Learning in groups has never come naturally to me. Back in college, when everyone else was hurrying to attend the tutors’ revision sessions before Finals, I was sitting alone in my room, in the middle of the floor, entirely surrounded by my own densely-scrawled notes full of original ideas. And this worked out nicely for me in Finals, where either the originality and depth of my thought or the utter impenetrability of my handwriting made a great impression on the examiners.
When I first came across the Yijing, I was very happy to be able to start studying it in much the same way: just me, my Ritsema/Karcher Eranos edition (which has no commentary at all), and a steadily-growing pile of reading journals. Yet somewhere along the line I’ve realised that learning the Yijing is different.
Of course the reading itself is just you and the oracle – even if someone else helps out with interpretation, the real divination happens in your own heart, in the moment of recognition. But learning the Yijing – developing the skills that strengthen and deepen that moment of recognition, building up the knowledge that makes it possible – is something that unfolds naturally in a group.
Let me first explain what isn’t the main reason for this. The Yijing is an endlessly huge topic, orbited by endless realms of expertise. And so there will always be people whose skill and knowledge can open up new perspectives in your own experience with the oracle. We’ve had several examples of this at Change Circle just over the past week: Kevin leading guided imagery journeys through the trigrams, for instance, or Frank sharing connections between Lo Shu and enneagram and Yu’s dance. It’s a very rich, heady blend, and opens up possibilities for change at many levels.
And, like I said, this actually isn’t the main reason why Yijing learning works so well in a group; I could learn from each of these people individually, after all. No – the core of the group learning process isn’t about exchanging knowledge at all; it’s about sharing experience.
Tony wrote about the last Yijing Class, earlier this year:
“My favorite part of the course was the live class discussions. You kept us all focused on the material and the comments of the other students were insightful and deepened my understanding. All of the handouts were excellent. I would say I learned the most from the discussion of actual examples in the context of the person’s life story.”
Actual examples in the context of the person’s life story – exactly. The Yijing – unlike the literature I was feverishly studying back in my college room – is something we learn from experience. We learn the journey that leads towards understanding a reading; we get to know what the ‘aha!’ experience feels like; we learn to associate individual hexagrams with a certain ‘quality of the time’. All this learning is multiplied when you can learn from other people’s experience.
This isn’t just a quicker way to build up a repertory of examples for each hexagram, though that’s certainly a massively helpful thing to do. The more you get to know another person and their changes, the more powerfully you can learn from their experience; this isn’t just like reading an anecdote in a book.
Also, this isn’t even just about how people interpret hexagrams; it’s also about the areas of life they choose to ask about, the questions they choose to ask, and the patterns of their response. All can be inspiring.
Then there’s the gift of other people’s attention to your own reading. A dedicated group seems to be an irresistible invitation to synchronicity; it typically joins the party in a big way, and others’ spontaneous responses to your reading often turn out to be exactly what you needed to hear. The range of perspectives on a reading opens up new angles and creates a more complete picture.
And hearing your reading in another person’s voice has a ‘defamiliarising’ effect that can compel you to hear it afresh. You get a more powerful sense that it’s ‘talking to you’ and you’re not just listening to your own thoughts. By ‘another person’s voice’ I mean their particular choice of words, yes, but also quite literally hearing their voice. It makes a difference.
Having a group of people invested in your reading also provides support – and accountability. They’re going to take a lively interest in how you respond to it and what changes emerge; the risk that you’ll cast the reading, close the book and forget about it until you’re enjoying the ‘wisdom of hindsight’ is greatly reduced.
There are (I think) three basic elements to a successful Yijing study group:
- openness to divination (of course)
- a shared interest in learning both about readings and from readings, that gives the group a sense of direction and joint progress
- a sincere, shared commitment: you need people who are personally invested in the group so it won’t dissolve away from under you
I’ve been thinking about this as enrollment opens for October’s Yijing Class, which provides you with (amongst other things) a ready-made study group, with its own forum and calls. Change Circle members already have access to the sign-up form, and a nice fat discount coupon; it’ll be opened to all on Monday.
Meanwhile, in case you were wondering where the title of this post comes from, here’s what Wilhelm has to say about the Image of Hexagram 58:
“Lakes resting one on the other:
The image of The Joyous.
Thus the superior man joins with his friends
For discussion and practice.A lake evaporates upward and thus gradually dries up; but when two lakes are joined they do not dry up so readily, for one replenishes the other. It is the same in the field of knowledge. Knowledge should be a refreshing and vitalizing force. It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse with congenial friends with who one holds discussion and practices application of the truths of life. In this way learning becomes many-sided and takes on a cheerful lightness, whereas there is always something ponderous and one-sided about the learning of the self-taught.”