Tag: Kun → Gen

04 – youthful folly

Graphic hexagram 04Hexagram 04 – youthful folly is auspicious, the judgement states: “Youthful folly has success…” But that only is true as long as we follow the path of the DAO, the way of the world – rather than to forcing our way onto the world. Or, as most usual, hand control over to our autopilot: unconscious control mechanisms and automated action patterns that may have had validity long time ago but that may be meaningless here and now.Weiterlesen: 04 – youthful folly

16 – enthusiasm

Graphic hexagram 16

Scope of Questions

Regarding hexagram 16 – Enthusiasm I received a couple of questions concerning quite different issues:

  • “How should I interpret my physical symptoms?”
  • “What point am I at right now?”
  • “Without success, I can not keep living. But success always includes some failure. How can I deal with this?”
  • “What do I have to give up to be happy?”
Some Reflections

I find it surprising that – in my understanding – a certain disorientation speaks from all these questions. Personally, I have always been amazed by the name of this hexagram: enthusiasm. How in the world can something like enthusiasm arise from the combination of Kun, the earth (lower trigram) and Zhen, the thunder (upper trigram)?

It is exactly this question – how does enthusiasm arise from Kun and Zhen? – which I asked myself when the answer literally crossed my path. It crossed my path in the form of an incident that made me suddenly understand how something like… enthusiasm!… eventually could arise from what the winding paths of the changing lines suggest.

The story goes something like this: Quite a long time ago a damage was done to me, which I noticed only many years later. As a result, I broke off contact with the person in question. And then recently I run into someone I hadn’t seen in a very, very long time and who knows the story and everyone involved. That day we talked about this and that, but then the conversation turned to this ancient story and… somehow I had the feeling that my counterpart wanted to sound me out in the form of: “Well, and how do you feel, as a victim?”

At that very moment I realized: I don’t want that any more. I no longer want see myself as a victim. Because that’s what I had done, for some time, because the damage had indeed been great, the whole thing vile. But I had worked it out for myself since then, intensively even, and at some point… yes, you can put it that way: At some point I made my peace with it. The chapter was closed for me.

And then this person comes and… wants to see me (again) as a victim. No thanks, no need.

At that moment, the changing lines of the hexagram made suddenly sense to me. I am in a place where I am at peace and comfortable (Kun, the earth). The victim story lies long behind, is worked through. And then someone speaks to me about the old incident and I realize: Hey, that’s not it anymore. The chapter “I, the victim” is done with. It’s no longer a description that applies to me. I am now much more than “the victim”… Voila: Gen, the mountain, releasing what has become obsolete.

But, let’s follow the course of the changing lines even a bit further: What does it mean if I let go of the term “the victim”? And replace it with something else, perhaps with “the one who made it (anyway)”? Then, clearly, the glasses with which I look at the world change (Kan, the water). I no longer see all the little episodes where I’ve been screwed, but I suddenly see… all that I’ve managed and overcome in my life. And instead of fear and worries, I am suddenly filled with… enthusiasm ? in the face of the path that lies ahead of me, the path towards myself (Zhen, the thunder).

The current interpretation can be found here: http://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/888788.htm

20 – contemplation

Graphic hexagram 20Here. Now. At this moment it is wise to withdraw into our own root. To withdraw from the world. To turn our gaze inwards. Just as a plant does in winter. To do nothing. This moment belongs to us alone. We draw strength. Like a wave, which stretches back into the sea, concentrating its energy. And even though it may look as if we surrender – we do not surrender. We gather our strength. We focus our energy. In non-action (Wu Wei) we are provides with everything we may need at this moment. Incidentally letting go of a few old, unnecessary things / thoughts / attitudes… before we powerfully rush back into life. Weiterlesen: 20 – contemplation

23 – splitting apart

Graphic hexagram 23Here and now… where exactly am I – and with whom or what do I share this here-and-now?

