What is love? 11.2.5.6 > 37

[suivis]

This was a cast I made about two weeks before Valentine's Day and one I like to go back to. 11.6 ties it together for me beautifully. Let the walls be destroyed. Don't attack. From your center, declare it. "Constancy means shame" was confusing to me for a while until I started thinking of how often love is seen as the initial rush of falling in love, which is transient. The form of love must adapt over time as the relationship changes. It has many forms of expression, including letting go ("Friends disappear.") There is nothing substantial to it (Embracing emptiness) yet love is one of the greatest motivators (use it to cross the river). Love is home flowing from people.

From Hilary's translation:
11, Flow
Flow. Small goes, great comes.
Good fortune, creating success.

The image
Heaven and earth communicate: flow.
The prince enriches and completes the way of heaven and earth,
Upholds and assists the order of heaven and earth,
To support and protect the people.

11.2
Embracing emptiness, use this to cross the river.
Not distancing yourself from what you leave behind,
Friends disappear.
Gaining honour, moving to the centre.

11.5
King Yi marries off his daughters.
This brings fulfillment, good fortune from the source.

11.6
The bulwarks fall back into the moat - don't use the army.
From your own city, declaring the mandate.
Constancy means shame.

37, People in the home
People in the home.
A woman's constancy is fruitful.

The image
Wind comes forth originally from fire:
People in the home
A noble one's words have substance and her actions are consistent.

 

[Trojina]

I have noticed 11 and lines come up a number of times when I have asked questions with the word 'love' in them.

 

[sacredheart]

I've been lurking for awhile now, but this is my first post.

I received this same cast - 11.2.5.6 - today, and a very similar one a few days ago (11.2.5), as I navigated the decision to end a romantic relationship.

We'd been dating for a few months. I'm basically at a point in my life where I'd like to marry and start a family, with the right person of course. He said he wanted the same thing, but kept me at arm's length. He only made time to get together 1-2 times per month. I asked him for more time and support, he promised - but didn't come through. I got 11.2.5 when I realized a few days ago his actions wouldn't match his promises, and asked about the prospect for our relationship. I got 11.2.5.6 today, when I asked, "Did he give up on me for a real relationship, and keep me around (by texting etc) to fend off loneliness and despair?"

When I got 11, I assumed at first it was a 'good thing.' Of course, that's not the way this works!

As you say, 11.2: friends disappear. There is also, in Carol Anthony's commentary, a suggestion of unworthy behavior in others that we must choose how to respond to, perhaps by withdrawal.
11.5: The decision of who we marry may be up to higher forces than ourselves. We do not give ourselves in marriage.
11.6: when it's time to let go, let go.

I ended the relationship. It hurts because I really cared for him, but I believe that being a 'good wife' (37) in this situation means that I must be loyal to the good of all - me, him, and my ultimate mate. It does him no favors to indulge his inferior behavior, nor does it help me. Being a good wife means having the courage to let people go when love demands it. He is on his path, and while he may be gaining self-awareness about his self-sabotaging behaviors, (and I am gaining awareness about mine, including my decision to date him in the first place), there is nothing I can do or say to keep the wall from falling into the moat. It's over, and I submit to that truth.

"Whatever comes, let it come. What stays, let it stay. What goes, let it go."
- Sri H. W. L. Poonja