Intuition: What do people understand as its role in divination with I Ching?

[my_key]

In the book by John Blofeld " I Ching The Book of Change" at the foot of P70 he writes:

"Were intuition to be left out of account with our dealings with the Book of Change, the responses would still, in most cases, make good sense; but only their external meaning would be apparent; whereas those who have acquired a really high order of intuitive perception will sometimes discover level upon level of meaning and benefit accordingly"

I'm curious to hear what thoughts and opinions others have on this topic and, if willing, to share examples of intuition adding to their depth of understanding of a reading.

 

[HansKr]

I agree to some degree with what John Blofeld says. The reason I say "to some degree" is that I wonder to what extent intuition can be attributed to experience and "knowledge" or perhaps confused with it?

Personally, I think it is in the nature of the I Ching to allow "intuition" or at least something other than pure reason to play a role. The answer you receive is initially literally an image, the 6 lines forming a hexagram, but the Judgement, Image and line texts also evoke an image.
It is up to the person who consults the oracle to "translate" and relate those images to the question and the situation in which the question was asked.
Personally, I can't imagine this going only intellectually, but of course that could be different for everyone. When I draw the hexagram I receive as a response, there is always something that immediately strikes me and I then use that as an entry point to the first layer of interpretation. Is this intuition?

When I work with clients, this first layer is the beginning of a conversation in which I hear the client tell me things that I can relate to the hexagram, trigrams or moving lines. Perhaps "intuition" comes up the most here because in such a conversation I suddenly feel like going deeper into certain areas because I sense that the hexagram has an insight or answer to that.

...will sometimes discover level upon level of meaning and benefit accordingly

Here I totally agree. In my experience, the I Ching does not so much answer a question, but gives a multi-layered view of a situation, including insight and answers. One of the first things my teacher taught me when I started working with the I Ching some 30 years ago, was to let go of the question. The answer of the I Ching is like a diamond with many facets. A question causes you to see only 1 facet of the diamond and overlook the other facets. By letting go of the question you take some distance, so to speak, and see the other facets as well. Even without a question, or just a few keywords, the I Ching gives a perfect answer. He also taught me not to ask a second question about the same situation, not because it is "forbidden" or wrong, but because the answer to the question can be found in the original hexagram.

Recently a woman came for a consultation seeking insight into a conflict she was having with her 2 brothers over their father's inheritance. The answer from the I Ching was, almost ironically, H13.4 > H37. During the conversation that unfolded as a result of my explanation, I suddenly had a idea to ask her about what her relationship with her father had been like. (Here now comes my doubt between intuition and knowledge and experience. I know that trigram Heaven is associated with the father and also that when there is a moving line or lines in this trigram it can be about too much control, authoritarian behaviour, etc. so is asking about her father intuition or just knowledge and experience?).
She indicated that her father had been quite authoritarian and had quite old-fashioned ideas about women and work. This had kept her from turning her passion for painting into her profession, so she had abandoned painting altogether.
Now passion and making things visible are things associated with trigram Fire. So here was shown a new layer of H13.4.
Based on this information I combined the two subjects and I asked her if, in her perception, her brothers behaved in the same way as her father. She indicated that her brothers' behaviour indeed reminded her strongly of her father. As a result, she came to understand that the conflict with her brothers essentially stemmed from her relationship with her father and how she had allowed herself to be belittled by her father. Her brothers now tried to do the same again by keeping her out of the settlement of the estate, arguing that she wouldn't understand anyway.
Based on H37, I was able to tell her that this was the time to claim her rightful place in handling the inheritance, but also to follow her passion for painting again (trigram Wind is about spreading and putting things in motion).

More than one layer, but what role did intuition play here?

 

[my_key]

I agree to some degree with what John Blofeld says. The reason I say "to some degree" is that I wonder to what extent intuition can be attributed to experience and "knowledge" or perhaps confused with it?

