Pardon the period of relative silence, I can only hope it won’t last long. I’m currently being taught the truest meaning of a hexagram I threw twice in a row when contemplating the Autumn and what is in store for me during this transitional period from light to dark. I hope my dear readers will forgive me a quite personal post – I’ll try to throw some teaching in there somewhere. :)
The hexagram I threw is number 23, Bo 剝 - often translated as “Stripping” is my teacher for late summer and early autumn of 2009.
In Karcher’s excellent translation, he states:
“Stripping describes your situation in terms of habits and ideas that are outmoded and worn out. The way to deal with it is to strip away what has become unusable. This brings renewal. Remove and uncover things. Cut into the problem and strip away the unessential without thought of immediate gain…”
This hexagram is associated with the Pericardium. The Pericardium is associated with the 9th month, after the Autumn equinox. In Portland, that time of year is typically quite cool, yet still full of harvest activity. It is the perfect symbol of cutting something away, moving through death, and harvesting so much from that transition – flourishing, rebirthing, reawakening. The Pericardium is the organ system that helps us regulate what we let into our innermost sanctum, and what we choose to hold away. It is the dog at the foot of the Master’s bed. We call it the Heart Protector, but in some cases it’s best function is to make us stripped, bare, utterly vulnerable and open to what is happening.
For me, this connects to Karcher’s translation in a few ways. When we protect ourselves, trying to stay too comfortable for too long, we hold on to habits (of thought and otherwise) that no longer serve us. In an effort to keep everything steady and safe, we stagnate. A function of the Pericardium, then, is to allow us to change – but in deep ways. It allows us to let go of long held beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that seem almost impossible to release. These are probably things we think of as part of our “personality,” they may be family traits, things that keep bringing us affection and protection, and so on.
This could, of course, have a number of meanings as a teacher for the autumn season. However, given that is is Ramadan, it has special implications for me. There is the simplest interpretation – that I am not eating or drinking as much, stilling the many consumption based habits that rule all of us for so much of our lives. This year, this practice has helped me to utterly break my attachment to alcohol, even little amounts. That’s a very positive thing for me. Also brought to mind is the spiritual mandate in Islam to leave that which does not concern one. We all accumulate habits, hobbies and even friends and acquaintances that are not really in our best interest. They are, at best, frivolous and at worst, self-destructive. Regardless, they take us away from spiritual peace – and that is something I am very serious about finding in my lifetime.
So, I’m trying to see this stripping in a positive – though not entirely pleasant – light. I’m accepting the lessons of this teacher with as much grace as I can muster. I am clearing away the old to make way for the new. It is a very difficult process. In the last week, I have lost my grandmother, had a number of ridiculous material mishaps (car broke down, etc) and have been suffering, like all of us, the painful effects of this limping economy. Yet, I have also started teaching at NCNM, gained several new patients at Watershed Community Wellness and have made real progress on a number of projects. Most importantly, I can feel some great spiritual shifts coming on. While I’m happy this will have positive benefits for my practice of Chinese medicine, mostly I’m just happy to see some real movement in that realm of my life.
All of this to say, my friends, that I’m terribly sorry for the long delay. I am writing up all the articles for the ongoing herbal relationship series, and so much more is cooking. I just have to give myself the space to complete this stripping process. In the meantime, please peruse the Archives, comment on recent articles, and feel free to email me to request articles, features, and just to say hello. It’s always appreciated.
Thanks!
Tags: Blogging, autumn, yijing, Learning, hexagram, fall, erics-habits
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Eric,
So sorry to hear about your grandmother and the other ills. Besides all of the things you mentioned (Fall, the hexagram, Ramadan), here in the Chinese world it is Ghost Month, 鬼月. The 7th lunar month is the time when the barriers between spirits of the dead and the living are….well, there is no longer a barrier. Here in Taiwan, this is a time where you pretty much don’t do anything, from moving your home to buying anything new, as everything is doomed to fail. People who are ill also tend to die, as it is easier for the spirits to pull them over. It will end on Sept. 19 or so.
According to Western astrology, mercury is also in retrograde until Sept 29. I’m not one who usually puts much weight into any of these things, but I along with everyone I know has had one hell of a month. Given all of this together something is up, and hopefully it will all soon end! I wholeheartedly agree that after everything falls apart, as it seems it is for many of us, there will be plenty of room for more of what we need. Good luck to all of us!
