Vivid imagery - 36

[philippa]

I've been studying I-Ching for a few months now. I benefited much from this community. Now I feel I'm ready to share my personal experience with "I."

This morning, I asked: How do I go about "extinguishing" my anger?

The answer: 5 changing to 36, line changes at 1 and 5.

When I drew the hexagram 36 (on paper), this appears to me an image of fire being "extinguished," i.e., fire is buried deep inside the earth.

Line changes at 1 and 5 are slightly puzzling. Here's the background: on and off for the last week, I've been feeling a lot of anger towards a friend of mine. I'm tired of feeling angry and want to move on.

The Confucius' commentary on line 1 gives an image of water flowing ("water flows/lies in the middle"). Even if I'm waiting on the sand, it's not dry, burning sand. (Imagine a scorching summer day on the beach.)

Line 5 is easier to interpret but the liquid imagery is less vivid: waiting with wine and food -- my mental state is not at such a bad state. I'll feel better soon.

Now, my anger is still here. But I feel rather optimistic.

philippa

 

[void]

Hi Phillipa I just wrote a long response on anger and 36 then realised that hex 5 with lines 1 and 5 changing gives hexagram 46 not 36 ! Hmmm a different story altogether hmmm - fairly positive don't you think ?

 

[philippa]

Hi Void,

I copied the line number incorrectly. The lines are 2 and 5 so I did indeed get 36 as the related hexagram.

One line difference does result in a very different imagery. If I got line 1 instead of line 2, would 46 be a picture of rising flames? Hard to say. 46 is an image of a tree growing (wind/wood rising out of the earth). I need to stretch the imagery (i.e., more wood to the flame) to get a reading that 46 could be an indication of more anger.

Going back to the difference between line 1 and line 2. Line 1 is waiting on the outskirts. Perhaps it means there's no real substantial action/intent to resolving the anger? I wouldn't know how I would interpret this.

As to whether I am in fact less angry, now that a whole day has passed. Well, I am less angry, but not because I was actively trying to resolve the anger. I was busy and distracted throughout the day and didn't give it much thought...

So, Void, what was the original response on anger? Do share!

Philippa

 

[void]

Well it was a bit long but I was suggesting that in attemting to 'extinguish' your anger as you put it - you may well also extinguish your light. I feel 36 is very much about pretending or hiding ones true thoughts and feelings to stay 'safe' from those who wouldn't understand. The lines you have in hex 5 to an extent suggest your're just 'sitting on ' your anger and can do so almost reasonably comfortably - sitting on it with the aim of deleting it altogether. My suggestion is rather than slamming your anger up in a locked and darkened cell consider more what these feelings tell you about your friend and his or her impact in your life.

Overall I feel this reading says 'yup you can sit on your anger, and you can more or less successfully drive it underground - but why ? It may be trying to communicate some useful information to you about how this relationship doesn't work for you on some level. My last posr was long because I related to it as it made me remember times I had been angry with friends and got rather fed up with myself, wishing I could just let it drop and stop dwelling on it...only to find a while down the line my anger had been a useful warning that all was not well and I'd have been better to look at it and try to articulate its meaning for me rather than brush it away.

Line 2 suggests perhaps you have been subject to some kind of unpleasant criticsm - though you are dealing well with it and staying calm.

Hmm its an interesting reading I think - and I think it may well just blow over and go underground..but if I were you I'd think more about what made you angry. People always see anger as negative and of course it can be, but also its a good ally and warning system to tell you when someone is maybe encroaching on you to much or whatever.

 

[philippa]

Your reading is very interesting. The "driving the fire underground" reading came to my mind when I drew the hexagram on paper but decided that I liked the "fire extinguished" interpretation better.

To follow up the imagery line of thinking, what would be an image of fire being extinguished? 63? 29?

As a follow up question, I asked: "Is 5.2,5 the best way to resolve my anger?" The answer? I received 2. This sounds like I do have to let the issue rest a little. That said, I do appreciate your insight. I don't intend to brush it off. Thank you.

 

[bradford_h]

Hi Phillipa-
There's a problem with "fire extinguished".
I think the point of the Hexagram is to keep the fire alive through the night, whatever it takes, the embers and coals get through. This is the principle of the wood stove, if you've ever used one. You crank it down tightly, depriving the flame of all the oxygen it wants. It smoulders, but consumes its fuel more slowly. It's deprived or "injured" in order for it to last through the night. Stretching the fuel, damping the heat, banking the coals.
Maybe the anger then isn't burning so hot, it isn't so consuming, but treated more practically to fuel some activity. Some energy to create with.

