The Practicality of the "I"

[chinuajin]

Hi, All

Having worked with the I Ching for many years, I'm constantly amazed at the relevance the work, from the mists of Time and Culture, can bring to a Situation.

Today, I realised that my radiator system needs to have the air bled from it... I've never done this before, and I'm more than a bit apprehensive! So, I did a casting.

I got a Primary of # 48 (The Well) (changing #2 & #5), a Nuclear of 38 (Diverging), and a Final of 15 (Humbling).

The Primary just about knocked my socks off (as the "I" is wont to do My paraphrase of Karcher:
"The Well describes the Forces flowing through the structure... the water is there, but the Well needs Maintenance and Upkeep". This is a truly shocking assesment of my hot-water system!

Nuclear: "... Fire ascends, the Mists descend... Learn to join things and separate them..." Again, a very good description of a gas-fired radiator with air in it, I think. Especially, since my advisor is over 3000 years old! Separating the air (mists) from the hot water to rejoin the branches of pipes in my house is _exactly_ what I'm about !! I'm also advised to learn how to do it, first...

Final: "Be clear about what you're doing, then act directly."

Now, I wouldn't suggest hiring a Chou Sage as a Plumber... but the advice I got was right on the Money

I'm sure that others among us have had similarily anachronistic yet appropriate Advice given... I think I've started the Ball rolling. Anybody else want to add similar stories?

Chinuajin

 

[hilary]

Hello Chinuajin

ROFL! Oh, lovely. (The lines are fun, too.)

I don't have anything as good to offer, though I do remember that Diana Ffarington-Hook's book includes a reading to find some lost keys. Answer 48, unchanging. She found them in the airing cupboard (ie place with water tank...)

Well, I use the I Ching for business and website navigation ideas, though I haven't been able to find any especially good examples. Still, I had a wry grin at the vision of/ advice on my efforts to find new customers offered by 8,5...
And I know others use the I for help in share dealing and futures trading (with success).

It is very good to have you here! Thanks so much for your ideas, the balls rolling

and the help for other Friends. I may be a bit quiet at present, but I do appreciate it!

 

[dharma]

I'm certain we've all had similar correspondences with the I Ching but due to the fact that we're not always too well versed on the subject we may tend to overlook the obvious. And I guess the whole point of adding something to this page is being able to MAKE that kind of connection, right?

Well, I had an interesting experience with the I Ching yesterday that I'd like to share.

I took my car in (yes, another car story

) for it's quarterly oil change as well as a tweak here and there to lift up it's spirits (it was feeling a bit sluggish, poor thing

) On my way back home I decided it was also time for a good wash (slushy Montreal winters leave cars looking pitifully dirty). The whole experience left ME feeling rather proud--my car looked and felt it's best--and it had rubbed off on me!!

Back at my desk, on a whim I decided to ask the I Ching what IT thought of my car today, in the same way I might proudly ask a friend what they thought of a new dress (as I parade and spin about,

of course) and as a response I got back hexagram 22. This was to me IT'S way of saying "Lookin' good!" I was surprised despite the fact that I accept the I Ching as a voice of Universal wisdom. It seems a silly way to use the I Ching when I think about it, however I feel that my light bantering allowed me to connect more directly than I have with all my 'serious' questions in the past.

In anycase, it's not much but for me a personally meanful experience (and input) on the subject.

Dharma

 

[chinuajin]

Yep, Dharma!

That's exactly the kind of "thumbs up" I would expect from the I, as well as the sort of "practicality" I was thinking of

("Apropos" might be better... but you have the idea.)

I think the "I" can often teach _best_ in playful situations... when one's under _real_ stress, you often lack the objectivity to Interpret well; more laid-back readings can often teach you more about the subtle wit and humour that The I can (and will) impart than the 'serious' questions do.

