I just wrote a long post that I lost because I had to log in again to post the answer !

I will have to do it again !

mean time if you have any 42uc experiences chuck em in

Well here I go again then....

My experiences of 42uc in a nut shaped rain barrel challenge my perception 42 to the degree that I feel the advice I wrote here about pouring more in and all that malarkey was wrong !!

I think I've always suffered a bit of bedazzled blindness with 42.....I just think WHOOPEE and so on, possibly without appreciating it's much more fluid than that, experientially for me it's been much more about where to put attention and energies.

I will relate my weird 42uc example as briefly as possible. They all seem rather convoluted and perhaps that is why I lost them when forum logged me out yesterday...it was such a long post !

1. I found I was being somewhat 'romanced' by an adult education teacher who, it turned out was doing similar to half the women in the group ! Nothing heavy, nothing terrible, the guy was good at his job but was being rather careless I felt, of others feelings, especially as one lady fell for him rather more than I ever did. There was a period where we were still attending classes and he was still making invitations on an individual basis .....ahem. ( there was some comedy in the situation when we all found out what he was up to.).To navigate this time, to figure how I should be with him and so on I asked Yi on several occasions how I should respond to him ? I got 42uc twice.....and er no I was not going to be pouring more energy in to the relationship !

2. I felt under repeated attack in a certain situation and I was getting tired of it and asked what to do ? I got 42 uc

3. I and a group of others offered our services as volunteer therapists at an elderly persons complex. We were accepted and yet we found their conditions stringent and unpalatable. I've volunteered at many places and not yet found one who would not offer travel expenses and minor perks such as refreshments and so on. Some of us would have to travel some way on the bus...bringing their own food and working to hours that we hard to fit with transport....etc etc...There was just lacking that warmth somehow and for one reason and another it eventually just became untenable for us. Whilst I was still considering it I asked "should I do voluntary work at L Gardens ?". Well we didn't go ahead and I am quite sure we were wise not to.


So how do I make sense of the 42uc answers here.

With the naughty teacher I decided the advice was for me to kind of 'take the best and leave the rest'. That is I thought it was a call to be generous with him. To keep attention on the good things he did and not engage with his other weird behaviour.

Looking at the Image from Hilary's book

'Wind and thunder: Increasing.
A noble one sees improvement, and so she changes.
When there is excess she corrects it'.

Wind and thunder are agents of change. Thunder is like the inner spark of initiative and will; wind is a far- reaching influence in the world, free-moving because of it's endless ability to shape itself to the terrain. So the noble one moves as decisively as thunder and with the versatility of the wind; she does not hold fast to a chosen direction, but responds to what ever opportunities for improvements she can see.

Click to expand...

So I'm currently more aware that 42uc is especially asking one to head in the direction of the good, in the direction of what makes improvement.

That is how I understood the teacher example. For the record his classes actually folded and I knew that in part some of us stayed away through discomfort with the situation....and as people stayed away he did not have enough numbers to go on. But this was a complex situation. I think he was doing a good thing with his classes, he wasn't a terrible person...but he was confused ! So this wasn't a black/white situation and I think 42uc here was perhaps showing me that.

Similar advise for the situation I felt under attack I guess....advice being 'keep heading to where the good is, where the improvement is'. There is a lot more movement in 42uc than I had understood....I can see it in the trigrams of course but hadn't quite realised how much active versatility is needed here. That's a lot of energy in flux in 42...wind over thunder...hmm


So how could I apply 42uc to the voluntary work question ? Hmm not quite sure. I had to consider that if I poured more in then maybe increase would flow....that is if I was taking my own advice on that thread I linked to earlier...but phew it really wasn't feasible in terms of costs to us all. I recall driving home thinking I was mad as doing it would deplete me in energy/money/time. Maybe it was straight advice to look for where the good was, the improvement. If I felt drained and exhausted by the thought of that then I needed to go to what filled me with more energy and fulfilment and so on. So that is what I did.



Some hexagrams in their unchanging forms seem to me to have a different kind of energy. 42 uc feels this way to me...it seems highly volatile, active, heading somewhere better. Not volatile in an explosive way...although thunder over wind what would we expect....but if makes me think of clouds scudding fast across a changing sky...moving on....


