 Clarity's I Ching Newsletter: Issue 60 "When experience is viewed in a certain way, it presents nothing but doorways into the domain of the soul, and they are all found in the present moment." Jon Kabat-Zinn |
™Letter from the Editor— Dear {FIRSTNAME Subscriber},
Well, here you have the 60th edition of your I Ching newsletter - and a request. Please, could you fill in a quick survey about the newsletter? It won't take you long at all - just give a mark out of 5 to each of the six regular sections of the newsletter, and add any comments you may have. Please take this opportunity to make 'Answers' more helpful and relevant for you! You'll get a better newsletter - and you'll be doing me a huge favour. Thank you!
The I Ching gathering a week ago was quite an experience - some fairly mind-blowing ideas came out and were tossed around. If you'd like to know the date of the next gathering as soon as it's decided, send a blank email to gatherings@onlineclarity.co.uk. Meanwhile, there's a recording of the last session available for download from here.
Click here to take the survey, and thank you again for the feedback!
warm wishes,
Hilary
™DIY Corner: Getting from general to specific— Click the 'play' button to listen!
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™Subscriber's reading: Advice for a job search ˜ "I’ve been learning Yi-Djing for six years, which I consider as a short time, so I still have problems understanding it.
I desperately need an insight in my life situation.
The background is this:
About 1,5 year ago, I’ve quit a 5,5 years long job, because of the dissolution of the institution. At the same time I had some health problem (an operation), which broke me psychically, so now I’m living pretty much isolated, unsure in my self and sociophobic.
Anyway, in spite of all, I’m an active new job seeker and managed to find one, which unfortunately didn’t last more than 3 weeks. The problem was in my inability to work among bad people with totally unprofessional attitude and low payment.
I’ve tried at some other companies, passed into fewer selection, but didn’t manage to get a job.
Few month ago, my father got pneumonia, then deep venous thromboses, he is total pessimist and obsessed with his health, he is in some kind of a depression, thinking that he’ll never be healthy again.
My older sister has lost her job recently, she is 33, I’m 30, we are living with our parents ( they are retired), (in spite of our age, in Serbia and Montenegro this is a usual situation, because of a bad economy standard).
So I think that my family is in pretty desperate situation.
I would really appreciate Your insight. I have many question in my head, such as :
1. Am I capable of doing any job because of my unsureness?
2. Will my sister and me manage to find new jobs?
3. In what direction is my family’s life moving?
4. What is the solution of my family problems?
And there is more, both me and my sister are unmarried, without stable love-relations and this situation lasts for many years and I’ve begun to think things will never improve.
Still, I’m not a pessimist, I want to believe that something good must happen.
I just hope I wrote all relevant facts, which could help you finding the right question for me. The most important question for me at this moment is Will I manage to find a stable job soon?
I like very much Your Yi interpretation, they are clear and understandable. I’m visiting Your Clarity site regularly, and it helped me understand many things, such as meaning of some hexagram combinations, and many other things.
Best wishes, hope you’ll find my letter interesting enough to do a reading for me.
Hope I’ll hear from You soon.
Mirjana"
Dear Mirjana,
I asked Yi for advice for you on how to find a good job, and received Hexagram 28, Great Overstepping, changing to Hexagram 46, Pushing Upward. Pushing Upward represents what you want to do in the long term - climb on up out of trouble and into better times - and also the confident, progressive attitude you need now to pull you on towards future success. And Great Overstepping stands in the foreground of the reading to represent the current strain on you and your family, and the challenge this represents to step outside the 'norms'.
Primary hexagram: 28, Great Overstepping
To 'overstep' means both to go beyond the 'normal' limits, and also to cross over, to make a transition. I understand that you feel 'broken', that you are looking for something stable and reliable - but I think that Yi is encouraging you to understand what's happened and what's needed now in a different way.
'Great Overstepping, the ridgepole warps.
Harvest in having a direction to go.
Creating success.'
The ridgepole of the house is the single beam that sustains all the weight of roof and walls. Here, it is starting to buckle under the weight. It represents the structure of your job, your family, your self-image, everything that has kept you safe and provided for: it is under huge strain. But the extraordinary discovery of Great Overstepping is that this does not mean that you are broken. You're more like a hatchling coming out of the egg, your strength built up by years of nourishment within that secure structure. Now the shell is shattered, and your world shows every sign of falling round your ears - but in fact you are growing strongly.
So although you are reaching out for stability, what you most need to carry you through is a 'direction to go'. Stopping everything from falling down is one half of it: knowing what you don't want to happen for all those you love. But beyond that, what do you want, and where do you want to be for yourself? You don't have to stick with what is usual and familiar to you - you can step outside the boundaries of what you've always done, or indeed what your family has always done, or just what is 'normal' or 'common sense'.