Eric,
Again, sorry for the loss of your grandmother.
I’m afraid I had my share of dealing with the passing of loved ones, and it’s never easy. I’m not a great beliver of “time will heal”, I believe that time allows us the time to get used to the new reality.
You quoted the translation: “The Pericardium is the organ system that helps us regulate what we let into our innermost sanctum, and what we choose to hold away”.
That sounds to me more of a Small intestine job.
The way I see it- the PC is in charge of our relationships- with the world and with other people. That is another reason that loaylty fits the PC so well (along with the Dog at the 9th month).
Any relationship that was cut short by death- good or bad or somwhere in the middle- has it’s affect on us. The fact that it’s over is very hard to deal with, and when there are so many things left un-said it’s very complex to deal with it.
This hexagram goes very well with the Autumn.
The Jewish holidays are starting tomorrow, part of it is reflection on Yom Kippur, we look inside of us, see all the wrong doings, all the good things we did, ask for forgiveness from people and fast dor 24 hours (among other things that we are supposed to do) to show our regret.
On the 5 Element scale- you don’t need me to tell you all about the Metal, but it goes well with what I wrote above about the Jewish holidays.
It takes time, and the best thing you can do is give it time.
It’s amazing how sometimes life reveals itself so bluntly in our lives, huh?
Take care and don’t rush nature,
Yael
Richard,
Thank you for your kindness and for your thoughts about the seventh month and that wicked old Mercury retrograde. I guess I’ll just hold on tight until October. :) My best to you, as well.
Eric
Yael,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. Definitely the relationship part is there – and I think of the PC as being particularly good at filtering that information that deals with other people. The SI surely has something to say about filtering the pure from the impure, but I guess I think of that in a slightly different way. But, surely, they work together in this regard…
It’s also great to think about various traditions and their response to the energy of this time of year… it’s sort of humbling and also comforting to know that I am not the only one contemplating these various issues.
Thanks again,
Eric
Eric, Eric!
I’m so sorry to hear about you losing your gramma. I hope her passing was peaceful. And everything else. Ugh. Lots o’ hugs to you and your family.
I loved reading your most recent entry. I’ve been moving along the same road and while I want to – I don’t always want to. Sometimes, I just want to go screaming into the dark! But – I don’t. It would alarm Charlie.
Take care, and let me know about RAGTIME at Portland Center – when you have time!
Much love, Leo
I believe that Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee said that the SI’s part is to decide what you allow into your Heart and what you choose to leave outside.
Assuming this is true (and I am not in the habit to challange Elisabeth), what the SI does is choosing what you make your own and what you leave out.
I find it to make more sense than the PC being the one making the calls, but that could be just me. :)
Yael
Yael,
Interesting, interesting. Just yesterday, Heiner was talking about the SI being the carrier of the mandate of the Heart, which is to move always towards unity. Therefore, the SI’s function is always to draw us to unity in our moment to moment decisions. It helps us decide whether (physically, spiritually and mentally) a given choice is more likely to take us towards that Heart state (the unity of Shen) or away from it.
In Ch8 of the Neijing suwen, it is said: 小 腸 者 ， 受 盛 之 官 ， 化 物 出 焉. One translation of the function of the Small Intestine is “to receive abundance through the transformation of things.” If we think of the biochemical/physical translation of this, we can think of the fact that the SI is responsible for taking the diversity of foods and drinks we take into our body and making them more “human” pulling them into the unity of our selves, and thereby benefiting from the abundance of the Earth. I think it is the same kind of function on the more subtle levels – out of the diversity of experience, we create a deeper unity with the Shen ming, light of spirit.
The pericardium, on the other hand, is explained thus in Ch8: 膻 中 者 ， 臣 使 之 官 ， 喜 樂 出 焉. The Pericardium is thus associated with joy and ecstacy, and Heiner often says that it is the most emotional of the organ networks. Thinking about how I’ve worked in clinic, if there are problems dealing with relationships, particularly emotional stress around the beginning or ending of a relationship (essentially deciding who we let in and out of our emotional lives) I’m always working with the PC.
So, it’s interesting! I’d be interested to see some discussion about how the SI can be used clinically in cases of relationship and also in terms of deciding what to let into or out of the Heart, specifically. If you have any other info, I’d love to see it!
Thanks again for your kind comments, Yael.
Eric
Leonora!