Wing in the 'I Ching Workbook' says of 42uc

"BENEFIT, in it's static form, suggests the need for heightened sensitivity in regard to the object of your inquiry. The lower trigram, CHEN, movement and growth, is increasing from the benevolent influence of SUN, small efforts, above. Be prepared to assimilate advice or information about what is needed from you. A single gesture will not be enough. The situation will demand your consistent generosity. By demonstrating your willing commitment on a daily basis, you will eventually meet with success."

Click to expand...

Yes a kind of unceasing adaptation towards improvement. Of course perhaps one question that arises with 42 uc might be 'can you afford unceasing generosity ?'...or 'what kind of generosity are you capable of here ?


A long post because my 42uc casts have made me think a fair bit since it wasn't quite as I thought. I'm still thinking on it.


Anyone recall any occasions where they received 42uc and how it played out for them ?

BTW on thinking of answers one often gets a sense impression to do with the trigrams....with unchanging hexagrams, no lines. these sensory perceptions seem stronger. In writing of 42 I have the sense of fast movement in the skies, clouds shifting....In 41 uc a much more still feeling, more peaceful, mountain over lake.

Anyone have a 42uc limerick ? Somehow I feel it requires a limerick

It's funny, as I look through my readings I find 42uc coming up most often when I am terribly discouraged and ask a "big" question--big enough that I can't always actually TELL how they played out. But when I see 42uc as an answer, it's hard not to cheer up a bit, whether that's quite right or not. It alway makes me think of hilary's question in her book: "what would you do if you knew you were blessed?"

Some examples:

- five years ago, I asked the yi to tell me something about "me & money, long-term" (meaning, like, my whole life): 14.4-26. Funny answer -- I mean nice to see 14, but 14.4 means "this is not your realm, don't try to dominate." So I asked what was maybe my REAL question: "will I always have enough money?" 42uc. Life not being over, I can't say how this will play out! but it's been fine so far.

- four years ago, my weekly reading was 38.3-14. I asked at the end of the week for a general attitude I should take toward that weird line, and got 42uc. (And this really has played out well for me -- that is, 38.3 usually ends very well in my experience.)

- three years ago, after getting turned down by a few literary agents, in big despair: "will I ever have an agent?" 42uc (I signed with one a month later, and it's been a great partnership.)

- two and a half years ago, I'm not sure what was going on in my marriage that prompted this, but all I said was "I don't feel loved" 42uc. This was so moving and reassuring. I suppose maybe I could have read it to mean "yeah get to work and solve this" but all I saw was "but you are, you are so loved and blessed."

- about a year ago, at the end of a long fussy anxious series of questions about career with a lot of bad news, I said "in total honesty: it comes down to worrying about money" 42uc. And I will say money has been fine (far from GREAT, but definitely enough) since then, so far.

oh I just found another, from quite recently: "tell me about me and writing -- is my writing good enough?" In my mind I meant just--is it worth continuing, is it not something to be ashamed of? etc (it's been a rather dark year!). And the answer was 42uc. Again, I will obviously never know how this "plays out," and it was kind of a goofy question to ask--but the answer reassured me to keep trying, at least.

Trojina said:

BTW on thinking of answers one often gets a sense impression to do with the trigrams....with unchanging hexagrams, no lines. these sensory perceptions seem stronger. In writing of 42 I have the sense of fast movement in the skies, clouds shifting....In 41 uc a much more still feeling, more peaceful, mountain over lake.

Click to expand...

Watched a TV programme on how the earth's orbit and it's tilt make our seasons, determine the weather...how these great winds and currents/thermals in our atmosphere keep a balance on the planet allowing life to flourish. it was really interesting but I'm no scientist so I was understanding it very much in terms of the 41/42 pair. There was the explanation of why the monsoon happened for example...something to do with land being much colder than the sea in a certain area...due to level of heat on sea, which is due to the earth's angle to the sun. All these currents around the world, constant movement of winds and storms, decrease and increase through factors of pressure and temperature and so on...one wind rushing in to take the place of another....Overall the programme seemed to convey what a huge cycle of blessing this was. I say 'blessing' since it seemed only through a series of 'accidents' that our earth has the particular tilt it does...without which we would not have life as we know it.

