Is The YiJing Self-Fulfilling Prophecy or Endless Possibilities?

[serchjing]

Greetings all,

I've been posting alot lately in regards to changing jobs as some of you know. Through this process I've been asking myself why am I using the YiJing? Mabe I've been asking myself this question because the answers I've been getting have been quit different than what I was expecting...hmmm. But also I've been asking myself this question about the Yi and a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Is it possbile that I create the reality in my own life that Yi alludes to?

If everything is subject to change, then why do we (this community & others like us) use the Yi?

I've been using the Yi to assist me in making a better choice about my professional life recently. What I find fascianting is how some of the replies I received have been very different. With that being said, and still considering myself a newcomer, how does one flow with the Yi?

Does the Yi just give us a brief snapshot in time? If so, how does one know when that brief snapshot has expired, or that the energy has changed since life is ever changing?

I guess what I'm really having trouble with is the feeling that the Yi's answers are all subject to change...right? So why use it?

There, it took me all this time to reach this question. Sorry for involving you in my internal dialogue :bows:

m

 

[bruce_g]

I think this is a good question, MS.

I think many see the Yi as a directing force rather than as a set of guiding principles. Like the game of Simon Says: all you have to do is do what it says, when it says to do it, and you win! A very misguided use, in my opinion. And I don’t care whether this was how it was used 3,500 years ago or not. When someone loses their ability to make their own decisions, when they must question everything they do based on what Yi tells them to do or not do, it becomes destructive.

As to why use it? I use it to better understand the nature of how things work, and this helps me to make more informed and intelligent decisions. But, the decisions are exclusively mine to make. I believe it is sometimes more than a snapshot of the present, and can be more like a slide show of the past, present and future. They are seamlessly connected, after all, and the nature of change is what ties them together.

 

[martin]

Yes, why use the Yi?
This is all you need: http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2006/12/12/the_only_flowchart_youll_ever_need

 

[soshin]

Yes, why use the Yi?
This is all you need: http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2006/12/12/the_only_flowchart_youll_ever_need

Priceless! Especially the part with the "Good Story"

 

[bruce_g]

Good chart, Martin!

 

[lightofreason]

If everything is subject to change, then why do we (this community & others like us) use the Yi?

Everything LOCAL is changing but the communication of such requires sameness and so the development of neurology etc out of which come universal classes of meaning where each moment reflects an instance of one of those classes.

The set of classes is very generic, derived from self-referencing the differentiate/integrate dichotomy - which is what the oscillation of our brains does.

The generic qualities serve as universals that then get customised by local context and in that process of customisation labels are produced that tie the universals to the local context - and so the I Ching and its symbols serve as metaphor for what the brain does in processing meaning classes and their instances.

Thus all recognition of and communication of change is BOUNDED by the classes of meaning derived from self-referencing - and in the I Ching this is self-referencing of the labels 'yin/yang'.

The precision of the I Ching is down to 4096 classes of meaning to represent 'all there is' and local labels etc then ground things. We could jump from 4096 to 16+million but that would be too extreme.

Thus the I Ching makes finer distinctions of categories than what linguistics does with the notions of 'noun/verb' in that the IC can reflect all possible combinations of 'noun-ness' and 'verb-ness' to give us a spectrum of classes of such combinations.

The precision in the sequencial languages (mechanistic, partial, focus) thus adds precision to the parallel languages (organic, holistic, focus) - hexagrams are generic qualities and cover all sensory systems IN GENERAL and as such are holistic/organic. THEN come the application of particulars.

Each hexagram, or the I Ching as a whole, is open to three main forms of interpretation - the symmetric, the asymmetric, and the anti-symmetric.

As such we have light-vs-dark (opposites), light-from/with-dark (complements) and hierarchic orderings of nested vs non-nested (and their mix)

These are still associated with classes. THEN comes localisation and so a hexagram covering a process or a form etc

Thus the constant of communication is derived from the symmetry present in our brains as we share communication through the use of classes. The more precise we want to be the more we have to shift to asymmetric, the local, unique, experiences.

