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How to phrase this question?

rosada

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I have a driver's license but I don't drive. I did for awhile when I lived in a small town with very little traffic but I stopped pretty much completely about 20 years ago. I would like to be able to drive but it just seems more risky than is worth it. I want to ask the I Ching something along the lines of "How to become a more confident driver?" or "What will happen if I start driving again?" My real question is "Will I cause an accident or injury to myself or others if I drive?" but that's a yes or no question. Any thoughts? I'm trying to avoid asking multiple questions.
 

my_key

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How about " How can I safely return to driving after all these years?" or " What do I need to understand about starting driving again?" or " What precautions do I need to take or avoid causing accident or inury when I start driving again?"
 

knotxx

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I like that second one, "What do I need to understand about starting driving again?" For me that "what do I need to understand about . . . " is very often incredibly helpful. If I don't understand the answer sometimes I'll follow up with "What CAN I understand about . . . " and that works well too!
 

rosada

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Thank you, Knotxx. I'm going to sit a bit and then try that. (I'm too tired at the moment - just got back from walking to the grocery store!)
 

surnevs

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In this video, Harmen Mesker talks about questioning the Oracle, from about 11' (Rule nr. 7) in the video and on.


(If I do not remember wrong he even mentions that Yes/No questions are OK)
 
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rosada

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Now I wish he would make a series of videos with those kids acting out each line!
 

rosada

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Knoxx, thank you! I followed your advice and tried, "What do I need to understand about my driving?" I got 2.5.6 - 20 which I see as saying I'm okay when I drive where I'm comfortable. No need to be taking on strange cities or traveling farther than I feel I can visualize. Helpful!
 

surnevs

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"Should I participate ?" is a Yes/No question but I Ching will answer anyway - I mean, when consulting it I come with my worrying and no matter how I enunciate this worrying it's a communication that's understood by the Oracle.
(I know You got your question properly answered above, just to give my viewpoint on Yes/No questions. )
 

dfreed

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(Pre-postscript: looking above, I see you asked a question and got a useful response, so maybe take what I'm saying here as me 'waxing philosophical'.)

I'd ask you, what do you want? Do you want the Yi to decide for you - "yes or no, should I start driving again?" Or, are you asking so you can get more information about the overall situation and state of affairs: "I would like to be able to drive (again)...." - and then with more (and perhaps different) insights / information / perspective(s) you can decide what you want to do.

It seems you are leaning towards the latter ... so maybe your query can be (or be something like):

"I would like to be able to start to drive again .... "

I too do not like many queries posed all at once, or in rapid-fire succession. I start with one query / question / statement ... then sit with it / ponder it for a while and then see what I need ....

From the Dazhuan - The Great Treatise (from The Ten Wings):

Yi has no thought, no action.
It is inert and motionless;
but when activated it penetrates
every cause under heaven.


This is of course open to interpretation, but I think the way we 'activate' the Yi - and turn a plain ol' book into an oracle - is to pose a query / statement / question to it. And if you don't get the information you need, you can always 'activate' it again ....

There are many discussions and even lessons here about the best or proper way to 'ask a question' of the Yi. You probably guessed that I'm from the 'more open query' school, but a more important idea for me is this: there is nothing in this particular divination system - and how we work with and relate with the Yi - which requires any perfection or any sort of spiritual or divinitory correctness from us.

We try our best, even when we're ... Fumbling towards ecstasy

Best, d
 
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Trojina

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I have a driver's license but I don't drive. I did for awhile when I lived in a small town with very little traffic but I stopped pretty much completely about 20 years ago. I would like to be able to drive but it just seems more risky than is worth it. I want to ask the I Ching something along the lines of "How to become a more confident driver?" or "What will happen if I start driving again?" My real question is "Will I cause an accident or injury to myself or others if I drive?" but that's a yes or no question. Any thoughts? I'm trying to avoid asking multiple questions.


There is nothing wrong with yes/no questions since they are naturally how the mind forms questions and I do not think it is beyond Yi to cater to those questions. I've never had a problem with yes/no questions.

