Coworker/boss went M.I.A, and I worry for the project and for myself: hex 38.1.4.6>7

[luckyseason]

Greetings!

For the whole of the past year I've been working with a friend on a project (he hired me, and we've been constructing things together for this past year. His rythm was always very on/off on the project, especially given that we live some 14 thousand kilometers apart, and been doing it through home office.

We had stipulated a contract that would finish now in june, and then it would be time to renegotiate, mostly because the project should by then be moving to it's next stage, and we would need a team of more than just us. Then last week he vanished like the Avatar when the world needed him most lol. I tried messaging, calling everyday and emailing, because I want to keep him updated on what I'm working on, but he never answered or replied to anything (again, he's sorta my boss and I think it's responsible trying to call and keep him updated). I'm trying to keep my spirits up and just working and doing my thing, but then anxiety began settling in for a number of reasons. Namely:
a- He's my friend and been missing, and had family members with health problems recently;
b- Right now, I'm sort of in a position where, if we don't renew our contract, I have to start looking for another job presto;

Cue in I-ching. Last week I got a hex 15.4.6, which I interpreted as "keep doing whatever you're doing". I kept doing my work, but now a week's gone by with no response.
So today I asked "what's happening to this work situation, bc there hasn't been a response and I am at a crossroad here",

HEX 38.1.4.6>738.1 - Leave him be for now, and don't fall for these anxiety feelings that things are going sour in the work relationship;
38.4 - Once more, keep doing what you're doing and he should join you shortly;
38.6 - You're allowing your mind play your worst case scenarios, chill;

And then Hex 7 - ??? I feel like Iching just gave me this song's lyrics. But maybe it's telling me the project is about to pick up steam since an army is a collective thing, which would be the next step.

Any insight is appreciated, thanks!

 

[rosada]

What was your first question? Just asking for a general comment or advice on how to navigate this odd behavior? Anyway I see these hexagrams as advising you..

15.4
Have a modest focus as in..
For now stay focused on what affects you specifically, the work relationship. His health and family issues are outside your realm. Then ask yourself, if you only knew him as your boss and not as a friend how would you handle this situation? If you have a boss because you have an agreement that runs through June and while there was talk of renewing the contract, that didn’t happen, and now the boss has disappeared, would you stick around hoping he’s going to comeback and hire you again? I don’t think so and so I think the “modest” thing to do here is to assume he has no further plans for your help. Assume you’ve completed your commitment.

15.6
Move on with a minimum of fanfare. If anyone is to blame for this bizarre ending it’s best if you just blame yourself for hanging on for so long and then..

56. Move on.

(P.S. Sometimes when we finally make up our minds and decide to go the other person feels it and runs back!)

(P.P.S. This doesn’t have to interfere with your friendship or caring about him - you are just ending the work connect as it seems it has run it’s course.)

 

[HansKr]

Your question is "what's happening to this work situation, bc there hasn't been a response and I am at a crossroad here". Your own interpretation is more about how you should deal with the fact that your colleague is currently unresponsive. Nothing wrong with that at all of course, but personally I would look at the answer more from "what's happening to this work situation, I am at a crossroad here" point of view.

H38 consists of trigram Fire above and Lake below. The flames of Fire move up and the water in Lake moves down. So there is no communication or interaction between these 2 trigrams, they move in opposite directions. I think this is a good depiction of the crossroad you are talking about and the fact that you cannot reach your friend/co-worker.

The pair H37/H38 is about order and communication or the lack of it. In H37 there is order and communication. Everyone knows their position and there is mutual communication. In H38, however, the opposite is the case, you are on your own and you have to know well when to trust or when to take action.
The answer has 3 moving yang lines, indicating that you want to do something in this situation, but these lines turn into yin lines which I would interpret as waiting and accepting the situation as it is.

The lower trigram Lake changes to Water. Water in a lake cannot flow freely, it has boundaries. The boundary in the Lake trigram is the 1st line and it is about ideas and plans you want to implement, actions you want to take, but this 1st line moving in trigram Lake causes you not to see things clearly, things are not as you think they are. The advice here is to let go (Water) of your ideas .
The text of this line says that “regret vanishes” and when you think you are losing something it comes back naturally. There is also talk of a horse and a horse in Chinese metaphysics is a yang animal, an animal of action. In other words, it is not advisable to do anything now, but if necessary then you can take action at a later time.