This just connected up for me my sensory impression of the 42 trigrams...in a more 3d way.

I also wondered, thinking of Knot's examples, where she asked quite big far reaching questions whether she was getting big answers too...I mean big in the sense of us being small against the sky ...not quite knowing what huge cycles of decrease/increase we are part of.

Not sure that made sense as it's hard to put into words.

..the earth tilt today is different to what it was say in 500BCE....I think by +/-2 degrees....

Yes that was what the programme was about...how the changes in tilt affected the earth.

Not that this has any direct link at all to 42uc, rather I was reminded of the cycle of blessing and decrease in 41/42 , especially the impact the winds have and thinking of the trigrams wind over thunder....and also thinking so far of our 42uc experiences which I sense have the need to be understood on a larger scale...as if we cannot see clearly from out perspective this great cycle of increase/blessing....

Well my experiences were quite different to Knot's but I feel both of our experiences sort of need a wide angled lens to get the drift of the answer.

That is merely my impression not a statement of fact.

"..So this wasn't a black/white situation "
"... in big despair"
"...at the end of a long fussy anxious series of questions "

I can relate to the above . Many times such situations ended with getting a h42 and sometimes , like knot had that " what a goofy question I asked in the first place".

had a row of questions because something didn't actual flow well re my study plan. I had to revise it because spending much time shifting from one book to another in order to cover different aspects of every concept. I guess it because I was kind of apprehensive as the material of the exams is not based on specific textbook.

The previous reading were talking about perseverance,yet wasn't sure if it was about the specific plan or about the general plan of taking the particular exam. Well, i think, 42U cleared thing up. I mean, Duh!!! ( yi was kind and Polite , lol ) It told the obvious but its the background of the situation that muddles the thinking.

42u, other times talk about the reality and sometimes not a pleasant one. Its a condition that has to be met for a change to occur and when involves other people there is not always a prediction for a positive outcome.

Trojan, re your 42 and the volunteer work, did your group of volunteers tried to inform them what other setting offer and how they work ? I mean where they open to suggestions? Was thinking if you had experience in other setting that could enrich them and by make it easier and more attractive to volunteer would benefit.

I understand your take and i agree , just , as I mention before, I wanted to see what others think when the matter involve other individuals and an external flow. Could be 42 only about us or sometimes might be read as a suggestion to open the matter and trigger a flow from the other parties ?

BTW on thinking of answers one often gets a sense impression to do with the trigrams....with unchanging hexagrams, no lines. these sensory perceptions seem stronger

Click to expand...

.

Yes ! I have the same experience. Maybe its because we have only a hex to draw any answer so we are more attentive and use the whole repertoire of skills and tools available. in a combo, on the other hand , seems , of course , that there is a diffuse of attention. To some extent that happens with the "resulting" hex too. At least this is how I see it and during those "Unchanged Hexs" threads, I have notice that I treat unchanging and "relating" hex in very similar ways.

I've had as advice as to what to do about a relationship of enmeshed emotions. And that was two years ago and whenever i interact with this man I firstly only interact with him when i'm seated in my own strength ( ie. not calling him up out of neediness as i used to ) and relate to the best side of him, and he in turn does the same to me. Just recently, today even, received a supportive email from him. Which is so far beyond how we used to interact, this i omeone i've known for 13 years, and its only now a supportive friendship with correct frienship boundaries, and the good omen of 42 came today, so a two year turn around for that reading!

Actually, i'm processing as i'm writing so just realised that there is still a sense that it will keep getting better, so its an ongoing stae of 42, and good as long as the good is supported, etc and so on.

I perceive that all hexagrams are conditional, but there are two which I experience as being especially so. The first is 42. Sometimes 42 may predict an increase; sometimes I am the one increased and sometimes I am the one bringing the increasing for another; most often it is both. Most importantly, Increase comes when both the time and I create the conditions for it. It does not come through being stingy, it arrives through magnanimous generosity. It arrives through correcting my faults and exercising my ability. It is not intended to increase me alone but to use my increase to increase other beings, be they human, animal, or even a garden, a wood shed, a warm fire. And it works in reverse too: by generously giving my abilities to someone or something else, I am also increased.

