Case Study
A user asks the I Ching whether she should start a new field of activity. Specifically, she is thinking of consulting in an area where she has had a lot of personal experience in recent years. The answer of the I Ching is: 57 – the gentle.
Hexagram 57 – the gentle begins with Sun, the wind / tree as the lower trigram. Sun represents our assertiveness and leadership. However, these skills do not just fall into our laps, they have prerequisites and must be carefully developed. They require precise orientation, such as knowing where you stand and what you stand for – and where others stand.
At this point I begin to work intuitively and experimentally* with the user, giving her time for a short meditation. Afterwards I ask her what image came to her during the meditation. The mental image she received was that of a small fungus (mushroom) growing in the moss. The associated feeling was: blissful safety. A mushroom that grows between tall trees and helps those trees communicate with each other.*
Sun develops further into Dui, the lake: touch. What feeling is triggered by the idea of being in touch with the outside world? After another short period of meditation, a new image has appeared: the vision of a black raven. The associated feelings are fear and a sense of danger.
While the fungus, the mushroom mycelium, with which the user identifies, belongs to the earth, the element in which the raven lives is the air: the danger therefore belongs to a foreign sphere and not directly to the user’s habitat. In fact, the user even has a relatively concrete idea of what the danger might be in her planned consulting activity: That she is taking on work that her clients should actually be doing.
In the course of the hexagram Dui develops further to Li, the fire. Here the topic of differentiation arises, of boundary and demarcation, of the ability to differentiate between that which belongs to oneself and that which belongs to others. The user again meditates briefly on her image with the small fungus between tall trees and the warning black raven. And she comes to the conclusion that she has no problem at all with seeing the boundaries: Because the fungus, as an organism, is completely different from the trees and also completely different from the raven.
Finally, Li turns into Sun. The related question is whether the user is clear about her own goals and the goals of her potential clients. After a short period of meditation on her image, the user answers that she knows exactly what the trees want and need: The trees need communication, they want to communicate with each other – and that is exactly what the fungus offers them. In return, the trees offer the fungus protection and food. It is a symbiosis that benefits everyone – as long as they know who they are and what are their specific roles are.
* The intuitive-experimental work with the hexagrams is explained in more detail here: https://www.no2do.com/synopse/en/archives/9467…
** Cf. The Social Life of Forests: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/02/magazine/tree-communication-mycorrhiza.html
Further Questions on Hexagram 57
- A user writes: “I can’t go on, the situation is draining me, but fighting against it makes me even more tired and exhausted”. His question to the I Ching: “Is the attitude ‘I agree with’, the answer?” The answer of the I Ching: 57 – the gentle.
- A user asks, “How do I deal with the impulses, how do I center myself, what are my real intentions?”
- A user asks, “Should I make a clean break and work for a foundation?” He is currently employed by an exploitative and inhumane profit-oriented company that he can hardly stand. Actually, his decision is made, now he hopes that everything will work out.
- One user writes: “I had an intense secret love affair with a lot of of stop and go for a year and a half, but then my partner unexpectedly ended it. And now, after a long and bitter time, he has contacted me with a message that should actually make me feel confident. However, I’m not sure if I should respond. He has refused to answer me for a long time and I would really like to ask him some questions. I like the image that the I Ching gave me as an answer: the gentle. I want to be with a person who treats me gently and considerately. I miss that.”
The current interpretation can be found here https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/877877.htm
