And look – here’s a new, dedicated I Ching political blog, no less:
Mme. Zaratamara consults the I Ching
(I really must stop browsing and playing with my new toy, and get some proper work done!)
Mme Zaratamara – who is left-leaning – asked the oracle how the US could get out of Iraq. And received Hexagram 33, Retreat (no, really…) changing to 57, Subtle Penetration.
(She misread the changed hexagram – I sympathise. I don’t think I’ve ever actually sent a reading out to anyone with the wrong hexagram, but I’ve come very close.)
So to get out, Retreat. Gently, subtly, maybe under the influence of the repeating winds of public opinion, who knows. Worth noting that Hexagram 33 is about self-preservation, too.
33,2
‘Holding onto it, use yellow cowhide.
It will never be capable of getting loose.’
Hmmm… a Wilhelm-influenced reading might see this as a concerted retreat by the whole alliance. But I naturally see us as ‘tied’ there, even creating bonds of loyalty that require us to finish what we started.
Then I see the second line in Brad’s notes:
“It disgust him to think of his wonderful thing in the hands of inferior people”
Ah.
Line 4:
‘Loving retreat.
Noble one, good fortune.
Small people, obstruction.’
Later – I think this would be later – retreat is an act of love. The junzi can do it… the small people experience it as a failure.
This one feels clearer to me straight away. My own notes on the line say,
“I think this is where the love comes in: drawing back for the good of someone else, or to allow them to come to you, or to allow space for all concerned to grow in their own way. (The love need not be directed specifically at another person.)… It looks like a paradox, withdrawing with love – no wonder small people don’t get it.”
Mme Z has a different take on her reading, of course: politics are bound to tinge interpretation for both of us. But to me, anyway, Yi’s voice sounds altogether neutral.
Subject: Letter and I Ching Reading: the Terry Schiavo case: the Public vs. the Private
(Hello again, Hilary!)
The Unseemly intrusion of Congress into Terry Schiavo’s right to die or live on as a vegetable, is unprecedented both in its over-reach of governmental powers into our private lives, and its monumental hypocrisy! This same Contingent of Congress, the Righteous Right, as I like to call them, under the dubious leadership of “The Hammer”, Tom Delay and with the blessings of GW Bush and Co., now wish to show their mis-appropriated “Compassion” when it suits their purposes: Setting up the debate about “life” as it applies to Fetuses and Vegetables in preparation to ever greater government control over our most personal life choices. Where is their righteous “compassion” when it comes to jobless people starving, or going without medical help when they need it? Do Americans realize that Bush himself, as governor of Texas, sponsored a law called the “Futile Care Bill” that mandates the REMOVAL of life support systems in cases where recovery efforts are “Futile”, including not being able to PAY for the care anymore? Do Americans know that just a couple of weeks ago a BABY was taken off life-support under this law, over the anguished objections of its mother!? Yet these filthy hypocrites now drape themselves in this cloak of ” Concern for Life”, and misrepresent the removal of artificial life support, even after 15 years, as “Murder”.
Even some Republicans have expressed concern over “Where will this end?”. Indeed, we should all be asking this question. (I have asked the I CHING, famous and ancient chinese Book of Changes, to speak about this, and its answer is abundantly clear: See “Mme.Zaratamara’s I CHING readings, at
http://z-i-chingreadings.blogspot.com/)
For myself, I plan to immediately get a Living Will , so my demise can never become such a political circus. Let my Eyes go to the Blind and my Heart to the Heartless!