Lost in Translation

People are in their heads a lot. I once worked with a man who was so smart he could solve almost any computer problem before anyone else could even articulate the question, yet despite his intelligence I needed to literally walk next to him and prevent him from stepping in front of moving cars while crossing the street. Such is life...

Exactly. But that doesn't mean that the answer cannot be made meaningful. The Western perspective often is 'it happened by chance and therefore does not have any relevant meaning.' The early Chinese point of view is more like 'it happened by chance and therefore has relevant meaning.' It's a different perspective on the value of chance. I want to reiterate this different perspective on chance. This is so very fundamental to understanding the I Ching and to working with it as an oracle.

If I truly do not understand the response of the I Ching then I ask for clarification and cast again. I then look at both castings together, first to see how the latter influences the original question then to see how that latter influences the former casting. There have been instances where I was not able to satisfy my question fully, but even in such instances I usually take away at least a word or phrase of advice.

What you describe in your dream is the essence of something called "Family Constellations", by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger. This is essentially when a child unconsciously adopts the pain he senses in his parents as a way to show unity with them, to "belong" to his parents' family unit. Not at all! Anyone on TDB is free to PM me if they want.

It occurred to me last year that you cannot heal pain without first feeling pain, cannot heal suffering without first suffering yourself. With this understanding I have let myself feel, richly and deeply, for perhaps the first time since I was a young child. I flung open the gates, unlocked the portcullis, and let what was outside come in. At first it was liberating, exciting even. Then, as the months carried on, it grew increasingly painful, ultimately terrifying. I began to experience panic attacks. This was completely new to me! This week, perhaps exacerbated by the extreme heat that blanketed my region, I felt something in me break. Perhaps break is not the correct word. I felt something inside me give way, and in giving way I learned something about myself that I never realized. I cannot do it alone. I need others. This may sound obvious, but it was not to me, far from it. I've always been stoic, a real stiff upper lip kind of guy. I've always felt that I could reason my way through life, through all challenges before me. And I always looked down upon the emotional and saw them as weak. I was wrong on both counts. Reason and stoicism do not make you strong. Emotion and feeling do not make you weak. It is the balance that brings strength. It is the balance that heals. The road is long and the trek is hard. I still feel pain and the pain still carries suffering, but I feel I have finally crested the hill and I can see the blessed water in the distance.

Here is the same line from Wilhelm: Wilhelm/Baynes: Whoever hunts deer without the forester only loses his way in the forest. The superior man understands the signs of the time and prefers to desist. To go on brings humiliation. As you can see, the meaning is different. Emphasis is on the forester, especially on needing his aid. That is important. If you add this element to the first changing line you get a clearer picture. Wilhelm/Baynes: Hesitation and hindrance. It furthers one to remain persevering. It furthers one to appoint helpers. http://www.jamesdekorne.com/GBCh/hex3.htm

You are correct. I should have said "Vague questions yield vague interpretations." Thank you for clarifying this.

If you read the forward by Carl Jung in Wilhelm's book you'll see he mentions essentially the same thing, that one must interpret the response within the exact context as the question.Specific questions warrant a specific response. Vague questions yield vague responses. It is for this reason that I have begun thinking of the I Ching as a person to whom I am speaking and of whom I am asking advice. By framing the question in that manner I have found much better success. A secondary benefit is that I have begun forming a relationship with the I Ching, similar to the relationship that Christians speak of with Jesus. Ok, not exactly the same but... I'm rambling now.

Thank you for sharing. Your reading (#3 transforming to #39) shows that right now is not a good time to start something by yourself. Rather it is a time to seek out the aid of others. The end result of this action remains difficult, but it's not impossible - it simply requires perseverance. #39 mentions seeking the "superior man". Typically this is the sage. It can be the sage within us all. Of course it can also mean someone in authority. Absent any context I would say that as long as you are not "going it alone" but instead are seeking the help of others in this manner, and as long as you are seeking the help of the boss, or someone else in authority, then you are likely to achieve success. I wonder if this is actually what you have done and are doing?

Did the hexagram give any advice and did you follow it?

I understand the temptation to think that life in the past was somehow better, but that is an illusion. It's similar to thinking foreign lands are somehow better (e.g. the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence). Believe it or not people have always succumbed to this temptation. For example, I was reading Homer's Iliad and he was describing the caliber of the Greek warriors. Homer was lamenting that this generation was not the strength of earlier generations (e.g., Hercules), but none the less it would have to do. If people felt this way 3,200 years ago then I think we'll be OK for now.