There is always a grey area I'm sure. I like to go back to definitions and etymology of words to help navigate the dark alleyways when stepping into these liminal mazes between conscious and unconscious.
Intuition is "the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning": so it is something that resides innately within. The etymology of the word intuition is rooted in Latin with meanings of "spiritual insight or immediate spiritual communication".

So my take would be that intuition is not a learned or acquired knowledge that can be attributed to experiences. It is more a deeper insight that happens in the moment.

Personally, I think it is in the nature of the I Ching to allow "intuition" or at least something other than pure reason to play a role. The answer you receive is initially literally an image, the 6 lines forming a hexagram, but the Judgement, Image and line texts also evoke an image.
It is up to the person who consults the oracle to "translate" and relate those images to the question and the situation in which the question was asked.
Personally, I can't imagine this going only intellectually, but of course that could be different for everyone. When I draw the hexagram I receive as a response, there is always something that immediately strikes me and I then use that as an entry point to the first layer of interpretation. Is this intuition?

I would say the very nature of the I Ching is allowing of all things. Perhaps the thing that "immediately strikes" comes from a place of intuition. Perhaps a case of an innate understanding in the moment that this is the secret door that when opened will lead to the treasure trove.

When I work with clients, this first layer is the beginning of a conversation in which I hear the client tell me things that I can relate to the hexagram, trigrams or moving lines. Perhaps "intuition" comes up the most here because in such a conversation I suddenly feel like going deeper into certain areas because I sense that the hexagram has an insight or answer to that.

My client work also begins in the mundane and for me there is a sense of a light being turned on appearing above the word, phrase or comment that when followed leads to a place of greater awareness for them

Here I totally agree. In my experience, the I Ching does not so much answer a question, but gives a multi-layered view of a situation, including insight and answers. One of the first things my teacher taught me when I started working with the I Ching some 30 years ago, was to let go of the question. The answer of the I Ching is like a diamond with many facets. A question causes you to see only 1 facet of the diamond and overlook the other facets. By letting go of the question you take some distance, so to speak, and see the other facets as well. Even without a question, or just a few keywords, the I Ching gives a perfect answer. He also taught me not to ask a second question about the same situation, not because it is "forbidden" or wrong, but because the answer to the question can be found in the original hexagram.

I like the idea of a multi-faceted jewel and that intuitive freedom can be expressed most effectively through releasing the question. It can become an unnecessary limitation that prevents deeper levels of awareness from being reached

Recently a woman came for a consultation seeking insight into a conflict she was having with her 2 brothers over their father's inheritance. The answer from the I Ching was, almost ironically, H13.4 > H37. During the conversation that unfolded as a result of my explanation, I suddenly had a idea to ask her about what her relationship with her father had been like. (Here now comes my doubt between intuition and knowledge and experience. I know that trigram Heaven is associated with the father and also that when there is a moving line or lines in this trigram it can be about too much control, authoritarian behaviour, etc. so is asking about her father intuition or just knowledge and experience?).
She indicated that her father had been quite authoritarian and had quite old-fashioned ideas about women and work. This had kept her from turning her passion for painting into her profession, so she had abandoned painting altogether.
Now passion and making things visible are things associated with trigram Fire. So here was shown a new layer of H13.4.
Based on this information I combined the two subjects and I asked her if, in her perception, her brothers behaved in the same way as her father. She indicated that her brothers' behaviour indeed reminded her strongly of her father. As a result, she came to understand that the conflict with her brothers essentially stemmed from her relationship with her father and how she had allowed herself to be belittled by her father. Her brothers now tried to do the same again by keeping her out of the settlement of the estate, arguing that she wouldn't understand anyway.
Based on H37, I was able to tell her that this was the time to claim her rightful place in handling the inheritance, but also to follow her passion for painting again (trigram Wind is about spreading and putting things in motion).

More than one layer, but what role did intuition play here?

