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A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep

bradford

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Or a kilometer wide and a centimeter deep. This image describes two different approaches to the Yijing that are as common as they are unproductive. It is tantamount to approaching the Yi with Attention Deficit Disorder.

The first of these is described in the Yijing itself:
04.0, Inexperience. Fulfillment. It is not I who seeks the young and inexperienced. The young and inexperienced seek me. The first consultation informs. The second and third show disrespect. Disrespect deserves no information. It is worthwhile to be dedicated.
This is the hasty and impatient person who doesn't get hit immediately with a pat answer and so proceeds to ask several more questions in rapid succession, and not linger or ponder long on these responses either. This is just the wrong way to do it. This person should try to exercise some patience and mental ability and stay with the response given until it makes sense, even if this takes days or weeks and a handful of different translations. The quality of the information gleaned is exactly proportional to the effort, focus, dedication and respect put into the effort, not to the number of words.

The second approach is usually marked by the presence of Xiangshu or Image and Number theory. This is the school that tends to confuse the structure of the Yi with the properties of binary mathematics in general, which of course means that interpreting the Yi can scatter off in a nearly infinite number of directions. The student is baited away on tangent after tangent, digression after digression, until he seems to be exploring the whole of possible thought. He's off studying the Sixteen Houses of the Dragon or the Twelve Flower Petals of Change before he has even bothered to learn the core principles like the names and properties of the Trigrams or the meaning of Inner and Outer. Sometimes that's just because it takes being in one place for too long. Yes, it's broad learning, but with no depth at all. The Buddhists call this "conceptual proliferation" or Papanca in Pali. It's one of the most insidious detractors from discriminating insight or wisdom. Again, the advice is to stay near the center at first and explore this in depth before wandering off to the margins.
 

meng

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That's one way to look at it, and I believe it's accurate in some cases. However, wide and shallow should not be used to describe breadth. The universe is bigger than a book or its wisdom. Bigger than any person as well.

Breadth doesn't determine depth either. There are variable depths passing beneath the hull.

breadth
   [bredth, bretth, breth] Show IPA
noun
1.
the measure of the second largest dimension of a plane or solid figure; width.
2.
an extent or piece of something of definite or full width or as measured by its width: a breadth of cloth.
3.
freedom from narrowness or restraint; liberality: a person with great breadth of view.
4.
size in general; extent.
5.
Art . a broad or general effect due to subordination of details or non essentials.

Synonyms
3. latitude, impartiality, open-mindedness. 4. scope, range, reach, compass, span.

____________________________

The same can be said for the beauty of the small, the focused, the scrutinizing ability, details, history, etc. But, because something is small, pointed and focused doesn't mean it is deep. Or, I could call it narrow-mindedness. But don't you agree, that would be rude, and show lack of breadth?
 

precision grace

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except that, women have intuition. For us, it is unnecessary to spend years and decades studying the minutiae of 100s of Yi translations. ;)

I have been going through memorising threads lately and it's amazing how varied interpretations seem. I always go back to your commentary as well and check, but overall, it's like looking at the sky in the morning to foretell what the weather is going to be like that day. A lot of it depends on where on the Earth you are standing and another whole lot depends on how fine tuned are your antenna.

Of course, I am not saying one shouldn't study Yi, and when we do tie ourselves in knots it does send us spinning in circles, but I think that's part of it's teaching too. Reverence is so often misapplied, I find it's best to use it sparingly...
 

yxeli

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I definitely agree that there's layers to a reading, and that deserves respect. One answer is like an onion really. Impatience and whimsy are the detractors from really assimilating the knowledge in the lines.

I don't agree that just women have intuition though! :D Alot of people (me included) only meet yi 20/80 i'd say, especially where impatience, desire and a host of other emotions clog your intitial understanding, you just kinda skim an answer, presume you've understood it right, then quickfire another question.

Anyone who uses the yi is using their perception/intuition IMO. Its a meet half way vibe. I dont know about that second way of interpreting Brad, but it seems to me like thats taking a reading into an analysis of everything remotely acquainted with the I Ching. Thanks for letting me know about this 'conceptual proliferation' idea.

Thing is, I do think Yi will answer the depths with every answer. after casting 12 times in relation to the same subject, granted, yi isnt answeing the same question, but its still giving you guidance about the present moment, or 'shi'. How many times have I asked yi something again and again, only to start laughing so hard when i realise its just mirroring my frantic state of mind at the time! :)

Its how willing you are to meet the book halfway, and get under its skin. Thats when a conversation starts happening with yi, when one answer prompts you to ask another. Your 'depth charging' all along then. And i think there's a big difference between asking a million questions impatiently and having a genuine enlightening conversation over a number of different readings with the yi.

Because of the depth to each reading, i think once you get the message, your enlightened to the direction of one aspect of your personality/a situation, a conversation will naturally occur, if you wish to ask more questions. This done only after gaining the real insight into the initial cast. and maintaing the connection of understanding.

Yx
 
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