Here is a post from Ren Qizhen about a reading of his, and here is his review of what came next. Reading the two together, some very strong and informative connections come to mind.
He was asking about how to be during a series of business meetings, and phrased his question as ‘What is most important this week?’ (I like the question – a good way to direct one’s attention where it’s most needed.)
His answer was Hexagram 45, Gathering Together, changing at lines 3, 4 and 5 to give Hexagram 15, Integrity.
Ren drew specific advice from each of his three moving lines. But what strikes me as I read his review of events is the imaginative leadership of his Gatherings, and how he gave them the direction and focus of ‘the king entering the temple’.
The direction and aspiration of Gathering Together is to Push Upward (Hexagram 46) to the next level. This gives the people a reason to gather and to invest the best of themselves.
Jack Balkin says of Gathering Together (brilliantly, I think), “You must create or invoke a common narrative through which people can connect themselves back to the past and ahead to the future.” Ren’s workshops began with a projection into 2011, and the nature of the success they were enjoying in that year. Then they progressively ‘backtracked’ through 2009 and 2007 to discover the path that led there.
To my mind, this is a perfect example of Gathering Together, one we can ‘borrow’ for more personal readings. How to give more pulling power, more magnetism, to a higher-level goal? Literally, and in detail, create a big story to be told about the journey there.
the beginning of45, its 24-ness,is described by analogy to hex 17 – a focus on acquiring a belief system.
the infrastructure of 45, its 27-ness, is described by analogy to hex 25 – a focus on standing up in a congregation to ‘say one’s peice’ without consideration of consequences.
the correct passage through 45, its 63-ness, is described by analogy to hex 55 – a focus on diversity, fecundity
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