For me when I hear words like 'suddenly' they point towards an unconscious knowing. Yes you know that Heaven equates to father, it always does so. You have this learnt knowledge that applies to all readings with trigram Heaven in, and yet you do not use this knowledge in all the client work that involves this trigram. Here, with this client, at this time (that did not happen with other clients at other times), there is is an inspired moment of insight that sparks within you and you innately understand that this is the secret door to open.

Similarly, what prompted in the moment the 'combining of two subjects'? Learnt knowledge or innate understanding? Who really knows other than you and the powers that be what is going on. It might be that even you are kept out of the loop regarding all this.

Even beyond this, once in the secret passage you use your learnt knowledge (or maybe that was innate understanding too) to explore 13 and 37 scenarios and to navigate through the trigrams into the different layers, to reach a place of new awareness. Alchemical weaving or something else?

These are not clear cut definite intuitions, by any means, just my perspective aligning hopefully with Blofeld comment of "those who have acquired a really high order of intuitive perception will sometimes discover level upon level of meaning and benefit accordingly".

Your example, and it is always easier to see potential intuition at play in another's words and actions, rather than in our own, does for me point towards intuition being key to the unfolding of the message you presented.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[HansKr]

Thanks for your detailed reply on my post.

So my take would be that intuition is not a learned or acquired knowledge that can be attributed to experiences. It is more a deeper insight that happens in the moment.

This is a great description of intuition.

 

[my_key]

I agree to some degree with what John Blofeld says. The reason I say "to some degree" is that I wonder to what extent intuition can be attributed to experience and "knowledge" or perhaps confused with it?

Hi HanKr
Reading your account over a few times and comparing it with Blofelds original categorisation of intuitive dealings and non-intuitive dealings with the I Ching, I was intrigued to delve a bit deeper. The "dealings" he speaks of is divination which speaks of communicating with the Divine. The etymology shows roots in the Latin divinus, and from there divus ‘godlike’.

Apparently, there are 3 categories of divination:

• Intuitive divination - the direct reception of information from spirits, visions, or dreams.
• Inductive divination - the observing of signs and extrapolating meaning from them.
• Interpretive divination - the area in between intuitive and inductive that combines both in some sort a sliding scale way; using both in differing amounts to define and bring clarity to the message.

The first two, to my mind, are Blofeld's definitions of how people have their dealings with the I Ching.

At the extreme, Shamanic trance or journey work, can be seen as strongly intuitive, and only marginally, if at all, inductive.
Here, one journeys out into the great beyond to find and and then receive knowledge form the divine / spirit, call it what you will. Inductive divination sits at the other end of the scale observing and then creating an organised story of some sort, the content of which has been missed or unseen by others.

Reflecting on your tale I can clearly see the original intuitive divination, and now can better see where inductive divination, based in the arena pointed to by your intuition, came into play too. So perhaps the whole consultation carries also a sense of engaging with interpretive divination as well.

 

[dobro p]

It seems to me that when you consult the Yi, you have different approaches to choose from when it comes time to interpret the he agram(s) - derivative and intuitive, for instance. By derivative, I mean that you study the commentaries of your favorite I Chingers. (Balkin, Wilhelm and Huang are mine right now.) Intuitive means that you sit with the images in the text you drew and wait to see what comes up in your mind on its own. This approach takes time, and it's organic and your own. I use a combination of both these approaches. I also talk to myself, commenting and asking questions about what I'm reading and what comes up in my mind. That's not derivative and it's not intuition - it's reflection, I guess. And although I've never done this with the I Ching, it would be completely possible to include active imagination as part of the process.

Why limit yourself to one approach, right?

 

[radiofreewill]

Verse 1:​

​

The Tao that can be spoken is not the Eternal Tao.​

The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.​

The nameless is the eternally Real.​

Naming is the origin of all particular things.​

Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.​

Lost in desire, you see only what is visibly real.​

Yet mystery and visible reality flow from the same Source.​

And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding.​

​

~ "Tao Te Ching" by Rory Mackay​

As I understand it, intuition is an unparticularized [nameless] receptivity to direct experience, which then resonates incipiently with resulting particular [named] things as a knowing of essence unfolding in time and space.

