Your interpretation is needed!

[sandor]

I?d like to leave compulsive and negative habits behind. My will does not help, has never helped for the past 2 years. Promises to myself don?t help either. I asked the I Ching "how can I", answer is Hex. 11 no changing lines at all.
Thanks friends for feedback!

 

[jerryd]

Sandor; With respect I offer this;
11.0...The Complete I Ching,Translation by Master Alfred Huang, Names this Hexagram Tai, "Advance".
Both Wilhelm and Bolfield translate Tai, as "Peace". In it's many meaning the words, safety,security and good health are used; also suggested are progression, proceding, advancing.

I will say to you "To thine own self be true." Not an original thought but approperate I believe in this case. If you will not be true to the self nothing positive in life can prosper.

My interpertation of what Master Alfred Huang may be saying in translation is this, to find answers to your negative compulsions and strengthen the will to do so.

The hexagram is composed of Earth above Heaven, the earth is little(yin)is departing, the great Heaven (Yang)is ariving. The inner gua moving to the outer gua. Heaven to Earth. This indicating good fortune. A prosperity of heaven and earth uniting in a union making the wills combine. The inner the yang the outer the yin, inner yang is strength, outer yin the gentle, inner the superior expanding, the outer the the inferior.
The way of the superior is expanding ,
The way of the inferior is shrinking.

In my interpertation you have the inverse of this Hexagram contolling your life and psyche. You do not have control and have been unwilling to allow the will of this Hexagram's lower gua to abvance through to its transitional strength. Why? perhaps a life style situation, perhaps a social imparitive, perhaps a lack of motive to make the path for change to take place.

Tai, is traditionally the first month of the Chinese lunar calender. This may be an indication to the recepient of this Hexagram to see it as a new beginning, an advance into change and a positive path to follow.
A change of attitude and perhaps changeing the company you keep is necessary? Surrounding ones self with positive support and not being tempted by negative influences may be your key to changeing your behaviour?

I hope this may be useful to you.

 

[lightofdarkness]

hex 11 covers the actions of harmonising/balancing and so a focus on constant mediation - necessary to 'deal' with what is 'pushing' your buttons.

Its skeletal form is described by analogy to the characteristics of hexagram 46 with its focus on 'entanglment' - getting involved.

For the full spectrum of 11 see:

http://members.iimetro.com.au/~lofting/myweb/lofting/x000111.html

Chris

 

[rosada]

Although hex 11 is called Peace is not about sitting quietly waiting for good things to happen. It is about having a plan to organize and manage the flow of Life/chi.

Heaven and earth unite: the image of PEACE:
Thus the ruler
divides and completes the course of heaven and
earth;
He furthers and regulates the gifts of heaven and
earth,
And so aids the people.

Thus hex. 11 says Heaven gives gifts but it is up to man to complete the delivery and make sure the energies, the opportunities are used to serve the Higher Good. Several suggestions are offered in how one might do this, such as marking off a calendar to divide time into seasons or using a compass to mark off infinite space. Perhaps some sort of charting meathod would prove useful is changing a negative habit. Thus, if you're trying to lose weight and you know you get hungry at 2:00, don't pick that time to be in a candy store!

 

[sandor]

Jerryd: your last two sentences "rang a bell" within me. Thanks a lot.
Chris: Definitely, I?ve got to deal with what is pushing my buttons. Thank you!!!
Rosada: I used to be "in a candy store" by the time "I got hungry"... Your ideas are being of great help, Thanks a lot!

 

[lagunader]

Sandor

You reading is indeed most appropriate for your question. Without changing lines, Carl Jung used to read all the of the hexagram and felt that they all are relevant ;in your case to get peace. In my personal experience, when faced with a difficult task such as a compulsion, it is best (as the I Ching advises us ) not to tackle it head on,but with gentle penetration... Take a few minutes prior to retiring, relax and meditate,then ask the Sage for help by saying that you can't do this on your own ,you surrender this compulsion (and any other problem) to Him, you give up, and ask him to resolve it.Don't try to intentionally fight it,you will be amazed at the outcome, try it once, nothing to loose! and see!!Sounds naive...try it , give it up to the Higher force , surrender with humility...once again the I ching will prove that you are not alone!.

 

[ewald]

I'm translating the name of hex. 11 as "Passing through," so not as "Peace." Hilary uses "Flowing."

When one is in a state of "flow" (hex. 11), things/feelings are neither blocked (hex. 12) nor forced (hex. 34). One's energy moves freely. There is neither compulsion nor inhibition.

When one inhibits one's impulses, going against one's deepest will, they gain force, while going unconscious. This leads to compulsion.

So to get into the state of hex. 11, one needs to free oneself. As Chris already said, meditation is a way to get there.

 

[rosada]

Thinking about Mitchiline mentioning the Harmonic Convergence over on another thread about World Peace and how I think the date for the Harmonic Convergence was selected because of it's significance in the Mayan Calendar. Then from there I was thinking how hexagram 11 talks about Peace and the Calendar. Ane then i remembered how the folks promoting the Mayan Calendar believe that the world is in the state it is today because our calendar, that is the one based on 12 months ane seven day weeks, has kept us so out of harmony with the Natural Flow, that following the cycles as discribed by the Mayan Calendar mankind will be brought back in harmony with the tao, the life force. Anyway, I just thought that was an interesting point that the idea of Peace is so strongly associated with the Calendar. As to this question, perhaps by understanding the spiritual cycle one is in as discribed by the Mayan Calendar one could more effectively align their inner and outer and find the bad habits are simply bad timing.....

 

[micheline]

interesting, rosada.

I love what lagunader says..trying to forcibly "amputate" bad habits seems to give them more strength. what is resisted becomes compulsory. letting go of resistance, saying Yes to whatever needs to pass through, eventually leads you back to saying yes to the current of life which is always life-supporting ultimately.

I found out a long time ago that the only way to successfully "diet", at least for me, was to give myself permission to eat whatever I wanted, to never set myself up to feel deprived. amazingly this leads to making good choices just because feeling good feels so good . Resistance of any kind feels bad. It feels like 12 instead of 11.

You could always say to yourself: I will have that cigarette, ( that bagel, that oreo, that drink), tomorrow...just for today, I won't though.
that's a good way to say "yes" when you are really saying no behind your own back. somehow that fools the ego and can take away the compulsion. then just keep postponing the habit until you dont want it anymore.

NOte: if you dont live in NY, you probably dont even know what a bagel is. but it's good!

 

[ewald]

After I had smoked for some 7 years (never thinking about quitting), I started to notice how I didn't like the feeling that the first cigarette gave me. I felt a bit dizzy and lost some concentration. So I started to postpone that first cigarette, in the process smoking less and less.

When the number of cigarettes I smoked had diminished to about 4 a day, I noticed that smoking didn't taste very well any more. I told a friend, and he said that it might me a good idea to quit smoking. I'd never thought about that before, but now it seemed like a good idea, so I did.

Friends smoked the remaining cigarettes I had when visiting in the following months, and I didn't mind. I never had any desire to smoke again.

I think this is how it works. When you carefully observe what habits really do to you, you can get to a point where you really want to stop them. Then it's easy to do so. We actually don't know ourselves very well, so we have to make an effort to notice how we really feel and why we really do things. Then we can really do what's good for us.