in time slightly.

If you want to understand my analysis of this read Wilhelm's translation of hexagram 16 Enthusiasm's text for its second yin change in Book 1.
 

Liselle

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I've not read the blog properly yet....but am wondering what on earth the picture is and how it connects with anything in the blog ?

I suspect it's the "overarching theme," or arc, idea.
 

Liselle

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If you want to understand my analysis of this read Wilhelm's translation of hexagram 16 Enthusiasm's text for its second yin change in Book 1.

I'm confused what 16.2 has to do with a 34.2 > 55 reading...would you explain, please, if you don't mind?
 

TaoYinYang

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16.2 explains the way the I Ching works. The hexagrams cast are the first trace movements of reality.

Not all of the omen applies but it answers it within:

"Six in the second place means:
Firm as a rock. Not a whole day.
Perseverance brings good fortune.

This describes a person who does not allow himself to be misled by any
illusions. While others are letting themselves be dazzled by enthusiasm, he
recognizes with perfect clarity the first signs of the time. Thus he neither
flatters those above nor neglects those beneath him; he is as firm as a rock.
When the first sign of discord appears, he knows the right moment for
withdrawing and does not delay even for a day. Perseverance in such conduct
will bring good fortune. Confucius says about this line:

To know the seeds, that is divine indeed. In his association with those above
him, the superior man does not flatter. In his association with those beneath
him, he is not arrogant. For he knows the seeds. The seeds are the first
imperceptible beginning of movement, the first trace of good fortune (or
misfortune) that shows itself. The superior man perceives the seeds and
immediately takes action. He does not wait even a whole day. In the Book of
Changes it is said: "Firm as a rock. Not a whole day. Perseverance brings
good fortune."
Firm as a rock, what need of a whole day?
The judgment can be known.
The superior man knows what is hidden and what is evident.
He knows weakness, he knows strength as well.
Hence the myriads look up to him."
 

hilary

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I've not read the blog properly yet....but am wondering what on earth the picture is and how it connects with anything in the blog ?
It's the arch of a suspension bridge. Make your own connections ;)

I wanted to offer my own insight & divination style in your webinar purchase reading.

As I understand the I Ching a changing line (or lines) supercede the hexagram text itself. So Power of the Great's second yang is not directly demonstrative of a great power. Instead its aspects are confined to its individual reading. Otherwise how else would it make sense when lines are at odds with a basic hexagram's text. So I would focus on the below (Wilhelm, for instance) to the exclusion of the hexagram's meaning.

"Nine in the second place means:
Perseverance brings good fortune.

The premise here is that the gates to success are beginning to open.
Resistance gives way and we forge ahead. This is the point at which, only too
easily, we become the prey of exuberant self-confidence. This is why the
oracle says that perseverance (i.e., perseverance in inner equilibrium, without
excessive use of power) brings good fortune."

First, thank you for diving in and adding your thoughts to the reading - I appreciate it!

About the lines taking precedence - yes, they do. But that doesn't make the hexagram that contains them irrelevant. My favourite analogy for this (apologies to those who have heard it 20 times before...) is that the cast hexagrams are like a map, and a moving line is like a 'you are here' pin in the map.

So the map pin might convey, 'You are at the tourist information office,' but it would still be very helpful to know whether you're at the tourist information office in Manchester or Sydney. Here the map pin says 'perseverance, good fortune', but perseverance in what? to what? and why is it fortunate here, when at other times and in other places it isn't? Those sorts of questions can be answered by looking at the context - starting with the cast hexagram. (For instance - 34 provides the energy that makes such steadiness of purpose possible, and also requires it, to stay out of hedges.)

As for 'how would it make sense when the lines are at odds with a basic hexagram's text?' - think of a map of the desert, and a map pin showing you are at the oasis. Or a map of a beautiful fertile valley, and a map pin showing you are just on the edge of the bog. Those examples illustrate why we say the line takes precedence: in the moment it would be most important to know about the bog and stop walking forward. But in the broader picture and longer term, you would also want to know about the valley, or the desert.

In the blog post I set out to illustrate one way of taking another step further back and looking at an even broader context.

16.2 explains the way the I Ching works. The hexagrams cast are the first trace movements of reality.

Not all of the omen applies but it answers it within:

"Six in the second place means:
Firm as a rock. Not a whole day.
Perseverance brings good fortune.

This describes a person who does not allow himself to be misled by any
illusions. While others are letting themselves be dazzled by enthusiasm, he
recognizes with perfect clarity the first signs of the time. Thus he neither
flatters those above nor neglects those beneath him; he is as firm as a rock.
When the first sign of discord appears, he knows the right moment for
withdrawing and does not delay even for a day. Perseverance in such conduct
will bring good fortune. Confucius says about this line:

To know the seeds, that is divine indeed. In his association with those above
him, the superior man does not flatter. In his association with those beneath
him, he is not arrogant. For he knows the seeds. The seeds are the first
imperceptible beginning of movement, the first trace of good fortune (or
misfortune) that shows itself. The superior man perceives the seeds and
immediately takes action. He does not wait even a whole day. In the Book of
Changes it is said: "Firm as a rock. Not a whole day. Perseverance brings
good fortune."
Firm as a rock, what need of a whole day?
The judgment can be known.
The superior man knows what is hidden and what is evident.
He knows weakness, he knows strength as well.
Hence the myriads look up to him."

Ah, I see what you're getting at. (Thank you, Lisa, for asking!) 'Knowing the seeds,' yes, and a reading that 'maps out the direction things are going' as you put it. But revealing the seeds and offering advice are not mutually exclusive things for a reading to do. It's remarkably hard not to benefit from advice in a predictive reading: if the prediction is 'this direction of travel leads into a deep pit with unusually hungry crocodiles,' then there is certainly implied advice to stop.

Think of reading-as-map again. 'You are here,' says the line: 'perseverance brings good fortune.' So the road you are walking along, or proposing to walk along (by making the purchase) leads in a good direction. The advice is to keep walking. And that's all the information I need to make the immediate decision and buy the webinar solution.

Then I would also like to know... what country is this road going through? What signs should I look out for? How will I be able to tell I'm still walking in the right direction? How far is it?

Or in other words - the seeds are good, but what are they the seeds of? What could grow from this?

Or in other words - OK, I buy the software, but what's it really for? Where does it fit in - or how can I start to work out where it fits in?

And to find answers to this kind of question, I need to explore the context of the line, including the cast hexagram, its position within it, and the hexagram it changes to. (And a few dozen other things, depending on how much I want to understand about the nature of those seeds.)
 

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