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The I in my life

imh

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Hi Hilary and everybody,

At present I am taking the "I Ching Free Course" and I love it! and hoping to get the whole course later on. I asked the I "what role is there for him in my life" and I got Hex 44 changing to 31. Actually and as there are almost no books available on the subject where I live, I asked a friend to get me a few from the U.S.A. and still I do not have them (hopefully by July I'll have them) so for the moment I am relying with what it is available in the Web, and I am not sure of the answer, is it there some contradiction in the answer?. I am thankful for any help I can get.

All the best,

IMH
 

hilary

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Hi IMH,

Thank you for plugging the beginners? course for me so nicely! I am glad you like it. For anyone else interested, the signup form is right here. (It?ll open in a new window and look a little funny, since it?s designed for a smaller window, but it still works!)

As for books, Amazon.com do international mail order. True, they charge a fair bit for postage, but at least they have a big range and deliver promptly.

Now for this fascinating reading of yours - thank you for sharing it!
I notice you call the I ?he? - most of us seem to think of him/her/it in that way (maybe especially the women?). But in these answers Yi seems to be putting on the form of a woman - a rather dark, mysterious one, maybe a wise woman or a queen - someone with tremendous power to bring about change.

I imagine the contradiction you?re seeing is between the two judgements - ?grasp the woman, good fortune? or ?no use to grasp the woman?. Two different ways of seeing her role and responding to her. I would guess that #31 as the relating hexagram is nearer to your own present perception - this is how you experience her, and naturally your perceptions tend to ?pull? the situation towards this scenario. After all, you?re half of the relationship. #44 is a rather different possibility for you to imagine. I think.

Hexagram 31 is about influence, being touched and moved. It?s the natural connection and attraction between man and woman (perhaps if you half-imagine yourself into the male role, it?ll help) - it leads towards a lasting marriage (Hexagram 32), though at present you feel it as a swift attraction.

I think this is also about openness to influence - I imagine that lake on the mountain top lying still in a crater, open to the sky - the mountain?s empty space open to welcome people. Or for your question - your inner strength and solidity, stable enough to welcome the Yi as a new influence. (I know there are people here who think in trigrams - how do you see this one?) Or maybe the Yi is the mountain and you find your place in the welcoming spaces it provides. (Both pictures can be true!)

Hopefully (for the sake of my interpretation here!) this corresponds with the way you?re feeling about the Yi. A natural attraction, something you are meant to be with, the beginnings of a good and lasting relationship.

Now, Hexagram 44. Coupling. Over the years a lot of people have been very frightened by the woman in this hexagram. I know you work with Karcher
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who is rather the exception to the rule, in this as in so much else! But just look at her - she is strong and vigorous, she cannot be ?grasped?, which means (for the writers of the Commentary, at least) that she won?t fit into a lasting marriage. But an older meaning has come to light of late: she may actually have been the new queen arriving. Not ?grasping? her would then mean not trying to grab her (to put it mildly) on her way to the king: this is not the kind of woman someone can just ?own?.

Yi - especially in the oldest parts, the lines and the Judgement - actually doesn?t say whether this woman is a ?good thing? or a ?bad thing?, only that she is strong and there?s no use in grasping her. I would guess that this is a different view of the Yi - not the open and accommodating friend, but the demanding queen who carries her changes far further than you were prepared for. Not a ?tame oracle? you can fit into your life as it is - but something/someone who is liable to turn it completely upside down, if you?ll allow this. (The big difference between Karcher and say, Wilhelm, is that Karcher thinks you should welcome the new energy, and Wilhelm thinks you should resist it. Yi isn?t saying!)

So yes, I?d say there is a contradiction between this kind of oracle and the kind you sense in Hexagram 31. I suspect that you have the choice here of experiencing it (her) either way. By accepting and responding to the influence as something quite natural, I think you make the lasting, stable relationship of #31 a real possibility.

About the changing lines? so much sexual imagery that my English soul is embarrassed to write about it!
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They seem to me to read most naturally when you apply them to yourself and your response to Yi, rather than vice versa.

Enwrapping a fish, as a womb contains a growing child. You are growing something of value here - there is no mistake. Maybe you are ?fertilised? by the new ideas and possibilities at work! But this is not the moment for ?guests? - it?s an intimate, inward-looking moment of owning what you are discovering for yourself. So you don?t visit other people?s ideas, nor invite them in to comment on yours.
(Hmmm. I would really, really love for you to sign up for the full I Ching course. But looking at this - I think you should ask about doing so first, just to check if it is a good idea.)

Coupling with your horns - shame, not a mistake. Perhaps you?re inclined to rush things, to try to ?master? the subject too fast? It?s natural to be enthusiastic, but no need to charge at it like a ram charging a fence. But then again - although this leads to shame and confusion, it is not a mistake. Perhaps such extremes are what you need to move to the next level. You could also call the two lines a ?contradiction?, or alternative ways of approaching the experience of getting to know the Yi.

I?m very much looking forward to some other people?s perspectives on this reading!
 
C

candid

Guest
Greetings! First I must ask the meaning of, "what role is there for him in my life?"

Hilary's interpretation (expertly executed, btw) read it as "him" being Yi. Is this your meaning or is this in regards to another "him?"

