Blog post: Wanting

[hilary]

On the one hand…

…divination with Yi is not particularly about getting what you want. As a wise person pointed out recently in Reading Circle, it’s not life-as-catalogue:

‘I want that person/ this experience/ that possession, so how do I get it?’

We need to be at least somewhat aware of the possibility that maybe we can’t get whatever (or whoever) it is, as maybe this is not for us, or maybe it’s not the kind of thing that can be ‘got’ quite as we imagine.

Talking with Yi has not so much to do with what we want and how to get it, it’s more to do with being introduced – gently or otherwise – to what’s real, and how to inhabit that fluently.

And on the other hand…

…divination with Yi is absolutely about knowing what you want. Not knowing what you want leads to asking questions about your career when you’re expiring from loneliness: distraction-questions, about anything other than the real issue. Or it leads to asking endless questions about what someone else feels and wants, because it doesn’t feel safe to feel or want anything yourself yet.

And all this leads to colossal muddles in interpreting answers from an Oracle that will insist on talking to your whole self, wants and all, when you’re doing your level best to stuff great swathes of that self out of sight.

(I don’t mean this to sound as though we’re asking stupid questions…

There was a time when I thought that asking about someone else’s wants because you never dared to contemplate what you yourself might want was quite stupid, until I noticed myself doing exactly that, and at length. So clearly it can’t be stupid.)

The thing is, knowing what you want is not easy. Life is altogether smoother (not to mention flatter) if we stay on a nice even emotional keel and never find out. It’s just that the more I see, the more it seems that being in touch with what you want – ‘waking up the inner Wanter,’ as I think Pamela put it on her last call – is pretty much essential to divination.

So… in brief, Pamela Moss has another free call coming up. This one is specifically about ‘How to get clear about what matters most’ and has a lot to do with what you truly want. The call’s on Wednesday 26th at 12 noon Eastern time, which is 5pm for me here in the UK. *Have a look at this list to find your local time for the call and then by all means sign up for it. As before, there’ll be a recording (to be released after the call is replayed on Saturday). Pamela can be relied on to provide some solid, useable ideas that make this absolutely worth your time.

 

[Trojina]

You seem to be plugging Pamela Moss alot Hilary. It was the subject of your last blog post , now this one, wasn't it also in Friends notes and probably somewhere else.

Personally I think her slogans need updating . If she is as good as you say she is then "7 secret ways to grow your dreams' really lets her down IMO. Even removing the word 'secret' would be a start...because I have the feel these ways she has ...aren't really secrets at all...and even if they are...she just needs another slogan.

She doesn't actually say what she does either, by what means is she able to show you what you want, so she just seems to be a woman with a claim to have a secret which is presumably why the calls are free. Presumably the idea being once hooked the consumer will go back for more ....if you don't already know what you want after the call


It wouldn't be in her interests for people to figure what they want on the free call would it because then they wouldn't bother paying her to find out.

 

[pocossin]

…divination with Yi is not particularly about getting what you want.

That is a good point. The Yi may suggest a way to get what one wants, but imo it excels in exploring the significance of that want to the querent . What in the querent's nature has let the querent to this impasse?

 

[Tohpol]

Talking with Yi has not so much to do with what we want and how to get it, it’s more to do with being introduced – gently or otherwise – to what’s real, and how to inhabit that fluently.

Oh well said. :bows:

 

[hilary]

Yes, I'm plugging Pamela a fair bit - she has a series of three free calls, and I'm plugging each one. Brace yourself for at least one more mention. I agree utterly about the slogans and headlines... if it were more or less anyone else, I'd be too embarrassed to promote things called 'seven secrets' etc etc. Makes me want to hide under a rock. But it's Pamela, and she has a great big reservoir of insight and good sense and things people can actually use. Also, she isn't going to try to sell anyone anything unless they actually sign up for a one-on-one call with her about joining her 'Grow Your Dreams' thingy, and that's more of a 'would this work?' than a sales pitch.

