What is my life purpose?

[zacl]

Hi all,

I asked the Yijing What is my life purpose? I received 7-->46 (change line 3).

Now generally my view is this; I'm going be a leader in the area I'm looking into & grow continuously shedding negative emotions, ego- and basically cultivating myself.

However with that said...I've been slacking in my studies/training lately & getting distracted and I think the Yijing is saying "get your act together". Its a full daily commitment or nothing and stop being swayed by "convenience".


Like some views, sincerely Zac.

 

[meng]

Hi Zac,

Man, you don't mess around. Right to the heart of the matter . Why am I here?

I'm going to watch this thread in case someone comes up with an answer for it.

Joseph Campbell, when asked for the meaning of life, would say "Life Has No Meaning! What meaning has a flower?"

I'd say that meaning is: what you draw from life should be in proportion to what you give to life. Line 3 is a fight you can't win, a question that can not be answered. The purpose of life is to live.

 

[tigerintheboat]

Pushing Upward

I asked the Yijing What is my life purpose? I received 7-->46 (change line 3).

All of life wants to push upward, ascend, make an advance. That is the essence of H46. Especially when we begin our journey, we wish advancement, success and satisfaction. These are all words associated with H46.

Line 3 of both H7 and H46 have disturbing images. In H7, line 3 refers to the carting of corpses. In H46, line 3 refers to the conquering or ascent into an "empty city," a city in which no resistance is offered...perhaps there is a trap, or a plague or perhaps because there is nothing of value remaining in the empty city.

Now in your question you are wanting to organize yourself, and force your self to make a massive committment, a lifetime stern practice.

"Its a full daily commitment or nothing and stop being swayed by "convenience".

But only rarely can someone do that, it is unrealistic, and will defeat you. The "all or nothing" mentality can rarely be useful, although it is often attempted. There are these few individuals who will ignore everything (family, health, comfort) to achieve a single minded purpose. They pay a very high price. They give up the ability to walk in the sun on a fine day and enjoy themselves.

Back to your purpose, Yi says you are carting corpses in Line 3, and that this is a pitfall. I think you have correctly identified these as negative emotions, or other unnecessary practices. I believe also that your "all or nothing" idea is something else which must be dropped along the way.

So you job is to organize yourself (H7), so you can ascend and advance (H46). To do so, you must avoid the pitfall of carting around corpses. The militia in Line 3 is marching on, weighed down and they have not even met the enemy. If you are relatively young, you may have hardly seen a glimpse of the enemy and the difficulties ahead. But your current organization, carrying past errors and misconceptions around, is without merit.

So organize yourself (H7), so you can ascend and advance (H46). To do so, you must release negative and useless aspects of your character. Some things must be shed and the wagons lightened.

Happy Journeying.

Tiger

 

[Trojina]

Hi all,

I asked the Yijing What is my life purpose? I received 7-->46 (change line 3).

Now generally my view is this; I'm going be a leader in the area I'm looking into & grow continuously shedding negative emotions, ego- and basically cultivating myself.

However with that said...I've been slacking in my studies/training lately & getting distracted and I think the Yijing is saying "get your act together". Its a full daily commitment or nothing and stop being swayed by "convenience".


Like some views, sincerely Zac.

This is easy and I'm not even considering your answer because my answer is 'the purpose of your life is to live your life'. Your life is your purpose. Carrying around the idea that your 'purpose' resides in your work or other life choices may be the 'dead weight' thats carried in 7.3. Sure your work is part of your life and everything else, but your lifes even bigger than all that.

Looking back i can recall constant fretting about 'life purpose' when younger,,,now i can see i was all the time right in the very midst of my life purpose which was my life.

so yeah 7.3 maybe don't carry around with you false cultural ideas about how a person can only have any 'purpose' if they are doing this or that work society deems worthy. I'd think its impossible to get away from your life purpose which is your life, whether you're happy or sad, bored or thrilled, active or slacking, you're still right there in the centre of your life purpose ...which is your life..

sorry for repetition

 

[my_key]

Hi zacl
Perhaps the Yi is just saying "Be as beautiful as you were born to be."

Mike

 

[bradford]

Your purpose will change and evolve as you grow.
Mistakes may be as necessary a part of growing as the challenges.

 

[ginnie]

Looking back i can recall constant fretting about 'life purpose' when younger,,,now i can see i was all the time right in the very midst of my life purpose which was my life.

Yes, what Trojan says is so true. It's not like a life has only one purpose. Some days my only life purpose is to stop when someone in the street asks me for directions; just to be there on that street corner right at that moment to point in one direction or another . . .

