Hexagram 22 - Unchanging

[adamlll]

Hi All, and Happy New Year,

I am new to this forum. Discovered it a few days ago and have been very impressed with the variety and erudition of the readings and discussions. I have been practicing the Yijing for about 15 years now, and every January 1st I throw the coins for an outlook on the new year. Yesterday I received #22 with no changing lines. I've always been a bit at sea when it comes to unchanging hexagrams. RL Wing's workbook is the only translation I've seen that attempts to generalize about unchanging hexagrams, and for this one he says that although I can see perfection in the situation there is no correspondence to reality in my idealism. Essentially, I am fooling myself, blinded "by perfection of the stars in heaven," thinking they have some connection to the reality of my earthly life. Other readings I've done, using both this forum and various other translations (Huang. Wilhelm, and Kim-Anh Lim) have suggested more encouraging interpretations: that it is, simply, important to cultivate grace and beauty in exterior presentation and bring this "marketable" surface into harmony with inner integrity.

Just to give some context, I am a graduate student, on the job market (I have an interview later this week), and whether or not I get a job I will be wrapping up my dissertation this spring. If I don't get a job, or a postdoctoral fellowship, I will have to find a non-academic source of income by late summer, and then go on the market again in the fall. This, and the fact that I share a house with two people and am increasingly ready to live sans roommates, is what has the most potential to determine the overall tenor of my year.

Can anyone give me some insight into this hexagram in its static state? I appreciate any and all observations. Thank you!

Adam

 

[icastes]

22, if connected with the arts, is very good. Otherwise, for endeavors not connected with the arts is only good for small things. I would assume that a dissertation falls into the artistic category, unless you are doing something mechanical, etc.. That there are no moving lines means there is no dynamic at this point that will lead to a change in condition.

 

[sooo]

Hi Adam,

22, like all hexagrams, can be read through like peels of an onion, and our practical answer may lie anywhere within that sliding scale. It's up to us to apply it as deeply or as simply as we think Yi's answer applies or intends.

You've been into this 15 years, so I'm assuming you haven't just fallen off a turnip truck regarding all this.

LiSe's translation and commentary provides a sometimes unique look with some solid ground beneath them, and her h22 is one of them. In case you're not already familiar: http://www.yijing.nl/i_ching/hex_17-32/hex_e_22.htm I see she renamed it "flower power", which I think is more than a great euphemism for what others may call vain and insignificant.

To be beautiful may not necessarily involve the riches of ones heart, mind and soul, but then, it could.

If this was Yi's only answer to your question for 2011, I'd say you just need a little more polishing to bring out your inner luster. A bright flower isn't bright for no reason. It's bright to attract what it needs to proliferate.

This could be something as simple as the way you dress. Maybe your shoes could use more attention? If they shine along with your eyes and smile, you're set to go make the world your oyster, assuming you've retained what you've learned from your life and MBA studies; oh, and the Yijing, of course. If you wish to play the part of Hamlet, it's best not to wear a Babe Ruth costume, chuckle. Dress for the part you wish to play as though you are already that part. It really helps get in the door, so that your weightier knowledge and skills can operate and cooperate without resistance.

 

[adamlll]

Thanks icastes and sooo. Your feedback is illuminating, I like the idea of my appearance, broadly speaking, needing a little more luster.

 

[anarie]

Thank you Sooo for the link to LiSe's h22. Perhaps in unchanging mode, this flower-power is about blooming? at whatever level, 'the inner life' coming out.

 

[meng]

Thank you Sooo for the link to LiSe's h22. Perhaps in unchanging mode, this flower-power is about blooming? at whatever level, 'the inner life' coming out.

Idealistically, yes, though some can't help themselves by inferring only or primarily superficial and vain attributes to 22. I can not believe this great work would bother to dedicate 1/64th of its entirely to vanity and superficiality. Your description makes much more sense to me. Inner substance is where substance lives, and without it, all the external beauty in the world would be nothing. But if the flower has substance, and expresses that, that's a good 22 example, I believe.

There's two Desert Sage bushes in the yard. They can take a great deal of deprivation and months of scorching days. They have a gray appearance, and, speaking strictly of outer appearance, even the leaves are curled and tucked away. There's no sign of budding. But one to two days after I ground soaked both of those hearty plants, they exploded with beautiful pink flowers, their limbs turned rich brown/red, and they drew desert bees by the hundreds of thousands. It required two things: water, and even more important, Ti Ming. :bows:

(ps: I was sooo.)

 

[meng]

This looked like a ghost sage a day earlier. By the second day you could hear bees from far away.

 

[canislulu]

Meng speaks of Ti Ming. "Teaming" and "Timing"?

 

[meng]

Pardon the herky jerky movements, upload compression most likely. http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/Candid_X/?action=view&current=beeno-music.mp4 (turn volume up to hear symphony of bees) But this, to me, demonstrates 22 in its natural, and frequently hidden away form. This beauty comes from health, from strong life force and great reserve power within roots, dug into the sandy soil. Beauty and scent attract the bees. It so happens to attract our senses too.

 

[meng]

Meng speaks of Ti Ming. "Teaming" and "Timing"?

It's what I've called timing for decades, to accentuate the phenomena, and honor its importance, almost mythologically deitizing, or at least anthropomorphizing with the great name: Ti Ming

 

[bradford]

Can anyone give me some insight into this hexagram in its static state? I appreciate any and all observations. Thank you! Adam

Hi-
Try looking here at 22, particularly the key words and the notes section:
http://www.hermetica.info/GuaMing.htm
Grace is a pretty limited name for this Gua. Ornament is probably best, but
deeper, it's about the surface of things, how things appear and how important
that is to us. It's nearsightedness in a way that doesn't have the negative or
pejorative connotations of shortsightedness. It's fine for small things where
having the big picture isn't especially important.

 

[rodaki]

There's in the archives here a 21 reading I had about an accident my father had with a fish hook. While he was working on disentangling himself from it, I stood closely holding a strong light so that he could see (and praying inside that he wouldn't hurt any major muscles). When later I asked Yi, I got 22 plus lines for my part: not doing the heavy-handed biting through, yet having an equally important, even if milder, role in it. That experience was one of the most illuminating for me about the 21&22 pair . .

 

[Lankey]

Just thought I might add a recent experience of hex 22 unchanging. Yesterday evening I asked the I Ching what was in store for me next week in terms of my jobhunt, and received this hex. Had no idea what to make of it and pored over this thread a bit and the particular experiences people have had. Since things are looking pretty bleak for me right now, I wondered if it was a sign that the 'bleakness' is an illusion and that things are happening behind closed doors, or if it was trying to say that actually, things are exactly as they appear. I felt I needed more clarification.

Today I asked "Is Hex 22 unchanging trying to tell me that the supposed bleakness is illusory?" I received Hex 31.6 - 33 which seemed a pretty clear indication of "No - stop trying to intellectualise the answer"

Exasperated, I asked "What is Hex 22 trying to tell me?" And received 14.1.4.6 > 46 which is 2 very positive hexagrams with a set of very encouraging lines, particularly hex 14.6. It may mean things will improve on the job front, or simply that I manage to move back to my centre and recognise my gifts (or my inherent quality) during the week even if nothing else turns up.

I'll update in the thread when and if anything new happens because I think this is a particularly tough hexagram to get your head around.

 

[Lankey]

Dammit I meant to post in the 'official' unchanging 22 thread. Sorry all!