Hi, everyone. I have been researching hexagram 33, and for the most part it, to me, seems to be talking about being careful about timing. Sounds like it's saying "Don't give up on the situation, just now is not the time for it." My question is what about times when 33 comes up unchanging? Does it mean the I Ching is saying to withdraw forever, to completely give up on whatever it is that is being asked about? What has been some of your experiences of the I Ching giving you 33 unchanging?

Hex 33 from Confucian perspective

Hi Caustic,

The retreat of Hex 33 acts in a timely manner, i.e. it retreats or restrains its activities while the unfavorable situation on the part of subject is in power, but acts while it attains the freedom.
For your reference, how Hex 33 is performing the retreat at iching123.

Regards
Tuck :bows:
www.iching123.com

Thank you, Tuck. I've refered your site in the past, it's very helpful.

I guess another way of asking my question is, since most texts on 33 seem to emphasize that the retreat/withdrawl of 33 is not a surrender, then is hex 33 unchanging the advice to completely and totally surrender?

caustic said:

then is hex 33 unchanging the advice to completely and totally surrender?

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I wouldn't have thought so. On an internal level it often means just let go of the issue, stop thinking about it. Hex 33 can come up as an unchanging hexagram if you've previously already been given an answer or several answers. It can also represent a situation that hasn't developed, and might never develop, to a point where more specific guidance is necessary.

Speaking only from my own experience, I would say that the I Ching never advocates any total surrender of self, only retreat from an inappropriate position or pattern of thinking.

caustic--

I've been contemplating 33 static also, as I just drew it for the first time (after over 20 yrs of IC readings)

The universe is always changing -- light gives way to dark etc. There is no "forever" withdrawal, only a matter of waiting through the changes, gathering energy and preparing for better times.

A paraphrase of what R.L. Wing says of static 33 "The object of your inquiry is inflexible, untenable, formidable. You must calmly and unemotionally remove yourself from the situation." I am sometimes critical of Wing because he speaks in terms of forever, which seems contrary to Taoism generally, but I think he touches the essence of the issue -- disengage in every way possible.

Carol Anthony goes on quite a bit to "stop looking at the situation to try to figure it out." She further notes that one's continual emotional engagement feeds the obdurate situation. Once you get clear, things will improve.

(btw -- Hi, y'all. This is my first post. I've been lurking for a while, and finally found a fresh thread that I touched my present concerns.)

Coming in quite late to this discussion, but I can't help thinking that this story about Pavarotti, which comes thanks to Wikipedia, is suggestive of the true meaning of Retreat:

During his years of musical study, Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to sustain himself—first as an elementary school teacher and then as an insurance salesman. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns and without pay. When a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a "disastrous" concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision. Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography: "Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve".

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Disentangling yourself emotionally can often unlock the flow of things better than relentless striving.