Nov 29 22
Seven of Cups
39. Obstruction
40. Deliverance
These first few lines are the general aphoristic returns for the week. They are raw and uninterpreted; there to use how you’d like. (The specific readings follow.)
J.B. asks: What does one do in times of endless questioning, with no obvious answers arising?
“J.B.” if “endless questioning” finds no surcease, it seems you are simply going to have to keep going — ‘til purpose reveals itself. An analogue: the life span of a fig tree is around 40 years; the lifespan of the wasps that fertilize them, 10-20 days. The interaction of the two lifeforms is integral to each’s survival; however, if one were to vacillate between each’s time scale, much would be confusing. Questions are a required part of our survival system, though you (personally) likely need more sensitivity to the wildly differing time scales that structure purpose/survival — experience over time is the fig tree; the wasps are the (seemingly) endless questions. If you keep going (and can avoid too many cheap escapes from your harborless questioning) you will have fruit, eventually.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Seven of Cups. Two things come to mind here, “magic’s just science that we don’t understand yet” and the part of the Narcissus myth where Narcissus drowns falling in love with illusion (the illusion being his reflected face in a pond’s surface). Both of the above notions have play in our daily lives, that is, we have to both be open to and protective against fantasy. Certainly it is wise to envision a scenario before trying to achieve it but simultaneouslywe must take care that our pre-visions don’t develop a codependency with self-deception.
Our first hexagram this week is #39, Obstruction. “The hexagram represents obstructions that appear in the course of time but that can and should be overcome…” The advice is to “persevere” even when “one apparently must do something that leads away from their goal. This unswerving inner purpose brings good fortune in the end. An obstruction that lasts only for a time is useful for self–development. This is the value of adversity.” And further: “Difficulties and obstructions throw a person back upon themself. While the inferior person seeks to put the blame on other persons, bewailing their fate, the superior person seeks the error within themself, and through this introspection the external obstacle becomes for them an occasion for inner enrichment and education.” There were four changes this week(!) of which the specific notes are: if a particular trouble is connected to a core belief — face it directly — though it is very tricky should one have dependents directly effected by one’s failure, in the latter scenario it best to work with a group of like-minded people. Also, if called upon to help in an emergency, assist no matter the difficulty — eventual satisfaction/peace-of-mind is related to this.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #40, Deliverance. Points to a time when obstacles are removed and tensions eased. The implication is that this is a natural occurrence — as in, the result of perseverance that has made good. There is one bit of advice: “A thunderstorm has the effect of clearing the air; the superior person produces a similar effect when dealing with mistakes and sins of people that induce a condition of tension. Through clarity the superior person brings deliverance. However, when failings come to light, the superior person does not dwell on them; they simply pass over mistakes, the unintentional transgressions, just as thunder dies away. They forgive misdeeds, the intentional transgressions, just as water washes everything clean.”
- Promote positive visions of achievement whilst discouraging escapist fantasies.
- Hardships and misadventures are opportunities for education, strengthening and growth — if you approach them as such.
- Adversarial situations related to core beliefs must be faced fiercely and directly (though you might need the backup of like-minded peers).
- If a time arrives where you are on the winning side of subsiding tensions, forgive your foe unequivocally; that is do not be a sore winner.
J.B. asks: What does one do in times of endless questioning, with no obvious answers arising?
“J.B.” if “endless questioning” finds no surcease, it seems you are simply going to have to keep going — ‘til purpose reveals itself. An analogue: the life span of a fig tree is around 40 years; the lifespan of the wasps that fertilize them, 10-20 days. The interaction of the two lifeforms is integral to each’s survival; however, if one were to vacillate between each’s time scale, much would be confusing. Questions are a required part of our survival system, though you (personally) likely need more sensitivity to the wildly differing time scales that structure purpose/survival — experience over time is the fig tree; the wasps are the (seemingly) endless questions. If you keep going (and can avoid too many cheap escapes from your harborless questioning) you will have fruit, eventually.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Seven of Cups. Two things come to mind here, “magic’s just science that we don’t understand yet” and the part of the Narcissus myth where Narcissus drowns falling in love with illusion (the illusion being his reflected face in a pond’s surface). Both of the above notions have play in our daily lives, that is, we have to both be open to and protective against fantasy. Certainly it is wise to envision a scenario before trying to achieve it but simultaneouslywe must take care that our pre-visions don’t develop a codependency with self-deception.
Our first hexagram this week is #39, Obstruction. “The hexagram represents obstructions that appear in the course of time but that can and should be overcome…” The advice is to “persevere” even when “one apparently must do something that leads away from their goal. This unswerving inner purpose brings good fortune in the end. An obstruction that lasts only for a time is useful for self–development. This is the value of adversity.” And further: “Difficulties and obstructions throw a person back upon themself. While the inferior person seeks to put the blame on other persons, bewailing their fate, the superior person seeks the error within themself, and through this introspection the external obstacle becomes for them an occasion for inner enrichment and education.” There were four changes this week(!) of which the specific notes are: if a particular trouble is connected to a core belief — face it directly — though it is very tricky should one have dependents directly effected by one’s failure, in the latter scenario it best to work with a group of like-minded people. Also, if called upon to help in an emergency, assist no matter the difficulty — eventual satisfaction/peace-of-mind is related to this.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #40, Deliverance. Points to a time when obstacles are removed and tensions eased. The implication is that this is a natural occurrence — as in, the result of perseverance that has made good. There is one bit of advice: “A thunderstorm has the effect of clearing the air; the superior person produces a similar effect when dealing with mistakes and sins of people that induce a condition of tension. Through clarity the superior person brings deliverance. However, when failings come to light, the superior person does not dwell on them; they simply pass over mistakes, the unintentional transgressions, just as thunder dies away. They forgive misdeeds, the intentional transgressions, just as water washes everything clean.”