Hexagram 18 Unchanging re: new apartment

[jenbooks]

I have browsed the long thread from a decade ago on Hexagram 18 UC.
It's the first time I've gotten it.
This is in regards to a beautiful 2 bedroom apt in a historic building for which I signed a lease. I had originally put a deposit down in October on the only apt available at that time, a studio, with the promise that doing so would put us at the top of the waiting list for the coveted 2 bedroom 2 balcony line. The current owners renovate when an apartment vacates. The studio shower line was caked with minerals and the flow was poor. He said they would go through another apartment instead of having to break through the floor etc, then he said it would only require a small hole. Meanwhile I told him about my environmental sensitivities and I would need to pay for my own nontoxic paint (although, I did not realize how no voc paints are now available everywhere including Lowes and Home Depot) and sent him a paint wheel.

It took them six months to actually fix it as they finally figured out the only solution was to run a feeder line from three floors up, which meant breaking into walls in 4 apartments. They opened up a huge hole in the bathroom, half the wall. I'm environmentally sensitive and this didn't make me happy. Lots of dust and they left it open. In the meantime, a one bedroom opened up. However when I went to look at it I smelled cigarette smoke and it turns out the tenant next door is a chain smoker. Even though there's a no smoking rule in the lease. They said they would tell her to smoke out the window but I thought that was unlikely to be enforceable so I passed.

Another one bedroom opened up during this waiting period. I went to look at it and the manager who is actually a super nice guy but perhaps disorganized said why don't you just take the 2 bedroom its only $200 more. I said what 2 bedroom. It turns out a coveted 2 br with 2 balconies had opened up and they'd already renovated most of it. Including with cheap contractor's paint. I knew that was going to be a serious problem for me but I liked the apt so much I decided to take it, thinking it would offgas over time, and/or I could bake it out or seal it. Meanwhile I bought reversible window fans, we opened the windows, had them on low, and kept one balcony door open for the last month.

I decided against baking out after research because the building is 100 years old and there's lead paint under there, oil based, and who knows what i would wake up with a bakeout. Then when I took a look again yesterday the paint smell was as strong as ever. I know it will make me sick--the last time I used regular paint in a bedroom over twenty years ago I had joint pains that were really really painful for 6 months until it finally wore off.

I threw the I Ching and frankly my interpretation was that I am going to be unable to get situated in a home that syncs with my soul and self until I do more work on inherited patterns. That this crazy situation is a manifestation of the sins of the fathers. I don't feel I can easily fix the situation. The only sealer I know of that is tolerable is shellac and I thought we could hire someone to do all the glossy areas the painter remembers touching up (he doesn't remember exactly everything he did but he says he did all the trim and doors) but when I looked yesterday, the style of the rooms which are quite large, is to have little trim/molding running up and down the walls in various places creating huge 'squares' of space, and to shellac that would require taping--in fact--one would need to tape so excessively and extensively to not end up with shiny shellac on the beige paint that is inside those squares. I realized it would be a huge job and I still wouldn't know if I'd gotten the flat paint or where it was as he said he did "touchups" ie a wall here or there.

The only room that doesn't smell of paint is the bathroom. I see a nice grey paint on the walls there, which is one of the manager's favorite colors when offsetting white, and I would have been completely happy to have just taken the apt with no new paint or other renovations. It was already in good shape and the floors had been sanded and polyurethaned a year ago.

Any thoughts? I'm really upset as the apartment has views for 50 miles and my partner is even more upset as every time he was over there he asked after 2 bedroom availability. But I'm not mad at the manager, he's nice, he just is maybe not cut out for being very organized. I hadn't reminded him recently about a 2 BR as they were said to open up only very rarely and I can see why. The woman who was living there was transferred to a job in Texas or I'm sure she would not have left.

 

[Liselle]

Hi Jenbooks

Your apartment sounds beautiful! (I'm a bit jealous!)

Hexagram 18. Well first of all, you're asking about an apartment, not your immortal soul, so I think we can dispense with things like this -

I threw the I Ching and frankly my interpretation was that I am going to be unable to get situated in a home that syncs with my soul and self until I do more work on inherited patterns. That this crazy situation is a manifestation of the sins of the fathers.

It might be about that, but in a very mundane and practical way. You "inherited" the problems from the "fathers" who had the apartment before you (landlord?), and it might also refer to the fact that the apartment and building are very old. Old buildings have more problems (just like old people, unfortunately).

But I doubt Yi's talking about some sort of psychology.

