Camped on the left (from the blog)

[hilary]

…or ‘Where did Hilary go?’

Well… I sit myself down in front of a task and my brain goes on strike. It’s got quite radical about it: ‘Sit and stare at the screen all you like,’ it says, ‘but if you think anything useful is getting done here, you’ve got another think coming. Or you would have, if I weren’t on strike. See – nothing happening, is there?’

And there isn’t. It’s not as if there were a shortage of things to get done, either – but somewhere between my ears, the hamster has got off the emailreadingemailsitemaintenanceemailemailforumemailblogemailtranscriptsproductsemailwebsitesemailemailemail wheel, curled up and fallen asleep. I’m enjoying doing readings, and meeting deadlines by the skin of my teeth, but all the other things have been falling by the wayside.

Hm. I rather hoped this might be a cue that I should have a holiday, but of course it might just be a cue to give myself a good kick. Well, I’d find out if I asked Yi and it gave me hexagram 7, wouldn’t I?

So I asked Yi: ‘How to respond to this aversion to work?’

And Yi responded with hexagram 7 (heh…) changing at lines 4 and 6 to 64. So there is an army, yes, but it’s not yet across – and specifically, it’s camping on the left, no mistake. That’s a literal translation of what Wilhelm simply has as ‘retreat’, and Brad calls a ‘fallback encampment’. Exactly. So… despite the very amusing experience of getting hexagram 7, this is not time to try to kick myself into action. It’s OK not to fight this. I can relax from the campaign for a bit… and of course this line points, beautifully, towards 40, Release.

Another meaning of this line would be to stay in a defensible, supply-able position, not to overextend the army. (One of those intriguing notes in Lynn’s book connects this with the ideal position according to the Art of War.) Hence not, for instance, to commit myself to things I can’t carry through. This makes me feel better about not squeezing in a Yijing Class this year.

The other line in my reading is a bit more of a challenge:

‘The great leader has a mandate
To found a state and receive the households.
Don’t use small people.’

Gulp?

Clearly the sleeping-hamster-scenario doesn’t mean it’s time to wind the business down and become a librarian or something. It seems to be about expansion, community, and creating something self-sustaining.

The small people are raising an inner ruckus, and the connection between this line and Hexagram 4 – aka Being Clueless – has never been so apparent…

 

[Sparhawk]

It is called "postpartum depression," or, in your case, "post-publishing depression"

Hey, you've got the foot on the door, kick the darn door open and keep writing and publishing!

 

[Sparhawk]

BTW, that works for books. Unless you were a rabbit, I wouldn't suggest that for progeny...

 

[mythili]

7.6 has sometimes indicated to me that I need to delegate work to competent people. And sometimes it has meant that someone in a leadership position, e.g. dept chairman, has delegated work to me and a few others. So could it be that lines 4 and 6 are suggesting that you kick back for a bit and delegate work to others?

 

[rodaki]

hi Hilary,

sorry to read about your dry spell . . just an impression from this side: maybe 7.4 sets the stage and 7.6 gets into re-organizing the troops to conquer the strange, slippery land of non-combat? a whole new project altogether . .
(and doesn't 4 go very well with 64?)

if it's any consolation, what you've described is exactly what friends have experienced after finishing their phd's . . I think Luis said it right, it's post-project depression, if I may paraphrase

 

[bradford]

I think the authors had a little fun with Zuo3 as both left and back-up, and You4, right, as the main thing. When he "breaks the right arm" at 55.3, that's the main arm, not the spare, but at 36.2 he should treat being wounded in the left thigh only as an inconvenience.

With a similar mood and humor, we have the first eye and the last eye in a couple of places where the one-eyed still see. The remaining eye is more valuable than the first one lost, more important to protect, and this is crucial to understanding these lines.

 

[charly]

...
The other line in my reading is a bit more of a challenge:

‘The great leader has a mandate
To found a state and receive the households.
Don’t use small people.’

Gulp?

Clearly the sleeping-hamster-scenario doesn’t mean it’s time to wind the business down and become a librarian or something. It seems to be about expansion, community, and creating something self-sustaining.
…

Hi, Hilary:

You are not lazy, you can allow yourself a time without work, a contemplative time is not necessarily useless.

About the 6th. line:

大君有命‧
GREAT PRINCES HAVE FATES.
They cannot avoid it, they have to fulfill the fate commanded by their ancestors.
They have no freedom to choose.

開國承家‧
COUNTRY FATHERS HELD FAMILIES.
They were self made men.
They had no ancestors commanding over them, except maybe, a dragon, a bird or a rock.. No fate.
They had the opportunity to choose what they want to be.

小人勿用‧
LITTLE PEOPLE DON´T USE...
They are not acostumed to problems of richs.
They have only their own lives, their own proles.
​

The three sequences of four characters each are parallel.
Little People is of course a subject like Big Princes or Country Fathers.

I believe that "don´t use little people" is wrong, even maybe against the normal syntax.


MAKE LIKE THE COMMON PEOPLE AND ENJOY THE TIME WHEN YOU HAVE NOT TO WORK!

You are not a fat princess neither a country matron. Why not to enjoy?


All the best,


Charly.:bows:

P.D.
Luis has reason, but even without writing books, you would have the right.
Ch.

 

[hilary]

7.6 has sometimes indicated to me that I need to delegate work to competent people. And sometimes it has meant that someone in a leadership position, e.g. dept chairman, has delegated work to me and a few others. So could it be that lines 4 and 6 are suggesting that you kick back for a bit and delegate work to others?

Yes, pretty much - except that I have almost never delegated anything, and tend to create systems where I can't possibly delegate anything without feeling thoroughly guilty. In other words - see hexagram 4. Creating ways of doing things where delegation is actually normal and expected... all very new. No wonder I need some time camped on the left to wrap my head round this one.

hi Hilary,

sorry to read about your dry spell . . just an impression from this side: maybe 7.4 sets the stage and 7.6 gets into re-organizing the troops to conquer the strange, slippery land of non-combat? a whole new project altogether . .
(and doesn't 4 go very well with 64?)

if it's any consolation, what you've described is exactly what friends have experienced after finishing their phd's . . I think Luis said it right, it's post-project depression, if I may paraphrase

Yes, strange slippery lands and whole new projects - exactly the feeling of 7.6. 40, 4 and 64 all make perfect sense together.

...

小人勿用‧
LITTLE PEOPLE DON´T USE...
They are not acostumed to problems of richs.
They have only their own lives, their own proles.
​

The three sequences of four characters each are parallel.
Little People is of course a subject like Big Princes or Country Fathers.

I believe that "don´t use little people" is wrong, even maybe against the normal syntax.

That's an interesting point about the parallelism; not one I'd heard before. Anyone less 4-ed than me want to comment? 'Don't use small people' or 'not an omen for small people to use'?

 

[charly]

...
That's an interesting point about the parallelism; not one I'd heard before. Anyone less 4-ed than me want to comment? 'Don't use small people' or 'not an omen for small people to use'?

Hi Hilary:

I believe that the existtence of parallelisms in structure and in meaning allow us to get some hidden meanings using a sort of algebra. The better solutions are the more simple.

I´ve noted that when then syntax is straighforward and the sense disconfortable we use to try twisting the syntax as an intent to get more confortable senses.

Most of the time we get things almost bizarre.

I have some complicate intents. Nobody´s perfect.


All the best,

Charly

 

[pocossin]

Where did Hilary go?
7.4.6 > 64

An army marches on its stomach, and returns to camp for meals. Fiefs (line 6) produce food. 64 is the cooking pot (50) but empty (yin line 3). Trojan somewhere said you were weakening yourself by dieting, so I suspect the brain needs food.

 

[Trojina]

Where did Hilary go?
7.4.6 > 64

An army marches on its stomach, and returns to camp for meals. Fiefs (line 6) produce food. 64 is the cooking pot (50) but empty (yin line 3). Trojan somewhere said you were weakening yourself by dieting, so I suspect the brain needs food.

Hilarys answer is plain IMO. She should stop thinking abut the Yi at all and go on holiday and eat what she wants. She needs a complete break...In my take on the answer this means she may not even consult the Yi during the holiday. 7.6 clearly indicates she should go snow boarding in the alps...with plenty of chocolate...or some other activity very different from hamster wheel emailing...maybe a deep sea yoga diving holiday or something...This will restore her to normal functioning in due course...next spring proabably


I'm suprised noone else could see that in the answer.

Maybe we should give her time off till after Xmas...because Yi almost gave her time off right...in 7.4 ? And then it went on about mandates again ...which she mistakenly interpreted as 'do more work or delegate work' whereas she doesn't have the energy to delegate anything between November and March having the SAD thing ...Yi knew that and actually meant 'go on holiday Hilary'. Thats the mandate.

 

[rodaki]

The small people are raising an inner ruckus, and the connection between this line and Hexagram 4 – aka Being Clueless – has never been so apparent…

小人勿用‧
LITTLE PEOPLE DON´T USE...
They are not acostumed to problems of richs.
They have only their own lives, their own proles.
[/CENTER]

The three sequences of four characters each are parallel.
Little People is of course a subject like Big Princes or Country Fathers.

I believe that "don´t use little people" is wrong, even maybe against the normal syntax.

I know that Charly has his own intentions but I had another idea when I read his post . . I think the line says that after the war -and especially after the tactics of 7.5- nothing is really immature or inexperienced anymore, and neither are the combat skills to be left aside as useless in the new situation (iow, nothing is considered 'little' and no one is to be belittled). Instead everyone's capable of creating strong households and a new spirited generation/reality . . the only warning with it I think is to unlearn a bit the general/soldiers divide . . Bradford mentioned once how in 7 the soldiers were civilians, so in the end they just return to their previous state -it made me think of this for 7.6 . . assembling the parts differently you get different functions -now, is it only me that finds this really cool??

. . not that I disagree with Trojan's idea on taking a break first

 

[tigerintheboat]

Someday My Prince Will Come

Yes, pretty much - except that I have almost never delegated anything, and tend to create systems where I can't possibly delegate anything without feeling thoroughly guilty. In other words - see hexagram 4. Creating ways of doing things where delegation is actually normal and expected... all very new. No wonder I need some time camped on the left to wrap my head round this one.

H7.6 does not mean that you must delegate work to competent subordinates, just that is what a great prince does. The typical small business owner is not the "great prince", and hangs on desperately to all the business tasks, because no one else can do them right or she is too busy to explain to anybody else how to do them.

Based on discussions we have had in the past, you were playing the small business owner very convincingly, rebuffing my attempts to raise you to prince.

Not everyone has the right chemistry to play prince, true. But almost anyone who stays in the small business owner mode, doing everything, handling every little detail, etc, will ossify in that role over time and become less creative.

Tiger

 

[mythili]

Hilary, take Trojan's advice, for Pete's sake, and GO ON HOLIDAY! And dont just camp on the left, you'll miss out on all the scenery.................

 

[charly]

I know that Charly has his own intentions but I had another idea when I read his post . . I think the line says that after the war -and especially after the tactics of 7.5- nothing is really immature or inexperienced anymore...

Hi, Hilary:

Of course, after some experiences nobody remain unexperienced, nobody remain untouched.

I must recognize a mistake whe I said "I believe that it´s wrong" although maybe I believed it at this precise moment.

I ought to have said: "I believe that there are another valid readings, maybe even more simple and compliant with standard syntax".

Because in consultation we choose the syntax that better fits to the context. With respect to your consult I thinked: Hilary doesn´t belong to nobility (Am I wrong?) She is not a matron. In the equation of this line she is one of us, why wouldn´t they enjoy with a little pause in her work?

I only have an hypothesis: you love your work.

I have another notes on parallelism analysis but that is another story.


Yours,


Charly

 

[hilary]

Where did Hilary go?
7.4.6 > 64

An army marches on its stomach, and returns to camp for meals. Fiefs (line 6) produce food. 64 is the cooking pot (50) but empty (yin line 3). Trojan somewhere said you were weakening yourself by dieting, so I suspect the brain needs food.

Thank you. The brain is excellently well fed - living in the lap of luxury, in fact.

Hilarys answer is plain IMO. She should stop thinking abut the Yi at all and go on holiday and eat what she wants. She needs a complete break...In my take on the answer this means she may not even consult the Yi during the holiday. 7.6 clearly indicates she should go snow boarding in the alps...with plenty of chocolate...or some other activity very different from hamster wheel emailing...maybe a deep sea yoga diving holiday or something...This will restore her to normal functioning in due course...next spring proabably


I'm suprised noone else could see that in the answer.

Bizarre, I agree - especially the reference to chocolate, perfectly obvious to anyone with even a glimmer of intuitive sense...

Maybe we should give her time off till after Xmas...because Yi almost gave her time off right...in 7.4 ? And then it went on about mandates again ...which she mistakenly interpreted as 'do more work or delegate work' whereas she doesn't have the energy to delegate anything between November and March having the SAD thing ...Yi knew that and actually meant 'go on holiday Hilary'. Thats the mandate.

I'm certainly taking 7.4 as official Yi-endorsed time off. Only I suppose I haven't actually quite extended the meaning of that as far as 'holiday'... seems a bit extreme...

I know that Charly has his own intentions but I had another idea when I read his post . . I think the line says that after the war -and especially after the tactics of 7.5- nothing is really immature or inexperienced anymore, and neither are the combat skills to be left aside as useless in the new situation (iow, nothing is considered 'little' and no one is to be belittled). Instead everyone's capable of creating strong households and a new spirited generation/reality . . the only warning with it I think is to unlearn a bit the general/soldiers divide . . Bradford mentioned once how in 7 the soldiers were civilians, so in the end they just return to their previous state -it made me think of this for 7.6 . . assembling the parts differently you get different functions -now, is it only me that finds this really cool??

. . not that I disagree with Trojan's idea on taking a break first

I like that (video) image for 7.6, but would have to disagree on the 'nothing is immature or inexperienced' part. Generals, even mature and wrinkly ones who haven't been on holiday in a decade, are definitely not experienced in state-building.

H7.6 does not mean that you must delegate work to competent subordinates, just that is what a great prince does. The typical small business owner is not the "great prince", and hangs on desperately to all the business tasks, because no one else can do them right or she is too busy to explain to anybody else how to do them.

Based on discussions we have had in the past, you were playing the small business owner very convincingly, rebuffing my attempts to raise you to prince.

Not everyone has the right chemistry to play prince, true. But almost anyone who stays in the small business owner mode, doing everything, handling every little detail, etc, will ossify in that role over time and become less creative.

Tiger

Excuse me a moment while I check my computer & work space for Tiger's hidden cameras...

I can see my way to translating, 'Small people no use' as 'Advice like this is not going to be much use to the typical small business owner' or 'your typical small business owner isn't going to be much use in this scenario.' Either fits like a glove.

Hi, Hilary:

Of course, after some experiences nobody remain unexperienced, nobody remain untouched.

I must recognize a mistake whe I said "I believe that it´s wrong" although maybe I believed it at this precise moment.

I ought to have said: "I believe that there are another valid readings, maybe even more simple and compliant with standard syntax".

Maybe, but sometimes 'wrong' is a convenient shorthand for such niceties, don't you think?

Because in consultation we choose the syntax that better fits to the context. With respect to your consult I thinked: Hilary doesn´t belong to nobility (Am I wrong?) She is not a matron. In the equation of this line she is one of us, why wouldn´t they enjoy with a little pause in her work?

I only have an hypothesis: you love your work.

I have another notes on parallelism analysis but that is another story.


Yours,


Charly

Maybe another thread for the parallelism analysis? That's something I'm very interested in, at least when the hamster's awake. Also, I had 63.3 the other day on a related question, and that's the other place in the Yi with this same phrase.

As for great leaders... well, I think the line asks the question, 'Which are you?' Such small vv great lines often do. Sometimes it's a matter of choice, sometimes just of observation.

 

[rodaki]

I like that (video) image for 7.6, but would have to disagree on the 'nothing is immature or inexperienced' part. Generals, even mature and wrinkly ones who haven't been on holiday in a decade, are definitely not experienced in state-building.

this probably came out wrong -it's what happens if I write in a hurry, sorry abt that. What I meant, and what I will, somewhat stubbornly, stand by, it is that to me it looks that the tactics of combat and the skills bred by them are those very same ones used in building the state -say for example, basic steps like insightful appreciation, good planning and flexibility in execution -same principles, different application . . as for the 'great prince' and 'little people' categories, I see that people use them quantitatively but I tend to disagree . . I believe that someone can be a great prince even if a housewife, or remain a little person even as head of a CEO . . the titles are a matter of qualities for me, not of size or quantity (but that's the way I choose to see it, it doesn't mean it's the same all the time . .)

wishing you the most pleasurable recuperation!!

 

[charly]

...
Maybe another thread for the parallelism analysis? That's something I'm very interested in, at least when the hamster's awake. Also, I had 63.3 the other day on a related question, and that's the other place in the Yi with this same phrase.

As for great leaders... well, I think the line asks the question, 'Which are you?' Such small vv great lines often do. Sometimes it's a matter of choice, sometimes just of observation.

Hi Hilary:

Going by parts:

Parallelism:
I go to refresh 63.3 and tell you.

Hamsters:
They means MODESTY, but also (do you remember Tony Saroop?) PASSIONATE LOVE FOR FREEDOM.

Great Leaders:
You're a leader, of course, but where W/B translated LEADER the chinese text says DA JUN, say Great Prince or Great Ruler, not the guys that founded the nation (sometimes bandits like the founder of the Han dynasty, not always nobles) but the guys who inherited the government, nobles indeed.

Which are you?
I don't know you, but in my case sometimes there is an inner voice that tells me "you're a rat you're!"

Yours,


Charly

 

[heylise]

... The typical small business owner is not the "great prince", and hangs on desperately to all the business tasks, because no one else can do them right or she is too busy to explain to anybody else how to do them.
...
Not everyone has the right chemistry to play prince, true. But almost anyone who stays in the small business owner mode, doing everything, handling every little detail, etc, will ossify in that role over time and become less creative.

Tiger

Is there any course/book/guide whatever to get out of that mode?? I need that!! And please something which doesn't take even more of that time I never have, because 'see above'.
Going to print Hilary's 7 lines 4 and 6 - 64 in big bold script and hang it next to my bed. And next to my keyboard. And on the door of the fridge. Feels as if the solution is hidden in there (umm, not the fridge, in those lines).
And I promise to pass on any solution I find.

From I Ching by Hilary (Best one of all! See below!!! Get it!!!!!):

7.4 To camp on the left is to pull back to a position with an easy way of retreat. It is time for the army to stop, relax and recuperate. This is not a defeat or a surrender, but a pause to rethink. As the leader of your own campaign, you can safely free yourself for the moment from the necessity of marching onward, loosen your grip on command, and reconsider your strategies, directions and alliances.

7.6
The time for fighting is over; now the army’s energies must be redirected into building a new world. A more open time is coming, founded on sincere relationships, and there is a profusion of tasks and challenges – all of them new. The task is no longer to pursue a known objective, but to lay the foundations for unknowable future growth. There is no longer any place for aggressive responses, or for people who are reactive and think small. Don’t turn to such people; don’t call on your own inner ‘small person’.

I am on my way to new challenges, only problem is that I have no time for them. Not the block Hilary has, though it would be very good. Happy that I don't ... but also a bit jealous. If I "had to" stop running for some reason, one which leaves me free to dance on, toward all those things I REALLY want to do

I KNOW this is telling you to stop and relax and redirect yourself away from the right and to that nice calm left, because if I got that answer, I'd not doubt that for a moment.

 

[anemos]

H7.6 does not mean that you must delegate work to competent subordinates, just that is what a great prince does. The typical small business owner is not the "great prince", and hangs on desperately to all the business tasks, because no one else can do them right or she is too busy to explain to anybody else how to do them.

Based on discussions we have had in the past, you were playing the small business owner very convincingly, rebuffing my attempts to raise you to prince.

Not everyone has the right chemistry to play prince, true. But almost anyone who stays in the small business owner mode, doing everything, handling every little detail, etc, will ossify in that role over time and become less creative.

Tiger

Ouch Tiger ! :bag: been there, done that , have a closet full of this T-shirts.
Although with my mind, could understand everything, I "chose" to ingnore everything. Then my body "took charge" and explained everything to me, the hard way.

I can see now in 7.4 the friction's power. The survival instict/mechanism of the body that orders "seize fire".

W/B says "It is by no means a sign of courage or strength to insist upon engaging in a hopeless struggle regardless of circumstances."

and ,imo, this is the trap we fall into. nature has its own wisdom, and sometimes our thinking mind is just stupid. Looking at the seasons, we see why there is summer, winter, spring, fall. There are reasons. But we don't use natures ways, because we think ( or I think) we know better.

Will leave out uneccecary details, and just say that my mind those days has slow down. On the other hand, my body has a lots to say. The moments I trust it, things go well, the moments I mistrust it, I found myself in the trap.

militia is a corpse/body, clay and its the General that brings live, makes it functional.

umm, don't know if what i say makes sence. Quess thinking outlound , 'cause I just now realize another meaning of 7

 

[hilary]

Yes, makes sense. I'm also quite sure 7.4 is saying have a rest. What I also needed to hear is that this doesn't mean 'retire' or 'admit defeat' or anything like that - just do the sensible thing, rest, get supplied, untie the 'must always be doing everything and feeling very guilty about it' knots.

Glad I saw Sooo's post before it disappeared, too, as it made good sense - especially the part about just not knowing what's next, and not wasting what's supposed to be leisure time in guessing.