I write a lot about trying to recover the original meanings of some of the I Ching’s key phrases. Which may be of academic interest, but why bother with China circa 1000BC when asking about Western life in 2005 AD?
Well, not to get to the One True Authentic Original Oracle. That doesn’t exist, and any claims otherwise deserve short shrift. No – it’s about trying for an imaginative grasp on the ideas and interrelationships in the old text.
I Ching Community Discussion Forum: 2.6 dueling dragons A great thread on hexagram 2, line 6: ‘Dragons battling in the fields, Their blood indigo and gold.’
You’d think I’d do this automatically by now, and go unerringly to the best possible question to get the clearest and most direct answer. It ain’t necessarily so… 😕 Someone ordered a reading with the question, ‘What would be the difference between taking option a or option b?’ (I can’t… Read more »The benefits of thinking about the question…
Dobro asked, “How can it be advantageous to carry out what one thinks right, and at the same time to abstain from moving things in a conscious direction?” Helpful and thought-provoking answers here.
I Ching Community Discussion Forum: Hexagrams of sleeping and dreaming? Peter asked, “what hexagrams reflect processes of sleeping and dreaming?” Some good – and interestingly different – suggestions are coming up. Do you dream in water, light or thunder?
I Ching Community Discussion Forum: 14.1…negative or not? ‘No intercourse with what is harmful, In no way at fault, Hardship is thus not a mistake.’ or ‘Having no commerce with trouble. To never be wrong Is a hardship, but otherwise not a mistake.’ (Brad) Or even ‘Not associating with violent… Read more »I Ching discussion: hexagram 14 line 1
Hexagram 44 seems to be the most-debated hexagram of the lot. Should we be afraid of what the yin line in the first place represents? Of encroaching evil, temptation, the thin end of the wedge? (Not to mention the unspeakable horrors of ‘a bold girl who lightly surrenders herself’.) Or should we be nurturing a new life, welcoming it with respect? Much discussion ensues.
When I read good books, I sometimes find myself wanting to pencil in a hexagram in the margins. These excerpts from Paulo Coelho’s Veronika decides to die seem to me to paint a vivid picture of Hexagram 44 – an aspect of it, at least.
