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Static Hexagram 52... Keep still... but for how long?

saguy

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Hopefully someone in the forum will be kind enough to enlighten me on this one. I recently heard from an ex-boyfriend after four months of silence. He sent me an e-mail last friday (which, interestingly enough, the I Ching also predicted fairly explicitly). When asked what my attitude should be towards responding, I received a static 52 -- Keeping Still. Seems pretty clear that I should not respond, much as I might like to. However, I'm wondering how long I'm meant to keep still? Am I to wait to hear from him again, or reply after a suitable amount of time has passed?
 

jerryd

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It may be refering to how you might sound if you respond with to much emotion. Positive or negative if over done may fowel the whole relationship. It will depend on what you are feeling as to when you may need to respond. Ya Think? Sometimes haste does make waist./ A.J.anon
 

dobro p

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"Seems pretty clear that I should not respond, much as I might like to. However, I'm wondering how long I'm meant to keep still? Am I to wait to hear from him again, or reply after a suitable amount of time has passed?"

I know the answer to your question, but I have to ask you a question first. When you say 'wait to hear from him again' and 'reply after a suitable amount of time has passed', what sort of time frame do you have in mind?
 
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rosada

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I agree with Jerry here. I don't see the I Ching as telling you not to repond because you weren't asking what you should DO, but what your ATTITUDE should be.

52. tells us

The Wise Person
Does not permit his thoughts
To go beyond his situation.

--
So I say, return the call as a courtesy. Do so with an attitude of not expecting or assuming anything. He maybe calling to get back together, he may not. It doesn't matter. You are just returning his call.
 

saguy

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Thanks for the responses. In answer to your question Dobro, I really didn't have any particular time frame in mind. I do think that how I would respond now, and how I would have responded a week ago, is very different. Was the I Ching telling me that I needed some time to reflect?
 

dobro p

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That's not how I see it, cuz 52 isn't about reflection (maybe 20 is about reflection, but 52's more about just keeping still). So, you asked about a useful attitude in responding to his email, and the Yi said: 52. That means keep still. When I asked you what time frame you had in mind when you asked the question, I was thinking that *that* would be the period of time you should keep still (ie not respond to his email) cuz the Yi generally picks up on your assumptions about the situation and talks to you in those terms. But you had no time frame in mind. So now I'm thinking that the Yi's telling you: just keep still. For as long as it takes. Don't respond to his email, in other words. See, if he's serious, he'll follow up. In fact, if he's serious, nothing will keep him away. That's what desire and/or love does to you. I'm thinking that the Yi's counselling stillness so that both he and you can see how sincere he is about getting together with you. If he doesn't follow up, then that's a pretty clear indication that his interest in you doesn't go that deep.
 

frank

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Hi Dobro, and the rest..,

Sorry to disagree, but 52 IS INDEED about relfection... If you look to the ethymological meaning of the Chinese character of this hexagram then you read that it means 'a man walking on a mountainroad, LOOKING BACK to the path he already walked'.... That sounds like reflection to me, and because you received a message, Saguy, it's no wonder that you start to reflect and look back to 'the old days', and therefor wandering if you should stay in touch or not... Otherwise you would not have that memory in the first place, wouldn't ya? You would then instead totaly forgot about it and just responded, because SOMEONE just gave you a message... but because it it THIS PARTICULAR person, you start to wander... That's reflection to me!

Huggie,
Frank
 

lightofdarkness

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52 covers more so discernment and self-restraint. (52: with self-restraint comes discernment) Self-reflection, both literally and figuratively, is covered more by 58. (58: with self-reflection comes intensity in expression)

The looking back emphasis in 52 is on analysis of past steps to in some way aid in moving forwards - this is an act of discernment; using past experiences to aid in determining the best 'future' experiences. - IOW quality control.

When we ask the IC to describe 52 we have the skeletal structure, its 27-ness, described by analogy to 36, a generic a focus on the light stricktly 'within'; covered-up, blocked. (36: with guidance comes devotion)

When we ask the IC to describe the source of nourishment for 52, its 48-ness, we have an analogy to the generic properties of 59 with its focus on clarity, lifting the fog (59: with containment comes influence)

When we add-in basic emotions, 52 correlates with suffering, grief, through the loss of love. It is through that loss, a past experience, that we develop discernment.

If we combine lake in mountain (Self-reflection/intensity_in_expression in a context of self-restraint) we have the interaction manifest through hexagram 31. (self-reflection covers (a) replication of self physically and mentally as well as (b) consideration of self physically and mentally. The overall focus is on the use of a mirror.) Thus the act of 'wooing' is a focus of self-reflection operating under the control of self-restraint.

Chris.
 

lightofdarkness

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BTW - all of this suffering and refinement of the light 'within' shows a representation of basic properties/methods of Buddhism. Since lake/mountain form a pair that represents BONDING, the sharing of space with another/others, so it is easy to mix the characteristics of reflection/discernment.

Mountain focus is more on past/future, Lake focus is more 'now'.
 

dobro p

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Frank -

"Sorry to disagree, but 52 IS INDEED about relfection... If you look to the ethymological meaning of the Chinese character of this hexagram then you read that it means 'a man walking on a mountainroad, LOOKING BACK to the path he already walked'.... That sounds like reflection to m"

Sure, that sounds like reflection to me too. But an etymology isn't a current meaning necessarily. Just cuz you know the root historical meaning of a word doesn't mean you understand its contemporary meaning (in this case, the meaning it had when the Yi was assembled). And for that meaning, I look to the main text of 52. And what I see there is a picture of meditation, not reflection. And what's the difference? Well, for me, reflection is mental activity - logical intellect applied to processing personal experience from the past. Whereas for me, meditation is *lack* of thought, emotion, and all the activity of the mind in order that consciousness sinks into itself and is nothing other than itself. Stillness, in other words. And I think that Hex 52's core meaning is stillness. Thinking isn't stillness, it's mental activity. Hex 52 isn't mental activity, it's mental stillness. That's why I think that there's no reflection in Hex 52, despite the etymology of the term.