Time brings the potential for increase, as well as bringing the necessity for decrease. Decrease is emptying, increase is filling. Without emptying there is no room for filling. "The value of a bowl is its emptiness." The value of a filled bowl is emptying it. A full bowl of apples that is not emptied will only rot. Then neither the bowl nor the apples increase anyone.

Trojina said:

Anyone have a 42uc limerick ? Somehow I feel it requires a limerick

Click to expand...

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
Jane wanted to gain the rain
so a barrel with her came.

Trojan, re your 42 and the volunteer work, did your group of volunteers tried to inform them what other setting offer and how they work ? I mean where they open to suggestions? Was thinking if you had experience in other setting that could enrich them and by make it easier and more attractive to volunteer would benefit.

Click to expand...

Not really open to suggestions no. But it was not really that alone as I said there were other factors like their manager went off long term sick and nothing could start without him anyway, then one of ours went abroad and so on and so on.

sooo said:

I perceive that all hexagrams are conditional, but there are two which I experience as being especially so. The first is 42. Sometimes 42 may predict an increase; sometimes I am the one increased and sometimes I am the one bringing the increasing for another; most often it is both. Most importantly, Increase comes when both the time and I create the conditions for it. It does not come through being stingy, it arrives through magnanimous generosity. It arrives through correcting my faults and exercising my ability. It is not intended to increase me alone but to use my increase to increase other beings, be they human, animal, or even a garden, a wood shed, a warm fire. And it works in reverse too: by generously giving my abilities to someone or something else, I am also increased.

Time brings the potential for increase, as well as bringing the necessity for decrease. Decrease is emptying, increase is filling. Without emptying there is no room for filling. "The value of a bowl is its emptiness." The value of a filled bowl is emptying it. A full bowl of apples that is not emptied will only rot. Then neither the bowl nor the apples increase anyone.

Click to expand...

This is how it was for me too. You said it with elegance

Last summer we had my grandson age 6 stay with us for a week. Afterwards I asked the IC how would he remember the visit and I received 42uc. I didn't know what to make of that - did it mean he'd like to Increase visits and come again or did it mean he didn't want to Increase visits any further? I was with him a couple of days ago and I asked him what he remembered most about our time together. He flashed a big smile and rattled off a whole list of good things - the rope swing, the train ride and getting to eat the whole Kit Kat bar! I was so relieved because my memories of the visit were all about the things he wouldn't have thought pleasant like his waking up at 3 a.m. the first night freaking out and home sick, and his not daring to eat anything I cooked all week except instant oatmeal.
This seemed to me to underscore 42's advice that we create by what we accentuate and the advice to accentuate the positive.

I think it's significant that Increase follows 41.Decrease, and thus seems to be particularly advising that the way to pull out of Decrease is to focus on what's good.

Also, in my experience anyway, with 42uc there seems to be a sense that increase doesn't happen or show up immediately, that it's only after some time that the good surfaces.

One from Nov 6th: Hillary Clinton's prospects for the election, 42uc. (A prediction rather than advice, for a change.)

Huh.

Notes/ possibilities:

At the same time I cast 61.2 to 42 for Trump's prospects, so the contrast emphasises the unchangingness of 42.

42 and 41 are a cycle. Maybe 42 unchanging has a 'where from here?' tone, and the most likely answer is 41. Increase as far as the glass ceiling, but no further.

Also, personal context: I wanted Hillary to win, so might the answers be meant as reassurance, that this result isn't the end of the story?

hilary said:

One from Nov 6th: Hillary Clinton's prospects for the election, 42uc. (A prediction rather than advice, for a change.)

Huh.

Notes/ possibilities:

At the same time I cast 61.2 to 42 for Trump's prospects, so the contrast emphasises the unchangingness of 42.

42 and 41 are a cycle. Maybe 42 unchanging has a 'where from here?' tone, and the most likely answer is 41. Increase as far as the glass ceiling, but no further.

Also, personal context: I wanted Hillary to win, so might the answers be meant as reassurance, that this result isn't the end of the story?

