Hexagram 60.1.3.4.6 to 44

[tinybones]

Hello everyone, I have been reading this forum for a while but I have never had a reason to post here before. I am in a situation that I am having a lot of trouble thinking about in a straightforward way and I need help interpreting this hexagram.

I have been unemployed for the past 2 months or so. I have enough savings to get me through the next two and a half months, but the pressure is really getting to me. The first month was great, because I left a very stressful job that I was bad at and I had high hopes for landing a temp job, plus a nice cushion of savings and very low monthly expenses. However, the anxiety is setting in and I am at a very low point emotionally. Though I have had two interviews so far I haven't even been able to land a temp job. I am applying to other jobs but haven't even gotten an interview. I am seriously considering moving back in with one of my parents, which would not be a good situation for me at all.

I asked the iChing "what should I do to get myself out of this position" and received Hexagram 60 changing to 44.

I am honestly having a really difficult time interpreting because of the overwhelming anxiety I am feeling. I am having trouble thinking it through. 44 makes me think that even if I were to find a job soon that it would be a bad one.

Any insight anyone can offer is very appreciated.

 

[Trojina]

Hello everyone, I have been reading this forum for a while but I have never had a reason to post here before. I am in a situation that I am having a lot of trouble thinking about in a straightforward way and I need help interpreting this hexagram.

I have been unemployed for the past 2 months or so. I have enough savings to get me through the next two and a half months, but the pressure is really getting to me. The first month was great, because I left a very stressful job that I was bad at and I had high hopes for landing a temp job, plus a nice cushion of savings and very low monthly expenses. However, the anxiety is setting in and I am at a very low point emotionally. Though I have had two interviews so far I haven't even been able to land a temp job. I am applying to other jobs but haven't even gotten an interview. I am seriously considering moving back in with one of my parents, which would not be a good situation for me at all.

I asked the iChing "what should I do to get myself out of this position" and received Hexagram 60 changing to 44.

I am honestly having a really difficult time interpreting because of the overwhelming anxiety I am feeling. I am having trouble thinking it through. 44 makes me think that even if I were to find a job soon that it would be a bad one.

Any insight anyone can offer is very appreciated.

Hi Tiny, well this seems a very odd cast to me. That is it's not a combination that makes immediate sense at all...so I went to wash the dishes while I thought about it.

Hexagram 60 asks one to define things, to set limits on things that are acceptable, workable, palatable. Hmmm hexagram 44 is not one it would be easy to set such restrictions upon ! You also have 4 moving lines with both line 1 and 6 moving. It almost looks like a net, or a grid placed over whatever the 44 is about here. Also your change patterns here are yang pattern 30 , yin pattern 29 (these are the hexagrams you get if you make all the change lines yang or yin) So again there is this dual theme of catching something, seeing something clearly and brightly defined (30) whilst at the same time all is feeling quite dark and uncertain, the swirling waters of 29.

So you asked what to do to get out of your position ? Hmmm. My sense of this is it's like you are asking 'how can I catch the wind ?' My sense of it is like you are trying to pin down or integrate something that cannot be pinned down or integrated in a 60ish way. You can try but it's like trying to peg a tent down (60) in a force 9 gale(44) Well if 44 is a powerful energy that is currently making itself felt in your life and you are trying to go on 'as usual' I'm not sure you can succeed until you have heard/felt/understood whatever this 44 is about for you ?


So I've no idea what the 44 is here. A strong energy which may have led to you leaving your last job for example ? A relationship that's pulling you around ? A creative impulse that badly needs expression ? A spiritual calling of some kind ? In this particular reading the 44 is shouting loud and clear over the 60. You are going on applying for jobs but there's something else in your life that is a lot more imposing and I have no idea what that is ? You don't marry the influence in 44 but you do mate with it in some readings and this is a reading where I feel the 44 calls for some exploration. Often 44 can be a reality that imposes itself, takes one over so I suppose that could be the pressure to find a job and the lines in 60 could be your attempts in that area. But overall my sense of this is that there is something else quite pressing you need to pay attention to. This reading gives me the feel of that phrase 'the elephant in the room'.. You know everyone is going on as normal but there is an elephant. Your reading looks to me like you are trying to go on as normal....except there's this 44ish elephant.