There's just too much unnecessary fuss altogether about yes/no questions so in your shoes I'd ask 'is it a good idea for me to drive again?' since that's what you want to know.

Asking 'How can I drive safely?' misses the point because if you ask that you already assumed you are going to drive and don't give Yi chance to talk about if it's a good idea.



I think good driving is often to do with anticipating what lies ahead....and behind. It's too easy to let one's mind drift and 25.6 (in other thread about this) shows exactly that, a drifting mind.
 

IrfanK

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If you asked a friend a yes/no question, it would be fine. And they'd probably reply by giving an opinion, some advice, share some experience. I think it's the same with the Yi. It's okay to ask yes/no questions, but you aren't going to get a yes/no answer. It's not what you're asking for anyway.
 

Trojina

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I manage to get yes/no answers easily.

'I really want to tell him this? should I?'
52uc no


I've never had a problem with yes/no questions, surely one can can read around and find the yes or no in the answer. It won't always boil down to a yes or a no but oftentimes it will. At least it will boil down enough to give you an idea.

Should I stay in today?
60.1 yes

I won't be stopping using yes/no questions they have served me well enough so when I see people saying 'don't' I just don't get it.

They may not be so easy to read when answering other people but that's no reason not to use them. In fact I think they should be used far more often it would save us from woolly questions with assumptions inside them. For example asking 'what is the gift of xxx?' is a bad question since it pre assumes there is one.


It's not like we have to have the exact right sentence to trust Yi knows what we mean. The question goes way beyond the words anyway.
 

surnevs

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I like this:
"....... It's not like we have to have the exact right sentence to trust Yi knows what we mean. The question goes way beyond the words anyway." (#12)

It's my experience too, that it goes far beyond words.
 

dfreed

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It's okay to ask yes/no questions, but you aren't going to get a yes/no answer.
I'd just amend that slightly -

"It's okay to ask yes/no questions, but sometimes you may not get just a yes/no answer."
 

my_key

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Yes / no questions work fine in most cases for the experienced reader. Their drawback can be for the less experienced querient where the matter of interpretation becomes more complex and normally involves a more circuitous route to meaning. Sometimes taking the querent into a place of paralysis by analysis and leaving the answer discarded among a host of notes deposited in the waste paper bin.

Q: Is Global warming a real issue?
A: 47.1 <> 58
confined <> opening
- Your buttocks are punished with a wooden rod.
You what????
 

Trojina

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Their drawback can be for the less experienced querient where the matter of interpretation becomes more complex and normally involves a more circuitous route to meaning.

Yes and for the less experienced reader the amount of buttocks in Yi can be quite disconcerting I imagine. They could well begin to think Yi had some kind of fetish
 

my_key

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Yes and for the less experienced reader the amount of buttocks in Yi can be quite disconcerting I imagine. They could well begin to think Yi had some kind of fetish
Are you saying Yi should carry an 'XXX' rating and a 'Government Health Warning'?
 

Trojina

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All I'm saying is there's an inordinate amount of buttocks in Yi though generally not on the front cover of any Yi book.

Hilary once told me she had a rather proper gentleman as a client to read for. I think it was his first Yi reading experience. However every single cast came up with buttocks and she was embarrassed that she had to talk so much about buttocks with this man :rofl: he may have thought she had an obsession to bring them up so much.

I mean you can imagine can't you. A client who isn't familiar with Yi, comes for a reading with a proper English lady like Hilary and she just talks about buttocks. I'd love to hear a recording.

If I have details wrong in the relating of this anecdote @hilary will correct me
 

rosada

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The #5 post from Serveos is a very helpful video from Harmen Mesker. Basically he is saying it doesn't matter how you phrase the question, what your state of mind is, how you are related to the subject, or what method you use - you will always get something of value from the answer if you look for it.
Wow, gonna have to re-think my whole approach!

(Haven't watched the second one yet...)
 

surnevs

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When a child comes to its parents with anxiety it doesn't really matter how it phrases it, the parents will understand... This is what briefly can be drawn out of the commentary attached here, from James Legges I Ching - The book of China.
% I find this commentary explaining the process of an I Ching consultation helpful.
 

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