Is this line about Love, actually?

[learner]

Dear friends,

I posed to the I-Ching quite a simple question, almost naive, but which has been in my heart for months.
It was just about love. Not the kind of love towards human beings in general, because I already love them all. Rather practical was the question, indeed, as I asked if there is someone in this town (where I am living temporarily) meant to be a partner. And that means someone to love --and especially to be loved.
I suppose that the answer given by the I-Ching is as simple as the question.

Hexagram 45 - Gathering Together - second moving line.

"Letting oneself be drawn
Brings good fortune and remains blameless.
If one is sincere,
It furthers one to bring even a small offering."

However, I must confess that I do not have a clue. I would appreciate your help.

All the best,
Mirian

 

[midaughter]

Dear Mirian,
Just a guess, but I would expect if this person is indeed near, you would find that person at a spiritual gathering.
Why not attend a spritual gathering in any event and keep an open eye?
I am bewitched with the image of this!

Love,

Sun

 

[candid]

Hi Mirian,

This is going to be a purely subjective response, based on only personal experience.

You are asking a specific, narrow question. "I asked if there is someone in this town (where I am living temporarily) meant to be a partner. And that means someone to love --and especially to be loved."

I don't think Yi would say yes or no to that. It would be a little like asking, will I catch fish today? The answer to that would be: Your chances are greatly improved if you go fishing. Chances to find gold are also better when you mine.

So try thinking of your question in that term. Yi's answer would be: Gather together from what is around you. Gather and then sift. Gather and sift.

Letting oneself be drawn shows that you are being gathered as well as gathering. If you are sincere, a small effort (sacrifice, fishing, mining) will be favorable.

There is also the warning to prepare yourself for the unexpected. This means to be discerning in who or what you gather together with. That's why the sifting process.

Hope this helps a bit.

Candid

 

[heylise]

Candid,
Great reading! Clear, realistic.
I love it,

LiSe

 

[learner]

Hi Candid,

I do not see your response as purely subjective at all. Rather the reverse, it is both effective and transparent, I mean, in practical terms. I truly appreciate it.
I will take into account the sifting process, because it is timely warning, in a moment that I might be prone to anxiety and, as a result, not be able to judge things very well.

But what strikes me immediately in your interpretation is the idea of fishing. I wonder that this is because when I asked the question to the I-Ching I was probably waiting for something "ready" -*grin* - a kind of "take away" thing.
What I am trying to say is, I would rather have an answer telling me that there is someone, somewhere out there, who is "meant to be". But perhaps nothing will happen without fishing and mining, as you say.

I would like to consider the idea thorougly and come back to the subject later, if you do not mind.
Thank you so much, anyway.


Hello Sun,

I cannot waste your image of attending a spiritual gathering. Hum.. perhaps I should go and keep my eyes wide open...
Many thanks.

All the best,
Mirian

(to be continued...)

 

[mystery2mastery]

greeting,
as a "yes/no" simple question.

Hexagram 45 - Gathering Together - second moving line.


well, it is a yes and you already read an answer
in your mailbox from hilary.
see here:

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/e-answers47.html


"Hexagram of the month: 45, Gathering ?


When I receive this hexagram, I think of a great investment, often a shared one, in a higher purpose. The original text speaks of a great sacrifice:


'Gathering, creating success.
The king enters his temple.
Harvest in seeing great people.
Creating success, harvest in constancy.
Making use of great sacrificial animals, good fortune.
Harvest in having a direction to go.'

This Judgement is loaded with the I Ching's most powerful concepts: 'creating success', 'harvest', 'good fortune', 'seeing great people'. No other hexagram is quite so insistent, either on great vision, or on getting results.

When the king entered the ancestral temple, he made the connection with his ancestors on behalf of the whole people. He is the essential core, he completes the circuit, so that spiritual power can flow into daily life. This is the leader who taps into the group's essential source of energy and reason for being, above and beyond ordinary concerns.

So the king provides the focal point for the gathering of people, wealth, energy and emotion. Such a concentration of force cannot be an end in itself: it has to be oriented towards a greater goal. In the following, 'paired' hexagram, Pushing Upward, the intense energy and optimism translates into a determined drive for growth and progress. Hence the need for great people, those who can see beyond the surface of things and ensure that the shared purpose is well-founded. The people are called on here to sacrifice the biggest and best of their livestock - something they might be reluctant to do if they did not have a 'direction to go' that pointed beyond immediate utility.

Such heavy investment also means high risks. Gathering Together is a response to the preceding hexagram, Coupling. That brings a fundamental challenge to 'the way things are done', through untameable forces of chance, fate or passion. Somehow the communal vision must expand to encompass this encounter, 'gathering it together' in the service of a greater purpose than the mere survival of the status quo.

