Apech

Spoon! You lucky b******, all I ever got was a slap round the head with a wet fish. When we could afford fish that was ... what with living in a shoe box, an all.

Hey Marbles, with those balaclavas and night vision goggles are you sure you could tell the girls from the guys?

mitochondria or might not o' chondria who can really say?

Well he did work with special forces - so maybe they do that sort of thing!!!

Ninpo, I for one understand what you asked and why you asked it - and I think it is entirely valid. I am somewhat stunned by the identical results between your and my readings. What are the odds on that!!!! I would also like to stress that although I used an online resource - the result was full text of I Ching (not sure whose translation but quite a good one) and I used this to make the interpretation I gave you. Also I don't think there is any mystique in the method - I have used coins and yarrow stalks in the past and I don't think it really matters. For what its worth I have always found the I Ching stunningly accurate and relevant (when I have understood the answers) - sometimes it is a little inscrutable but that's ok. But I also have often wondered - because of this - am I just reading in what I want to see or what? My solution to this is to be very careful when reading for myself - to 'respect the text' which is a technique I got from the application of phenomenology to Egyptian texts - in this way you read the text without any preconceptions, theories or structural overview - and let it speak to you directly - to do this you have to consciously suspend judgement. When reading for yourself you have an inevitable interest in the answer which can cloud the interpretation - the worst example being when you repeatedly ask until you get the answer you want (although the I Ching seems to have a way of dealing with this "Youthful Folly"). Cheers A.

Thnx - didn't realize till you pointed out.

I didn't go to ifate but to I Ching online which as you will see has tasteful bamboo artwork. I am descended on my mother's side from a line of Scottish Yorkshiremen so obviously coins are not things to be tossed around lightly but to be saved up and counted. I await someone else doing a reading.

In the spirit of cooperation and experiment I asked your question on I Ching Online and got: Hex 12 - moving line 3rd changing to Hex 33 (I can supply full text if you wish). The sense I got of what it was saying is: "The situation surrounding your question is stagnant and this makes it attractive to do something that is really based on boredom or a vacuity of real creativity. If you did this then you could be dogged by a feeling of unease, shame or disquiet. Really what you should be doing is to withdraw from the whole situation to a place of balance." PS. If this is bollocks then please don't draw any conclusions about the I Ching because I am not an expert. PPS. Anyone who wants to (*&&%$#$&^(**)(*_)+_)((*&^&^%$#&^(*^()_* should of course be locked up for their own safety.

Jep, I am no expert but I do use the I Ching. I understand your problem because just straight reading can become very abstract and opaque. I think two things are necessary, one is to read about the structure of the I Ching ... the lines, the trigrams and the hexagrams, the way in which each Hexagram can be understood and where its name and text come from (as in Stigs example above) - this is fascinating in itself without any 'divination' ; the other is to actually apply the wisdom of the text to real life situations - you don't have to see this as divination or superstition but more to do with uncovering the patterns which underlie the ebb and flow of existence if you like and then learning from this inherent wisdom. These patterns are always there and the I Ching is a bit like a lens or diagnostic tool which highlights them for us. Cheers, A.

(welcome back Stig) haggle the price down to coin this well worn phrase each far-thing is mine.

You are very wise Marbles. Ninpo, When you truly become one with the soup, subject and object disappear, no longer are you dealing with the duality of soup, bowl, spoon and mouth. Simply place the 'soup bowl' before you and sit in quiet meditation, breath naturally tightening your orifice on the in-breath, forget the bowl, forget the spoon just merge your being with that of the soup. (Carpet stains are quite easy to remove).

multitides within a wind-swept lonely deck chair lapped by autumn sea.

This talk of spoons is all very well but what you have all clearly failed to realise is that all utensils are empty of real selfhood. A spoon, any spoon, is just part of an endless stream of causation, a cycle if you like, of knife, fork, spoon, knife, fork, spoon ... which while not implying any underlying or fundamental oneness of utensils, and although having the appearance of objects posited in space/time are actually a non-cognizant sub-fractions of the un-arising spontaneous and yet omniscient luminous kitchen. In this way, a true master, having the superior view of the this-thatness-born looks in the drawer sees that far from being full of spoons in fact the cupboard is bare, the drawer is empty! He sees beyond the appearance of the metallic scooping device to the rawness of pure non-ceptualised interdependent yet self-luminous no-spoon. Until you lot realise this superior view or at least throw yourselves at the the feet of one who does, you will continue to reify the spoon. I am not trying to argue - just stating the truth as it is known to truly advanced practitioners. It is not my fault if you fail to listen and waste your time on meaningless and ultimately fruitless spoonery.

Capital City Slate gray slabs with tiny lights Diagonal rain.

Capital City Slate gray slabs with tiny lights Diagonal rain.

Ninpo, How very spoonist to think of a duel ... always with the aggression! Have you by any chance been in Lubin, Poland recently ... Spoon ... I think it may have been you.

goodbye illusions.. hello reality world it's Monday morning.

I am disturbed by the emergence of this spoonite utensilist heresey, it is well known that Siberian Shamans used their hands or chop sticks and while early depictions of Atlanteans using scoops have been found this in no way substantiates the idea of there being a spoonal dimension to their spiritual tradition.

aah, snowflakes, cornflakes.. this breakfast tastes kind of strange cock a doodle don't.

Whores with patchouli? Armpit smells like your handbag Dust from passing cars.

Kentucky is wet You can wipe your ass bluegrass with horse liniment.

Its just a dream, boy! It looks so real just like life, popcorn and candy.

Breathe deep, then dissolve.. two pills in sparkling water the hangover is gone.

Transformation nut The pecan becomes brazil The nutcrackers sweet!

say "Yes! Power up!" "I need megawattage! Change my fuel cell."