When Ribbon Grass is Pulled Up

Hexagram twelve line one tells us that "When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind." Whenever we discover a truth, there are almost always other truths that come with it. When we uncover a truth about another person, someone we are related to, or a business partner, or when we uncover a truth about a given situation, we also uncover the things that cling to it. When we find one thing we find everything that is attached to it, at least if we are open to it. And in the I Ching, when we open one door, other doors come open as well.

Therefore, and we will make this real short today, when we learn the meaning of a given line in the I Ching, we learn the meaning of many lines, for they are all connected, they cling to one another (hexagram thirty). But everything must be in a given context. Without a context, nothing has any real meaning. If we are trying to find direction, and look at a given object to help us get that direction, we must of necessity have a second object or point of departure to make any sense out of it. It we look at one object, without any second point, if even that second point is just the way the walls are facing of that one object, then we are as lost as we always were.

Therefore, in studying the I Ching, it is extremely, and I mean extremely, important to recognize that there is no one meaning to the lines. The lines mean nothing except in relationship to the context we give it, even if that context is nothing more than our own inner perception. As such none of the lines have any meaning. They are just out there and have no value until a value is given it by a perception. Therefore, while the lines of themselves have no meaning, since the means of perceptions are infinite, so is the meaning of the lines, and the only way to ferret out the meaning for ourselves is to understand the context in which we are placing those lines. As we do this, we grasp the meaning by the "sod that comes up with the ribbon grass." In other words, what clings to the question that is posed? Even if that question is one of mere spiritual guidance. What clings to this line? What clings to our answer? And we can only develop that within ourselves, and no one can do it for us, for if someone else is giving us the second point of departure, it is not according to our own kind. I do not mean that to mean no one can do a reading for you, I mean that in the sense that the point of departure must be clear in your own mind. When we allow the answer to infiltrate into our deeper mind, and then surface, (see hexagram sixty one) then we understand it in a way that has meaning to us. Therefore, the value of a blogsite like this is to only point to the moon but cannot be the moon itself. And the meaning I ascribe to the lines is only true in a certain context, and should not be taken as the gospel truth, only as a second point of departure, so that when the answer does come up, the sod comes with it. Always look within. Others can be a guide, put they can only point the way. They cannot take you there, because they do not have your point of departure.