Lots of questions (not only about readings)

[akath19]

Hey!

I've been learning a lot about the I Ching this past few days, however the same question keeps ringing over and over again in my mind:

How much does the person's emotional state affects the readings?

That's because every time I've done readings while in a "negative" emotional state I get "bad" readings (meaning readings filled with warnings and bad omens), when I'm really happy and I do a reading I get only "good" hexagrams. So I guess one's emotional state affects the readings.

Second, how much do you personally trust the automated online readings, 'cause to me they seem pretty inexact in the sense that there's no real input from the one doing the reading.

Third, (the reading question), after realizing the emotional side of I Ching (what I wrote earlier), I meditated and focused myself in a question I asked 2 days ago (because when I originally asked it I was extremely emotional, that and I made an online reading), the question was "Should I make the romantic trip that I want to make with XXXX in October?", on the first (emotional) reading I got 10.1.2.3 > 33 (which is discussed in another thread), now I made the reading after meditating without emotional attachment and I got 19.4 > 54

Now what exactly does line 19.4 mean, 'cause there seem to be a lot of interpretations and here in the forums everyone gets it the other way around (54.4 to 19)


Sorry for the long post and thanx for all the answers!!

Julian

 

[willowfox]

For a start I don't trust the automated readings at all, i have tried them a few times but the answers were useless.

Sometimes when we are feeling negative we get good answers but we read the answers negatively because we are in the wrong mood.

"Should I make the romantic trip that I want to make with X in October?", 19.4 > 54

Like I said in your other post, Yes, but don't try to take an active or forceful role, then X lead the way.

 

[lloyd]

The Inner Teachings suggests the following considerations for approaching the oracle:

a) The book will only answer the individual who puts the question.
b) I Ching answers are about a relationship that includes the questioner and the well defined object of his question (person; inner attitude), and
c) it answer a question only once; though will allow for intelligent follow-ups.

I Ching is developed from pairs of lines, trigrams and hexagrams. It is concerned with well defined relationships and it furthers to ask in such a way that a simple yes/no answer is possible (positive/negative, advance/retreat; act/withdraw, etc.). This may seem to be a limitation, but as a tool of contemplation it will in fact help us to refine our questioning. To be clear is often the result of a choice ‘for’ or ‘against’ something; if not a matter of knowing a healthy mix of the two. The yes/no approach of asking will exclude our Why?-questions … about bananas being yellow ...
There should be clarity about the intentions of the questioner; through careful determination of what it is he wants to know. In this it is good to be careful in choosing appropriate verbs and question in a such way that the answer may fit the intention. Most important in this regard are the following modes of questioning:

-am I? (clearance of doubt, either internal or in relationship)
-can I? (asking about an inner capacity)
-should I? (asking for guidance).

To give an imaginary example, you may want to go to a wedding because you feel that you ‘can not’ let your friend down, and yet you doubt for some deeper reason. But in asking I Ching about this, it may be understood that one can always let people down and that ‘should’ may be more in place as a questioning verb. When we deal with aspects of life there are many such subtle shades in verbs to be used. It helps to ‘scan’ the intention of verbs in a question before throwing the coins.
It is also helpful to keep in mind certain language forms and expressions as they are used in the I Ching. By definition language implies an agreed use of terms, so that meaningful communication is possible. A lot of confusion may rise if questions are formulated in for instance the vague expressions of slang. We may do well to consider what we really mean with the word “cool”, before asking: “Is Harry the cool man I want?”

The need for the personal approach is emphasized in the Inner Teachings:

“The superior man consults the Changes, and he does so in words. It takes up his communications like an echo. He sets his person at rest before he moves; he composes his mind before he speaks; he makes his relationships firm before he asks something. If he asks something without first establishing relations, it (the answer) will not be given to him. Though you have no teacher, approach the book as you would your parents. (Wilhelm )"

 

[akath19]

Thank you for your answers, I at first was afraid of hearing that emotion didn't affect the reading (somehow didn't feel true but I was still afraid).

I agree with you Willow, automated readings seem to be kinda useless (I asked the same question 2 times, just to see if it worked, and got 2 extremely different readings).

