Get out of the way

"Knives cut. Buckets hold. Sometimes—the only thing you can do is get out of the way." - I Ching

51 years later

The message was sent  51 years ago. I received it tonight.


Cast Hexagram

    谦  

#15 - Ch'ien - Modesty

THE IMAGE

Within the earth, a mountain:
The image of MODESTY.
Thus the superior man reduces that which is too much,
And augments that which is too little.
He weighs things and makes them equal.

Winter Solstice I Ching - 2016

First hexagram:

K'an - #29 - Danger

Changing line #5

The dark waters of this pit will rise no higher.
Your greatest danger now lies in panic.
Keep your wits and you will escape.


Changing to:

Shih - #7 -  The Army

Good fortune.
No mistakes if you follow a course led by experience.

Happy Summer Solstice!

Longest day, shortest night and the official beginning of summer in the Western Hemisphere.

Now, I'm going to go do a Summer Solstice I Ching. Yes. I do the I Ching online these days. Don't even carry the book or use coins. Haven't for awhile. To a purist, of course, the idea of an online oracle must be total heresy  but that's their problem. Anyway, today's a good day to do a reading, as in tune in, tune up.

I'll probably post the result here later. Today's entry is already one of those run-on repost reposts. In the meantime, we pause for a public service announcement.

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The Seattle Humane Society is holding a Summer Solstice Adopt-a-thon. Good luck doggies. I hope today you all get your new fur-ever homes. I know. Corny.

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So on to the Summer Solstice reading...

Cast Hexagram:

13 - Thirteen: T'ung Jên / Social Mechanism

"....You are not building a new organization, but shoring up an existing infrastructure.
It's worth the effort, because it will provide union, community, and an ironclad alliance."

Transformed Hexagram:

51 - Fifty-One: Chên / Thunder

"....to one who understands its significance, this thunder is a signal to repent.
Centering the Self, seeking balance, the enlightened person will respect and align himself with this Higher Power, while his fellows remain subject to the whims of every passing storm."

Just read that a very experience hiker had gone missing on Mt. Rainer. That gave me a start as my nephew is climbing that mountain today, along with his girlfriend and some buddies. I've been wondering if he's going to propose to her when they get to the summit then the headline about a missing climber popped up on Yahoo. Turns out it's no one in their party which a relief but, of course, I'm sorry anyone is having trouble up there. Six people fell to their deaths on Mt. Rainer just last month. Conditions are still too dangerous for crews to attempt to recover their bodies then a member of the rescue team searching for Karen Sykes, the climber who just went missing, was hurt when he punched through a snow bridge and had to be airlifted out.

Hexagram from the street

I pieced together a message from the I Ching by using the coins we found laying in the street. It took a while. We´ve been gathering fallen coins since Texas but I finally got the six required for a hexagram. I take this first one as the theme for the trip. #18 KU: mountain, wind. IMAGE: Worms breeding in a bowl. Work on what has been spoiled. The winds at the foot of a mountain penetrate everywhere.

THE JUDGMENT WORK ON WHAT HAS BEEN SPOILED Has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days. One should weigh and consider well, both days before and after a turning point. And a truly lofty spirit attends to one's own affairs. THE IMAGE The wind blows low on the mountain: The image of DECAY. Thus the superior man stirs up the people And strengthens their spirit. When the wind blows slow on the mountain, it is thrown back and spoils the vegetation. This contains a challenge to improvement. What has been spoiled through man's fault can be made good again through man's work. IT is not immutable fate, as in the time of STANDSTILL, that has caused the state of corruption, but rather the abuse of human freedom. Work toward improving conditions promises well, because it accords the possibilities of the time. We must not recoil from work and danger-symbolized by crossing of the great water-but must take hold energetically. Success depends, however, on proper deliberation. This is expressed by the lines, "Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days." We must first know the cause of corruption before we can do away with them; hence it is necessary to be cautious during the time before the start. Then we must see to it that the new way is safely entered upon, so that a relapse may be avoided; therefore we must pay attention to the time after the start. Decisiveness and energy must take the place of inertia andindifference that have led to decay, in order that the ending may be followed by a new beginning.

It´s not my job to "prove" the I Ching, God or anything else. It´s my job is to make sense out of nothing so in that spirit here´s my general take on the reading. Might as well start with the obvious. Wind in the mountain spoiling everything. We started out on this trip in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Stan and are currently in San Cristobol waiting out Hurricane Wilma which is at the moment grinding away over the Yucatan. It´s even cloudy and raining here as we are just at the edge of the storm. We are leaving tomorrow and heading east into the jungle region closer to the Yucatan and probably into more rain but our plans are up for a moment's change if the weather worsens. Naturally, the I Ching´s message is always many layered. Worms breeding in a bowl covers a lot of issues, social and personal but, as always time has run out here in the ol´ internet cafe and I still haven´t even gotten around to posting the photos from Oaxaca or checking my email but I´ve got to go. Hasta la vista until manyaña. ------------------- Photo credits: #1: The Gold Scales #2: Springs Greeting Cards