~Candid
 

imh

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Hi Hilary, and thanks a lot for your in-depth answer, as always so helpful and "right in there" to give us a hand. As I just opened my mail I want first to read it more carefully before giving you my opinion. In the meantime, have a big hug!

Hi Candid, Grateful to you too. The "him" is the I Ching and I have always thought that he was a male-figure. I picture him as old, beared, a sage, a hermit, with a cane, living in a mountain with only a dog as a company, needing nobody and nothing not even food and tough, really tough, straitforward, as a person who has overcome pain and all types of feelings that humans experience so he does not need to "beat around the bush". Definitvely, he does not fit my image of a female. In any event,it is his "straitforwadness" and "toughness" on "his" judgements, commentaries, etc. that attract me the most out of the I Ching.

Candid, I would love also to read yr opinion as since I have been visiting this site they have always striked me as concise, to the point, with a lot of sense and I feel I have learnt a lot from them, thanks.

All the best,

IMH
 
C

candid

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Dear IMH,

First, whether its a he or she, neither or both, is a matter of how we relate to Yi at a given time. There are times it seems stern and extra punitive. I believe this is due to Wilhelm?s own personal influence of Judeo-Christian mores and its intellectual counter part; Nietzsche. Since your question depicted Yi as a male, let?s stay within that framework.

I?ll narrow my comments to the matter of you attaining the proper approach to him.

In 31, the joyess lake (youngest daughter, emotions, excitable), lays on top of the mountain (youngest son, stillness, reliable, stable.) In this sexy picture (we Yanks have little reserve
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) the mountain quakes under the lake. This causes the lake to ?quiver? in excitement, and respond to the typically ummm.. rigid mountain in a most receptive manner. *clears throat* Think I said enough about that!

Now to add a grander perspective (if that?s possible), 31 Influence-Wooing means, Universal. Therefore, what has been described in the above illustration, actually must be applied to life, as a whole.

This is where 44 enters in.

Rather than the pupil (lake) leaning receptively upon the teacher-Yi (mountain) as in 31, 44 shows the Gentle Wind (eldest daughter) Coming To Meet the Creative (Father) on ?her own terms.? ?you can see the difference in approach?-

31 is balanced. The forces work complimentary and produce a powerful natural mutual and universal attraction.

44 is unbalanced. A woman of power (eldest daughter) is out of her league to think she could just demand answers from her master (heaven) any time she feels she deserves one? or just is amused by his attention. He?ll have nothing to do with her and then she?ll probably throw a little temper tantrum and upset the whole household.

31 is a beautiful picture. It embodies love and order, spontaneity and joy.

44 isn?t cool at all. It?s a powerful but arrogant woman getting in God?s face.

May your experience with the master be one of joy!

With love,
~Candid
 
C

candid

Guest
Now to changing lines of 44: It may be that the lines relate to how other?s view your new interest with Yi.

9 in 2nd place:
There's a fish in the tank. No blame.
Does not further guests.

The fish is a symbol of yin, in this case, the eldest daughter. She?s self contained, therefore her interests are safe if kept within and guarded from without. If it did get out in the wrong way, it could be misunderstood and create a commotion.

9 at top:
He comes to meet with his horns.
Humiliation. No blame.

Its natural to be defensive over the things you have an inner conviction about. This could also create some conflict with those around you who are too busy with trivial matters, thinking, you too should be swept up in the turmoil of day to day living. This could cause you to feel a bit humiliated, but since you are creatively at work in learning more about yourself (31-universal), you need not overly concern yourself with public opinion.

It?s a given, that these same changes can and do occur within ourselves. I?m led to believe, however, that they apply to your external environment, as well.

Tai
 

willow

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Hi IMH,

I liked your picture of the old man with his dog who does not need to beat around the bush. It does seem to me that a man who had arrived at such a place could have either wisdom or bitterness to dispense, and one of the important things that would spell the difference, let him be wise, would be that along the way he had encountered and fully accepted the feminine (in himself and in the world). He'd be whole (like I), not one-sided.

I can just see the twinkly old guy watching you trudge up his mountain with your question, knowing how you see him, and giving you a gentle trickster answer that forces you to see "his" feminine side.

I just had a quick minute - back later!

Willow
 
C

candid

Guest
Hi Willow,

hmm that's a pretty tall order for a master to fill.

There are elements in addition to wisdom and/or bitterness. A temperance, which comes from embracing and being embraced by the darkness. The embracing darkness can be a way off seeing 33. A light shines in darkness. Through this, one comes to love and grow attached to Tao, which is a dark womb. Embracing darkness keeps our bowl empty, and therefore, useful. This is the powerless power and the effortless miracle; and yes, this is all Yin. (2)

The overall affect of this is, awakening to beauty, and also to suffering. This creates compassion. Compassion is painfully beautiful. We've all felt it. We all have the choice to leave it behind, seeking to soar to greater heights than this through inner detachment. But for one whose life's work isn't yet complete, compassion calls him or her back into the world again. There is no blame in this.

Yi is a reliable guide and teacher.. and has certainly earned the title, master. I believe its 31 (universal influence) which is the compassion and the hope of the world upon which we sojourn.

Tai
~Candid
 

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