Since I was young, I've looked on the Changes as a wise, old Grandfather (my Folks would be a little shocked to find that I had an ancient Chinese Sage for a Grandfather... but we'll let that pass

At the risk of anthropomorphising the Text _too_ much, I'll stick my neck out, and state that the "I" is one of the most genuinely "playful" books that History has produced. Yes... there's a very serious face (or actually, IMHO, a facade) to the I Ching. But there's a fun-loving face, too.

That many folks never see the witty, playful side of The I is their own problem... they probably don't see the witty, playful side of the World around them, either. Most of us only consult when we have 'serious' questions. Naturally, the "I" gives us serious answers. Sometimes, it helps to lighten up, and just chat with a Casting... even the best of Friendships can be strained, if only bad times are discussed.

Light Readings, I think, should be encouraged. Doing such connects our thoughts more closely with the Cycle... and shows us more fully the Wonder around us.

Thanks, Dharma, for a very nice Example

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UPDATE on my Furnace Situation:

Well... I took Hex.15 to heart, and began studying what I could of my Heating System. I went downstairs, and started poring over the Hydra-like loops, valves and dials of this 40-year-old Monstrosity of Copper and Hot Water.

I remembered the Moving Lines (which had given me a shiver, at first-casting).: "The vessel is cracked and leaking..." In apprehension, I overlooked that the 5th line assured me that the water was there, and ready.

Turns out, the System was only running at about 5 psi. It's supposed to be at about 35-40 psi.
I found a filler-valve, and filled the pipes up again, and the Pressure came right up.

The Nuclear Hex. (38), spoke of learning to separate and to join. Separating was (to me) clearly the matter of bleeding the air out of the system... Joining, I now realise, was involved with getting water back into the silly pipes!

I'm nice and warm, now... and was able to turn my water-temperature down almost 80 degrees F. (Good for the Gas Bill

Maybe I would hire a Chou-Period Plumber, after all

************************************************

Two days ago, I made myself a 16-bead I Ching string. I like it a lot!!

Using it, I can work the beads in my Left hand, while writing Hexagrams with my Right. I like the close odds-similarities to the stalks very much (as the stalks are my preferred cast), and the ease, quickness, and portability of the method.

I used 9 x 6 mm. plastic Pony Beads (cheap and ubiquitous) strung on hemp cord. The color-scheme mine have:

5 Red (Yang)
7 Black (Yin)
3 Gold (Moving Yang)
1 Silver (Moving Yin)

Gold (Moving Yang) I remember as metal on Red, while Silver (Moving Yin) is metal on Black.

It works very nicely, I think, and leads to more Contact with the "I" at unexpected moments (like at my local Chinese Buffet yesterday, when I was asked for a casting by the Hostess. She had noticed the hexagrams in my Wilhelm/Baynes I was reading at Table, and had to inquire

(This Incident, in itself, was rather amazing. She was shocked that any Westerner had ever heard of the "I", let alone would study an English translation! I won't go into her Question, or my cast, but she seemed more than satisfied when I drew out her hexagrams on a napkin, and told her the Image I got from the Trigrams. She has her own Version (Chinese, I presume... her English is little better than my Chinese), and carried the napkin carefully off to peruse on her own

Tonight, I mean to ask the "I" about that... talk about "reverse Culture Shock"

So, all goes well with me

Chinuajin

 

[hilary]

Hello Dharma and Chinuajin,

Yes, I think we all talk to the same oracle! I employ a Chou period website designer from time to time, also

.

I often laugh out loud at readings - like the answer to 'How to find my I Ching book?' - which was Hexagram 20, changing to 2. Look for it. Well, thanks for that snippet of universal wisdom...

Actually, there turned out to be a fair bit more information available in the reading that did enable me to find the book in a desk drawer (the top one of three), but it wasn't until I'd done so that I spotted that #20 was a picture of the desk, and the moving lines coincided with the right drawer. This was quite early on in my relationship with the Yi, and it made me jump! (Remember the 'Argh! It works!' experience?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really like the beads string idea - much more portable, and subtler, than a wooden bowl of marbles. (I enjoyed the visit to the toy shop to buy marbles, though

) Perhaps you should start manufacturing these strings and make your fortune?