Now I've got a question regarding time, I asked "If I make a wholehearted effort will X be my girlfriend before the year ends?" and got 53.2.5 > 18, now after reading somewhere here that 18 isn't completely bad I produced the following reading:

"53.2 talks about the small things, being joyful and loving, so I need to be loving, accepting and sincere.

53.5 talks about not doing everything at once, it also says (nothing can stop completion) so it may be a sign to go for it"

Now my questions are:

1) Does it sound like an accurate reading??, because besides having the I Ching as a valuable tool I also want to be able to do readings without having to depend completely on the forums.

2) There are mentions in Hex 57 (the median Hex between 53 and 18, meaning the one that result from 53.2) and Hex 18 about Geng-shen day and Jia-Zi day, I'm currently intrigued by those since there was an implicit timeframe in my question.

3) This is more of an opinion question, but I'm starting to feel that the relating hexagram means (at least to me) the approach one should take after the steps are taken, meaning the first Hex means what should be done, the changing lines give some sort of "steps" and should be read in the context of the hexagram they change to (in this case 53.2 changed to 57, so I read 53.2 and that lead me to 57.5, which finally leads to 18). I guess the real question is, how do you approach the relation between the primary and relating Hexagrams??


Thanx


Julian

 

[willowfox]

I asked "If I make a wholehearted effort will X be my girlfriend before the year ends?" and got 53.2.5 > 18

Line 53.2 says that there will indeed be some new development with her, some progress will be made, there will be a new friendliness between you.

Line 53.5 says that by the end of the year you will nearly be there, but don't mess up between now and then, don't make any silly mistakes because it may take just a bit longer than 3 months.

 

[lloyd]

"If I make a wholehearted effort will X be my girlfriend before the year ends?"
"If I make" is conditional and you imply actions the girlfriend may undertake, not capacities you have.
A question like: "Do I have it in me to win my girlfriend" concerns your capacities/actions and has nothing conditional about it.
Besides, why concentrate on the girlfriend? You might ask I Ching whether you have the true qualities of a lover/partner before you concentrate on a specific woman.
The clearer the question, the clearer the answer will come across ...

 

[akath19]

Well Lloyd, I asked the question like that because I basically wanted to know if my efforts weren't going to be wasted, the conditional "If I make" refers to me, not her, and besides I didn't know how to phrase the question "Are my efforts going to bear fruit in my relationship with X" at the time (and I still believe the original question is a better phrasing).

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can phrase relationship questions better??

 

[lyrandra]

Well Lloyd, I asked the question like that because I basically wanted to know if my efforts weren't going to be wasted, the conditional "If I make" refers to me, not her, and besides I didn't know how to phrase the question "Are my efforts going to bear fruit in my relationship with X" at the time (and I still believe the original question is a better phrasing).

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can phrase relationship questions better??

Personaly, I would use "What should I do in order to..." instead of "If I make..." In your case, I would have asked: "What should I do in order for X to be my girlfriend before the end of the year?" The only "If" questions I ask are "What will happen if I do this?"

Also, I try not to ask to many yes or no questions because it's harder to make a reading out of it. Instead of asking "Should I do this?", I ask "What will happen if I do this". The answer provided help me decide whether or not I should go for it.

Hope this helps!
Lyrandra

 

[lloyd]

Questioning

Hi Akath
I think Lyrandra already gave very good advice. The main thing is to always start with yourself as I Ching ONLY answers the questioner. You could read what I wrote under the entry "Help with 51" and there is a very good article on Steve Marshall's site: http://www.biroco.com/yijing/avoid.htm.
In general, you can always ask: "Can the Yi give me a picture of my relationship with X and where it is going?".

 

[willowfox]

Simple question, without the frills, then you will get a simple but clear answer. So, always keep your answers simple, short and to the point.

 

[akath19]

That's pretty clear to me actually, the thing is that I tend to ask complex questions, so I get complex answers, besides sometimes not even I know what the true question is, therefore I get an answer I don't really understand, that's when I come to you!!