Click to expand...

That's my view on all that FWIW http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?23529-Trump-or-Clinton&p=233087#post233087

Regarding Hillary Clinton, the 42uc could refer to her personal prospects in so far as she will probably do perfectly well for herself and may live a happier life without being the potus...

I cast 42uc today for the question: how can I feel less uneasy about myself? I'm having a slightly angsty day filled with self doubt and even a pinch of self loathing. I trust that yi thinks I'll soon get over it! Me and Hillary Clinton both...

I've got more to add to this. This morning I realised that the feeling of uneasy self-loathing and anxiety is one that I sometimes get before my period. My period is due about now, although they have become quite irregular so it may not appear. It occurred to me that perhaps the Increase of 42 is like the menstrual increase that's about to break (into 43) - so yes, the feelings of unease will dissipate, which is overall a good thing (42) but the reason for the unease is the menstrual increase that itself will soon move to the next phase (43). I also recalled that I'd experienced unbidden and quite startling mental images of bloodletting while feeling antsy and self-loathey (please note - I have never self-harmed, or felt seriously inclined to do so, in my life). Overall a sense that there is something building up that will soon be released, or that needs to be released. I note that the nuclear is 23, which also has this sense of stripping away.

Others here (Knot especially) have shared that 42uc has come up for them when they have asked questions relating to an anxiety of the self, and 42uc comes like a reassurance. I wonder if the uneasiness comes as something is building but we are not yet sure where it is headed - it is the transitional nature of the time, feeling that something is coming, but as yet unable to see what or if it is coming - the uncertainty that makes us uneasy. I'd hesitate to call 42uc a 'positive' omen, but I'd say that it suggests that whatever is building is nothing to fear, but is part of the natural flow...?

It is nearly Christmas, everyone here - including the fish - and last night everyone fell into the old routine - blaming someone, bringing up the same old herrings and I feel in the middle as a mediator. Nothing really bad, just a lot of raised voices and agitation. I asked - What should I do about this Christmas and got 42UC

Like Knot, I felt an uplifting feeling - of being told not to put too much energy into all of this - as above, nothing to fear, natural flow.

Well, Christmas is supposed to be a time to count one's blessings, and "Blessing" is a name for 42. But in the absence of that, there's also the advice in the Image, which says to make what improvements one can.

'Wind and thunder.
Increasing.
A noble one sees improvement, and so she changes.
When there is excess, she corrects it.

Maybe just a small "correction"? Ask everyone gently to try refraining from pointless bickering, in the spirit of the season? Or...distract people by singing Christmas carols and making kitschy ornaments, or...something?

Yes - it has been a lovely Christmas - as a collective, we decided to ignore one particular person's agitation - put on the loud music and enjoy the food. Lots of long walks, food and games, actually proved a success.
So 42 was absolutely right this Christmas.

Copying over some experiences of 42uc from Fallada that really give pause for thought....from this thread https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?23896-Hex-42-unchanging

Hello hurt person !
Maybe the following story helps or inspires or applies .. or not ... you decide.

Years ago I asked why X stumbled from one into the next abusive situation. This tragic life seemed to cover all possible forms of abuse from early childhood on: emotional, sexual, physical violence, abused as a kind of working slave ... She was the sweetest, most generouse and uncomplicated person. She had her desperate moments, but she never gave up and always tried to become a better person. Don't know where she drew her strenght from. What is X's pattern that invites/allowes abuse ? 42uc. One day she disappeared without a trace. My heart still opens up wide when I think of her.


For some years this reading captured my mind and I started to think of it as a kind of koan. Yi can be so annoyingly clever.


One day when parking I scratched my neighbour's (big and new!) car. OMG. This will be expensive. Left my number behind his wiper. How will this be settled? 42uc. Days later he called me. He was so generouse: "Oh, the damage can hardly be seen, it took me days to realize what you mean. Let's not fuss about it. Have a nice day".


Then the penny dropped.

Click to expand...

Today I have been forced to reckon with Hexagram 42 (also, according to Douglas Adams, the number of the universe...)