18 is about corruption, and fixing corruption. It can be about poison, which fits quite well with what you're saying - the paint etc. is poisonous to you. Not that you'll die, but it makes you ill.

The Image part of the I Ching says this:

'Below the mountain is the wind. Corruption. A noble one rouses the people to nurture character.'

I don't know if you're familiar with the Image - it's talking about the trigrams of hexagram 18. The top 3 lines are the upper or outer trigram, and the lower 3 lines are the lower or inner trigram. In 18, the upper trigram is "mountain" (Gen) and the lower trigram is "wind (Xun). It's saying that air is trapped below a mountain, and it shouldn't be.

Hilary says this about it in her commentary:

The mountain traps and limits the movement of the wind, making for stale, unhealthy air – an invisible corruption, poisoning from within. But a noble one transforms this picture: he stirs people up like the wind, and nurtures their character like a sheltering mountain. This can work among people or within an individual: inner movement and awakening transform limitation into a protective covering for growth.

Since the Image is about trapped air, you might be exactly right that airing-out the apartment will take care of it. That sounds a lot easier than re-painting everything. The Oracle section has this part:

"Before the seed day, three days.
After the seed day, three days."

I'm never sure what to make of that exactly, but "seed day" is probably an action, and then there's a bit of time after that that's significant. Here's part of what Hilary says -

You will need to commit yourself to the journey, take the risk of crossing the great river into unknown territory to begin the work of change. And you will need to pay careful attention to the process. Before ‘seed day’, which marks the beginning of a new cycle of time, you’ll need to identify the source of the corruption and prepare for change. Afterwards, you need to pay attention to the needs of the new growth. Each of these phases has only a modest duration; you’re invited to attend and examine, but not to dwell on this change for a lifetime.

So take some time to figure things out and plan...then do something...then give it some more time... . Some good news, as Hilary points out - "three days" may or may not be literally three days, but it's "a modest duration." It's not saying "three years," which is another time period mentioned in the I Ching.

Otherwise - if airing-out doesn't work and you have to re-paint - the Image also says that this can be transformed by "rousing the people." Maybe that means rousing your inner self to tackle it, or getting your landlord to do whatever might be his part to do, or maybe literally getting other people to help (friends, family, hiring someone - can you hire painters to just re-paint the whole darn apartment?) - I can't tell the specifics, but something like that.

This might all sound too simplistic and chirpy to you...I know you're saying it's a huge job...and also as I said I could be all wrong about it. Best wishes - I hope it works out!

 

[diamanda]

What was the question you asked?

 

[Liselle]

ACK. Did I entirely miss that we don't know the question? I did.

 

[jenbooks]

Hi Liselle, thanks for your kind thoughts.
I didn't explain the whole context here and why I'm pretty sure my interpretation is accurate--
I did give up the apartment today which utterly grieves me but its such a huge job to try and seal it all, and not sure what will work, and it would be expensive...I could lose quite a bit of money trying to make this all okay. But the manager and the owners really like me so I'm back on the waiting list for the next balcony apt (only one side has balconies), although I doubt I'll get another coveted 2 Br 2 balcony, but I'm going to work on it and also try to work on my sensitivities through what is known as "brain retraining". Im pretty bummed out now but the paint could take 6 mos to wear off, I think it's the glossy paint on all the doors and trim that may be the biggest issue, it seems smellier than even regular paint. And it's a shame as no voc paints are stocked these days in all the home improvement stores.

 

[jenbooks]

Hi Diamanda & Liselle, just an open ended question: What do I do about the (building name)?
In my mind that meant: do I just give up the lease, or do I try to fix the problem?

 

[jenbooks]

So, I cast again. I rarely use the Iching--I try not to overdo it but to really turn for advice on turning points and deeper embarkings.

So I think I have already changed the energy, which seemed somewhat immovable or daunting.
I simply asked: "What is the current energy now re: the building?" for living there --
I got hexagram 9 with lines four and five, and thus moving to hexagram 14.
So it's interesting than in 18 there was no wind--stagnation--ruined--spoilt.
Now I have wind moving clouds in but no rain, but if you look at different interpretations all assembled by James DeKorne, Wilhelm/Baynes says the wind drives across the heavens.
Later, Cleary: "When you encounter situations that obstruct you and bog you down, if you do not get resentful or bitter, but just nurture yourself to digest them, you will be successful … Indeed, events and situations that formerly obstructed you can become means of self-development; this is how you succeed …"

So moving to 14 Great Possession is really interesting. Maybe six months or a year from now I'll get another one of those two bedrooms! (though they rarely come up empty) but in the meanwhile maybe something more modest in the building will come up.