Intuition is pre-verbal and can penetrate categories and classes formlessly...

...in the same way that insight is also pre-verbal and can penetrate one's ignorance and delusion regarding forms.

In fact, the relationship between intuition and insight, I propose, is one of complimentarity:

Intuition is the substance of insight; and insight is the activity of intuition.

So, to have one, or the other, is not as good as having both alternating in balance, namelessly...

...which gives rise to foreknowledge of the named particularized things coming into being...

...and those named particularized things can then be parsed, both deductively and inductively, according to categories and classes and conceptual beliefs.

So, operating in the nameless space as presence with intuition and insight is the eternal Tao...

...whereas operating in the named space according to desire with scheming and coercion is the mortal way.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[my_key]

Hi dobro p

It seems to me that when you consult the Yi, you have different approaches to choose from when it comes time to interpret the he agram(s) - derivative and intuitive, for instance. By derivative, I mean that you study the commentaries of your favorite I Chingers. (Balkin, Wilhelm and Huang are mine right now.)

I see what you mean by derivative. Piggy-backing your own interpretation the commentaries of others. Right?
Inductive divination seems different though. Using observations, evidence or patterns to draw conclusions that others do not see. The evidence might well be seen in the commentaries of others but perhaps there is a sense in inductive intuition that includes a spark of a 'new idea' or a 'new take'. Perhaps after studying all 3 I Chingers you reach a point of understanding or a conclusion in your own interpretation that is not a copy of the texts you have read.

This might be drawing a fine line but I think it is worthy of mention.

Intuitive means that you sit with the images in the text you drew and wait to see what comes up in your mind on its own. This approach takes time, and it's organic and your own. I use a combination of both these approaches. I also talk to myself, commenting and asking questions about what I'm reading and what comes up in my mind. That's not derivative and it's not intuition - it's reflection, I guess. And although I've never done this with the I Ching, it would be completely possible to include active imagination as part of the process.

Intuitive divination, as I have said before, for me carries more of a spark of immediacy. I agree it is organic and comes as your own inner connection, but perhaps what delineates it from self talk or approaches that take time is a strong sense of it being in the moment. The 'conversation' comes in without delay, directly and speedily transmitted and received and with it comes a knowing of it being an authoritative and trustworthy message.

Active imagination, as Jung used it, is to my way of looking at it a technique that translates images originating in one's unconscious into another image that had meaning for the conscious mind. My current take on intuitive divination is one where there is no middle man or effort required for the translation. The message arrives and and arrives as a fully understood package.

Of course, I am not saying this is right, just my current perspective.

Why limit yourself to one approach, right?

Why indeed? All 3 ways of divination are valid and I'm sure that all 3 come into my world of divining. I am following a curiosity thread because for me intuition is not something readily understood, or easy to recognise if (when) it comes into my divination practice. There can be a huge dollop of self doubt that is immediately slopped onto you plate like the soggy mashed potato I used to get served at school dinners. Did my plate really contain juicy meat and tasty vegetables before the dollop was deposited?

Such is the human condition!!

 

[my_key]

Hi radiofreewheel

Your post takes quite a bit of digesting for me, so i hoping you might be able to respond to some of my comments to bring some clarity, or at least less murkiness, to the fore.

Verse 1:​

​

The Tao that can be spoken is not the Eternal Tao.​

The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.​

The nameless is the eternally Real.​

Naming is the origin of all particular things.​

Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.​

Lost in desire, you see only what is visibly real.​

Yet mystery and visible reality flow from the same Source.​

And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding.​

​

~ "Tao Te Ching" by Rory Mackay​

As I understand it, intuition is an unparticularized [nameless] receptivity to direct experience, which then resonates incipiently with resulting particular [named] things as a knowing of essence unfolding in time and space.

