Recurring Hexagram 22

[leighl]

Ah! 22 assistance needed, please!

Over the past week and half or so, I have cast the same hexagram with various lines regarding 4 questions. I've been mulling over the meaning of recurring hexagrams (as wells as doing some reading) and wonder how much of the recurrence is from my state of mind? 3 of them are quite clearly connected. Could it be that I am in a hex 22 state of mind and am seeing that reflected back to me? What does that mean for my answers? Some of them have individual advice that makes sense to me. 22 has been a slippery hex for me to get my mind around.

I decided to break down and post today when I asked the question I like to ask on Sundays--- what to focus on this week? 22 again! No more questions for Yi from me until I have a better grasp on this hexagram.

Some things I have been contemplating in these answers:
Am I being superficial/asking superficial questions? Does X see me as superficial? Is Yi saying I could attract love by making more of an effort in my physical appearance? 22.2 felt like a very literal answer to me-- make your hair look nice. Advice for moving on changing to 21 (Biting Through) made a lot of sense. Don't wait for the man on the white horse- he's not coming. 22.3>27 (Nourishment) for pursuing my passion feels right, but I struggle with the changing line.

1. What if I pursue my passion more seriously? 22.3 >27
2. What would I need to do to attract love? 22.2 > 26
3. How does he see me? 22.3.6 > 24
4. Advice for moving on. 22.3.4 > 21
5. What to focus on this week. 22.1.2.6 > 46

Any links or posts about 22 (though I've read several) would be helpful, even if they are unrelated to my questions. If this is extremely obvious to anyone, can you please point out what I am clearly blind to?

Thanks!

 

[Trojina]

I decided to break down and post today when I asked the question I like to ask on Sundays--- what to focus on this week? 22 again! No more questions for Yi from me until I have a better grasp on this hexagram.

In terms of practical advice 22 can be around making sure your outside adequately shows what's on your inside. So though 22 can indicate superficiality to us at times it really isn't the whole story. How can anyone share or sell what they have if they do not advertise and what is advertising but aiming to reveal what it is you have to share. How can anyone share who they are without having some kind of 'shop window' so to speak. This could apply on so many levels. What if someone has a very loving heart but always appears brusque on the outside so no one suspects how warm and tender they are ? Then opportunities for connection may pass by and that does matter. So whilst it may be superficial to get overly caught up on self presentation and appearances for their own sake or to look to them to provide deep judgments about worth and nature of something, providing an appearance of who/ what you are or have to sell is also essential for exchange. Lise calls the hexagram 'flower power'. Flowers have to be as beautiful as they to attract insects to pollinate and so on.

Some things I have been contemplating in these answers:
Am I being superficial/asking superficial questions? Does X see me as superficial? Is Yi saying I could attract love by making more of an effort in my physical appearance? 22.2 felt like a very literal answer to me-- make your hair look nice. Advice for moving on changing to 21 (Biting Through) made a lot of sense. Don't wait for the man on the white horse- he's not coming. 22.3>27 (Nourishment) for pursuing my passion feels right, but I struggle with the changing line.

I think you have taken the answers in a somewhat self condemnatory way which isn't surprising given many commentaries tend to veer one in that direction. I don't agree with much of the above.

1. What if I pursue my passion more seriously? 22.3 >27

My experience of line 3 is that can be a very beautiful vision or experience where all seems charmed. It's lovely but don't rely on it too heavily in the cold light of the next morning. I'm wondering if you have a very beautiful image of where you want your passion to take you, or indeed it may be more literal. Read the line fully to see if any part of it describes what your passion is. From Hilary's book, her translation, not commentary but what Yi actually says

'Beautiful as if dipped in water.
Ever-flowing constancy, good fortune'

Hilary has said she envisions this line sometimes as how a stone looks when it is wet. Think of a dull black stone when it is wet, it is beautiful and shiny. Use this image that yi gives to assist you in understanding what this line means for you. For example it might be literal if your passion were art work which involved dipping things ! This is why it is so important not to rely on commentaries (people's ideas about what Yi says) but to first see what Yi's actual words are. There may not be a commentary anywhere that could ever include what this answer means to you personally. Do yousee what I mean ?

2. What would I need to do to attract love? 22.2 > 26

If one took this answer directly then yes it may indicate attention to appearance and it may also signify paying homage to the etiquette of situations. I've often had this line where I am taking an action to signify something to someone. The action may have no use in itself but it is like a gesture . For example attending a leaving party or even a funeral. One is presenting oneself to show 'respects'.

If I took the answer indirectly I might wonder if your own idea of attracting love is more of a gesture, to yourself than anything you really actually want at this moment in time. By 'love' here I assume you mean a romance. Love itself of course is everywhere all around and doesn't confine it's appearance to romantic relationships. Are you really really sure that you want what you say you want at this moment ?

3. How does he see me? 22.3.6 > 24

I don't attempt to interpret answers about what people I don't know are feeling. I feel it is their own prerogative to reveal how they feel and I may do them a disservice by presuming I can read their minds. Will link to advice for relationship questions https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/fri...42-Blog-post-Advice-for-relationship-readings

4. Advice for moving on. 22.3.4 > 21

Adornment's Biting Through. Have already talked about line 3. Line 4 is a lovely line and I see it as you may be suspicious the thing that approaches and makes an offer to you of some kind because, to a degree, you feel it's simply too good to be true. You do not trust it's claims, but you can.

So to move on, you don't say in what sense move on, it might seem as though you must take your visions and apply them decisively (21). You need to take what is within you and make an effort to display it openly, to show it. Change patterns are 61/62, taking your own truth message into the big wide world.

5. What to focus on this week. 22.1.2.6 > 46

Revealing who you are in all ways. Making progress (46) by taking care to present yourself in your most truthful light. It need not be showy or complex just very true to who you are and what you have to offer.

Any links or posts about 22 (though I've read several) would be helpful, even if they are unrelated to my questions. If this is extremely obvious to anyone, can you please point out what I am clearly blind to?

There are a few good threads on 22 I can recall will link if I can

 

[Trojina]

This is a really good thread as I recall, Bradford's input especially helpful. it's very old thread so is in old format

https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/archive/index.php/t-7807.html

Bradford wrote there

May 5th, 2009, 12:31 AM
Problem is, Grace is a bad word to use to summarize the hexagram's meaning.
It's more about things that catch the eye in such a way as to prevent the deeper
and longer view. The mountain is lit up by the flame below, and it looks pretty.
But you can see no farther. Closer to the core meaning is nearsightedness,
but more literally, ornamentation or superficiality. The mountain goat needs
to be nearsighted to pick his way up the mountain - he wants each of his steps
to be real, so there is a place for nearsightedness in how graceful his ascent is.

It's a common rookie error to get a single English word stuck in your head to be
the primary representative of a hexagram's meaning. It's also a big mistake to
think of one hexagram as more fortunate than another.

The bit about the goat always stuck in my mind


There's also this one you have probably seem already https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/fri...eriences-with-Unchanging-Castings-Hexagram-22 where people have many different ideas about how 22 played out for them.

It's funny because 44, historically used to be the hexagram that triggered rows and arguments and more recently over the last few years the understanding of 22 has bought more controversy. 22 is the new 44
but i think the reason for that is it is a difficult one to get one's head around when applying it to real life situations.

It's all very well just saying '22 indicates superficiality' but then suppose you cast it over something terribly serious that you are deeply concerned about. Then you have to re-think it. It's an ongoing process of discovery of course.