Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

[my_key]

I'm just throwing a pebble in the pond here........

I've been fascinated by this book for many years which clearly has a deep message for us all. It asks the question - "What is the answer to life the universe and everything?"

The answer comes out as 42.
Now what if this answer was came from somebody using I Ching.

What do you guys think to 42 - Increase/Augmenting /The Blessing being the answer to life the univrse and everything?

Mike

 

[martin]

If I remember correctly, computer Earth is still trying to figure out what the question was?

 

[rosada]

"The Universe is expanding"? So that explains it!

There was some classic quote from the Guide. What was it? Something about, "There is a theory that says when everything is in it's place" (or understood, or something), "this Universe will disappear and something even more strange and incomprehensible will take it's place. There is another theory that this has already happened."

 

[getojack]

If I remember correctly, computer Earth is still trying to figure out what the question was?

In a later book, (I forget which one), you find out that the question was "What's 6 times 8?"

 

[stevev]

And then there’s M Theory …

Or Membrane Theory which proposes multiple parallel quivering membranes, each time they touch they produce a Big Bang, of which there have been many. I think cosmological science has gone berserk !

I’m sticking with ... While Shiva dances !

 

[my_key]

"The Universe is expanding"? So that explains it!"

Hi Rosada

Your comment seems too simplistic when you look at what the hexagram is telling us in detail. What about life ....... a journey. a chance to learn - Wilhelm says" While observing how thunder and wind increase and strengthen each other, a man can note the way to self increase and self improvement.

He also mentions that "it indicates the spirit that alone has power to help the world".
I think there is a strong spiritual message in here as well. Who would have thought THHGTTG was such a spiritual tome. Perhaps not on the same scale as THB ......but then again !!???

Maybe we need the Babelfish to help with the translation !!

Love and light

Mike

 

[my_key]

So the question is Conflict times Holding together

In a later book, (I forget which one), you find out that the question was "What's 6 times 8?"

Hi getojack

Applying the same principle we have the question -
Why is there always conflict and coming together ?

Answer: So that we can increase and develop.

It makes sense to me...................Spooky or what?

Mike

 

[rosada]

6 times 8 is 48.
6 times 7 is 42.

I was refering to a quote from "Annie Hall". There's a scene at the beginning where Woody Allen as a child is taken to his first psychiatrist because he's stopped doing his homework when he learns, "The Universe is expanding!"

 

[denis_m]

#22 Increase is a very complex hexagram---fitting for a universe that emerged, presumably, out of nothing. Here are some of the things this hexagram touches on:

* Forging ahead into the unknown (boldly going where no man...): 42.0
* Undertaking great enterprises: 42.1
* Being gifted with currency and/or sacred objects (tortoise shells strung in pairs): (42.1)
* Expression of theistic belief (the offering): 42.2
* Practice of religion through an intermediary (sacerdotalism): 42.2
* Dealing with disaster (developed societies are vulnerable to larger-scale disasters): (42.3)
* Striking an equlibrium in complex systems (walking in middle): 42.3
* The need to advise a leader about difficult issues: 42.3
* The need to bear credentials in order to be recognized (jade plaque): (42.3)
* Taking special projects in hand for the leader: 42.4
* Urban planning (moving the capital): 42:4
* Showing generosity and being rewarded for that by men of good faith: (42.5)
* Rapacious, obsessive self-aggrandizement putting oneself at danger: (42.6)
* The need to rein in other people's rampant power trips: (42.6)
Denis

 

[martin]

Before you YiJingers get too carried away, it seems that the author of the Guide wrote this when asked "why 42?":

"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story.

Best,
Douglas Adams
London, UK"

(http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.douglas-adams/msg/d1064f7b27808692)

 

[stevev]

Right, I'm never reading those books again, I thought he was inspired by a deep feeling of personal love for all beings and a cosmic insight into calculus !

 

[getojack]

6 times 8 is 48.
6 times 7 is 42.

Yes, that was the point... that the Universe is illogical.

 

[my_key]

Divine inspiration ?

Hi Martin

This sounds as great case of divine inspiration as i have ever heard. !! Good old Douglas touched by the hand of GOD. Or should that be Yi?

Mike