Comments on: Holism, Hexagram 31 and marriage

By: Hilary

Hilary — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:53:32 +0000

I think your 16-year-old self had the right idea. I’d add that the images offered are good for thinking in: marrying your job, reaping a harvest from a well-grown relationship - these things shake the mind out of its usual rut.

By: proserpine

proserpine — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:44:37 +0000

Even when I was really young, I had the sense that a given answer was always multifacted.
But specifically, this matter–can taking a wife, as in #31 or #44 mean other than actually getting married, to a woman?Of course.
A new situation, taking something or someone new on in life trying to *attract* someone or something etc.
When I was about 16 or so I always felt that the I Ching was trying to answer me as best it could with what it had.:-)
I’m not saying that that is the truth or the actual way it does work, but it does seems that if I ask about a relationship, and received an answer about harvesting, or asked about a job, and received an answer about marraige. that the Sage of the I Ching was trying to present images to me to show me my situation–rather like dream- like abstract images are formed.

By: Jade

Jade — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:04:02 +0000

Thank you I Ching- always always, #31, the sweet and essential relationship

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:24:02 +0000

Uncanny indeed….

By: Hilary

Hilary — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:03:39 +0000

Unless one is willing to spend the time working through real-life issues with the Yi as a guide it is unlikely that one would ever truly grasp the essentials.

And that needs engraving somewhere, or printing in big letters on the front of every translation, or something. Nothing substitutes for that uncanny experience of having the ground taken from under your feet again…

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:30:39 +0000

Yes, I agree that learning from your own experience with divination is crucial. As you know, many parts of the text reveal their meaning much more readily when they are encountered in reference to some real-life issue that one is working through (though some may consider this too subjective). This is one reason why I think that the academic treatment of the text, while certainly valuable, has its limitations. Unless one is willing to spend the time working through real-life issues with the Yi as a guide it is unlikely that one would ever truly grasp the essentials. How would you know when you “got it”? Perhaps the Yi can tell you.
Thanks.

Eric

By: Hilary

Hilary — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:43:30 +0000

Thanks for asking it!

Of course, chasing after what the original authors thought is a potentially endless hunt (how would you know when you’d “got it”?), so I always write more about what seems to me to work in divination now. But I do remember learning that ‘husband and wife’ could routinely be used to represent ‘king and minister’.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:55:38 +0000

Hi Hilary,

Thanks for responding to my question! Although I didn’t state it explicitly, I was wondering if the authors viewed marriage as a model for other relationships. You seem to have intuited where I was going with this quite well. Thanks again!

Eric