Are you inferring that intuition is a conduit that springs from the Eternal Tao and that coalesces the essences of pure knowing within a particular point in time and space?

Intuition is pre-verbal and can penetrate categories and classes formlessly...

Intuition just is. It is outside of human thought or communication processes.

...in the same way that insight is also pre-verbal and can penetrate one's ignorance and delusion regarding forms.

For insight I might swap in awareness or consciousness or even wisdom. Would you agree?

Preverbal for me aligns with the early-months instinctive behaviour of babies where preverbal communication consists of things like eye contact, physical or facial gestures and even vocalisation of incomprehensible sounds.

So when you use the word preverbal are you actually pointing towards communication methods that extend beyond or operate outside of the world of form.

In fact, the relationship between intuition and insight, I propose, is one of complimentarity:

Intuition is the substance of insight; and insight is the activity of intuition.

When no-thing moves it creates awareness.
Awareness actively manifests without conscious reasoning.

So, to have one, or the other, is not as good as having both alternating in balance, namelessly...

...which gives rise to foreknowledge of the named particularized things coming into being...

You know without knowing how you know, but you just know. ( Intuitive Divination)

...and those named particularized things can then be parsed, both deductively and inductively, according to categories and classes and conceptual beliefs.

Having observed something you can then use what you already know, from other areas of experience, to add additional meaning. (Inductive Divination)

So, operating in the nameless space as presence with intuition and insight is the eternal Tao...

...whereas operating in the named space according to desire with scheming and coercion is the mortal way.

Intuitive divination requires a clearing of the heavier aspects of being human for it to be able to be utilised to the fullest. Or as Blofeld commented "only their external meaning would be apparent."

High degrees of presence are a pre-requisite to be able to receive the full wisdom of the Eternal Tao through an intuitive connection.

Just my 2 cents...

Worth a bit more than that I fancy. Thanks.

I've broken your comments into sections to help me get a better handle on what you have written. If my comments are conveying other than what you intended then I would welcome you correcting them.

 

[tacrab]

Some random questions: Do we take intuition to be based on learning (e.g. doing something "10,000 times" to reach mastery), or as instinctive / hardwired into our animal selves? Or is "intuition" like a musician being in the "zone"? Where practice meets letting go and connecting?

Applying this to the I Ching: Is intuition springing from a framework or base of knowledge? Does "intuition" change depending on increased familiarity with the book? Can one intuit the meaning just from gazing at a hexagram without using the text? without knowing the symbolism of the trigrams?

 

[radiofreewill]

Hi my_key!

Thanks for your thoughtful reply! I think we're close to harmony on this?

The way I would state it is:

You are neither your body (feelings) nor your mind (thoughts)...​

...but rather you are the Awareness of your body (intuition) and your mind (insight).​

Picture Awareness as illuminated emptiness within which absence and presence are equally real ~ and alternating without beginning or end ~ like night and day cycling on forever.

That is, imagine that illuminated emptiness creates a constant field where absence and presence are equally real...

...and within this constant field all the Forms of Creation ~ the proverbial 10,000 things ~ arise, persist for a time, and disappear in an endless cycle of Change.

By default, all of us are born assumptively believing (without question) that we are separate unique beings as defined by our body and our mind. That is to say: we are all born Attached to Form ~ attached to the form of our body/mind ~ and the whole package is called "me".

The problem with being attached to Form is all forms are impermanent, and as a result our Consciousness becomes contextualized by our fears (feelings) and doubts (thoughts) regarding our fragile separateness (ego).

If you think about it, your Consciousness has no solutions for death. Why? Because your Consciousness is framed by birth and death ~ it can't think outside the box it's in.

It would be all so dreary if we were limited only to this tragic condition of being attached to and identified with impermanent Form...

...except we're not!

It turns out that our human consciousness is itself conscious ~ we humans are Aware that we are Conscious of our body and mind. It's just that this Awareness is not accessible to us when we are attached to form and Consciously (self-interestedly) identified with our body/mind.

