Auspicious Reading

Somewhat more than half my life ago a young man who died still young, and whose name I remember only because it's inscribed in the copy of the Wilhelm translation of the I Ching which he left behind did me the great favor of introducing me to this most awesome of wisdom books. For a long period I used it weekly -- not for predictive purposes [although, I admit, I am not immune to superstition] but because I found its wisdom something I wanted to make a deep part of my life. I kept a record of the hexagrams I threw and became convinced of two contracitory things: the coins fall randomly as any good scientist will tell you. And I occasionally have th ability called telekensis, i.e., I sometimes made the coins fall so I got the readings I wanted to get -- as any good scientist will tell you is not possible.

I became aware of how my New Years eve coins were tending. I was getting all yang lines, I knew if I got six in a row it would be the first hexagram, "The Creative." Not a frequent reading. On the final throw I got a changing yin line which made the reading "Breakthrough." But the reading changed to "The Creative" after all. Often the names of the hexagrams tell most of the story. Actually both have fairly lengthy commentaries, especially The Creative. No matter how I look at it, even considering the commentary in Breakthrough that misfortune was a possibility [it always is!] I feel very positive about this reading, both as points to ponder and -- yes, I admit it -- as a prediction for the year we've just started.

Wishes are usually stronger than reality which is why we humans cannot shake off superstition. I did not have a reading in mind when I began to throw the coins, but I couldn't have hoped for a better one. The profound good sense in the Wilhelm transation of Confucius' commentaries seems to me the best advice for living a balanced and, generally, serene life.