Thanks – we’ll get the play info to you asap. As for my grandmother, part of the difficulty is that it wasn’t peaceful at all, and quite unexpected. She was only 72 and I spoke to her quite recently, her all full of vim and vigor as always. Not that 72 is *young* but the suddenness and her apparent health before the heart attack make the whole thing much more difficult for me.
Anyway, enough details – thanks for writing, thanks for your kindness and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Eric
Speaking of stripping away… This hexagram is composed of the trigrams mountain over earth. The image of a mountain rising from the earth is akin to the breast rising from the chest. The Pericardium is associated with the breast because it is attached to the sternum and the heart, so located near the breast. The mountain stripped bared is indicative of this time of year.
Mountain trigram goes with Metal element, and earth trigram goes with Earth element. This is important because the month of October is in the autumn, and the autumn is Metal in terms of the seasonal energy in the 4 season, 4 element system (when Earth is left out). In the 5 element system used for the 4 seasons (used in Chinese astrology), October is considered to go with the Earth element. Earth element in this system represents the changing of the seasons. It is the balancing element, so it balances the previous season with the upcoming season. Many people tend to get sick during these Earth months since energetically, things are changing from one weather climate to the next.
This month goes with the Dog. The Dog is considered one of the “four horned-animals” that go with the “four hooks” which are the months that are related to the Earth element. The dog is considered to be associated with the Pericardium, and so the Fire element in Chinese medicine, but don’t forget it is also contains the hidden elements of Earth and Metal as well. If you think about a dog (and also the Pericardium), we can see how they both do contain Fire, Metal, and Earth. What does metal do? It is used to protect (we make weapons and shields and armor from it). Dogs are very protective of their territory, master, and home. Just as the Pericardium’s job is to protect the Heart from mental and emotional and physical disease. The Heart being associated with the emperor, is heavily guarded. In this sense the Pericardium is like chainmail armor around the heart.
At the same time, Dogs display many Earth qualites. They are very friendly, have a big appetite, and love being around people and other animals. At the same time, the Pericardium contains the element of Earth to contain the Fire. The Earth element used to be associated with the Heart in ancient times before it was assigned to Fire. Also, the Pericardium is a clock pair with the Stomach (Earth element). If the Pericardium was all Fire, the Heart would flare out of control. If it were just Fire and Metal, the Fire would melt the Metal. It is the Earth element within the Pericardium that is able to contain the Fire so it doesn’t flare out of control and also so the Fire doesn’t melt the Metal. Therefore the Dog and PC both must have the right proportions of Metal, Earth, and Fire to be functioning optimally.
Sorry for the long comment, but I had some time to kill. Plus this is one of the most interesting hexagrams to analyze and see how it goes with Chinese medicine. This is a fine example of how everything is truly related in CM.
Hi Eric and Yael,
So, when I studied cosmology of the organ systems with Heiner, he talked about the Gallbladder and Small Intestine as being the decision-makers of the networks. The SI has more to do with spiritual and ethical decision-making. So these are not necessarily, but I suppose could in some instances, have to do with decisions in the moment. I generally think these are the important life decisions we make based on our life experience and pondering who we really are at our core. The moment to moment decision-making is more the function of the GB. It is the Gallbladder that deals with minute, spur of the moment decisions. For example, what should I eat for lunch? Or in the classical sense, when to move in and attack the enemy or when to retreat in battle (since the GB is the foot soldier). The very first patient I observed in clinic was an SI type. My second patient I ever observed was a GB type. The GB type would literally rack his brain trying to answer simple questions. He had trouble deciding on answers that should have been easy, but yet it took him awhile to answer, and he always had a puzzled look on his face while thinking it over. The SI type would have lots of inappropriate laughter and jokes when talking about issues surrounding the heart. To put it in context, these organs are both yang, and so ACTIVELY make decisions.
On the other hand, the PC is yin, and so is more passive or RECEPTIVE. It is more like a door that all the spiritual, emotional, and physical must pass through before entering the emperor’s chamber. Interesting to note, it has a major relationship with the Triple Burner (both are Fire organs) and with the Gallbladder (hexagram pair) which are both Shaoyang. Shaoyang is more like the hinge on the door. Perhaps, it is actually the Shaoyang GB that makes the moments decision whether to open or close the door, since the door is yin, but it is the pivot/hinge that is yang. It is not so much the job of the PC to make decisions (as I see it), but rather to receive/absorb emotions and physical pathogens so that they cannot injure the Heart. That is why it is the Heart Protector (and thus the Metal and Earth qualities I alluded to earlier in my last comment). Since it is yin (jueyin), it remains closed most of the time to keep the affairs of the Emperor hidden from the public, but I do believe it is more the role of GB and SI to decide when the door to the Heart should be opened.