“I'm trying to keep my spirits up and just working and doing my thing, but then anxiety began settling in for a number of reasons.”

The above refers to trigram Fire and with 2 moving lines it results in trigram Earth. The text of both line 4 and line 6 talks about "Isolated through opposition". In both cases, isolation is the result of one's own actions. The change to trigram Earth shows that action or making a choice may not be the best option now. Trigram Earth, The Receiving, is about accepting and accommodating.

Alfred Huang writes in his comment on H7

In ancient China there was no special group of people maintained as an army, nor a specific class called soldiers. At that time, peasants and soldiers were combined into one group. In ordinary times, peasants worked the fields, and in the slack farming season they were given military training. Only during wartime were they called to defend their country. The ancients thought that keeping an army would cause trouble.​

Again, this raises the question of whether you should move to action already, Or that you should only do something when something is really going on. From what you write, the only fact is that your coworker is currently unavailable.

The text of the Judgement of H7 says "The Army needs perseverance and a strong leader." You indicate that you are at a crossroads and have all kinds of ideas and feelings at, and about this situation, so the way I see it is that H7 is advising you to take charge of your ideas and feelings. They are the so called Army in this case.

My interpretation of H38/H7 would be to wait and make decisions based on facts.

As always, take what resonates and leave the rest

 

[luckyseason]

Thank you Rosada and Hans_K for the replies. As always, what the iching told me came to pass (or rather, is happening now). He contacted me after a while, turns out he had a major mental breakdown/depressive episode. The following weeks (up until this reply I'm writing) have been of sparse contact, but many things became clear for me.

For now we keep working, without changing the contract. This means, I still get paid and keep doing whatever I can for the time being, flying solo, either until he fully decides to quit with the idea(which I think is still a possibility), or I reach my next goal. Turns out the one wanting to move on is actually me (lo and behold). The work itself has been feeling stagnant for some time. This especially rings true with Rosada's interpretation, and even though we keep working together for the time being, I'm moving on with the least amount of fanfarre. Still it's good that I do that because until I take the next step in the next six months, I, for some time, won't be left wanting. And the next step involves literally moving to another country, hence hex 56. Still, for now I operate on hex 15.4: keep plugging away.

As for Hans answer and hex 38.
First thing, he did call me eventually, and even though the situation was worrisome, Yi did tell me to chill as things would eventually resolve. I thing these opposing forces are moving me into action, and in a way, yes, inviting my Army to do that: I need to establish concrete plans. But also, as Hilary puts it into her text, I'm feeling myself outside the situation: I'm differentiating myself, looking from the outside in. This also speaks to the fact that right now I'm basically alone in this, as he still needs to keep his distance to collect his mind and decide what to do. Meanwhile, I do the same, knowing that opposition is there, and eventually I'll move on, of my own volition. No need to panic, no rush there, but trace your next step.

And also, I had an idea of this whole situation that might have been unrealistic from the start. He was always full of plans and hyping me up to them, but to no follow up. Now this too has changed, this opposition is allowing me to see where I want to go.

Thank you both once more for the replies

 

[DSoleil]

Thank you for the follow-up. It is very helpful. I'm in a very similar situation with a friend amd just received the same answer from Yi. I asked nearly the same question too! I just started a "pilot" position for a new role and their company. It's the beginning of the second week and my assignment is unclear. There's much about the job that's unclear, which in some ways is to be expected since it's a new role and they admitted they're not sure what they need. Bringing me on is a way to discover that. But they are unavailable, stressed, and not very communicative. I'm stressed because I need the job, but already there's difficulty with getting it off the ground and on-boarding. I'm trusting it will work out, but yet I'm unsure how to approach them. I worry about being too aggressive and then concerned about being too relaxed.

It's so important to have this kind of feedback especially when the similarity in context is so uncanny. I don't have a resolve yet, but appreciate the insight and direction.

Thanks @luckyseason