Included in that shift is the translation of difference to sameness, complexity to seeming simplicity and then the development of unique consciousness from the sameness that is our species-nature.

oops - forgot the imporant bit - if one insists on sticking to magical/random methods then one will also be limiting themselves in getting consistant results from the IC.

Chris.

 

[rosada]

Martin, Thank you for the chart! Further, if you go to it and check on where it originally came from you reach this fabulous blogger telling about his adventures with a penguin and his indoor swimming pool. Someone we all need to know.

 

[martin]

Found it Rosada, thank you, great story!

A few years ago I saw a cute animal in a shop - don't know what it was, an iguana perhaps - and since then I'm often thinking about buying one.
But, but, but .... well, the only question is if it will make a good story, isn't it?

 

[tahoerob]

The I Ching is a guide to help you navigate through life. Everything in our reality is subject to the same laws governing birth and death and everything in between. Studying the I Ching will, in time, give you the ability to recognize the signs of change and allow you to prepare yourself for those changes. What form of response you make to the coming change is up to you.

 

[laylab]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I believe that the phrase "self-fulfilling prophecy" simply points to the absolute truth of Hexagram 1, Creative Power. Every thought is self fulfilling if given enough conscious energy.

When I communicate with the I Ching I am aware that I am communicating more structurally with the quantum field. We communicate with this field, constantly, in every second of our lives but most people go through life unaware of this so they miss noticing the synchronicity.

Using the I Ching is a direct approach to addressing synchronicity..in other words, it's a tool, not a spirt. You are the Spirt.

So yes, if we left out one componant or universal law (that of Free Will) you could say that the I Ching is SELF (you) fulfilling..or manifesting. However, we always have choice..ALWAYS. Learned Helplessness labelled as "fate" is simply a crutch for those Beings who have not discoverd or accepted the power of Agency yet.

We are always creating (self fulfilling) whether we know it or want to believe it or not.

I think the key with the IC is to remember it is a tool..not a Spirit proclaiming our fates. Remember, and never forget that it is YOU who is the Powerful Spirt and the IC is your tool..a tool available to all who want to access it. The power of consciousness.

Do not become overly dependent on the IC. To do so is to forget who you are.

 

[rosada]

It seems to me I get different forms of guidence from the I Ching at different times. There are the more ordinary readings where the I Ching will help me look at what I already know from a different perspective and thus enable me to make changes. These readings do indeed seem like self fulfilling prophecies. But then we also have those lovely - rare - occasions where the book will tell me something I really needed to know and had no other way of knowing. Like the time my mother lost her hearing aids and the I Ching told me exactly where to look.

I asked the I Ching to comment and recieved 27.4.6 > 51.
27.4
Turning to the summit
For provision of nourishment
Brings good fortune.
Spying about with sharp eyes
Like a tiger with insatiable craving.
No blame.

So, consulting the I Ching raises our awareness to our higher chakra maybe?

27.6
The source of nourishment.
Awareness of danger brings good fortune.
It furthers one to cross the great water.

When we have raised our awareness we then can actually be at that place where we are the source of nourishment - where we can be our own self fulfilling prophecy? "Awareness of danger" seems key.

Then changes to 51. The Arousing
The superior man sets his life in order and examines himself.

Seems to me to be saying that we are encouraged to seek answers from the I Ching, but perhaps we are not quite ready or strong enough to live our lives from a place of taking on total responcibility. That living coming from the awareness that WE are the source of our own nourishment is a bit dangerous. We may not be able to handle that state of consciousness until we cross the great water. But meantime we can live AS IF we are responcible, set our lives in order, and perhaps that helps develope our muscles to be able to eventually be able to handle The Truth, to see it all?

 

[my_key]

Two simple rules about change:
Rule 1) Energy follows thought.
Rule 2) If you don't believe Rule one - tough.........it still applies.

As Gypsy Lee Rose used to say - Think lucky and you are lucky.

Peace and light

Mike