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New years resolutions...hexagram 43?

pagan

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I need to talk about resolutions. I am really changing inside and I feel a whole new flowering of my potential. Now I am painfully aware of a defect in my mind by seeing it in others all around me. It is what I call "mush-brain thinking" where one's thoughts and decisions and judgements are not crisp and clean. Resolve means you are no longer unsure of right and wrong and now you decide to do right. Is this what hexagram 43 is about?

New years resolutions are also related to hexagram 57 because we need to penetrate our bad habits slowly and gently alter their course. Hexagram 32 is also about making these resolutions a reality, one step at a time. I suppose hexagram 1 is creating new beginnings and so this too would seem to relate to making resolutions.

One of my resolutions this year is never to let go of my dependency on spirit. I feel that all of 2004 was repeated lessons on this theme. I get so mad when I receive 27.1 "you lost your magic tortoise and look to me with droopy eyes". I see the magic tortoise as our ability to follow our own dharma and not fall dependent on externals that lead us away from what truly nourishes us. So my resolve for this year is to fully embody the lesson of 27 line 1.
p.
 
J

jeanystar

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<BLOCKQUOTE><HR SIZE=0><!-Quote-!><FONT SIZE=1>Quote:</FONT>

I see the magic tortoise as our ability to follow our own dharma and not fall dependent on externals that lead us away from what truly nourishes us.<!-/Quote-!><HR SIZE=0></BLOCKQUOTE>
Brad, I looked on your site and do not understand exactly how Pagan is misinterpreting this line. Even the part about the droopy eyes seems reiterated on your site.

Could you elaborate? If you got this line in a reading, what would it mean to you?

Thank you, Jeannie
 
J

jeanystar

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ooops... okay, not "droopy eyes", but "hungry mouth hanging open"....sorry. somehow I got *droopy eyes* from the image of *disappointing*

if you are disappointed and your hungry mouth is hanging open, I guess the eyes will be droopy, eh?

would still appreciate your take on the line! I got it when I asked about my retirement fund....thats a subject for droopy eyes if ever there was one.
 

bradford_h

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It's not Pagan's misrepresenting anything, it's the bad translation being quoted.

Forsaking your spirit tortoise
Looking at me (with) hungry mouth hanging open
Disappointing

I didn't see where anyone gets eyes from.
The word is the same as the Hexagram name, Yi,
jaws, mouth, appetite. And it isn't about sadness.
The character isn't just looking to be fed -
he is looking to be spoon fed.
The oracle wants to be met halfway here,
wants the querent to have some dignity and self-reliance.
It wants, as the Xiao Xiang says, "a basis for respect".
 
S

seeker

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Interesting, does that mean that Wilhelms translation is inaccurate as well? He mentions the mouth but talks of the corners of the mouth drooping which would seem to indicate sadness. He talks of this line as being about envy and discontent, as does Denning. Karcher talks about sadness and melancholy. Huang is the closest to yours as he talks of being responsible for your own spirituality. Are the other 3 inaccurate???
 

bradford_h

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Hi Seeker-
Oh well. It won't be my first departure from Wilhelm. But others, like Lynn, Wang Bi, Kong Yingda, Legge, Blofeld, Cleary, Henry Wei and Wu Jing-Nuan all lack any trace of reference to sadness. But most of these do refer to the querant's disrespect for either or both himself and the oracle, following the lead of the Wing commentary.
I still get the picture of a slack-jawed, mouth breather with a vacant expression. Depression, distinct from just feeling sorry for yourself, could be part of the mix though. In part I think it's talking to the person who posts like this:

My girl/boyfriend left. I got 31.2. Tell me what this means.

Not a clue what the question was, not a hint that they ever cracked a single book. If I put myself in the place of the oracle, I want to say: Go away. Next time bring some of the magic with you. Bring me hunger and want, enthusiasm and some life. Do some homework first. Offer me that spirit tortoise you're not using. And walk erect like a predator, don't just lie there like food.
 
S

seeker

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I have noticed that people here seem to have the same response, you seem to get more help if you post what your own impressions are or at least have made an attempt to figure it out for yourself.

And perhaps someone who asks a lot of questions, looks them up quickly, and then proceeds to just ask more questions instead of turning over the advice a bit, might they get this answer as well??? And yes, been guilty of that once or twice or...a hundred times
happy.gif


Yours is not a huge departure from Wilhelm, in his explanation he mentions relinquishing self reliance and looking at others with envy, so it still implies similar advice, do something for yourself.

Thanks again for the clarification
 
J

jeanystar

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Dear Pagan, I like your take .....and your resolve. makes good sense.

Jeannie
 

pagan

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Hi Bradford,
Thanks for the link to the discussion on 43 and resolution.

I looked up 27 line 1 in Karcher and it says "when you confront the problems involved, you simply give up and fall into self pity. You put aside your imagination, its magical power and the omens you have been given. So of course the way closes. This sort of attitude has no value at all." I think that comment is closer to your own.

And it actually fits my resolution like a glove. I am having to start over in life after having lost everything. I feel too old to start again and I do harbor the self pity and hopeless attitude spoken of here. It sort of mirrors the 'gloomy valley' of 47 line 1. But this year I am going to go around that attitude as much as possible because it does drain away the magical element that makes things go right in life.
P.
PS
Thanks Jenny for the encouragement!
 
S

seeker

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Pagan, which Karcher do you have? I have his I Ching Simple but have been looking for another one. At times the translation in this one is a little too simple, you can miss some of the nuances, which for me can cause to totally misinterpret the reading.
 

pagan

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Hi Seeker,
It is the complete edition with concordance. In general I think this commentary is the most positive. It provides a spirit of direction with each line that makes you want to move into a space of greater progress. Other commentaries can make me feel somewhat stifled. I have a tendency to judge them by their fruits.
P.
 
S

seeker

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I think I saw that one tonight. I initially ignored it because it has Vega at the bottom, which I thought was the author, realize now that is the publisher, as the top says translation by Stephen Karcher. Is that the same one? I almost got it, but found two taoist books I really wanted so to decided to wait until next time.
 

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