Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Eight Reasons NOT To Use The I-Ching
4. Many times, the readings are wrong or do not work out the way we thought they would.
8. It is something man-made, so it gives us a false sense of (self-)confidence that if we follow the suggested behaviors, then we will obtain the outcome for which we have wished.
If i had to summarise it, it's just plain good old geeky fun - just a fun thing to do,
taking any of this seriously is, well, absurd, the way i see it. And yet... and
yet there's a lot to be said about the times that it's definitely spot on, and a lot to
be said about the times the I Ching has indeed helped lots of us a great deal, in
many different ways. So, what's the conclusion here? None! Sometimes we need it
sometimes we don't. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Oh well eh!
Eight Reasons NOT To Use The I-Ching
1. We're giving our power away (to some unseen forces).
2. We depend on something external to solve all of our problems instead of listening to our soul's input, or do a little detective work ourselves; we sell short our innate problem solving ability.
3. We waste needless energy trying to interpret the meaning.
4. Many times, the readings are wrong or do not work out the way we thought they would.
5. It encourages our pride and ego (ie. we read about the correct behavior for the 'superior man' (note: I mistook my username for something else when I registered)); We become Pharisees.
6. We use it out of fear, or to avoid pain and failure (ie. the I Ching only talkks about how to behave so that we may come out successful and prosper in any particular situation); we discover the stairs (Truth) to the next level only by default of having tried to go through every door down the corridor.
7. We no longer need to train our 'third eye' and develop our intuition because we have the eChing to fulfill this role.
8. Through man's interpretation is the I-Ching is derived, so it gives us a false sense of (self-)confidence and (self-)reassurance when we attempt to use it as a ladder to climb to Heaven (or for spiritual attainment).
6. "We use it to avoid pain and failure."
Uh, and this is a bad thing because..?
rosada
I hope Superman you're posting this just cause you wants to stir up a little interesting discussion cause if you're seriously opposed to consulting the I Ching as an oracle I think you'll get faster results deabating the Bible with Born Again Christains or Gun Control with the NRA. In fact, it's kinda interesting reading your list applying these arguments to all sorts of things people turn to for guidance. One could look at it for everything from Eight Reasons NOT to Read The Bible
to Eight Reasons NOT to Read Road Maps to Eight Reasons NOT to Read Period. I guess it just depends on how much of a do it yourselfer one wants to to be in this lifetime.
Oh, I just see you have responded to my former post with a quote from Kipling. Okay, if you mean by this that you believe living life without any outside assistance is your ideal then I can see how you would find studying the I Ching - which I find to be is all about spiritual growth as a result of building group support - to not be your ideal path. Ah well, to each his own.
After looking over the list for a bit it occurs to me that the I Ching provides us with responses to these concerns. For example 4.3 could be the response to reason #1, a clear admonishment that in studying the I Ching one must not give away their power. 3.2 could answer your #2 concern and so forth.
rosada
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
--------
Six in the fourth place means:
He penetrates the left side of the belly.
One gets at the very heart of the darkening of the light.
Six at the top means:
Not light but darkness.
First he climbed up to heaven,
Then plunged into the depths of the earth.
Six at the top means:
Not light but darkness.
First he climbed up to heaven,
Then plunged into the depths of the earth.
So it would appear that humanity's ultimate goal is to be cast into the depths of Hades, after all is said and done??
I find it so amusing that almost everything in the poem IF is something I have been guided to by my use of the I Ching! It is so interesting that you used that poem, Superman!
.
1. Is that really a 'sin'?
2. We really need to open our eyes if we equate solid, broken, and changing lines with 'spiritual growth'.
8. Through man's interpretation is the I-Ching is derived, so it gives us a false sense of (self-)confidence and (self-)reassurance when we attempt to use it as a ladder to climb to Heaven (or for spiritual attainment).
If one relies solely on ANY words written in stone, even if in ones own mind, a false sense of confidence - which can be so excessive as to include cases of megalomania - is a possible unfortunate outcome. Even when the premise is grace, there's still the "I have it, you don't" tape that could be playing in the background of the falsely assured ones mind.
A university professor visited Zen master Nan-in to
inquire about Zen. But instead of listening to the master,
the scholar kept going on and on about his own ideas.
After listening for some time, Nan-in served tea. He
poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The
tea flowed over the sides of the cup, filled the saucer,
spilled onto the man’s pants and onto the floor.
“Don’t you see that the cup is full?” the professor
exploded. “You can’t get any more in!”
“Just so,” replied Nan-in calmly. “And like this cup, you
are full of your own ideas and opinions. How can I show
you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
I tell my skeptical husband that the Yi/I Ching helps me to think about things.
Wanted to get back to this. First, the underlined is to me a fascinating way to mine for the objective truth or lesson in any particular situation. Better known as the process of elimination. I believe the Yijing's answers are more direct than that. A round about answer wouldn't seem a timely solution during some kind of emotional tailspin, for example.
But, about the potential for dependency, and/or fear, I think you are right again, but no more so than the fear of falling short of salvation, or being left a broken clay pot clinging to a rope.
What really matters is what happens in us, not to us.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." Albert Einstein
We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
Chuang Tzu
"Luke put that [torpedo guidance system = I-Ching] away... Use the force!"
Psycho-cybernetics is the efficient mastering of small or minute mental course corrections, and is an integral function of the force. No one benefits from a spiritual loose cannon.
"religion is poison"
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).