Is it possible to predict the future?

[hilary]

This is a question that comes up every time someone asks me to do a reading to predict the future! Usually the I Ching seems to say 'well, it depends what you choose to do...'!
But what are anyone else's experiences on this? Do you know of anyone ever really having predicted the future?
If you could predict the future, would we still have free will??

I'll be uploading a quick survey on this subject soon (once I've got it all to work !) I'll post the URL here.

 

[hilary]

The survey is up, here. Please vote!

 

[chris]

(1) all meaning is derived from the method of analysis.
(2) from (1) all meaning of future events will be represented in the method IOW the future is contained in the method.
(3) it follows from (2) that you can use the method to predict the future.
(4) (3) does not mean that you will be right but it does mean that you can map all possible events and then use probabilities to point you to the most likely.
(5) experience then develops intuition such that you can see things coming without actually thinking about them...

 

[hilary]

Hi Chris,
Good to see you here!
Do you have any real-life examples of (4) or (5)?

 

[lise]

I think that your intuition actually can predict (part of) the future. But it is like seeing something with a predictable outcome. In this case so many different things that your conscious thinking cannot get them all together. If you can find a way to make your thinking wholistic (is this a word?) you can grasp it all. Many disciplines have tried all kinds of ways to accomplish this, it is very difficult, but the YiJing is one of the easier ways. It works in the same way as a Koan (clapping your hands makes a sound - what is the sound of one hand ...), making your logical thinking confused, opening the way for the illogical.
Of course it is more than just confusing logic. It gives access to the universal. That is why the Yi is so rewarding. If it only predicted things, it would just be a fortunetellers manual and not this vast source of wisdom.
LiSe

 

[hilary]

Hello Lise!

I do like that point - that just predicting things isn't so wonderful anyway.

Today I declined to answer a question in the 'free readings' section for the first time ever. S/he just wanted to know if they'd win a newspaper competition, and I really couldn't see the point!

BTW, if you've got the time, I would love to have your input on some of those readings. It would be nice to have someone else's perspective there.

thanks for dropping in...

Hilary

 

[meaghan]

the Future is an alternative view of the Present moment.

the Present moment can be viewed from infinite Perspectives: contextually, subjectively, chronologically...

the perceived Future can be intuited or predicted any number of ways, depending on Scenario.

Future is not dislodged or dismembered from Past or Present; it exists in intimate relation to a Wholeness that transcends a linear Perspective.

that which is intuited or interpreted by a subject as Future is an extension of or contribution to a "truth" or "reality" that represents a valid yet relatively miniscule portion of infinite Being.

all in all, Yes, but it really depends! does this make sense?

 

[h.j.barrett]

Hello Meaghan, welcome to the forum!

This is a challenge, but I think I see what you mean.
Would you say that, from our perspective in the present at least, we are free to choose the future we create?
Or is it in some sense 'already there'?

Deep waters here...

 

[hilary]

Welcome to the forum! I'm always very glad to have people here with more experience than I have. And I'm impressed with what you say about predicting even stock market movements. I asked a while ago whether I should try such things, and got a firm 'no', which fitted with my own instincts. I'm not sure why, as I ask the oracle for business advice all the time. Perhaps in 20 years or so things will change...

Perhaps working with the future is like navigating - past, present and future are a single territory where we move (like Meaghan said), and the I Ching works like a map, or signposts. But then we also create the landscape by travelling... (another simile bites the dust)

I would be very grateful indeed for any comments you have on my interpretations, positive or not. I'm learning, and I most certainly make mistakes. (Surprise!) Would you like to start with #55? That's the one that I have the least personal experience with.
I look forward to talking with you!

 

[hilary]

Hello Anonymous ? I hope you don?t mind if I call you Anon2?
(Perhaps you?d like to create a name for yourself to use here?)

I appreciate your idea of putting together two perspectives on your answer ? I think it?s a good one. And it does look as if our approaches will be very different, which is also good.
I?m afraid I will be a bit slower to come back to you than Anon1 (!!!) though, as my first commitment has to be to the people who?ve signed up in the Friends? Area. Strictly speaking, I don?t do free readings outside it, but I do want to help, and like I said, I like your idea of combining two perspectives.

I imagine that you asked this question because you wanted some insight into his feelings? That means the I Ching will have given you exactly that ? a picture of his inner feelings. This kind of answer is the most difficult to understand, because there are always firm limits on how much we can understand of someone else?s inner world.

So? his feelings start with Abundance. It seems that he has been impelled into a connection with you, though without having any control over this himself, and this has resulted in a great upsurge of feeling. The risk is that this feels to him like too much, and creates the sensation that it can?t last for ever, any more than the sun can stand still at noon. What he needs to do is to dwell in the moment and seize it, and above all to think positively.

