“I, I, all I!” – No, this is not an ego trip. It simply means to be all one with ourselves, knowing who we truly are, deep inside. To quietly and contentedly sit smiling. Just like… a Buddha.
And then, with inner peace and well rooted: return to the world. A world that constantly storms up on us, in all its richness. A world that touches us, inspires, enriches us, affects and sometimes presses us… What a diversity – what a chaos!
Li, fire, represents our ability to differentiate between “clear” (i. e. useful, purposeful), and “unclear”, (i. e. useless, obsolete). The better we know ourselves, the easier it is to distinguish: what is important, what is not important? Only if we concentrate on the essential, we remain able to act.
Some Reflections
Eventually hexagram 14 – Possession in Great Measure is about finding out what exactly that is, what is there, within yourself, who we actually are. And it invites us to honor this “I am” by giving it a proper place in our life.
Li, the fire (upper trigram), stands for our ability to differentiate, to separate the “clear” from the “unclear”. But before we can do that, we need a criterion. And Qian, the heaven (lower trigram and first core character) is just that: a solid foundation. Qian is this – well, I call it: “I, I, all I”. To be with myself. To perceive, to feel myself and my needs. To take good care of myself.
Unfortunately, we often make strange agreements in our lives. For example, “I treat you nicely and you take good care of me.” In the long run this will lead nowhere. What you get for your effort (“I’m nice to you”) is usually just a kind of minimum supply, just enough to stay on board.
Maybe Possession in Great Measure tells us: “Hey, you’re important and valuable. You don’t have to make any funny deals. You are worth being well and being treated nicely. So be the first to take good care of yourself! And whoever else treats you well: great. But if anybody doesn‘t: they‘re fired!”
Actually it is already in there, the criterion to separate the clear from the unclear… :)
Scope of Questions
I received several comments regarding hexagram 14 – Possession in Great Measure. Some of them describe quite severe life circumstances. My impression is that these people possess something great, something that carries them through these situations or at least lets them endure.
- Years ago, a user started a project that failed due to various circumstances. His question to the I Ching is whether he should reactivate the project now as the circumstances have changed fundamentally in the meantime.
- A user asks the I Ching: “Can this be real?” and explains further: “There is a thought/movement in my life for about one year now – rather an intention for one [good] happening in the future that does not leave my mind. Most of the time it feels so real, but then my mind interferes: ‘Common, keep your feet on the ground!'”
- A user describes her situation as follows: “For years I worked hard, finally I could no longer bear living in fear and I left my husband who kept all our joint finances. The situation and circumstances I am in are causing me great insecurity and anxiety.”
- A user writes: “My steady practice of Taiji and Qi Gong has calmed my spirit, it has reconnected me with myself and given me strength to handle heavy strokes of fate. I miss my friends, who I lost years ago. As the traditional text describes it, I avoid what is bad and develop what is good. But the loss of my friends sticks in my head.
- I would like to pass on what I have learned, if necessary through partial self-employment.”
- One user asks: “What else can I do to get rid of my stalker?”
- One user asks the I Ching the following question: “What helps me to turn round and follow my inner voice?” She explains the background: “When I asked this question, I was completely overloaded by my job, housework and as a mother of two children. I had been disregarding my own needs for a long time and no longer listened to my own inner voice – there was just always so much to do. I eventually developed a chronic illness, fibromyalgia, and have been on sick leave ever since. Now I’m looking for a healthy perspective for myself to fulfill all my financial needs. I am convinced that I can trust my inner voice, that it certainly knows a solution to the difficulties. But unfortunately, for a long time I followed external voices and stopped living from within myself.”
- One user receives hexagram 14 – Possession in Great Measure as an answer in a situation that she describes as follows: “Since I have been in a managerial position, I have always been afraid of career changes. The background to this is probably that I was psychologically abused by adults as a child. When I actually apply for a new job, I often back out of fear because I’m afraid of not being in control and at the mercy of my superiors.”
The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/777787.htm
