Hex 40+3 -> Hex 32

[troubledwater]

Hi,

I am travelling in the UK and will see my wife whom I missed very much in a few days. I can not change my schedule at all.Somehow, I feel very anxious and I asked the I Ching to comment on my current situation. When I posed the question, I always have the habit of specifying a time frame, in this case a couple of days. I received hex 40 with line 3 moving, resulting in hex 32.

This is far from clear to me, can someone help me with the interpretation please?

TroubledWater

 

[dobro p]

It means you should change your current approach, whatever that is.

40.3 talks about bearing responsibility in a situation, yet allowing yourself to be carried along by things somehow. This means that when the process reaches its climax, there'll be wrongdoing in someway. Carrying out what you think is right here involves either distress on your part or shame, and more likely the latter considering the rest of the line.

I don't know your situation well enough to comment on how 40.3 applies to it, but the indication is that it would be wise to stop letting yourself be carried along, and to shoulder the responsibility you've got here. You're going to have to decide what that means and how it translates into the experiences and events of your life.

Good luck.

 

[troubledwater]

Hi Dobro,

I think you are right! I have been worrying sick about my wife who has a depressive disorder and there is nothing I can do right now. I feel very trapped. Sometime the cross is very heavy to carry

Did you make this comment from personal experience (sorry I do not mean to be rude by any measure) or from intellectual understanding of the hex?

Thanks heaps,
Very troubled water

 

[dobro p]

I'm familiar with the text for 40.3.

 

[troubledwater]

Dobro,

Thanks again, I got this before but could not decifer it. I usually went wrong but when I have the same hexagram a few times, I learn the true meaning from past experience. I feel much better now that I know what to do.
By the way, does Hexagram 32 usually stand for marriage?

Troubled water

 

[dobro p]

It stands for persevering and continuing in the same way as you've been doing. Wilhelm sees some marital symbolism in there, but I don't (there's a touch of it in 32.5 maybe). But it can easily apply to a marriage, yeah, or any other situation in which you are constant and enduring. The main message of 32 is 'don't abandon the way you're treading now'.

The hexagrams that have the most obvious marriage symbolism are 53, 31 and 54 I think. But again, I think the Yi uses marriage as a symbol in those hexagrams. They can apply to something other than a marriage situation. Not only that, but just about any hexagram can apply to a real marriage situation in your life. The Yi's symbolic, which means it can apply to *anything*.

Having said that, the Yi sometimes gives you a symbol (like marriage) and means it to apply to the real life situation that matches the symbol - just to be playful and to keep you attentive. But usually, when you draw a line like 'wading the great river' it doesn't mean you're going to find yourself up to your waist in a body of water some time soon. It's symbolic. It's analogic.

 

[yly2pg1]

TW, i notice something interesting about what you write:

"I am travelling in the UK and will see my wife whom I missed very much in a few days. I can not change my schedule at all.Somehow, I feel very anxious and I asked the I Ching to comment on my current situation."

" I think you are right! I have been worrying sick about my wife who has a depressive disorder and there is nothing I can do right now. I feel very trapped. Sometime the cross is very heavy to carry"


By Steven Karcher's translation at line 3:

Bearing a burden and also riding in a carriage
This will involve outlaws in the end


Sound like reflecting your own situation?
Just my concern.
Give yourself a break. Take care!

 

[troubledwater]

Hi Dobro and Yly2pg1,
I am getting at what you are saying. It is interesting that just before I met my wife, I asked the Yi Ching whether I would meet my future wife soon, I got 17 moving to 32. After a year of great challenges, many people tried to break us up just because of the age differences between me and my wife. I had to walk away from all my possesion, basically bankrupt so that they will leave us alone. We got married in the most difficult situation. This is why I associate hex 32 to married. I may or may be wrong here.
Yly2pg1, I will definitely head your councel,

Many thanks and God Bless,


PS: It's good to feel I can communicate with other people like yourselves from this god forsaken part of the world

 

[dobro p]

The UK is godforsaken?

 

[troubledwater]

Dobro,

I have left the UK last night. I am in the Middle East...

The land is not bad but I am all by myself...

Looking forward to going home

Troubled Watered

 

[jeanystar]

The 32 hexgram is called "enduring Partnership" in one text...yes, refers to marriage as the primary symbol of enduring partnerships...31 is the hexagram associated with "mutual attraction" , the kind that precedes or results in marriage....but also a symbol, of course.