Today I have cast about different projects:

Shall I apply for this job? 42.4.5.6 > 51
Should I check in with this funder re my proposal in terms of what they're looking for? 42.3.6 > 63
Shall I stick to my guns re said proposal? 42.4.5.6 > 51 (again)
How should I proceed with negotiating for this other project proposal? 41.2.5 > 42
How do I reconcile the more spiritual, esoteric aspects of myself (the real bits) with actually making some kind of difference in the world? 42 uc

All these questions referred to job/life-purpose-type questions (in essence, how I should manifest in the world) - different possibilities, options and directions - and I interpreted all of them in terms of 'becoming my best self', ie not compromising who I am to fit other people's expectations or worldly concerns.

It seemed particularly important that the BIG question at the end received 42uc, as if to clarify all the earlier casts. I had also today been listening to an audio version of A Course in Miracles, which I have a number of reservations about, but nevertheless one bit rang true for me : that one 'must go through a period of sorting out... having learned that the changes in his life are always helpful, he must now decide all things on the basis of whether they increase the helpfulness or hamper it. He will find that many, if not most of the things he valued before will merely hinder his ability to transfer what he has learned to new situations as they arise.'

This seems very much to encapsulate the 41-42 pair for me and which seems to be my lesson for today... sorting out the wheat from the chaff, in a sense; increasing the wheat, decreasing the chaff...

Years ago I asked why X stumbled from one into the next abusive situation. This tragic life seemed to cover all possible forms of abuse from early childhood on: emotional, sexual, physical violence, abused as a kind of working slave ... She was the sweetest, most generous and uncomplicated person.

What is X's pattern that invites/allows abuse ? 42uc.

Click to expand...

She is too generous?

To me hexagram 42 Unchanging is very refreshing. I do feel though like any reading nothing is is set in stone and with the universe being as fluid as it is well....
I have had this reading for my weekly readings in "what do I need to know about my business this week". It tends to come after stress or struggle so its always a relief for me. I think the advice in

Wind and thunder: the image of INCREASE.
Thus the superior man:
If he sees good, he imitates it;
If he has faults, he rids himself of them

Is extremely important,

In a business sense its really auspicious however I believe you are given opportunities. You need to be there to take them, there also seems to be advice sharing the wealth. This is 42 Unchanging in a business sense to me.

For example 42 Unchanging is not set in stone as I mentioned, lets say you have some great opportunities and then an old friend comes into town, you go out have a great night drinking then sleep in the next day till 12pm.
You may miss the boat, and in fact you would be off path and slipping back into a hexagram 41 situation.
Quite easily,
So this advice of doing what is right and TOTALLY avoiding what is wrong I feel personally has a huge amount to do with the reading.

If you are new to the Iching you could possibly look at as the Yi saying ok you are on path. Lets get in the car put the car in first gear and hit the open road. Take it all in, however if you were to mess around on your smart phone at the same time you could veer off the road or (path) and have a set back.

To me the advice is that if you do what is right the rewards can be immense.

I loved the stories here its a great thread, I liked them all but I like Trojina's story of taking what she could from the course and ignoring the negative flirting.

That i think was a clear case of

Wind and thunder: the image of INCREASE.
Thus the superior man:
If he sees good, he imitates it;
If he has faults, he rids himself of them

There also seems advice to remember nothing good lasts forever so you could take it as "Make Hay While the Sun Shines"

THE JUDGMENT
INCREASE. It furthers one
To undertake something.
It furthers one to cross the great water.

Sacrifice on the part of those above for the increase of those below fills the people with a sense of joy and gratitude that is extremely valuable for the flowering of the commonwealth. When people are thus devoted to their leaders, undertakings are possible, and even difficult and dangerous enterprises will succeed. Therefore in such times of progress and successful development it is necessary to work and make the best use of time. This time resembles that of the marriage of heaven and earth, when the earth partakes of the creative power of heaven, forming and bringing forth living beings. The time of INCREASE does not endure, therefore it must be utilized while it lasts.

In a nutshell for me its a clear sign of being on track but a warning to make some good decisions.
Be kind to yourself and others applies as well . I like the saying applied to the line as well To rule truly is to serve.

Happy New Year
Steve