It has been said that I never put anything personal in terms of readings on this forum, and that has been pretty much true, and now I will try to remedy that a little bit. But I need to say first that the types of readings I do are normally for spiritual purposes and for emotional and spiritual growth far more than anything more mundane. Now that being said, I have, as we all have, probably, asked about relationships and work situations (which are far and away the most type of question asked.) Most of the time the answer is that “you are nuts to even think about it!” but sometimes not.
Now, before I go any farther, let me say that the government and other agencies around the world, and some businesses as well, do use programs with algorithms that collect data on every citizen and use various means to create a psychological profile on every citizen around the world who uses a computer. That is just a fact. It does not have to deter us from having fun or talking. Most of us want to have friendly relations both in person and online, and we have to share to do that. Still it doesn’t hurt to be aware of what we are putting out there.
Let me say also, that when someone posts here, they have no idea how much information they are putting out there for others to pick up on, and how much can be gleaned by few words. It is remarkable once you start putting things together. And even though I very rarely give personal stuff here, I have given enough that some could know me inside and out. But enough said about that.
Since I do use the I Ching primarily both for spiritual growth and to gain a better understanding of the nature of the I Ching itself, my readings usually involve more than one hexagram, in which times, I look for a common thread among the hexagrams, and try to come up with a meaning that tells me what I need to work on in my life, where my ego is a problem, etc., etc., etc.
I will give an example of a reading recently received, and allow anyone who wants to take a shot at it, see if they can decipher it, and what the spiritual teaching is, if anyone wants to, anyway. The reading is the following:
1st hexagram 59 lines four and five leading to sixty four.
2nd hexagram 52, unchanging.
3rd hexagram 64 lines four and six, leading to 7.
There is no backdrop to this, except as a lesson as to how I should lead my life in general. And I have not analyzed this myself yet.
Since I am retired, no business questions need to be asked of the I Ching. Since I am retired, relationship questions are kind of off the table too. So I can’t share that much. Here is a reading from some time ago though that relates to a relationship question, that people may want to read just for the practice. I will tell how it came out later. The question was, “what is the best that can happen between us?” And the answer was, number 59, lines 5 and 6, leading to hexagram 7. Some of you may know how it came out instantly, others may not. But it will give some a chance to think about how these things work, and get to know the I Ching better. If that is, they care to do so.
One more thing quickly I will say. While the answer we get from the I Ching is going to be correct in some way, our chances of interpreting it correctly are almost nil. This is for a number of reasons. Sometimes we do interpret it correctly, but it still comes out different than we thought it would anyway. It has been said that a reading “can be 100% correct, and still literally wrong.” One reason for this is that we come from a place of immaturity and naivette, because our spiritual life is waning. If we ask for the wrong reasons we get the wrong answers, actually not wrong, but wrong interpretations. If we ask with selfish reasons, we can get set up, not with a wrong answer, but a wrong interpretation. We have to consistently monitor ourselves and our motives. We cannot fall into the trap of thinking the I Ching is an “automatic response system.” It is not. It has an intelligence, and it is wise beyond imagination. Many people do not believe that, but if they continue to use it they will find out the hard way that it is not a toy. I cannot stress that enough. We must come before it humbly. (See hexagram 15) or it will trick us, not with malice, but because that is the way things work.
The most important thing is to work on ourselves. Without this we eventually get lost, as in hexagram three line three where we "hunt deer (spiritual insights) without the Forester," (A proper understanding of the I Ching to begin with.) Having a college degree or even a doctor;s degree will not help us in any way here. The I Ching must be intuitively understood. It cannot be intellectualized. That is "hunting deer without the forester."
Enough for now.
Now, before I go any farther, let me say that the government and other agencies around the world, and some businesses as well, do use programs with algorithms that collect data on every citizen and use various means to create a psychological profile on every citizen around the world who uses a computer. That is just a fact. It does not have to deter us from having fun or talking. Most of us want to have friendly relations both in person and online, and we have to share to do that. Still it doesn’t hurt to be aware of what we are putting out there.
Let me say also, that when someone posts here, they have no idea how much information they are putting out there for others to pick up on, and how much can be gleaned by few words. It is remarkable once you start putting things together. And even though I very rarely give personal stuff here, I have given enough that some could know me inside and out. But enough said about that.
Since I do use the I Ching primarily both for spiritual growth and to gain a better understanding of the nature of the I Ching itself, my readings usually involve more than one hexagram, in which times, I look for a common thread among the hexagrams, and try to come up with a meaning that tells me what I need to work on in my life, where my ego is a problem, etc., etc., etc.
I will give an example of a reading recently received, and allow anyone who wants to take a shot at it, see if they can decipher it, and what the spiritual teaching is, if anyone wants to, anyway. The reading is the following:
1st hexagram 59 lines four and five leading to sixty four.
2nd hexagram 52, unchanging.
3rd hexagram 64 lines four and six, leading to 7.
There is no backdrop to this, except as a lesson as to how I should lead my life in general. And I have not analyzed this myself yet.
Since I am retired, no business questions need to be asked of the I Ching. Since I am retired, relationship questions are kind of off the table too. So I can’t share that much. Here is a reading from some time ago though that relates to a relationship question, that people may want to read just for the practice. I will tell how it came out later. The question was, “what is the best that can happen between us?” And the answer was, number 59, lines 5 and 6, leading to hexagram 7. Some of you may know how it came out instantly, others may not. But it will give some a chance to think about how these things work, and get to know the I Ching better. If that is, they care to do so.
One more thing quickly I will say. While the answer we get from the I Ching is going to be correct in some way, our chances of interpreting it correctly are almost nil. This is for a number of reasons. Sometimes we do interpret it correctly, but it still comes out different than we thought it would anyway. It has been said that a reading “can be 100% correct, and still literally wrong.” One reason for this is that we come from a place of immaturity and naivette, because our spiritual life is waning. If we ask for the wrong reasons we get the wrong answers, actually not wrong, but wrong interpretations. If we ask with selfish reasons, we can get set up, not with a wrong answer, but a wrong interpretation. We have to consistently monitor ourselves and our motives. We cannot fall into the trap of thinking the I Ching is an “automatic response system.” It is not. It has an intelligence, and it is wise beyond imagination. Many people do not believe that, but if they continue to use it they will find out the hard way that it is not a toy. I cannot stress that enough. We must come before it humbly. (See hexagram 15) or it will trick us, not with malice, but because that is the way things work.
The most important thing is to work on ourselves. Without this we eventually get lost, as in hexagram three line three where we "hunt deer (spiritual insights) without the Forester," (A proper understanding of the I Ching to begin with.) Having a college degree or even a doctor;s degree will not help us in any way here. The I Ching must be intuitively understood. It cannot be intellectualized. That is "hunting deer without the forester."
Enough for now.