Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Hi, I have consulted the Ching in regards to a newly discovered pregnancy. I already have a very young son and am not sure whether adding another to the family would be a good decision right now.
It is a complicated situation that involves the father of my last child (my ex). He is pushing for an abortion (and can be very mercurial and manipulative). I am not opposed to the idea due to circumstances (and have considered it on my own), but do wish to make a decision that is universally best and that will be healthiest for myself and my son as well as being my own and not forced upon me.
I threw the following:
What should I do about this pregnancy? 44-with first and sixth lines changing
What to expect if I have an abortion? 26-with fourth and sixth lines changing
What to expect if I continue the pregnancy? 63-no changing lines
I am having a hard time interpreting...please help.
Hi, I have consulted the Ching in regards to a newly discovered pregnancy. I already have a very young son and am not sure whether adding another to the family would be a good decision right now.
It is a complicated situation that involves the father of my last child (my ex). He is pushing for an abortion (and can be very mercurial and manipulative). I am not opposed to the idea due to circumstances (and have considered it on my own), but do wish to make a decision that is universally best and that will be healthiest for myself and my son as well as being my own and not forced upon me.
I threw the following:
What should I do about this pregnancy? 44-with first and sixth lines changing
What to expect if I have an abortion? 26-with fourth and sixth lines changing
What to expect if I continue the pregnancy? 63-no changing lines
I am having a hard time interpreting...please help.
Hi, I have consulted the Ching in regards to a newly discovered pregnancy. I already have a very young son and am not sure whether adding another to the family would be a good decision right now.
It is a complicated situation that involves the father of my last child (my ex). He is pushing for an abortion (and can be very mercurial and manipulative). I am not opposed to the idea due to circumstances (and have considered it on my own), but do wish to make a decision that is universally best and that will be healthiest for myself and my son as well as being my own and not forced upon me.
I threw the following:
What should I do about this pregnancy? 44-with first and sixth lines changing
What to expect if I have an abortion? 26-with fourth and sixth lines changing
What to expect if I continue the pregnancy? 63-no changing lines
I am having a hard time interpreting...please help.
Rodaki and Trojan,
It is funny that you mention there is no right or wrong in this situation. i suppose it is accurate that I should not rely on outside influence to make this decision. I think that what I was hoping for in this is that it would help to clarify what I want, as I don't know. I was definitely not anticipating or expecting this situation...I am in a bit of shock right now.
Rodaki- Thank you for the advice. I think that my true concerns are how this would affect my son and if it would prevent me from taking care of him and myself properly. I have been trying to get a job in a new city and get a bit of a fresh start for us and I am worried that a new pregnancy may create more stagnancy (which has been an issue for me). Having a new baby made it difficult to get a full time job and also to create a healthy space between myself an his father (who lives a few blocks away). Perhaps a better question to ask would be how this will affect my son and whether having another child would be healthy and motivating as oppose to dragging me back into an unhealthy relationship and inhibiting growth that would be helpful for me an my child.
Icastes,
--snip--
There are some things that seem contradictory that I could like to ask about...
You stated..."Clearly, for children and family, these two hexagrams suggest that for family life and children, the situation is one of decline."
...does this mean declining the pregnancy?
"The question about the abortion itself is 26-4.6, which is a gathering up and accumulation, and the two moving lines are auspicious. The moving sixth line in particular promises a recovery. Moreover, the resultant hexagram, 34, provides influence, strength, and prestige that cannot be blocked. It basically says that for family life it is very good, unless you deviate in some way that will provide disharmony in the family. It could even lead to insolvency."
"The second question about the abortion itself seems to indicate that it is not a good idea. At the same time, the pregnancy question with 63 truly indicates that a continuation of the pregnancy will go well."
...these statements also seem contradictory and this is also what was confusing to me in regards to the hexagrams. It seems to say that the abortion would end well, but you state that it is not a good idea?
Really, all I want is that I do what is best for me an my son, who is my number one priority. I guess the ultimate thought that has been coming to me is that this keeps happening. Is it because it is a lesson I refuse to heed or because a pregnancy is meant to be? I do feel as though everything would work out in the long run either way...but that does not mean that there is not a choice that would be healthiest for everyone involved. Is there something I can ask that would helpful to clarify? Or...really...does it all come down to my making a decision an sticking to it?
Okay...well, I though about the questions I was asking and came to decide that it is bet to focus on how this affects my family (thank you all for your help). I threw new hexes, coming up with the following:
What effect will continuing this pregnancy have on my family?
64-with sixth line changing (a six). The End in Sight-Conflict
What effect will having an abortion have on my family?
11-with second line changing (a nine) and fifth line changing (a six) Peace-Aftermath
Both seem to work out okay (although I am fairly new at reading these)...although the changing lines bring up serious concerns? I am not sure of the meaning of this, especially after such a favorable first hex. Any input?
Right and proper is what an ancient Chinese sage or ruler would think. What is right and proper is very obvious in the Yijing when it comes to family. You do everything possible within what is right to expand and preserve that family. You would be hard pressed to interpret the Yi in any other way when it comes to family. The Yi is not relativistic. It does not accept situation ethics. The point is very simple: When you have bad fortune about a vast part of our lives, it is because we have not behaved properly. It is our bad choices that have put us in many bad circumstances. No in all, but in very many. However, there is nothing in the YIjing that says that all things are relative.
