Yi: Is nuclear war imminent? 62-5 > 31 < 28

48 The Well > 62 Staying Low > 14 Great Possession > 31 Influence < 28 Excess

In King Wen’s Decision, Xiao Guo denotes Little Exceeding. When one takes action it is difficult to avoid overdoing it. In the Duke of Z Yao Text, it denotes passing by.
The first ideograph of this gua, xiao, symbolizes little. There are three strokes: one curved to the left, one curved to the right, and one vertically positioned between the other two. It symbolizes an act of dividing. To the ancients, after things are divided, they become little. The second ideograph, guo, consists of two parts. Three curved strokes at the top left represent three footprints going forward. Underneath is the ideograph zhi, which means stop. On the right is the ideograph for guo; its function is to provide the sound of the character. It resembles the side view of a cross-section of a house. Two pillars stand on each side and a beam sits on the pillars. Underneath the beam is a tiny square representing a mouth, symbolizing a person. A person pictured underneath the beam and between the pillars shows that the structure is a house. Above the beam is an extra structure that gives the beam an extra load, symbolizing exceeding.

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Continuing our geopolitical Yi series, and following recent remarks made by various source in the media including senior officials and leaders, many are saying that the situation in Ukraine is clearly so dire that only escalation by the West can assure victory. A recent post in Moon of Alabama highlighted clear information warfare tactics on Twitter posting the same message ostensibly by different users in different countries. Here are the first two examples from that post:

Fellaraktar🇺🇦@fellaraktar – 14:46 UTC · May 29, 2023

As a British citizen I want to say that arming Ukraine is the single best use of tax payer money for decades. My only criticism is that the west aren’t sending enough, fast enough. Ukraine is paying for political posturing with the lives of their sons and daughters. Do more now.

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Karen Goetz📯🇺🇦 @KarenGoetz362 – 22:18 UTC · May 29, 2023

As a German citizen I want to say that arming #Ukraine is the single best use of tax payer money for decades. My only criticism is that the west aren’t sending enough, fast enough. Ukraine is paying for political posturing with the lives of their sons and daughters. Do more now!

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Obviously, we don’t know who is coordinating this, but it seems reasonable to conclude that someone wants the ‘Do More Now!’ message to get out there to the masses. And some are wondering if ‘more now’ means NATO troop participation which might possibly lead to outright war which might possibly lead to the use of nuclear weapons. So I cast the Yi to see if we can read the tea leaves on that latter concern. As with all such Casts, I am not presenting myself as a great Expert of the Yi, but clearly am enjoying the juxtaposition of the world’s oldest organized Oracle and philosophical text with current events. Plus we will see later on how accurate or not such Readings are.

The result of this Reading is that perhaps tactical nukes may be used (Changing Line #5) to destroy things hidden in bunkers, like command and control complexes or weapons arsenals, and that such use might actually help bring about a satisfactory end (31).

But there are cautionary elements in the mix:

#28 indicates a situation where things have got to a breaking point or could get out of control with the four concentrated yang lines in the middle able to burst their relatively weaker container of one yin line above and below. It could also indicate a situation like a bomb: concentrated power within breaking out of its container in an explosive fashion. But if #28 is the Nuclear, i.e. inner dynamic, #62 shows a progression in that the outer two yang lines of #28 have morphed into yin lines, making the situation far less explosive. Moreover the changing line #5 results in Hexagram #31 which denotes stillness within and joy, with pleasurable communications, without. What about the Past Influence? That is #48 The Well which denotes bringing water up from below to benefit, even instigate, a community or settlement. But it also might mean there is a situation with danger below that has to be brought up to the surface or which threatens to harm those on the surface. In which context, #62 is recommending de-escalation, lowering rather than raising tensions. That said, the Changing Line involves hitting a target but one hidden within a cave. #14 could depict an explosion from within visible without (Fire the trigram of brilliance and protective armor above Heaven, the trigram of war). And finally: #62 is the last Hexagram before the final 63-64 pair which wrap up the entire 64 hexagram sequence. Maybe it’s end times??!! (I don’t think so, but…)

So my takeaway for this Reading is that there may very well be nuclear weapons used but only tactical ones in very contained situations, not inter-continental ballistic missiles taking out foreign capitals.

Generally, the Russian approach has been low-key and methodical though rising to a considerable challenge to confront NATO’s largest military force (though not technically within NATO nevertheless largely funded and trained by them) with minimal loss of Russian lives and disruption to their domestic economy and well being. Reports from within Russia are that things are pretty normal, the war is not discussed with high anxiety – though of course there are opinions galore – and their economy if anything is looking up as they change trade relations with the West, manufacture more things themselves or trade more for goods from the East. No worries, in other words. Meanwhile they have a big thorny issue to deal with on their Western border but they are handling it well. Ukraine’s counter-offensive thus far has yielded no obvious gains but they are paying a high price in men and equipment. Which is why the cry for ‘Do More Now!’ is being raised in the manipulated Western information-war space.

That latter dynamic is also hinted at by the Yi in the form of Hexagram #31 which is sometimes translated as ‘telepathy’ or I have used ‘meeting of minds.’ On the ground there is physical conflict, reportedly, but there is also a world-wide perceptual space in play and quite possibly the use of tactical nukes will wake people up to envisaging a new chapter in the whole thing, one in which it is time to take Russian concerns more seriously, end the conflict which is wasting Ukrainian lives, and stop listening to the endless propagandizing in the conceptual chatter realm where most people tend to project that our overall reality dwells.

It doesn’t. It’s just chatter. A couple of well-placed tactical nukes might be just what the doctor ordered to shut all that chatter up!