Hexagram 04 – youthful folly is auspicious, the judgement states: “Youthful folly has success…” But that only is true as long as we follow the path of the DAO, the way of the world – rather than to forcing our way onto the world. Or, as most usual, hand control over to our autopilot: unconscious control mechanisms and automated action patterns that may have had validity long time ago but that may be meaningless here and now.
Weiterlesen: 04 – youthful folly
Hexagram 6 – conflict seems to be a rather unpopular hexagram, because for a long time I did not receive any feedback on this answer of the I Ching. Now the tide has turned and I have been sent some questions.
Weiterlesen: 06 – conflict
These days – and just as this last question on the list below reached me – I have been thinking about the process of selfactualization. Our self, what-we-are, is a dynamic process that constantly evolves, progresses, “actualizes”, bringing our goals, our desires and intentions into harmony with the realities of life.
But let us first make it concrete. Here are various questions that reached me regarding 07 – The Army.
Hexagram 29 – the Abysmal is composed of the trigram Kan, the water, doubled. In many traditional I Ching commentaries this double water is read almost exclusively as a sign of imminent danger, fear, or collapse. Elsewhere I argue for a broader view, one that also acknowledges Kan‘s positive potential – and, by extension, the creative aspects of our own unconscious, with all its unruly currents. Kan does not refer unilaterally to threatening torrents or perilous depths: it can just as well be understood as a symbol of life-giving depth, hidden resources, intuitive adaptability, and the ability to overcome obstacles through creative fluidity.
Weiterlesen: 29 – the abysmal
Sometimes unexpected twists arise from what initially gave us uneasy feelings. Especially when we examine ambiguous emotional states with a clear head: are these gut feelings actually related to the current situation, to the here-and-now? A cool head may bring liberation. And gut feelings may cause avalanches. In any direction.
I received the following comments regarding hexagram 40 – Deliverance:
Weiterlesen: 40 – deliverance
A user asks the I Ching the following question: “Why is my own life, my urge for self-expression, being so massively blocked by external necessities again this year? How can I resolve this conflict?”
While working with Hexagram 47 – Distress, the user developed an interesting interpretation of his own, which he shared with me and which I would like to reproduce here:
Weiterlesen: 47 – oppression
A user asks the I Ching about her business constellation which has served her well for a long time. Recently, however, she felt that it was time for a change as she wanted to focus on a different target group in the future. The I Ching answers with hexagram 59 – dispersion. The title, dispersion, confuses her: does it mean that she should liquidate her old business and then to start all over again in a new constellation?
Weiterlesen: 59 – dispersion
In recent weeks, two users have independently shared their scenarios with me, to which the I Ching responded with Hexagram 64 – before completion. In the following text, I interpret the hexagram in relation to these two situations.
Weiterlesen: 64 – before completion
