The I ching how to proceed

The I Ching


Once in a long while, I have a specially deep question to ponder, and I seek the counsel of the I Ching. This requires focusing on the question, which usually is easy because it is important to me anyway, and ringing around in my head. Sometime in September 2001, a couple of related issues came together to require some decision-making that would affect the GCP's future in practical terms, but also potentially in style. This involved a proposition that the PEAR lab become a home for the project, while at the same time, there was considerable new public attention because of the Sept 11 disaster, to which the EGG reacted, strikingly. A number of suggestions and pressures to be more public were in the air.



I asked, "How shall I proceed with the public EGG, with PEAR, with giving up simplicity, control?"



Here is my reading, on October 3, 2001, at 06:45, using coins.





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This is Chien, hexagram number 53, which is composed of the sun above and the mountain below. Its primary wisdom is summarized as "Development, Gradual Progress." The trigrams are Sun, the gentle, wind, wood; and Kên, keeping still, mountain. I interpret this and the more detailed commentary in the I Ching to mean that I should continue in the path of doing research, doing it well, staying with my decisions to not seek publicity, and allowing the EGG to grow naturally in its own time. The situation is good; it is harmonious and stable.



What is perhaps most striking in a magical sense is that when I last asked a question of the I Ching it was about how I should deal with my feeling of frustration at the slow progress in 1998 when I was working on the practical issues of logistical support. At the same time I was pushing the development of the technical network and other aspects of the project. I asked much the same question, "How shall I proceed with the EGG, no EGO?" and the I Ching gave me Ching, the well. Ching has K'an, the abysmal, water above; and Sun, the gentle, wind, wood below. My throw had changing lines so the hexagram became Chien.



Chien is the answer that I received for the present question, this time with no changing lines. Just a coincidence, perhaps, but it is for me deeply meaningful to have again this obviously appropriate message when I am looking for wisdom about how to proceed.

December 10/11 2004


Again at a moment of some turmoil about how best to proceed, I have decided take advantage of the I Ching's wise counsel. The question in a major sense is whether to go ahead with a theory meeting soon -- like in March 2005, just three months from now -- even though there is not as much product or "meat" from the Analysis 2004 project as I had hoped there might be. The question has to do with depending on others and having confidence in the actuality of the correlations and anomalous effects in the data. It also is about believing that as a small group of volunteers we will be able to collect and display some new features in the GCP data, as well as to gather sould and instructive results from other sources. The purpose of the meeting will be to work toward an integration of findings in models and theory that can begin to give understanding.



There also are personal aspects to the question, again hingeing on relationships and distribution of time. In any case, this was a moment in my path where it seemed most appropriate to ask the I Ching for its wisdom. Here is the reading, on December 11 at 00:58, that is, just after midnight of the 10th.



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This is Ts'ui, hexagram number 45, composed of the lake above and the earth below. Ts'ui is about "Gathering Together [Massing]. The trigrams relate to the joyous and the receptive, and this hexagram could hardly be more clear as a counsel to trust in the gathering of people in a common interest, and to accept that leadership is required. The Judgement notes that the leader must first of all be collected within himself. On the larger stage, "Only collective moral force can unite the world."


This hexagram had changing lines at the beginning, in the third, and the sixth place. These all indicate that there will be difficulties, that persisting sincerity is required, and that reaching out is both good and necessary.






The changes yield hexagram number 13, T'ung Jên, composed of the Creative, Heaven above and the Clinging, Flame below.



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Remarkably, this hexagram is named "Fellowship with Men" and seems to give in other words the same fundamental message as Ts'ui. There is also the counsel that fellowship must be based on a concern that is universal, not the private interests of the individual. It is about the goals of humanity. Again there is in the Judgement a clear message that perseverance is essential.



I am encouraged by the resonance I feel with these readings from the I Ching, and I will proceed, with the help of my friends.