...life can be translucent

Menu

hex 4 change 40

llt2113

visitor
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
I recently started a phd program and am having second thoughts. I am thinking of returning to my previous job but I am unsure about this. I got hex 4 with changing lines 4 and 6 to become hex 40.
 

pocossin

visitor
Joined
Feb 7, 1970
Messages
4,521
Reaction score
181
Should I return to my previous job?
4.4.6 > 40

Hexagram 4 (in my understanding) concerns training, and hexagram 40 graduation, suggesting to me that you should continue the phd program. You began the program foreseeing advantage. Has the situation changed so that this advantage no longer exist? Line 4 might concern excessive student debts. What commitments will you abandon if you do not complete the program (line 6)?

4 Image
. . . the superior man fosters his character
By thoroughness in all that he does.

Six in the fourth place means:
Entangled folly brings humiliation.

Nine at the top means:
In punishing folly
It does not further one
To commit transgressions.
The only thing that furthers
Is to prevent transgressions.
 

llt2113

visitor
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Thanks for your comment.

I have full funding to study the phd and job prospects for professors in my field are generally good. However, I am beginning to feel that academic research is too theoretical and difficult for me, not the mention the difficulties of obtaining tenure.

While I felt that my previous job was not the most interesting and being a professor was what I wanted to do, I think the problem may just be with my attitude towards work. I feel a renewed sense of motivation towards working, making money, and having more control over my life.

My initial take on hex 4 to 40 was that with 4, there was immaturity in my decision. 40 indiciates release and a choice to go forward or return. Return is favorable as well. Please explain why you interpret 40 as graduation?
 

pocossin

visitor
Joined
Feb 7, 1970
Messages
4,521
Reaction score
181
Please explain why you interpret 40 as graduation?

The I Ching is divided into two parts, hexagrams 1-30 and 31 to 64. Wilhelm indicates this division on page 122. From personal research I have concluded that the second part concerns the life cycle of the individual, each hexagram being a phase of one's life. The hexagram pair 39 and 40 describe the individual's entrance into adult life, for or a male, training in military affairs. 39 refers to the difficulties of cadetship. 40 to graduation and proficiency. Note references to military skills in 40.2 and 40.6.

Nine in the second place means:
One kills three foxes in the field
And receives a yellow arrow.
Perseverance brings good fortune.

Six at the top means:
The prince shoots at a hawk on a high wall.
He kills it. Everything serves to further.

Are there no non-academic jobs in your field?
 

elias

visitor
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Messages
323
Reaction score
24
Hex 4 "Youthful Folly" is most appropriate for your situation. "It is not I who seek the young fool, the young fool seeks me.... In the time of youth, folly is not an evil. One may succeed in spite of it, provided one finds an experienced teacher and has the right attitude toward him. " Attitude is everything.

Line 4: "Six in the fourth place means:
Entangled folly brings humiliation.

For youthful folly it is the most hopeless thing to entangle itself in empty imaginings. The more obstinately it clings to such unreal fantasies, the more certainly will humiliation overtake it."

Your task is to determine what the unreal fantasies are... Is pursuing the degree something beyond your skill or temperament, or are you carrying unreal expectations into this program which will cause problems even though you are quite capable of doing the work?

I confess that I made this latter mistake, and did not endear myself to the proper faculty in the early days. Consequently, I had to wait for one of the old guard to retire, and another to die, before I could meaningful progress. I finally got the degree, though in my employment (on staff at a university) I do not actually put it to any practical use beyond bragging rights and settling the occasional argument... But who knows what the future holds?

Of Hex 40: "On being delivered from obstructions." Again, attitude is everything. Are ego-generated concerns --"what if I fail?" -- inhibiting progress? At any rate, clarifying the issues shaping attitudes seems to be the key

Wishing you all the best in this endeavor, however you decide.
 

Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom

Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).

Top