Should I stay or should I go (3.5 > 7 and 62.4.5 > 39)

[fun_horse]

I've been really struggling with making a decision and wanted to reflect on my journal entry from when I first posed this question to the I Ching a little bit ago when I noticed that I had accidentally misinterpreted my yin lines as yang lines and yang lines as yin lines when I first threw my coins.

I first asked what would happen if I dropped out of school and moved to a specific city where I have friends and got 3.5 to 7.

'Sprouting' is a very clear image, one of a germinating plant struggling to break free of the soil. But, challenge is not necessarily bad-- in fact great struggle is often the prerequisite for great reward. But it also tells of a lack of clarity: the germinating plant is struggling to break through because it does not know which direction the light is.
Line 5: Success in small but inauspicious in great. I should be biding my time, waiting for a more auspicious solution?

Changing to Discipline. The results of this would be good, but I would have to be resolute and organized if I were to do it? Basically, I'm being told that if I do it it won't be easy but the payoff will be worth it?

Next I asked what would happen if I stayed in school till graduation. Small background info: I have worked for a long time and through many obstacles to get to this school, but now that I am here I am realizing more and more every day that I do not like it and that it seems to be a bad culture fit for me, primarily because of its rural location. But I'm hesitant because I stand to work with professors who could prove to be important mentors for me here. For this reading, I got 62.4.5 changing to 39.

62 again saying success in small affairs but not in large affairs. Blofeld says "The Superior Man now acts with too much reverence, experiences too much sorrow from bereavement and is overly thrifty in satisfying his needs". Am I being too thrifty, keeping myself somewhere I don't like for too-pragmatic reasons? Line 4, Legge says "There is no occasion to be using firmness perpetually". But with together with Line 5 it feels as though I'm being forewarned to something dark or beyond my current understanding. Could this be further covid disruptions to higher ed?

Especially changing to 39, Impasse, it feels as though I'm being told this simply will not work out-- even if I wanted it to.

Does this sound like a correct understanding of this reading? I would appreciate any insight!

 

[rosada]

Dropping out of school and moving to a city where you have friends.
3.5
Difficulties have arisen because no one in your school world seems to be able to give you the guidance you're looking for, you don't feel you're getting the real life experiences you need.
7.
The city could be a place where you'd feel you are with your right group.

Although these hexagrams seem to encourage leaving the classroom for the city I can also see a warning here. 3. Difficulty at the Beginning could be pointing to how it might be difficult to launch your career without the proper papers. Without the proper credentials for employment, 7. The Army could be a warning you'd only be considered for less promising positions, like you'd be seen as a common foot soldier. So even if you're not feeling you're getting much out of the classes it might be good to consider if having the school on your resume would be useful.

 

[fun_horse]

Yes! Lacking the real life experience is exactly it. Since I have already lived on my own in the city before, it's especially jarring to be, in a sense, "downgraded" to the rural college bubble.

My plan is, once I'm back in the city, to take my time to figure out my new education priorities. It wouldn't be a complete 'giving up' on education but it would also mean delaying my progress by a year or so. Perhaps this is the military diligence I'm meant to go into this with: don't relax and think I've gotten out of the hard work of school, rather, be aware I'll have more work to do.

Thanks for your response, definitely cast some new light on the situation for me.

 

[rosada]

I think Blofeld's interpretation of hexagram 62 has given you the wrong impression. It's not that the superior man here is inappropriately reverent, sorrowful or thrifty. Rather, in a situation calling for attention to details, it is actually appropriate for a superior man to go a bit overboard in these behaviors others might consider excessively fussy. Like the carpenter's golden rule: Measure twice, cut once.
Not sure what this might mean as far as your question. I'm only mentioning it here to clear up any misunderstanding of Blofeld.