I think it's entirely in her interests (and mine) that you find out what you want on the free call, as then you might join her premium programme to make progress towards getting it. OK, not you (Trojan) personally, I don't suppose, but someone might...

 

[sooo]

The "secret ways" bit may be her publisher's idea, if she has one. I once wrote an article for a radio trade magazine on negotiation, which required a rewrite. The publisher changed the headliner to something like "Now there are news ways to overcome objections blah blah." I just winced when I read it. There was nothing remotely new about what I wrote, even if somewhat new for the radio industry to employ, but it increased readership of the article and the magazine; it was part of their format for a reason: that this or that was always new. It's said the two (still) most powerful words in advertising are "new" and "improved". Lot of times it's neither, but might be both to someone, especially if they already bought into it in their mind. Call someone a horse enough times and they'll start looking for hay. But it may have nothing to do with the heart and mind of the actual author or creator.

 

[hilary]

The idea is that if you don't know it, it's a secret to you, just as if you know more than I do about x, you're an 'X Expert' for me.

Publishers - grin. Mine were really good, kind, patient people, but they wanted a subtitle like 'the easy way to predict your future' or some such.
Couldn't it just not have a subtitle? The original had always managed quite well without one, after all...
No - there can be no book without a subtitle nowadays.
OK. How about 'Book of Change' as a subtitle?
Nope. We want it to say something about predicting the future.
Erm...
... and so we worked our way towards the final version. I reckon it could've been much worse.

 

[pocossin]

You seem to be plugging Pamela Moss alot Hilary. It was the subject of your last blog post , now this one, wasn't it also in Friends notes and probably somewhere else.

Personally I think her slogans need updating . If she is as good as you say she is then "7 secret ways to grow your dreams' really lets her down IMO. Even removing the word 'secret' would be a start...because I have the feel these ways she has ...aren't really secrets at all...and even if they are...she just needs another slogan.

She doesn't actually say what she does either, by what means is she able to show you what you want, so she just seems to be a woman with a claim to have a secret which is presumably why the calls are free. Presumably the idea being once hooked the consumer will go back for more ....if you don't already know what you want after the call


It wouldn't be in her interests for people to figure what they want on the free call would it because then they wouldn't bother paying her to find out.

I've been thinkings about the "7 Secrets to Recharge Your Life and Grow Your Dreams". Must be cosmic order:

Saturn
Jupiter
Mars
Sun
Venus
Mercury
Moon

Giving this guidance:

1. Slow and steady wins the race.
2. Lightning needs only strikes once for some things.
3. Protect the weak spots.
4. Take your candle out from under your bushel.
5. Remember the flowers.
6. Help your friends.
7. Stay true to yourself.

So plugging Pamela is just applying Secret Number 6.

(If Pamela reads this she is welcome to use it.)

 

[sooo]

Then there's the secret of the 7 dwarfs (only Snow White knows it), but I think just 1 secret of the golden flower.

But seriously, giving a specific number to a method helps to focus attention, making the difficulty level seem more easily graspable and retain-able. Even 64 is something we mortals can get our head around.

 

[hilary]

...in a couple or three lifetimes, maybe...

 

[sooo]

...in a couple or three lifetimes, maybe...

Yes, but I really wonder about that. I know less for sure about it than I ever have, but it's no less useful or functional than it ever was. I'm not saying continuing Yi type education is a bad thing (gasp!), but I think that which is accumulated over time (lifetimes?), may serve to further hide its natural transparent grain, rather than reveal it. Sometimes it takes a year to get hold of the core of an idea, then a few years attaching, associating, expanding it, then ten years undoing all that stuff so you can lovingly touch the core again.

 

[hilary]

Yes, but I really wonder about that. I know less for sure about it than I ever have, but it's no less useful or functional than it ever was. I'm not saying continuing Yi type education is a bad thing (gasp!), but I think that which is accumulated over time (lifetimes?), may serve to further hide its natural transparent grain, rather than reveal it. Sometimes it takes a year to get hold of the core of an idea, then a few years attaching, associating, expanding it, then ten years undoing all that stuff so you can lovingly touch the core again.

:bows: