Can I Ching be wrong? (26,6)

[frodo]

I would expect that I Ching could be wrong - it would be somehow strange to believe that it should be *impossible* to throw the coins wrong.

I have received the very, very possitive line 26,6 as respons to two different questions.
Today I asked "How should Denmark behave in the actual crises" (Half of the muslim world is in rage towards Denmark because of some drawings of Muhammed in a newspaper).
How to understand that answer? OK, the hexagram itself makes perfect sense. But the line...: "Hence one attains the highway of heaven. Succes". Leading to 11eace.
Hm.... Right now it seems like Denmark is heading towards a catastrophe, it doesnt seem like a highway of heaven at least. But of couse, its hard to predict - especially about the future as a danish saying goes.

The other question was about a yound man who wanted my oppinion if it was a good idea for him to become a medical doctor.
He had rather unrealistic reasons for wanting this kind of profession and also seem to lack the resources needed for it. So I told him I though it was a bad idea. Afterwards I wanted to check if I Ching agreed, and asked "Should X become a doctor?" and got that line - 26,6.
Well, again...its hard to say if that would be "heaven" for him and his souroundings. But getting this line in my cast today again, when denmark faces such a crisis, makes me think that I Ching must have lost its mind! At least this doesnt reflect the present situation in any way.

 

[jesed]

Hi Frodo

Just in case the comment could be useful

You didn't ask "how Denmark IS BEHAVING in the actual crisis?" but "How SHOULD".
Therefore, the line IS NOT the description of the actual behavior, but the ideal behavior. Follow the Heaven's Path is, in deed, an ideal behavior in a crisis like the one you describe

The same applies to the second question: the "ideal" behavior when select a profession is to choose one that allows us to achieve the Heaven's Path in our own life (it means: the profession should be in accordance with our own Nature) And, of course, there is the posibility to understand that answer like: "yes, he should"

Best wishes

 

[jesed]

ps

When Einstein worked in Postal office, many people would said that he had unrealistic reasons and lack of resources needed for be a nuclear scientist.... don't you think?

But he followed his own Nature...

 

[bradford_h]

I see every reading not as a prediction but as a choice between two points of view or attitudes, usually one described metaphorically and the other only implied. So for me, no. But I can be wrong.

 

[frodo]

Hm... good point. No, I did not ask how denmark IS behaving. Maybe the meaning of the line is, that IF one acts in accordance with 26 (moderate and restraint oneself, take care, improving oneself)its the key to the highway to heaven.
But every book interpretates the line as if one is already at the highway.

Maybe, as the line is the last line, it means that there will be peace and succes *in the end* if sticking to the ideals in 26.

Looking at the "hidden cross lines": 25,1>12,1:11,6>26,6 then the hidden pair (the hidden pathway): 12,1:11,6 shows something that fits more into the situation. 11,6 says: "The city walls fall back into the moat. Use no army now. Issue commands only within your own city. Perserverance brings humiliation". Here peace (11) comes to an end. Violent opposition should be avoided. And the main pair 25,1:26,6 shows the connection between innocenct, sincere action and the "highway of heaven".
But this is really stretching to find SOME meaning to this cast.

 

[jesed]

Hi Frodo and Frodo

Well you know... there is always the question: one can derivate meaning from any hexagram; so, one can "fix" the way to get the answer according with one's own opinion

On the other hand, in the way I see it, the central issue is: the same text have diferent ways of been understanding, depending of the kind of question.

a) If you ask about the cause of some situation, the line points a past fact;
b) if you ask about a description of the present, the line points to actual facts;
c) if you ask for an advice, the line points the ideal behavior or the "don't-take-this-path" behaivor;
d) if you ask for a prediction, the line points a past-present-future fact that make the tendential hex would happen.

And so on

Because of that, the text needs to be apply at the light of the kind of question (local level, in Chris' lenguage)

Best wishes

 

[void]

The I Ching always provides 'an' answer because throwing the coins/casting sticks/marbles will always give you a hexagram. However my feeling is, and it is only a feeling, that just because you receive a hexagram from your casting, it doesn't mean the Yi Jing is actually talking to you. I feel its possible there may come times where hexgrams/answers received are meaningless because the Yi Jing is not communicating with you.

On the other hand it could be argued it is communicating but you're not understanding.

I lean towards the sense that there are times when communication is down. For myself I feel I can sense when communication is down, if I ignore this feeling and consult anyway answers may be meaningless.

I perceive the I Ching as a seperate entity from myself. I don't perceive it as my own higher intelligence (though it may be)or my subconscious (though it may be) therefore like any other being I don't always have access to it. Just like I don't always have access to any other being. Sometimes I'll call and they may not pick up, or they may not want to talk, or they may find me such a pain in the butt they'll fob me off with some excuse.

What I mean is I think sometimes we throw and we don't get an answer, because we're actually not 'in touch' with whatever we perceive as the one we are talking to. Whether that be conceptualised as the universe/higher self/sage entity/God or however we see Yi Jing.

When a person asks the same question a million times in a neurotic fashion, surely then answers become random/meaningless or they have ceased to address that question. Maybe they don't, I wouldn't argue about it, but thats my view at the moment.

Of course I can't say whats happening in Frodos example except of course when we keep getting the same answers to very different questions we know the YI JIng is trying to communicate a message we're not getting and in Frodos case may not have anything to do with Denmark or his friend being a doctor.

 

[bruce]

Frodo,

I think both Jesed and Brad have made strong points. I don't agree that every reading is conditional upon action or non-action, but I agree that the majority of times this is so. Sometimes I've experienced the answer as an inevitable prediction, but that is more rare.

I?m of the school that perceives sometimes Yi?s answer has nothing to do with our question, but goes to something more immediate and relevant within ourselves. This seems especially possible when asking about other people, or in this case, a country. If this is one of those ?sometimes?, 26.6 may have more to do with your own state of being than those others you had asked about. And 11 may be more about your own unity.

 

[frodo]

Thanks to you all.
Following your thoughts: I tend to think that I Ching responds more to whats really is on my mind (or are actual in my life right now).
And I must admit that the basic question for me these days are: Is it right to have a relationship to X? This was not what I asked I Ching, but as this is in the background all the time, I Ching might just as well respond to that?
(And I hope that Im on the highway to heaven with her ;-)

So does I Ching respond to the questions that the rationel mind decides the questions should be? I would find it more believable that it responds more to the more "uncounscious" level, than to "Now I shall tell you wbat I wanna know! Tell me about X! And afterward about Y! And I want the answers in that order!" .... I think the answers must come from "within" - Usually I only ask when the question is "in me", Im not sure I can decide that in my lunch break I will ask, as at time my pre-conscious mind probably will be filled with lost of othere "noice".