...life can be translucent

Menu

Memorizing the I Ching Hexagram 7. the Army

B

butterfly spider

Guest
Dont know if this is helpful or not. Probably not but then who knows what is useful or not. Sometimes it is just the tiny response the small almost insiginicant posting that really answers the question. Who is to say that the super teach or the specialist has more wisdom
Than the bystander who observes or gives their opinion....

I just got 7. 5 and 6 about a situation with social workers.... Inept uninterested and devoid of impetus
In a professional role I like to get things done - to expediate situations and get things moving. Limp wet fishy actions annoy me.

It is interesting to get 7 the army just when I thought that I was driving myself into a bog ...
Perhaps I need to change strategies and admit that I need to look at the situation differently. The notion that there are people who are helping is obvious but somehow they feel to me as if they are completely clueless.

In the past when I have had hex 7 I have felt
The very strong connection with ancient celts and their roundhouses or Saxon villages. When danger approached the children and women would climb to the highest point with possibly the young boys of 12-14 and wait. Bones of children women and young males have been found on high ground ...the youngsters show signs ofutilatiom akin to fighting or struggle.
I really get the sense that often the women (and young males) would be able to help and give advise but felt unable to do so ... Almost that their position was physically too high to help. That they felt knowledgable and that those under them lacked real knowledge

Just a thought tonight

Am going to the Dorset roundhouse to hear some storytelling tomorrow - it always gets me in a good place...
 
Last edited:

bradford

(deceased)
Clarity Supporter
Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
2,626
Reaction score
410
I've tried hard to convey that "The Army" is a really bad translation of Shi but the advice has fallen consistently on numb skulls. To see this as a standing army obscures the whole point of the chapter. The organization being described here is a ready militia, not an army, except possibly in the very limited sense of Swiss Army. You can get a much better sense of what this Hexagram is about by watching the Seven Samurai, or its Western remake, The Magnificent Seven.
 
B

butterfly spider

Guest
I like the term numb skull it has a definite ring to it -

I think that when the children young women and young males took to the high ground near their settlement - often with a birds-eye view- their main focus was on survival. In fact I get a sense that encroachment (war) by other tribes or people's was based on the need to survive - animals wage 'war' in this way. The groups of unarmed folk had physically taken themselves above the conflict. They were not in a position of power but would make their next move according to the outcome. They were passive maybe but they had a positive role in surviving. They were in a conflict and were waiting. This is the sense I get from Hexagram 7 - especially line 7.6. One can sense the young adults watching and not knowing what to do and of the dilemma faced by the women - surrender and join the encroachers or escape - how eat to move the group forward.

I read Hilary's post on 7 about survival and Rosadas posting about hex 6 and 8 being a continuum.
I think the term army and war and conflict are not helpful interpretations. I agree with Bradford that it implies a readiness to do battle rather than strategies to survive

Too many numb skulls around...

Xx
 
Last edited:
S

sooo

Guest
Me thinks some things are best left buried in the earth, like the water in 7.
 
S

sooo

Guest
Where is the water in 7 please?

Sorry, I left out a word and re-posted after your comment.

The trigrams for 7 is water (abyss, danger, etc) beneath the earth, which represents this hidden force or reserve force. That also represents the idea of the militia as a group of working class civilians, who are only gathered as a force when needed. Otherwise they disband and go back to doing their every day work.

This is not an idea exclusive to Bradford's rendition. Wilhelm says this:

This hexagram is made up of the trigrams K'an, water, and K'un, earth, and thus it symbolizes the ground water stored up in the earth. In the same way military strength is stored up in the mass of the people--invisible in times of peace but always ready for use as a source of power.

Nevertheless, the idea of a strong center (line 2) within K'an is a symbol of a strong man, capable of leading us through difficulties during rough times, even when we're not at war. Sometimes diplomacy is called for.
 
B

butterfly spider

Guest
I will remember to look below the surface of hexagrams now. That sums up my take on hexagram 7 perfectly - but in so few words - and is a very useful resource for me in my life right now.
Brilliant!
 
B

butterfly spider

Guest
Bradford mentioned 2 films and I passed a WW2 pill box on the Mendips juat now while walking the Dog. I could imagine someone inside waiting ... Rather like the Air Raid Wardens or the Home Guard. My Grandfather was one in the Docks of the East End of London. They used to sound the warning and wait for the doodlebugs and bombs to fall -

Whilst not in anyway of equal significance or importance a British version could be Dads Army ....
X
 

anemos

visitor
Joined
Aug 5, 2010
Messages
2,316
Reaction score
125
hexagram7.jpg
 

Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom

Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).

Top