Mar 21 23
The Tower
4. Youthful Folly
64. Before Completion
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.)
The Tower card, combined with hexagram #4, Youthful Folly, seems to be pointing toward serious consideration of structural problems. A youthful oversight might have dire consequences — in a relationship, a project, or some other endeavor. Seek an enlightened and experienced person to help parse out your situation (could be in book, could be deep within yourself or of course it could be with an actual person). Whatever the case, youthful inexperience, in something important, might be at the point of causing a big problem.
Our “advice” hexagram paraphrases the situation quite nicely: “The conditions are difficult. The task is great and full of responsibility. It is nothing less than that of leading the world out of confusion back to order. If we wish to achieve an effect, we must first investigate the nature of the forces in question and ascertain their proper place. If we can bring these forces to bear in the right place, they will have the desired effect and completion will be achieved.”
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Tower. Perhaps a reversal or collapse is in the offing. It is time to consider inadequate premises or justifications. Strength can come from this unexpected situation.
Our first hexagram this week is #4, Youthful Folly. Here we have a lovely adage, to paraphrase: the student seeks the teacher, not the other way around. The point being that you can’t impose ideas on people; a “teacher” can only make themselves visible and available — the “student” will continually encounter problems (folly), but when finally ready, they pursue guidance from an obvious authority. There was one change this week, of which the specific notes are: a “teacher” often must allow a “student’s” empty imaginings and unreal fantasies run their course, until something like the fatigue of continual humiliation pushed the “student” to find a realistic course.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #64, Before Completion. This is the last hexagram of the I Ching (the first being #1, The Creative). It is a time to prepare, as a dark period is closing and a new period is beginning. “The conditions are difficult. The task is great and full of responsibility. It is nothing less than that of leading the world out of confusion back to order. But it is a task that promises success, because there is a goal that can unite the forces now tending in different directions… Accordingly, in times before completion, deliberation and caution are the prerequisites of success.” “If we wish to achieve an effect, we must first investigate the nature of the forces in question and ascertain their proper place. If we can bring these forces to bear in the right place, they will have the desired effect and completion will be achieved. But in order to handle external forces properly, we must above all arrive at the correct standpoint ourselves, for only from this vantage can we work correctly.”
- take time to consider poor/foolish premises or foundations
- allow for sudden change (perhaps even welcome it)
- the “student” seeks the “teacher” — not the other way around
- allow for people’s idiocy to run its course; during their foolishness be a model of courage, intelligence and modesty, the best of them will eventually turn to you for guidance
- a time of darkness will be over soon, prepare the way or it will all have been in vain
- investigate the nature of a difficulty before making a decision
The Tower card, combined with hexagram #4, Youthful Folly, seems to be pointing toward serious consideration of structural problems. A youthful oversight might have dire consequences — in a relationship, a project, or some other endeavor. Seek an enlightened and experienced person to help parse out your situation (could be in book, could be deep within yourself or of course it could be with an actual person). Whatever the case, youthful inexperience, in something important, might be at the point of causing a big problem.
Our “advice” hexagram paraphrases the situation quite nicely: “The conditions are difficult. The task is great and full of responsibility. It is nothing less than that of leading the world out of confusion back to order. If we wish to achieve an effect, we must first investigate the nature of the forces in question and ascertain their proper place. If we can bring these forces to bear in the right place, they will have the desired effect and completion will be achieved.”
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Tower. Perhaps a reversal or collapse is in the offing. It is time to consider inadequate premises or justifications. Strength can come from this unexpected situation.
Our first hexagram this week is #4, Youthful Folly. Here we have a lovely adage, to paraphrase: the student seeks the teacher, not the other way around. The point being that you can’t impose ideas on people; a “teacher” can only make themselves visible and available — the “student” will continually encounter problems (folly), but when finally ready, they pursue guidance from an obvious authority. There was one change this week, of which the specific notes are: a “teacher” often must allow a “student’s” empty imaginings and unreal fantasies run their course, until something like the fatigue of continual humiliation pushed the “student” to find a realistic course.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #64, Before Completion. This is the last hexagram of the I Ching (the first being #1, The Creative). It is a time to prepare, as a dark period is closing and a new period is beginning. “The conditions are difficult. The task is great and full of responsibility. It is nothing less than that of leading the world out of confusion back to order. But it is a task that promises success, because there is a goal that can unite the forces now tending in different directions… Accordingly, in times before completion, deliberation and caution are the prerequisites of success.” “If we wish to achieve an effect, we must first investigate the nature of the forces in question and ascertain their proper place. If we can bring these forces to bear in the right place, they will have the desired effect and completion will be achieved. But in order to handle external forces properly, we must above all arrive at the correct standpoint ourselves, for only from this vantage can we work correctly.”