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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.
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