Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 05:16:22 +1000
From: Che Monro 
Subject: (urth) The Orcle, The Excession, The Outsider

Wise Ones,

In my simple curiosity I sought to enqire of the Oracle of Changes about=20
it's own existance and spirituality. I used this oracle:

http://www.mdani.demon.co.uk/para/iching2.htm

to ask the question:

Are you well? Are you happy? I would like to know about the sprititual=20
state of the Oracle of Changes.

To which I received the reply of Hexagram 28 or Great Excess, with no=20
changing lines and thus no second hexagram.

~*~

Beyond the great pass

Crossing the great pass: the ridgepole is sagging
Harvest: to proceed probing Expansion

The great image says:

The marsh submerges the tree: Great excess
The noble one stands alone without fear, leads a life of recluse without=20
melancholy

Life is a cycle, it is circular. It begins, it grows, and it goes down=20
again. To make life a straight road to a distant future is a desperate=20
attempt of human mind to make it never-ending. It will not help him =96=20
inevitably he will go down some day.

But if man accepts going down as a substantial, important and good part of=
=20
life, not as a decline but as a indispensable phase, then he makes his=20
living days twice as many.

Do not live as an old man or an old woman, live as a grand old man, a grand=
=20
old lady. Without regret or fear, but with the riches of wisdom and=
 experience.

This applies to everything, to enterprises, feelings, popularity. In=20
everything all phases are important.

~*~

It seems to me that the oracle is saying that it is beyond the completion=20
of the cycle, that it is old beyond age (and young beyond youth?). It=20
exceeds all expectations, and yet at the same time, it is a broken stick=20
(yarrow stalk?). It is a contradiction, a mystery, an exception to the=20
rules. It is beyond the Great Pass. It comes from the other side.

This description reminded me of two things.

1. The Outsider from The Book of the Long Sun

2. The Excession of Iain M Banks - that paradigmn shifting outside event=20
which changes the entire system and, eventually, reveals new understanding.

Could it be that the Outsider and the Oracle are one and the same? Perhaps=
=20
someone with greater insight and understanding could help me to interpret=20
this conundrum.

Thanks,

Che

Ch=E9 Franz Joseph Monro -- http://www.chemonro.com
che@chemonro.com    --     flirt@technologist.com



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