Right and proper is what an ancient Chinese sage or ruler would think. What is right and proper is very obvious in the Yijing when it comes to family. You do everything possible within what is right to expand and preserve that family. You would be hard pressed to interpret the Yi in any other way when it comes to family. The Yi is not relativistic. It does not accept situation ethics. The point is very simple: When you have bad fortune about a vast part of our lives, it is because we have not behaved properly. It is our bad choices that have put us in many bad circumstances. No in all, but in very many. However, there is nothing in the YIjing that says that all things are relative.
Right and proper is what an ancient Chinese sage or ruler would think. What is right and proper is very obvious in the Yijing when it comes to family. You do everything possible within what is right to expand and preserve that family. You would be hard pressed to interpret the Yi in any other way when it comes to family. The Yi is not relativistic. It does not accept situation ethics. The point is very simple: When you have bad fortune about a vast part of our lives, it is because we have not behaved properly. It is our bad choices that have put us in many bad circumstances. No in all, but in very many. However, there is nothing in the YIjing that says that all things are relative.
Essentially, 64 means that the family's fortunes are stagnant and not very good. Only after a long time will these fortunes turn around. The sixth moving line is a warning not to make any missteps that ought to be punished. Don't get in over your head, or else you will be punished. Again, 40 means that eventually time will correct the situation.
How would you know what an ancient Chinese sage would think ? Surely their thoughts weren't so predictable ?
By the same token Absolutism is always pretty dangerous, especially when related to a divination tool or religious, philosophical teachings. Dogmatism can descend, saturated in the perceived moral rectitude of the reader.
To digress for a moment why would you see hex 64 as meaning family fortunes are stagnant ? 64 doesn't seem stagnant to me. 64.6 refers to celebration, the warning being not to go too far in that celebration and undo any good fortune gained. There isn't anything referring to punishment in 64.6 as far as I can see, only a forfeit if you go too far but overall theres celebration
In general I agree with Dora, she said it best I think.
What I'm finding hard pressed to understand is how anyone can come up with such a rigid idea of how we should understand the IChing.
And while I find 'relativistic' a rather sloppy term in this discussion, I think that 'relatedness' is the basic building block and reason for using the IChing. Iow I find we basically consult it to discover what is the best way to relate to the reality that unfolds around us and what is the best way to interact with that fluid, dynamic reality. That is also the reason of using a random method to find our corresponding answers, or else, if things were as you claim, for an issue pertaining to family we would just proceed to read hexagram 37 and not go into the whole process of finding how other hexagrams relate to our situation and question.
And if that was what happens, we would also have to admit that anyone consulting the IChing should do so on the premise of abiding to the social rules and norms and morals of a certain time in China instead of truly and fully interacting with life as we know and live it in the present.
And that of course would turn the IChing from a way to relate to our inner, higher selves to a religious or moral handbook, not much different from any other of that kind and as further removed as possible from what we know as a book on Changes.
So I guess my point is very simple: the way I have understood it so far, if there's anything that separates giving a reading from the IChing to just offering our own pre-determined ideas on how things should be, is exactly trying to find how any given reading relates to the unique, individual circumstances of the querent's life . .
If this were my own reading, I would take Hexagram 64.6 as indicative of the process of making this decision, being at a stage somewhat after the horse was let out of the barn, feeling perhaps that I invite difficult consequences either way and wishing I wasn't standing in such a place, that this weren't the question, nor the answer, that was required of me to bring closure. This line always strikes me as someone distraught, somebody who is pushed to the edge of whatever they know before the answer, or the next cycle of life, comes along. I often get this for somebody who is staying up all night pondering until they are worn out, or just plain tying one on because they are at the edge of their rope.
And that's where I can see the order, the Peace of hexagram 11 coming along. There's a saying, don't know where it came from: "If Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy." And I think most of what goes on in a family relates to that. If you have peace, the family has peace. And of course that relates to the Mama being a fairly centred person who just wants what's best for everybody concerned and it sounds like you are turning yourself this way, and that, trying to be just such a person.
I don't know the answer, for you, to the issue you face. I would know for myself, but that's got nothing to do with you enquiring from the IChing. What happened in China thousands of years ago in a culture that was nothing like we can imagine can't be the answer either. Even China today would be baffling to most Westerners and, were we to respond to that culture's dictates most of us would be dissatisfied with the outcome I believe. I can only think that the IChing isn't entirely culturally dependent, but a means of divination that responds to patterns of order and rightness in a more flexible way. Whatever the Yi means to you, I sincerely wish you the peace that Hexagram 11 would say you are entitled to and soon to claim. XO Arabella
64, not yet across, is the state of disorder that proceeds order. Not one single line celebrates, although line 4 promises a good end after a long time. The sixth line is not about celebration, but about self-control and moderation and good sense. Hence, the situation here is one where the family is in disorder, thus stagnation. Order begins with 3, and moves from there.
They left many writings for us to evaluate and analyze. Haven't you read them?
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).