'Lake higher than the earth. Gathering together.
Noble one sets aside weapons and tools,
And warns against the unexpected.'

A lake higher than the earth is probably a reservoir for irrigation: an essential investment in life and growth, but also an ever-present risk of flooding. Its behaviour isn't predictable, so the best advice is to be prepared. 'Setting aside' weapons is sometimes interpreted as readying them, sometimes as putting them away: I think it indicates being prepared to deal with possible disasters, but without brandishing your precautions where they might do damage themselves.

As you'd expect, this hexagram very often describes a group enterprise: how essential it is to have a well-defined shared vision and goal to gather around; the investment and sacrifice required of the group's members. If you receive it with reference just to yourself, try thinking of your life as a similar 'gathering' of talents, motivations, roles and resources. It can mean 'collecting yourself' or 'getting yourself together': somehow you have to unite all your varied experience from moment to moment through a single, central purpose.

Whether the 'gathering' is of many individuals or one, it is always a high-intensity way of living. Wu Jing Nuan noted the unusual emotional intensity in the moving line texts: 'a hug, smiles, distress, sighs and tears'. Perhaps this is because of the constant struggle to align present emotions and actions with the higher purpose. But every one of the line texts also speaks of being 'without fault' - I believe this is the only hexagram where this is so. Naturally, the meaning evolves from line to line, but I think the overriding message is that at each stage, the greater purpose puts the extremes of your experience into proportion, making them 'without fault'. The 'direction to go' has to be right - then, its manifestations from moment to moment may be painful, but you are not locked into them.


"

 

[learner]

Hello Candid,

I think that your crystal clear reading gave me insight into the reason for having received Hex 45 second line.
It just dawned on me that I want to be sure that there is someone "meant to be" because I am afraid of fishing. There is a popular saying: "once bitten, twice shy." So, I would be more than happy with the I-Ching reassurance that -yes- that is what the future has in store for you...
But -back to Earth- if I do not go fishing it is unlikely that I will catch fish.
I had better get the fishing gear prepared here in the city of Oxford....

Thank you for your sincere advice and help.

all the best,
Mirian

 

[candid]

Mirian,

It is my pleasure to offer what I can. Doubly so that you found it applicable and useful. Thank you for your feedback.

We do like to think in finalities where fate is concerned. We'd like to think that fate is an already drawn line, and all we need do is follow it to our destiny. Its not been my experience that this is how things work. If it did, what would be the use of living through our choices, challenges, our obstructions and blessings? Life is a living thing, not a predetermined path with predictable outcomes.

Ultimately, surpassing the transitory creates an inner strength, which can not be broken or disrupted by any series of causal events. If there's one consistent message throughout the Yi, this seems to be it.

Knowing this, we can move and rest as the time requires, but never allow our hearts to become fixed in convention, such as wondering if this or that relationship is meant to be.

All the best to you too,
Candid

PS: Keep your hooks sharpened and clean.

 

[gene]

Isn't this the line that, in the W/B version, says "there are secret forces at work, bringing those together who belong together?" I don't have my book with me, but if my memory serves me... Sounds like an excellent answer.

Gene

 

[candid]

Gene,

Yes in line 2, WB. Good memory!

I agree, its an excellent answer, but not to the exclusion of will and effort.

Hoping not to wear out the fishing analogy:

A professional fisherman learns through countless outings, the tides, lunar tables and seasonal migrations of the quarry. All this has taken years of effort and sacrifice.

Further, he takes with him something at least as valuable as his knowledge. He takes his instincts and intuition. He, in a real sense, is led to the fish. What better example of this than Jesus telling Peter, let down your net!

Candid

 

[candid]

Mirian, if line 2 was your only change, your relating would have been 47, Oppression. This is an expression of vacancy/emptiness. Of itself, that?s not a bad thing. Its from this sense of emptiness that desire comes, and from this we are drawn together with like beings. I think its fair to call this gravitational attraction, ?secret forces.?

 

[mystery2mastery]

now, when I read your reaction, I believe to understand the "great sacrifice" hilary wrote about, regarding the 45th hexagram, Gathering.
maybe a great sacrifice would be the actual overcoming your shyness or bashfulness.

Maybe the secret forces would be the Courage to rise and shine. to show how good you are.

 

[learner]

Gene, yes, I read W/B translation and the description of "secret forces at work, bringing those together who belong together" is absolutely enjoyable. I would love to cling to it, but... *grin*.
Anyway, the answer is encouraging, I agree, especially when you keep the "hooks sharpened and clean". *grin*

Candid, I was slightly concerned about Hex 47 background, but I understand that the Oppression is reflecting my feelings at the moment and the idea of gravitational attraction does make sense.

I love the image of Jesus telling Peter to let down his net.

all the best,
Mirian