Blog post: When Yi is neutral

[hilary]

A couple of months ago I wrote about*‘Essentials for Yijing readings‘*and included that old favourite hobby horse of mine:*the commentary is not the answer,*along*with some*examples of commentary – Wilhelm’s, Karcher’s and mine – that was decidedly not what the oracle said.
All three examples I came up with were from lines where Yi’s original words were strictly neutral – no value judgements at all: 9.3, 17.2 and 28.5.

‘A cart losing its wheel spokes.
Husband and wife avert their eyes.’
‘Bound to the small child,
Letting the mature man go.’
‘Withered willow sprouts flowers,
Venerable woman gets an upright husband.
No blame, no praise’
​

It seems especially hard to talk about these lines without adding our own value judgements, even without noticing we’re doing it.

‘Withered willow sprouts flowers,
Venerable woman gets an upright husband.
No blame, no praise’
​

Yi clearly and specifically says*no blame, no praise -*that this is not a situation that can be judged. And yet it’s fantastically difficult for us not to judge. The*older woman is not going to have children – so this*renewal and rejuvenation isn’t*productive, and unproductive things are*bad. We even make unfavourable comparison between the withered willow’s flowers and the shoots of line 2:*this may perhaps not be doing any harm, but it isn’t going anywhere; flowers may be*nice, but they’re not productive. Which is, of course, not true – but in any case, who decided productivity was an absolute standard?
Or take 17.2 *-

‘Bound to the small child,
Letting the mature man go.’
​

‘A mistake’ says Karcher; ‘throws himself away on unworthy friends’ says Wilhelm. Maturity and respectability, they assume, are always Good Things. And, naturally, they usually are; this is the same ‘mature man’ who brings good fortune and no mistake to the Army, in the oracle of Hexagram*7. But the line doesn’t say ‘misfortune’ or ‘shame’ or ‘constancy means regrets’ – it only describes holding to the child and letting the mature person go.
I recently saw this line describe a situation where ‘letting the mature man go’ was unquestionably the right course of action: the*established confidence of an elder*was not required; spontaneity*and the ability to learn were.**This is probably an unusual application – maybe*next time I see the line, I’ll need to change tack and cling to the mature one. The thing is – I don’t know which way will be right, and the line doesn’t say.
And back to 9.3 -

‘A cart losing its wheel spokes.
Husband and wife avert their eyes.’
​

Maybe I’m the only one who turned this into a sign of ‘total collapse’ – and that would be because I set a high value on clear and open communication, so its absence seems to me to be obviously a Bad Thing. Only… again… the line doesn’t say so; it doesn’t say ‘pitfall’ or ‘shame’ or even ‘constancy, regrets’. It just describes a situation where connection is lost and progress cannot be made (because the wheel without spokes won’t turn).
Here are two (originally public) readings from my logs of experiences with this line:
He has started a new company, asked for someone’s business, and is awaiting their decision. How to act until they decide?
She’s in a long distance relationship, and he’s asked her to move in with him, leaving her family and job behind to become dependent on him. She only wants to take such a big step*if it’s likely to lead to marriage, but doesn’t want to ask him his intentions. Would moving in with him lead to a proposal?
You can see the basic dynamics of the line in both these situations. There is a great weight of emotion and need – for new business, for relationship security – and it’s not being communicated. We might think*that in the first case it’s better not communicated (‘I really need you to decide, I have bank loans to repay!’ – true and sincere but unlikely to help matters…), while in the second, communication is vital before she even thinks about acting. But the line doesn’t say either of those things.
And that, I think, is part of what it means to get into conversation with Yi and respond to a reading: finding our own emotional-moral-intuitive response to the images it offers. Jumping to the commentary can mean missing that moment of connection altogether.
Anyway… when my publisher kindly gave me permission to include my translation/commentary*in the journal software, I leapt at the opportunity to make a few*changes. The commentary on Hexagram 9, line 3 now reads,
“Things come apart. The spokes are such a small component of the cart, yet when they’re lost it comes to a halt. Husband and wife avoid one another’s gaze: where you would expect communication and rapport, there is an inner disconnection.
There is more strain than the spokes can hold; there may be more truth, more emotional intensity, than the structures for communication can sustain. Sometimes it’s wise to break the connection and let the wheels stop turning.”
I hope that’s better…

photo © Depositphotos.com/urban_light