10-1 Treading on Tiger > 6 Conflict < 37 Family
This is a continuation of a previous post about a type of Dream Image which in this case came in the form of a disembodied voice saying, simply: “Enslaved Heart.” At the time this arose I reflected – in Dream – that the enslavement was self-engendered in that we enslave ourselves by following instincts, desires and bad habits of body or mind. As I was contemplating this, now half-awake, the phrase ’embattled soul’ also arose seemingly out of nowhere.
I consulted the Yi about this not out of any need for ‘dream interpretation’ but just to see what it might say or reveal and thus to learn further about the Yi and its hexagrams. However, to be honest the process was harder than expected though have much experience matching Yi with Dream. Choosing the first Hexagram was fun and is explained in the document attached below. The second one was a little harder in that I went back and forth – and indeed am still a little torn between #6 and #59. But the real problem wasn’t with fitting the Images to Hexagrams, rather in that I didn’t find the language in the Texts relating well with the Dream Images.
Until several days later (today) I thought to look up the Daoist Yi translated by Cleary and that one made things fall into some sort of making-sense place. If nothing else, the twin commentaries on #10 and #6 are worth reading. I often find the Daoist Yi giving very different, and interesting, takes. The emphasis is on the Daoist path of yogic transformation, so its perspective involves that path rather than politics or morality. In any case, its description of #10’s Tiger resonated far more than any other. The Image and the Texts still seem somewhat apart however this is not necessarily a problem. Images exist in their own domain, not needing words or other language to explain them. So in a way it is fitting just to contemplate them both together: on the one hand the ‘enslaved heart’ and ’embattled soul’ Images from Dream; on the other hand the input from the Texts along with my own commentary including the Front Page Judgement which attempts to join all together – though deliberately doesn’t try too hard.
In retrospect, I think the challenge with this Reading has to do with the nature of the Dream Images themselves, which are not visual Images but words. Yes, they arose in Dream, but still they are words which obviously dwell in the realm of concept where Images do not. Words can summon images, but it’s not quite the same thing as the bare, naked Image itself without Word. I do have a vague sense of a Heart being wrapped in Chains, and a Spirit being surrounded by metal weapons with tattered clothing, but that sense wasn’t there when the words were uttered, nor are they the same as a simple Image, a picture, for these are vague word association images rather than a raw, naked Image itself.
Be all that as it may, am sharing this as part of this blog’s period exploring the Yi Jing. Am beginning to feel the pull toward some other topics looming, but not yet… not yet.
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