And there's a parallel in the Fourth Way path as well, which arose out of the Sufi tradition. In that approach, they talk *a lot* about self-remembering, which is actually self-awareness or being conscious of self. But they talk about it as 'self-remembering' - as if it a kind of 'looking back at what came before'. Actually it's a looking at what *is*. And it involves an awareness of yourself that is beyond thought and memory. Presence. And I think both the Fourth Way and the sages who assembled the Yi are talking about the same thing, imaged in Hex 52.
 
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rosada

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Weighing in with Dobro on this one.

The superior man
Does not permit his thoughts
To go beyond his situation.

Doesn't that sound like staying in the NOW?

Also, look at the judgement, sounds like a lesson in how to keep one's thoughts in the present.

Sooo, in considering what one's attitude should be, the IC is not telling you to call or not to call, but rather to quiet your mind before you decide.

Personally, I think NOT calling sends the message that you do not wish to resume the friendship. Expecting your friend to call several times to prove his sincerity sounds like manipulation.
 

saguy

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Thanks again to everyone; your responses have helped me to clarify my decision on this matter. I've decided to respond to his gesture of friendship in kind.
 

bodhixeno

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Good ole hexagram 52! Just think about, it's two mountains. Still plus Still = Stillness. If you have to ask "Keep still... but for how long?" Then you're not really still at all, are you. Inside you there is movement. Your emotions are moving, your thoughts are moving, the person who just sold their house next door is moving....
Stillness is like one of those Christmas balls that are filled with water. You shake up the ball and all the beautiful white snow is moving everywhere. You've seen one haven't you? Now a person is usually just like that Christmas ball filled with water and white snow. All shook up in the inside, but wait...what happens when you put the Christmas ball down on a table and just watch it? The snow sinks slowly down...down...down... Then it settles. Boom! now it's still. Hexagram 52 wants you too be just like that Christmas ball. Hexagram 52 is telling you that you are all shook up, things are moving all around you because inside is moving all around. Simply wait and let everything settle down. Let things drop, let your mind drop. Once this happens, hexagram 52 will begins it's change, it will change because you became still.
Having actually become hexagram 52-(stillness), this starts you off into the next change. Once that is achieved (the stillness), your next question for the I ching might be..."Is this a good time to call my bofriend"
 

dobro p

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Mmmm...good take on it, Bodhixeno. That's exactly right, I think. Mmmm. But it sounds like Saguy's already moved on this one.
 
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rosada

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Really really nice, Bodhixeno. I will understand 52 much better now with this image in mind.
Interesting how you point out that once "everything settles down" 52 will begin it's change - because the next hexagram is 53. Gradual Progress - as if the IC is saying, " Only when the mind is quiet can we progress."
Does anybody here remember the old classic, Portnoy's Complaint? The book is a monolog of a fellow telling everything, absolutely everything to his analyist. It's an incredible exhausting tale and yet the last sentence is the analyist saying, "And now perhaps we can begin?'
 
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goddessliss

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This is a great thread - where are some of these people now?? Dobro, Bodhixeno - great information and perspective on things. Rosada of course always has fantastic perspective on things.
When I read old threads like this is seems like you guys used to, I don't know take things to a deeper or somewhat more interesting level, like you had more time to be able to do it or somethin'.

Will stop raving now and post the question that brought me to this thread -

How should I progress my relationship with J

Hex 52>8

The history is he is quite keen for a relationship and whilst I am keen as well I believe he has a few things to sort out before he can committ himself to seeing where this could take us.
He is actually a friend of my older brother and I hadn't seen him for over 30 years until recently.
So Hex 52 as I read it from this thread is......just allow things to be as they are, don't step forward but don't necessarily step back - just allow the relationship to be what it is - for now.
We spend more time chatting online because we both have other committments(mainly his) and I am finding myself not getting things done because - well I'd rather be chatting to him lol

So I asked how should I keep communicating with J (meaning frequently or lets just step back a bit so emotional attatchment is a bit calmer) - Hex 38.2.6>51

So yep Hex 51 it has shaken both our lives up quite a bit!!

Line 2 - he is in an estranged relationship where him and his wife think its better to live together, to remain in equilibrium rather than break a family up and they are still friends.
She is a lovely person, actually they both are.

Line 6 - pigs covered in mud etc. I guess I don't feel quite right about essentially us talking 'romantically' when he is still in a committed relationship albeit an estranged one and I encourage him to see if can reignite the flame in his relationship after all they have been together for over 30years.

anyway would appreciate anyone elses take on it.

have a beautiful day Liss
 

gnar

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For me 52 speaks about being calm, steady, immovable, great. It shows greatness in being in this grounded, secured, huge way. It's somewhat the opposite of panic, being easily moved, etc.

This can only be attained if one's inner self has a strong foundation.

So, with regards to your question, if I were in your shoe, I'd read into this as calming myself first, and reaching a state of being a loving, caring, or passive giant. I just can't put it to words how to describe this state where you are not easily moved, grounded. It's like having a solid footing on something, while not being aggressive.

I just see this huge mountain with its peak reaching above the clouds. It's just there, calm, quiet, to itself, confident, immovable.

So, how long is out of the question, imo. This state is useful for maintaining balance, and giving you a solid core from which to think, speak, or act.

In any case, anything useful is best used only when the time and situation calls for it.
 

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