You don?t need me to tell you that he isn?t managing this. The abundant emotion of #55 comes into the context of Hexagram 18, Dealing with Corruption. Looking at the original ideograms of these two hexagrams, you can see a spectacular difference. Abundance is an open vessel overflowing with good things; Corruption is a closed vessel containing poisonous insects. How could he possibly open up and cope with this new abundance when he is trying to deal with inner problems that simply have to be sorted out? 18 is actually a more positive hexagram than you might imagine, since it?s not just about corruption, but also dealing with it, and it does say that he?ll succeed in this. But it does call for his full attention, and for due thought before he starts anything new. He needs to gather all his resources, look after himself, in order to deal with problems from the past and create strong foundations for the new.

The moving lines, if only we could understand how they all work together, would show exactly how his feelings of Abundance are interacting with the need to Deal with Corruption. But it is not easy to understand the meaning of so many lines! So though I will go through them one at a time, please don?t worry if this doesn?t all make sense to you at once. It just means that the situation itself is complicated.

I think these lines are showing how his feelings have developed ? and begun to cause problems, and how he reacts to this. In a way, they tell a story, although it could be that the last chapter (line 6) hasn?t come yet.
It begins with meeting you, at line 1: ?Meeting his counterpart and lord. Though alike, no mistake. Honour comes from moving on.? This is a good start ? and also suggests he?s basically ready to move on from the past.
But then things get more difficult! At line 2: ?abundance, his screen. At noon, seeing the Bushel. Moving on brings doubt and distress. With sincerity and confidence, developing himself. Good fortune.? The feelings have got too much for him, and so he needs a ?screen? ? perhaps a way of hiding, but perhaps also for protection. Also, his feelings about moving on have changed from confidence to doubt and anxiety. There is a real possibility that the forces involved could cause injury.
Nonetheless, the I Ching shows how he could resolve this positively. ?At noon, seeing the Bushel? means that the light of the sun is blocked (like in a solar eclipse) and he can see the stars: the Bushel is a constellation. To me, this suggests that he is spending time trying to ?find himself?, like someone in the dark trying to orientate themselves by the stars. It?s about making sincerity and confidence manifest in real life ? and this means really stretching himself; it?s not easy.
Line 4 begins with just the same words: ?Abundance, his screen. At noon, seeing the Bushel.? It?s still about exploring this darker world. But this time, he ?meets his hidden lord. Good fortune.? The word for ?hidden? also means ?injured?, and the word for ?lord? shows someone who gives light. I think this line, like line 1, deals with meeting you, but this time the meeting can?t be acknowledged ? it?s light hidden in the darkness. Perhaps this points to some unacknowledged, or even unconscious communication between you? (If you?re both in relationships already, that could explain this.)
And finally line 6, which shows where this process could end up. ?Abundance, his roof. Screens off his home. Peeps through his door. Lives in solitude, without people. For three years, he meets no one. Misfortune.? This is a very unhappy picture of protectiveness taken to such extremes that he isolates himself completely. It?s quite possible, though, that this is a picture of the future, not the present ? and the future can be changed.

Like Anon1 says, this was just one question, though quite a big one! I do like the idea of having the two of us offering our own different perspectives on your readings ? I think it could be a good way for all of us to learn more from the oracle. But I think it?s important that we shouldn?t all end up asking the same questions again and again ? it?s not just confusing, it?s also disrespectful if the question?s already been asked once. So? what would you like to ask next? Perhaps it?s a question Anon1 has already asked in her more general exploration of this? (If so, maybe we could both work on the same reading? What do you both think?)

 

[hilary]

Hello Anon

I think being confused to start with is a vital part of the experience! Confusion is a creative state, it brings things together and new ideas emerge... It certainly doesn't mean anything has gone wrong.

If you've got a particular reading you'd like help with, I'd definitely recommend you join as a Friend and ask in the Friends' Area. There are some very good readers there...

As for how to make sense of readings in general - practice, let your intuition speak, practice, keep a journal and practice. (Anyone else got any advice?)

And there are some nice I Ching courses available by email these days

...

 

[anita]

Hello Hilary,

I do have recent experience with hex 4 -- when I asked the I Ching whether I will be sworn is as a lifetime practitioner this year . Now this is a question I have asked before but I believe that when you ask the same question at different periods of time, you get further guidelines on how to proceed so you reach your goal. So when I got 4 with a line that says one follows a teacher - good fortune and then line 6 which says one does not heed the teacher's advice and so is punished (mildly)--, line 6 definitely turned out to be a prediction! In fact, I was shocked by this answer because I believed I was doing my all to take the guidance offered seriously. That morning I had to attend the prayers and knew I was going to be just in the nick of time for it -- which isn't good. En route to the temple I got stopped by the cops and didn't
have my licence and landed upm paying a fine and missing my chance to pray. I however, proceeded to the Temple and was told that Gurujii was angry with me and that I wouuldn't be allowed to attend prayers again unless I explained and asked for forgiveness.

I was really shocked by this incident, especially since others in the temple have fallen from grace recently and cannot perform the rituals any more. I didn't want that to happen to me-- after all, I'm the only one who expects to take the Oath!

Later Guruji herself came to me and accepted my explanation and that made me very happy.) She told me that I must be more serious about arriving on time - indeed before time or I will lose the chance. So this was my experience with 4 -- certainly a prediction.

Best for your Quest

Anita