Life purpose - hex. 18.3.5.6

[eastern_girl]

Hi everyone,

I'm going through some difficult times and questions about choices and life purpose keep crossing my mind. I have this feeling that I'm not yet on the right path and struggle to discover what the best path really is.

I know it's not indicated to ask the Yi general or philosophical questions, but I couldn't help it and today my question was: what is my purpose in this life, why am I here? I find the answer very interesting: hex 18.3.5.6 changing to 29. I see hexagram 29 as a past with repeated errors (though I'm pretty young, I haven't yet got the time to make too many mistakes ) ), and 18 as my goal: to correct them. Line 6 seems to say I do this my way. Or maybe 29 is not about the past, maybe the message is: you are forced to repeatedly face the same situations until you finally learn the lesson, you can't escape this...I think it is also about a leap of faith, the courage to jump into life with no external security, only trusting my intuition.

What do you think? Could this result have other meanings that escape my mind?

And another unbelievable answer I've recently received: Did God hear my prayers ? (on a certain issue that remained unresolved) Answer: hex 11 unchanging. This one made me smile, it's amazing how profound the dialogue can be: "This hexagram denotes a time in nature when heaven seems to be on earth.
Heaven has placed itself beneath the earth, and so their powers unite in deep
harmony. Then peace and blessing descend upon all living things."

I'm rather new to this and very enthusiast, so sorry I get so easily carried away. :bows:

 

[pocossin]

What is my purpose in this life, why am I here?
18.3.5.6 > 29

18 and 29 are somber hexagrams and reflect your interest in getting to the bottom of things. I'd judge your life purpose to be to know things as they truly are.

Line 3. Aspects of your heritage will need to be overcome.
Line 5. But you will be praised for it.
Line 6. Your pursuits are above the ordinary.

With its emphasis on the philosophical and ethical dimensions of the I Ching, you might enjoy Sherrill's Heritage of Change.

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?t=14708

 

[eastern_girl]

Thank you, Pocossin.

I find your interpretation very interesting. You've just described me in a few words: I have this meditative but stubborn personality and I'm always trying to get to the bottom of things, stay true to myself and my most powerful convictions, despite what others around me might choose to do, but I've never thought this would actually be my purpose. The problem is that my attitude of refusing what I consider to be superficial, easy or just "not my thing" has often complicated my life and led me on less traveled and harder paths. The bigger problem is I don't think I can be different.

Thank you also for the link, this will be a nice lecture.

 

[pocossin]

If by "I don't think I can be different" you mean "I don't think I can be different from the way I really am", I agree. There are strengths and weaknesses to every path, and I doubt, however it seems, that the others around are happier than you are. Frankly, you are a rare bird -- a philosophical young woman. Just look at what is generally discussed in Shared Readings. If you actualize your uniqueness, that is, find a niche where doing and being are the same, I think you will have a very good life.

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them" (Walden).

 

[eastern_girl]

Yes, that is what I meant. I have moments when I think that I would be much happier if I were less analytical and not so unwilling to make compromises. But then again, this is who I am, always questioning myself: is this where I want to be? is this really me? I think this happens because I haven't found yet that niche you are suggesting, I feel I'm not where I need to be and there's a feeling of inadaptation attached to that. But I have time to find my way, where "doing and being are the same". Other than this, I'm not unique, I have my weaknesses and faults.

Thank you for this quote, it's beautiful and very inspiring. Made my day.

 

[meng]

What purpose has a flower? ~ Joseph Campbell

 

[eastern_girl]

Is there a Thank You button that other people know how to use it and I don't? )
I can't find it, but thank you Meng.

 

[meng]

Is there a Thank You button that other people know how to use it and I don't? )
I can't find it, but thank you Meng.

You're welcome, but I actually misquoted him. He used the word meaning rather than purpose. Quoted from a Bill Moyers interview with Joe:

Bill Moyers: You changed the definition of a myth from the search for meaning to the experience of meaning.

Joseph Campbell: Experience of life. The mind has to do with meaning. What's the meaning of a flower. There's the Zen story about a sermon of the Buddha in which he simply lifted a flower. There was only one man who gave him a sign with his eyes that he understood what was said. Now, the Buddha himself is called "the one thus come". There's no meaning. What's the meaning of the universe? What's the meaning of a flea? It's just there. We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it's all about.

The Thank You button appears after so many posts, btw.