Kun is navel gazing. It is a call to retreat to our own origins as a source of power and to calm down. But what does it look like, this intimate place, our inner source of strength? Do you like what you see? Does it give you strength – or it is just a collection of things (or people, or options, or, or), which creates an illusion of security? Things never give security. And at worst they clutter and block our lives. Weiterlesen: 23 – splitting apart

27 – providing nourishment

Graphic hexagram 27

Scope of Questions

So far I received the following inquiries regarding hexagram 27 – Providing Nourishment:

  • A user asks: “What I should do regarding a man, who I would like to know better?”
  • For more than a year now a user is dealing with all kinds of challenges: selling her home, finding an apartment, a new job, a new partnership. She asks: “What else should and/or must I do?” She suffers from the situation’s uncertainty and constantly encounters blockades. And: slowly she feels very exhausted.
  • Cooperating with a smug and manipulative colleague is putting a strain on a user. So far, she could protect herself and concentrate on her job’s core tasks. But her colleague regularly disturbs her. She refuses to engage in games or fall into her old patterns as a victim. How can she be true to herself and gain respect in her professional environment?

The current interpretation can be found here: http://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/788887.htm

35 – progress

Graphic hexagram 35

Scope of Questions

Regarding hexagram 35 – progress I received the following inquiries:

  • A user asks: “If I won the jackpot this week: How do I deal with the all that money?”
  • Another user asks: “What kind of approach / working method is best suitable for my artistic work?”
  • Another user wants to know what to expected “in terms of love, career and [his] life as a whole” in the upcoming year.
  • One user receives hexagram 35 – progress as a comment to his situation which he describes as follows: “I am heartbroken, financially broken and in deep depression. I am in love with NR, but she left me for no good reason.”

Weiterlesen: 35 – progress

41 – decrease

Graphic hexagram 41

Scope of Questions

So far I received various questions regarding hexagram 41 – decrease:

  • A user asks: “Was it just my own thought … or did I really hear his voice?”*
  • Another user would like to buy a nice condominium, but is not yet sure if he should do so. His question to the I Ching: “What happens if I buy the condo?”
  • One user describes himself as a person full of mental blockades. However, these began to loosen up recently. His question now to the I Ching is: “How do I get closer to a new professional vision?”
  • A user asks: “How can I fulfill my life path/soul path?”

Weiterlesen: 41 – decrease

42 – increase

Graphic hexagram 42

Scope of Questions

In the context of hexagram 42 – Increase users share the following concerns with me:

  • A user analyzes his current situation as follows: “Nothing is at stake and it was not an ego-driven decision of my will that made me come here.” This results in his question: “If nothing is at stake: How can I live here and now in the most pleasant way?”
  • Another user asks: “Shall I build my consulting activities on the I Ching and use the hexagrams?”
  • A user asks: “After a long search, a friend told me that a room will become available at her place. I accepted. But then she offered that we could also look for something new together. My question to the I Ching is: ‘Should I move in with my friend?'”

The current interpretation can be found here: http://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/788877.htm

45 – gathering together

Graphic hexagram 45

Scope of Questions
  •  A user asks what exactly is meant by “lesson learned” in contemporary interpretation. His personal life situation: paradisaical abundance, tempting offers – and he immediately would like to accept everything. His question to the I Ching is: “What should I do?”
  • A user describes her situation as follows: “I am very interested in a man, who is – unfortunately – quite prominent. However, I would like to meet him.”
  •  A user asks the I Ching: “What can I do to calm down and stay focused?” Her financial situation scares her, makes her freeze up and prevents her from doing things and getting things done. She would like to better prepare and communicate her offers so that her products are noticed and bought by as many people as possible. Secretly she knows that she has treasures just waiting to be shared with the world.
  • An other user asks: “Should I take up painting art professionally to earn a living?“ And about his situation: “I am trying to find my way professionally after a long period of unemployment, following a high stress, executive position from which I was terminated without cause. My mother was a professional artist, who died right after I lost my job. I grew up working with her and am very knowledgeable about art, own her equipment and materials, and used to do art when I was much younger.“
  • One user asked the I Ching where he was in his life and career and what he need to do next/focus on. Recently he quit his job and drastically changed careers, starting his own business and adjusting to a very different life.Weiterlesen: 45 – gathering together