This is a huge mental leap, to discover the creative energy at your core and your endless ability to generate new ideas. And this while you feel at breaking point!
'The lake submerges the tree. Great overstepping.
Noble one sets up alone without fear,
Withdraws from the time without sadness.'
You'd expect water to nourish trees, just as you'd expect big challenges and great emotional incentives to spark off your own initiative. But too much water threatens to drown the young tree altogether; having too much at stake is overwhelming. The noble one deals with this through self-confident withdrawal. If you find it hard to fit in with other people in a workplace, this is not something to be afraid of or depressed about. Being unusual does not make you wrong. So you can use this as a cue for some of the creative thinking you are so good at! Can you express yourself, and provide for yourself, outside the system? Work as an independent freelancer, maybe?
Change
These two changing lines give you some more specific advice on how to go about your job search.
Line 4
'Ridgepole at the peak. Good fortune.
If there is more: shame.'
First of all, this line is Yi's response to your worry about whether you can find work and hold onto it. You can. This line describes the ridgepole of the house holding firm, definitely not buckling under the strain. You have great resources to tap into, not least the strength of your family: take care of your connections, the ways you replenish your strength, and you will do well. The key is not to pile more weight onto yourself: don't load yourself with more issues or more responsibility than are really yours to deal with. If you have a tendency to put in all you have, to take on everything at once, then recognise this and manage it with care!
Line 5
'Withered willow sprouts flowers,
Venerable wife gets upright husband.
No blame, no praise'
This is imagery of old and new. In some ways you are 'withered' beyond your years by your experiences. But willow is the most resilient and vigorous of trees: if you cut willow branches to build with and stick them into moist ground, they will take root. You have this same vigorous, lively core. But your next opportunity to express this may not be with new roots and shoots, but only with flowers. That is, with something beautiful, but not necessarily lasting. It is like an older woman taking a young husband: undoubtedly enjoyable, but without children, which means without provision for the long-term.
Better to grow flowers than to stay withered; better to enjoy your own vitality than to stifle your initiative by waiting for the 'right' thing to do. So when you discover the opportunity to do work you enjoy and where you can blossom, enjoy it. It's important not to idealise it - not to mistake flowers for shoots - but equally important not to demonise new opportunities just because they are not for the long term. Part of being true to yourself is cultivating your ability to change; taking on short-term projects you can really enjoy could be the first step to break through your old limits and start to create new patterns for yourself. So as you 'take inventory' of your gifts and what you have to offer the world, don't be afraid to focus on what you enjoy rather than just what you 'ought' to be doing.
Relating hexagram: 46, Pushing Upward
This second hexagram offers you the mindset and bigger picture you need to 'overstep' old limits and think outside the box. Essentially, this hexagram advises you to understand the immense strains of the present time as part of a steady climb upwards towards better things. Though having said that, you may also need to 'overstep' the conventional ideas of how people are 'meant' to push upward through their careers!
The theme of Pushing Upward is putting in the work to make steady, reliable progress. Because you have the talents and energy to invest, along with the support of your family willing you on, and because you know things can be better, you are bound to keep striving upward.
'Pushing upward, creating success from the source.
Make use of seeing great people.
No doubts.
Set forth to the south, good fortune.'
Of course you feel the tension between how you want things to be and how they are. Pushing Upward is about feeling that, knowing you can get from here to there, and getting started. 'Great people' are those who can help you - you certainly shouldn't be afraid to ask for practical help - but they are also those who inspire you, because they show you an image of your own inner 'great person'. This is the vision you can use as inspiration.
Yi specifically acknowledges that you might well have doubts about this: it is not easy to believe in progress before you see it. But you can do it - there is truly no place for doubt; you can have confidence that your efforst will bring results. The 'south' is the region of action: this is a cue to get down to work with renewed conviction! The journey might take you outside familiar territory or beyond the point where you feel in control - but this is no disaster; the possibilities are greater there.
Having said that, though, there is absolutely no call to rush things or try to achieve everything at once. Pushing Upward means progress step by step - like the growth of a plant through the soil.
‘Centre of the earth gives birth to wood. Pushing upward.
In the same way, the noble one with patient character,
Builds up small things to attain the lofty and great.’
The plant pushes upward gradually, step by small step, feeling its way; the patient earth supports and nourishes its growth. You need both of these qualities: the impulse to grow, but also patience and the willingness to be gentle with yourself. Lofty and great trees do not spring up overnight - and nor should you expect yourself to leap overnight into the ideal job (or to turn into a self-confident freelancer, or whatever path you choose...). Remember the two moving lines: one says you succeed provided you don't overburden yourself; the other suggests the way forward could be through something enjoyable but temporary. Once you have chosen your 'direction to go', you'll make best progress by breaking the journey down into small, manageable steps.
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