And the monumental significance of that is that Awareness unattached to the visible reality of Form is not conditioned by impermanence. Instead, Awareness unadulterated is a mystery realized to be eternal life while still alive, and the assurance of salvation after death. And, this Awareness operates effortlessly in the world through the universal intuition and insight of wholeness, Oneness, where absence and presence are equally real, and is known as eternal Tao.

Hopefully, we're still resonating on this? Thanks for your patience!

 

[dobro p]

Some random questions: Do we take intuition to be based on learning (e.g. doing something "10,000 times" to reach mastery), or as instinctive / hardwired into our animal selves? Or is "intuition" like a musician being in the "zone"? Where practice meets letting go and connecting?

1 the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.

2 a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.

 

[HansKr]

Some random questions: Do we take intuition to be based on learning (e.g. doing something "10,000 times" to reach mastery),

In my opinion, no. Intuition can also play a role in everyday life, if you are willing to "listen" to it. Think of suddenly having an idea to call someone and then it turns out that he/she was just about to call you. This, of course, has thing to do with learning.

Or is "intuition" like a musician being in the "zone"? Where practice meets letting go and connecting?

The way I see it, yes and no. I do think you can "learn" to listen to your intuition. Being in the "zone" does help to be receptive to that which intuition has to offer (a hunch, a feeling, a sudden insight, etc.), but it is not necessary.

The second part "where practice meets letting go and connecting" is essentially the same as the first question. It assumes that you must have practiced something before intuition can "take place." This would mean that intuition occurs only under certain circumstances.

Does "intuition" change depending on increased familiarity with the book?

In my experience not.

Can one intuit the meaning just from gazing at a hexagram without using the text? without knowing the symbolism of the trigrams?

Yes, that's always my first approach. Looking at the image of the hexagram, what does it tell you?
Some time ago a friend had her niece (about 4 years old) visiting and she had lost her stuffed toy. This friend asked me if I could find out where the stuffed toy was by consulting the I Ching (she was sure it had to be somewhere in the house). I received as an answer H55.1.2.3 - H56.
Based on these two images, I said that the stuffed toy had moved from the bottom floor to the top floor (in this case, the attic) and that the stuffed toy had gotten in between somewhere. This friend immediately went to the attic where the washing machine is located and found the stuffed toy in the laundry basket with dirty laundry.
So, no text, no information based on the meaning of the trigrams, just looking at the images given by the hexagrams.
Sometimes you can get a lot of information from that, in my experience,

 

[my_key]

Hi my_key!

Thanks for your thoughtful reply! I think we're close to harmony on this?

You may well be right.

The way I would state it is:

You are neither your body (feelings) nor your mind (thoughts)...​

...but rather you are the Awareness of your body (intuition) and your mind (insight).​

A spin on one of the Psychosynthesis techniques for dis-identification developed by Roberto Assagioli for creating a clearer connection to our core and onwards to our Higher Self

‘I have a body … and I am more than my body …. ‘
‘I have feelings … and I am more than my feelings …’
‘I have thoughts … and I am more than my thoughts ….’

Picture Awareness as illuminated emptiness within which absence and presence are equally real ~ and alternating without beginning or end ~ like night and day cycling on forever.

That is, imagine that illuminated emptiness creates a constant field where absence and presence are equally real...

...and within this constant field all the Forms of Creation ~ the proverbial 10,000 things ~ arise, persist for a time, and disappear in an endless cycle of Change.

'Illuminated emptiness' - I like that concept. 'True light' only emanates from the void, kind of thing. This concept features in Tibetan and Sufi cultures, and probably more besides. Perhaps, even a spin on Schroedinger's cat - life and death exist at the same time....until we take a peek.

By default, all of us are born assumptively believing (without question) that we are separate unique beings as defined by our body and our mind. That is to say: we are all born Attached to Form ~ attached to the form of our body/mind ~ and the whole package is called "me".