 

[chinuajin]

A nice wooden bowl with 16 oversized "Shooters"... ooh, ooh... yes!! Wonderful gift to someone just starting out. It gets you into the Readings quickly (which is really the point, after all...) with a very kinesthetic, tactile 'Conversation Piece'. I see some possibilities, here

As for selling the strings of beads? 1100 of the foolish things (smallest quantity I could get) cost me less than $2.00. _Charging_ anything for the resultant strings is silly

The strings, I'll give as gifts (along with Karcher's "I Ching") to friends who show an interest/ability.

I've introduced far too many folk, through the years, to the I Ching who, while fascinated with their readings, found Wilhelm/Baynes utterly cryptic; the stalks (and even coins) just make it worse for them. Certainly _far_ too much bother to take up on their own... . And that's a shame, IMHO.

I like Karcher's book a lot. Add to it the 16 marble Method, and the Classic becomes Accroachable for the Beginner (even the "Generation X (and Y)"-ers, I'm thinking.

(This has gone on long enough... I have a very long Piece that was written along with this that really gets a bit Off Topic... if any of you want, I will Post... I meant to start with my first "ARGH! IT WORKS!" Experience, which will follow, if you like.

Chinuajin (suffering from diarrhea of the Mouth tonight, it seems

 

[dharma]

Hello All!

Chinuajin, you should seriously consider Hilary's suggestion and start making those beads and selling them. If over a thousand beads only cost you a mere $2...Egads!...you've got yourself a honeypot and you don't even know it!

From reading your above explanation, I find myself interested but uncertain as to how you mean for me to use it, therefore, I don't quite understand how to go about making it. There are probably many people out there just like me who would purchase something like this (with short but clear instructions added, of course

) mainly because they aren't interested in purchasing a whole mess of beads to create one item in particular. Do you know what I mean? If I could get my hands on one without a lot of fuss I'd buy it, is really the point I'm trying to make.

Charging people to distribute a small but ingenious creation isn't silly at all -- it's called being smart. If you post the explanation for how to make one, someone out there (and it could be me!

) will start making money from your idea, that's guaranteed. Think about it. Uhhh....sooo....ahem....by the way....how DO you make one?

Also, by all means, do add your first_"ARGH! IT WORKS!" Experience_if you're inclined to share it. As I've said once before, this is by far more newsworthy than the 6 or even 11 o'clock news. As a newscaster, you have a special entertaining appeal as you go about sharing your own personal wisdom that most can appreciate, I'm sure.

Dharma

 

[chinuajin]

Thanks, Dharma

I wish I had dreamed up the bead idea, but I got it from Dentato's neat site at:

http://way.to/iching

Basically, you just play with the beads (not looking at them) until one "feels" right. Note its colour, and mark the line. Repeat five times, and you have your hexagram.

I'm working on my "Argh" experience... it's going to be a bit long and Literary, I'm afraid... but I'm having fun writing it.

Might have it ready to post tomorrow morning...

Chinuajin

 

[hilary]

Chinuajin, are you still out there?

I just had a distinctly non-literary Yi experience I thought people might enjoy. I got home from a fund-raising coffee morning, coffee and home-made cakes, raising a nice little sum for a day centre for the elderly. Lots of helpful people, more money than we'd hoped for, and quite a lot of leftover cake...

So I sat down to work again, and asked the Yi for comment, following Dharma's example.

Hexagram 55, Abundance (Fullness), unchanging.

Apt in many, many different ways, for all the forward planning that went in, the generosity of cooks and helpers, etc. But on a plate between me and the work I was meant to be getting back to sat a huge piece of dark chocolate cake...

(The not-so-hidden possibility of 55, btw, is 28, Great Excess. Are any other oracles this rude??)