 

[lightofdarkness]

hex 36 and 22 share the same theme but different forms of hiding the inner light. 36 covers it up so it cannot be seen at all and so it is 'saved' for a time where there are more likeminded around (as covered in 13). 22 on the other hand exaggerates the outside to draw attention away from the inside. This is facading, 'beutifying', glossing-over and is conditional, particular. OTOH 36 is unconditional.

In the octet of fire the 'opposites' (or balanced/exaggerated representations) are of:

36, 13
22, 49
63, 30
37, 55

36 has its skeletal form described by analogy to hexagram 52 (block, stop, discern)

Chris.

 

[philippa]

Hi all,

Bradford, your interpretation is actually quite close to the truth. The last few days, I've been busy with work, in a sense, using the burning energy towards that. The quality, I'd say, is rather good. However, I don't what it all entails. The energy _is_ used towards something else, but I'm not sure I've emerged a less conflicted person. What I struggle with is that the heat is dampened, but I don't know if I'm wiser.

Lightofdarkness, I must say your readings always intrigue me. It strikes me that you are taking a boolean logic perspective and perhaps mixing in with a wee bit of predicate calculus (conditional vs. unconditional). I suspect this is probably a rehash of some old discussions: comparing different hexagrams are interesting, but I don't think I've progressed to the point to view things "real time" (i.e., visualize myself in situations that the contrasting hexagram is applicable).

Here, you put 36 against 13, 22, but I can easily compare 36 with all hexagrams with fire as the lower trigram. Why 13 and 22 specifically? (I'm guessing you picked those with the upper trigram that has a "blocking" or "dampening" meaning?)

P.

 

[bruce]

Hey Brad, I like your wood stove metaphor. Never been satisfied by "extinguishing" or "wounding" of the bright, as definitions of 36. I use a wood stove here, and it warms the whole (h)earth.

 

[bradford_h]

There's another take on the title too-
Ming also translates as intelligence and Yi as covered or covert.
And obviously, the gathering of covert intelligence is the subject of a few of the lines, in precisely the same way it's used today. You have the Junzi going forth disguised as one handicapped. You have the espionage or exploratory surgery in the belly of the beast. You have the Chinese Hamlet feigning madness, but still paying attention.
In these you are making use of the darkness, while your eyes are adapted to it. There's also a frequent movie theme where a blind person puts out the lights to gain an upper hand against foes. You are playing the darkness to your advantage.

 

[brian]

Xu; Clouds above heavens below. Both the earth and the heavens have needs, it is the same clouds that fulfill the different needs of both.

A seed can be planted in a carefully prepared field, but once planted it is best to trust the seed, and let it run its own course. The good steward is patient and watches the seed, learning from the seed the nature of its needs, and becoming familiar with the way in which the seed unfolds. The actions of a good steward are made only to ease the seeds flight down its intended path, and not made to hurry or alter the path itself.

Anger is often like a plant that first develops deep roots before showing any strength above the soil, and many times a single root will support several shoots. When dealing with anger one must be willing to go deep into the soil, an effort that requires patience and humility.

When a common anger grows into two or more people, it cannot be removed until all involved are ready to remove it.

Xu;JiJi--patience is the root from which trust grows upward. If one knows what kind of seed has been planted, then one can relax and be patient, confidant and secure in what is expected, easily able to cope with what is unexpected.

When a person does not posess what is needed, that one has need, in time need provides everything, how easy that time goes by depends on the depth of trust one has that everything will turn out as it should. That which divides hope from trust is knowledge derived from patience.

Xu;Tai--Nothing can advance until all of its needs are met. To seek advancement before it has arrived is to grasp into darkness and find nothing. Submerged in the waters of need, needing to breath, in a dark place, closing the eyes and being calm, trusting that one is bouyant and will soon rise to take a breath, the sting of panic comes only to the impatient.

Xu;Ming Yi--the path in which need comes to eclipse heavens light. Need, like the moon then, always present, even during the day, it grows in strength, and the time comes for it to cover up the sun. Sitting in darkness, one who is aware of the behavior of need, knows that it always moves, and that soon it will again reveal the sun. Those who neglect to notice their needs must endure more and gain more before it is time for the light to return.

 

[lightofdarkness]

Phillippa, you are obviously 'new' to IC forms of analysis/interpretation. There are sources outside of the traditional sequence etc that allow for a far deeper analysis of hexagrams where we allow the IC to describe itself - see http://members.iimetro.com.au/~lofting/IChingPlus

or the older home page:

http://members.iimetro.com.au/~lofting/myweb/newindex.html


Chris.