One bit of hair splitting here. The human sense of 'me' and expression of ego tends to form around 2 years old. I can't remember much about that time myself, however it may be that the new born baby may carry for a while a sense of wholeness and connection to source. For most, the pressures of the human condition eventually point them towards a sense of separation.

The problem with being attached to Form is all forms are impermanent, and as a result our Consciousness becomes contextualized by our fears (feelings) and doubts (thoughts) regarding our fragile separateness (ego).

If you think about it, your Consciousness has no solutions for death. Why? Because your Consciousness is framed by birth and death ~ it can't think outside the box it's in.

It would be all so dreary if we were limited only to this tragic condition of being attached to and identified with impermanent Form...

...except we're not!

Buddhist practice speaks of continuation days rather than birthday or death. I agree identifying with the form that each of these constitutes a beginning and then an end does make for serious limitations. That's what we all sign up to when we accept the invitation to the party.

It turns out that our human consciousness is itself conscious ~ we humans are Aware that we are Conscious of our body and mind. It's just that this Awareness is not accessible to us when we are attached to form and Consciously (self-interestedly) identified with our body/mind.

And the monumental significance of that is that Awareness unattached to the visible reality of Form is not conditioned by impermanence. Instead, Awareness unadulterated is a mystery realized to be eternal life while still alive, and the assurance of salvation after death. And, this Awareness operates effortlessly in the world through the universal intuition and insight of wholeness, Oneness, where absence and presence are equally real, and is known as eternal Tao.

We are all the Great Mystery.

Hopefully, we're still resonating on this? Thanks for your patience!

Not too far adrift I fancy.

 

[radiofreewill]

Thanks for raising the topic ~ I've enjoyed the entire thread!

On the Harmony...​

Here's some related reading material:

~ Harding's Moment of Discovery​

~ Summary of Ramana Maharshi's Teachings​

Many Blessings!

 

[my_key]

Ref the Headless Mr Harding.
I was attending a course a good many years back. The facilitator asked that everyone point to the part of their body that was furthest away from them. The whole group, myself included, pointed to our feet. QED

 

[my_key]

Some random questions: Do we take intuition to be based on learning (e.g. doing something "10,000 times" to reach mastery), or as instinctive / hardwired into our animal selves? Or is "intuition" like a musician being in the "zone"? Where practice meets letting go and connecting?

Hi tacrab
I'm not sure that these are just 'random questions'!

To respond to your queries. Earlier in the thread I wrote that intuition is "the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning" and that it is based in "spiritual insight or immediate spiritual communication". Additionally, intuition, for me, happens spontaneously in the moment. For these reasons I do not see it as being based on learning, although I believe it is possible that we can learn how to become more intuitive.

So not so much muscle memory, more musician in the zone.

Applying this to the I Ching: Is intuition springing from a framework or base of knowledge? Does "intuition" change depending on increased familiarity with the book? Can one intuit the meaning just from gazing at a hexagram without using the text? without knowing the symbolism of the trigrams?

What I see in your questioning here seems to fall under the umbrella of inductive and interpretive use of intuition.

• Intuitive divination - the direct reception of information from spirits, visions, or dreams.
• Inductive divination - the observing of signs and extrapolating meaning from them.
• Interpretive divination - the area in between intuitive and inductive that combines both in some sort a sliding scale way; using both in differing amounts to define and bring clarity to the message.

The more you are familiar with the book the more is the possibility of intuitive divination to play a part. However, as John Blofeld indicated some people may not be able to gain anything more more than a basic surface connection with the words in the text - and there is nothing wrong with that.

In pure intuitive divination it doesn't seem unreasonable to conclude that just gazing at the hexagram will be enough to obtain meaning. Equally that meaning may just come from connecting with the question and beyond that just by connecting with the person who asked the question. The latter though may well fall more into the realms of a more general psychic reading of some sort.