When I am driving my car and some poor fool cyclist is on the road, I am the one who must give way. When a cyclist is riding his bike and some poor fool pedestrian is on the path, the cyclist must give way. When a pedestrian is walking along and some poor fool homeless man is sleeping on the sidewalk, the pedestrian must give way. When a homeless man is sleeping on the sidewalk and some poor fool .... My analogy is breaking down. You get the point.

That's a good question! Individual trigrams are either male or female but to my knowledge the hexagrams are neither. I suppose one could find the ruling trigram or trigrams within the hex and use that, but that seems like a stretch. Some folks here are much more knowledgeable than I on this matter (hint, he's from the Netherlands and makes videos on YouTube). Perhaps they can answer this.

Yes.

Run, Forrest, run!

The conventional definition of energy in physics is "the ability to do work". This means that energy absent movement is potential. Potential can become (transform into) energy once it starts doing something, but until then it remains just potential. Perhaps it would be helpful to review the types of energies listed in light of this (specific) definition?

Thank you for tying this into existing cannon. This is my understanding of chapter 50 as well.

Yes! We've pivoted slightly but you are absolutely correct. Pain is not equal to suffering. Pain happens to us. We choose to suffer. I cannot agree more. Returning to my prior comment above, you see I am still feeling pain and the pain still carries suffering. This is my way of saying that equanimity is not yet complete. But I have passed the highest point and am heading downhill. I see the water (of relief) ahead. This is a poetic way of saying that the pain is separating from the suffering. Once the pain is just pain and no longer carries emotional fuel then it dies out on its own since it needs the fuel of suffering to sustain it. The pain passes through the sage and leaves no trace. In other words the pain carries no suffering. Chuang Tzu did not suffer when his wife died. There are many words that convey the same meaning. It's good that we are hashing out this vocabulary.

You bring up a good point. Perhaps it is worth discussing the difference between pain and injury? In your example Chuang Tzu felt pain when his wife died but was not injured by her death. This is a subtle distinction but one worth understanding.

Feeling is a strange thing. This morning I lay in bed after hitting snooze for the second time and had an odd dream/not dream. I was awake, sorta - but not really. My body was still asleep. My muscles felt like water and were totally relaxed but my mind was aware of the birds singing in the tree outside my window. In my dream I imagined a person in three forms: 1) A person covered by a thick crust. Imagine a "Ben Grimm" kind of creature (that's a Fantastic Four reference). 2) A person hiding in a dark cave next to a still pond of fresh water. 3) A person made of wispy smoke. The first person is strong in the traditional sense. He can go out in the world and endure all the trials therein. But even when among others he is still alone since no one can actually touch him due to his thick, scaly skin. The second person is calm in the typical sense. He is soft and open but he must hide himself away in order to survive. This is akin to a hermit on a mountain. The third is the sage. He is flexible, malleable. The sage cannot be harmed because all threats pass through him and leave no traces in their wake. Thus he has no need to hide himself and can go out into the world.

Fear can mean many things, including progress. Pay attention to your fear. What is it telling you, specifically what is it telling you NOT to do? Take a good look at what it is telling you NOT to do then make your choice. This may be a case where the wisest choice of action is to dive head first into what causes your fear.

Water is very healing. When I am stressed or anxious I feel heat, sometimes literally, often metaphorically. Water cools the heat, restores balance. In this case I felt the heat at the base of the sternum, about an inch above the solar plexus. In retrospect I had been feeling it for a long time, days or weeks, and it finally grew strong enough for me to notice. Almost immediately upon noticing it transformed from heat to cool, as if a flowing stream had emerged. My wife has the gift of sight. She was instrumental in helping me to see. Afterwards I consulted the I Ching and was given #28 Preponderance of the Great transforming to #58 Lake - a heavy burden converted into double water. There is much work yet to be done but I take this as a positive sign that I am on the right path.

Excellent point! I consulted the I Ching because I wanted information. I was given information. The information was accurate. Does it really matter beyond that?

This is key to my understanding. The same is true for all forms of perception. For example, a camera may record a view but it is only when a conscious being observes the view that any significance develops. Divination is the same. We can randomly sort yarrow or toss coins all we want but absent a questing individual to make sense of the results we are lost. Once you add the individual to the equation then any/all minutia will suddenly grow in significance. For example, a month ago I was concerned about my cat's health so I divined via yarrow stalks. One (of the many) attribute associated with the response was leg/foot. For some reason that caught my attention so I wrote it down. Three weeks later the animal had a blood clot form and flow into the front right paw, making him lame in that limb. Coincidence? Perhaps. But nonetheless I was warned that he would suffer a foot malady and it did indeed happen.

Wisdom.