Rob, now on crutches and in a cast, asked the I Ching about the meaning of his broken foot. He received Hexagram 57, Proceeding Humbly, with two changing lines that resulted in a second Hexagram – 39, Obstruction. The Wilhelm version wasn’t much help in understanding his question, so we brought out the Alfred Huang version and were struck by the interpretation and pictograph for #39, which Huang calls Hardship. Look at the symbol above, then read on:
“The ideograph of the gua shows its original meaning – a lame person having difficulty walking…At the top of the ideograph is the roof of a house with a chimney. Below it, there is an ideograph of a person. At the bottom, there is an ideograph of a foot. On each side of the foot and underneath the person a pair of crutches is drawn.One can visualize the crutches under the armpits of the person…”
Again the Ching is eerily literal.
& yes, hobbling around on crutches with a broken foot is definitely an obstruction and a hardship!
If that’s not strange enough, another interpretation found by Googling Hexagram 39 labels the hexagram ‘Difficulties’ or ‘Limping’. “It describes the experience of a perpetual uphill struggle: just one thing after another, grinding on and on, battling with handicaps or with the elements or with an unforgivingly inhospitable world…
…and it also describes the moment when you turn this around.
Clarity
Hmmmm, I haven't done I-Ching in a long time. I'm going to have to revisit that source. It's fun coming here.
Actually, more like a bat out of hell drive through the herstory of wards! Scarey, but exciting too!
I haven't done I Ching since I was a kid. I may have to try that again. My poor children have nothing more than a Magic Eight ball to consult.
I am sending you warm healing energy for the foot. Peace.
May, that's quite a trek through the history of words! Rob
A little brain yoga:-)
The word ‘LAME’ signifies letter ‘L’(el… or elle)—early hieroglyph reveals a shepherd with hooked staff. The Phoenicians referred to the staff glyph as their letter ‘lamed’, pronounced ‘Lah-med’, meaning ‘ox goad’ Etymology can bring us to the origin…CLARITY!
Words similar to lame is where to start—‘laminate’(from lamina—thin layer/plate), ‘lamp’(lampien—to shine); lambaste (lama—beat); limp (lymphen—fall short); limpid (limpedus– CLEAR); lime (from geliman—to cement); leimon (hollow); luminous (light/shine); lump (rags, tatter… mass); lymph (from lumpae—water).
The words ‘lamp’ and ‘luminous’ both mean to shine… and, ‘limpid’ (clear) and ‘lympha’ (water) are related since light brings clarity and shines through clear objects… like water. Because of the ‘i’ and ‘y’ in limpid/lympha, things change given that in origin, ‘i’ and ‘y’ (as with ‘h’)were once ‘c’ (or related: ‘g'…). ‘Lah-med’ was earlier ‘lac-med’, this brings us to ‘lac’ – borrowed from Hindi ‘lakh’ related to lacquer and lake (pond). The words listed above indicate properties of lacquer.
The word ‘lime’, from Old English ‘geliman’— to cement, reveals that the prefix ‘ge’ was dropped (like lump from clump). Lac in origin was‘gelac’ (note jelly, from gelen—to congeal). Lah-med in origin was more like ‘gelac-med’/ ‘celac-med’. This enables us to include in the family: ‘claim’, ‘clam’ (from Klamb—press together), ‘clamp’, ‘glimmer’, ‘clay’, ‘calcify’, ‘ceiling’ (from caelum – sky), ‘glue’ (from ‘gliwen’) and ‘glass’.
‘Lama’ (beat), ‘lambaste’ and ‘lame’ can be seen as related when you consider that our ancestors made a home with a ceiling as clear as sky (ciel in French) from glutinous products (like ‘lac bug’ residue) which they congealed and then completed by ‘lambasting’ until hard, thin and clear. ‘Laminate’ suggests that the ceiling was thin layers. Since our ancestors had come to abide next to the Eurasian glaciers, this means that they would have met with two 'crippling' needs– sunlight and warmth. A home with a clear ceiling that was laminated in layers to allow for insulating pockets of air would be the healing answer. Naturally an ‘arched’ ceiling would be best … and a good early symbol for this would be the ‘L’ (an ‘el’ shape like what our ‘el-bow’ makes (note: ‘knee-el’ … ‘knuck-el’…’he-el’)… and like the ‘el’ crook of a shepherd’s staff (made by laminating strips that are clamped and bent to the shape until dry).
Finally, the sound that ‘el’ (L) produces is made by bending the tongue in such a way that cups, the edges joining to the roof to form a ‘HOLLOW’ (see ‘leimon’ above) – the symbol of our ancestral home. The message of ‘lame’ in context of today — protect and SHELLTER… enacast where we are weak.
Wow, I wonder if Carl Jung used I-Ching? Fascinating that this was so interpretive of Rob's accident. Which is a double-bummer in the summer!
Lakeviewer – the I Ching is a 5000-yr-old chinese oracle. Jung first talked about synchronicity in his intro to the richard wilhelm translation of the book.
We all need some clarity!
incredible! gotta run now and consult my own i-ching!!! i really really need some clarity!!!
How wonderful this is so literal to Rob's event. Considering all the possibilities of being obstructed in our "under-standing" I'm personally delighted this example is nothing more than a busted foot.
Crutches suck, but they are temporary, and only force a pause in physical mobility. The lesson being, search within for why a pause is needed.
In my life, every day I can roll out of bed, stand up and walk, is a good day.
Way over my head! I'm lost in translation here.