I think there are times you grasp what's happening (30) and other times when you feel completely adrift (29) but I'm not sure you can tether yourself effectively just yet.


It might be worth reading around 44 here, and also thinking about what drove you to leaving your last job. I think there's a clue there. I know you said it was stress but maybe also something else was trying to happen for you which couldn't while you were there ?

All I've given here is my sense of the reading but I have no idea how it could apply practically. It's not one of those readings where it's obvious what it is saying to you so others may have quite different ideas about this.

 

[tinybones]

Wow, thank you for this very thoughtful and thorough reply!

I am a little relieved that you also seem perplexed by this hexagram. Your take on it is definitely helpful, in that it is making me think more about my position and what might be holding me back. I'm wondering if this is telling me that I need to finally confront my issues with anxiety (it WAS one of the reasons I felt compelled to leave my last job). Or maybe that I won't be able to find a traditional job that will make me happy.... I am often inspired and compelled to work on my own projects but it's impossible to do when I have a day job. Most of my friends are working artists so I know it's possible, I have just always lacked the self-confidence to pursue it on my own and consider working a regular job to be the easy way out. Maybe that is no longer a sustainable option for me. Or maybe it's something else completely. This gives me a lot to think about, thank you again very much for your thoughtful response.

 

[loverofknowledge]

Hi, I have experienced, myself, similar situations as what you are going through.
Trojina's remarks are insightful.
I see it this way: 44 is creative but can be aggressive and obnoxious, because the weak line, at the bottom, is encroaching upon the strong lines, and will ultimately take them over.
44 may also mirror back to you the way you are feeling, as if there are encounters (like job prospects), that end up not satisfying you or leading anywhere.
What to do?
This impulse, or the fruitless and random encounters, must be disciplined. 60 is about discipline.
The reading is asking you to balance discipline with creativity or random-ness.
Your life situation mirrors back a lack of structure because these two parts of yourself are not harmonized.
Since you asked about how to get yourself out of your current position, the Yi is giving you advice about enacting regulations (or discipline).
I see 44 as the context of the inquiry (perhaps) or just as a complement to 60 rather than as the outcome. 60 leads you through stages: 60.1 stay in your front hall, meaning work on how you present yourself, and how you greet others. 6.3 : you are undisciplined,so you are lamenting, but it's good to lament, since then you can put in some better regulations; 6.4 wise discipline; 6.6 harsh discipline.
Don't be too harsh, be constant and wise.
What does discipline mean here? It can mean, disciplining your emotions (keeping faith and a positive attitude), it can mean accepting "reality" : you want to do your art, how will you do it? practically speaking? in reality? Are you willing to go live with your parents, if that' s an option? It is your life. Which practical scenario works best?
Or it could mean: allowing life to place restrictions on you,-- i.e. "here is where I am now, how can I accept this constraint as a learning experience? "
44 could be that part of you that is both creative and can be destructive. With proper discipline and regulation it will work in your favor. Or it could be a chaotic life situation that will fall more easily into place with wise structures on your part.

 

[tinybones]

Interesting! Maybe my problem with interpretation had more to do with how I was perceiving my question than the answer. I asked about "how to get out of my situation" thinking in the back of my mind, or in retrospect, that I was worried about finding a job. Maybe the real, more pressing issue is how to fix my anxiety and sadness? That certainly would be the problem that is most under my control. And fixing that issue could potentially lead to a solution to the other one... In the beginning of my unemployment I was certainly working harder to keep up a routine and focus on my work, but in the past few weeks I have let myself go and have been half-watching tv all day. Hmm I wonder if that is part of my problem? Thank you very much for your insights!

 

[tinybones]

Hi, I wanted to update the thread, even though this reading is still kind of a mystery to me. I found jobs here and there, took things that were easy to get basically, but hated the jobs and still struggled emotionally. About a year ago I got a job I'm super happy with, that improved my life considerably. It's the kind of job that I thought I for sure would never be able to get. I wonder if this reading was telling me to work within my restrictions towards something that seemed unattainable to me at the time?