H7.3 changing sometimes means a need to discard religious rituals or other rigid (corpse-like) belief systems that are very old-fashioned. One whose self-appointed task is to organize himself or to organize other people must develop flexibility in action. Otherwise, the weight of the outmoded ways of doing things would mean you could never actually get anything done; could never advance.

 

[bradford]

There is one situation in 07.3 that is being handled in two different ways by men of two different ages or levels of maturity. The implication is that one's approach to life's problems is an evolving process. The younger brother is still unable to manage the situation to best advantage. The consequences of his actions become dead weight, The older brother takes a potential problem and turns it into an opportunity.

 

[gene]

Zacki

Line three talks about "riding in the wagon," and a wagon can be a symbol for "the group" In other words, your life purpose could be relating to people within the groups or organizations in which you attach yourself, possibly including this one, and giving of yourself and your knowledge to further the wisdom or usefulness of the group.

Gene

 

[ginnie]

I think that with H7, it must be assumed that we are speaking of groups of people. The title of the hexagram is sometimes translated as "Crowds," and it has the sense of organizing a lot of people around some central purpose.

Or it can mean uniting oneself, too, around a central purpose in order to get something done. That is, being a self-disciplined individual.

These dead-weight "corpses" in your situation, zacl, do you have any idea what they might be?

 

[zacl]

Thank you all for your views,

Specifically ginnie, yes..what your saying is correct. You see I asked the same question awhile back and I received the well. However I just wanted an update:

This is the actual direct situation for asking guidance- I've been apprenticing a TCM doctor over a yr now and going to school in January. I've also recently taken a step to further my Qigong/Martial arts training being Yang style taichi- found a good instructor. My longterm goal is to learn the 5 metaphysical chinese arts: quick summary, divination-tcm-fengshui/astrology-qigong/taichi/talismans-palmisty/facereading.

I know my job is related to people and helping- or thats were I want to go. However I've been in a "rut" last couple weeks and working on a bunch of things. As of "dead weight", I think its past/expectations/and habits personally. As of the whole "all or nothing" mentality- I get where tiger is coming from. Saying that, with this area...specifically I'm focusing the majority of my time to these studies with some social time. So theres no "unproductive" time, like say tv. Even if I were to take time to relax/mediate that time is set aside. I do understand its all balance- the all or nothing means my commitment to this lifestyle.

So does this have to do with groups? Most def. Both externally and internally I'm brining and organizing many different things together. Its not hard- sametime self-discipline is what covers this.

As of age, IDK I guess I would go into the latter of younger brother- I am only 19.

 

[tabitha]

Life Purpose

Hi - I love your question - don't know the answer yet. I do know that in the kwan yin its all about reaching upward (46) and 3 - difficulty at the beginning.

It seems to grow easier ( not the carrying out part) but understanding my gifts/wants, and finding the strength to put them out there ( without all the judging) is helping me so far - and hope it might help you.

 

[tabitha]

Ah - and see that you've still gone into further stuff (still good luck).

 

[ginnie]

Most interesting, zacl.

I have studied T'ai Chi and Feng Shui and this is what I've found: the prevalence of opposing opinions as to what is the authorized way, the correct way to be handed down from antiquity. People can have the title of Master or Teacher and still not be admirable or competent in some way that only becomes clearer later.

For example, one Feng Shui master, who had studied in China, told me to cover the windows in any room that generates income -- my office, in other words -- so that my money wouldn't fly out. I took this seriously and put heavy curtains over the window in my office. Which made the office really dark all the time, by the way.

But for some reason many years later I asked another Feng Shui master, and he said that covering the windows in an office was ridiculous! He said he had never heard such nonsense! He said we all need uncovered windows for the prosperity to come in.

The existence of these extreme differences of opinion make the ancient discipline of Feng Shui seem like superstitious nonsense -- which is the same criticism leveled against the I Ching, by the way.

With T'ai Chi, I also found divisions and dissension among the various teachers. Sometimes they were just engaging in terrible power plays to further the financial condition of their own school, for example. Not very venerable behavior, indeed!

Just because someone is a 'teacher' or 'master' does not mean anything, zacl. Remember never to attach too much importance to a man's title.

We are all just human beings, with average vanities and failings. At your age, you want to find men to look up to and model yourself after. I think Yi is telling you that it will be a step by step process and watch out for too many teachers!

By the way, zacl, what is TCM?

Also, are you Chinese? In your goal of helping people with the 5 ancient Chinese arts, do you see yourself helping Chinese people in China?