Delli,
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I only have a couple of seconds, and want to return to contemplate your remarks later… but I just wanted to reiterate that Heiner very clearly, last week, stated that the SI helps us make in the moment decisions about how/whether to move towards unity or away from it. The way he was describing it, I had a fuller understanding than I had from cosmology class in my first year. So, it’s interesting to think about these two different ways of understanding the matter…
More later!
e
Hey Eric,
I am not sure what you (he) mean by unity, that seems like a very vague statement. It sounds to me like it has a spiritual connotation. Like I said, the SI is in charge of spiritual decision-making, so I would agree. I did say that sometimes the SI can make in the moment decisions, but generally speaking, I don’t think spiritual decisions come on a whim. That has not been my life experience. Spiritual matters are an accumulation of life experiences, and generally any changes I have made in my spiritual orientation have been made very gradually only after much thought and contemplation. I am not the type of person that is going to just switch religions or change spiritual orientation on a whim. The only time in my life I ever did something like this was the first time I read the Dao De Jing. It was so loud and clear, that I instantly knew I was Daoist at the deepest layer. However, that decision was made based on a life time of studying Christianity/Catholicism. I knew there was something more to it all, that The Bible didn’t describe accurately enough for me be, but the first chapter of the Dao De Jing was very much in alignment with what I had gathered after studying The Bible. The DDJ said it in a much more clear, direct way. I can only speak based on my life experience, but perhaps others experience religion/spirituality in different ways than myself.
Delli,
Quickly – I don’t think making “in the moment” decisions means you are making them on a whim. I can easily recognize the entire flow of my experience and many facets of my life that come into play in each moment. I would argue there is no such thing as a decision made, truly, on a whim.
In every moment, I make decisions based on whether they draw me closer to the unity and oneness at the center of experience (thus fulfilling the Heart’s mandate in the world) or whether they take me away from that unity. Those decisions are, as most decisions are, spiritual in nature – using that term in its general sense. However, on the face of them, they may look like trivial or material decisions.
For instance, when I am confronted about whether or not to pick up a ringing phone when the Caller ID indicates it is a friend who has a tendency to talk for quite a long time, and I’m very busy, I have a decision to make. You can look at this from a GB point of view, to be sure, or even from a PC point of view – but if we take Heiner’s comment at face value, the SI function in me will help me to determine whether picking up that phone call is drawing me closer to the unity I experience as God or the Dao, or whether it is taking me further from that. Depending on what else I have on my plate, my orientation towards talking on the phone, my disposition towards that particular person, their particular influence and importance in my life, and so on – I will make my decision. This is done quickly, regardless of how much time I have spent thinking about the person, the phone, and so on in the past.
That’s just one way I have thought about what Heiner talked about.
e
Eric,
Ok. I understand your distinction between “in the moment” decisions and on a whim now. That is more clear to me now how the SI can function in the moment. I have to disagree with some of the other stuff you mention, but it is an interesting point of view. I don’t think most decisions are spiritual in this day and age. At least not in this culture. Actually, let me rephrase that. I don’t think people RECOGNIZE that decisions are often spiritual in nature. That is what Heiner is getting at when he says the Heart is dying in today’s world (he might not have used that exact phrase in the past, but he has talked about this). For example, you would probably have a hard time convincing an atheist that all decisions are spiritual in nature. I think it safe to say that, other than monks or spiritual figures, most people do not associate everyday decisions with spirit.
Also, on the whim decisions are more of what I think of as instinctual. This is the animal, and Gallbladder-like decisions we make. We don’t think about it, we just react in a certain way. Animals don’t make spiritual decisions, only instinctual.
Really, what we are talking about is what makes humans different from other animals. We have the animal ability to act instinctually (more GB in nature), but we also have a unique ability to make spiritual decisions unlike other animals (SI in nature).
Clearly, two types of decision-making processes exist in humans, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this discussion about how the GB, SI, and PC are involved and distinguishable in this sense. That is how I understand. The GB decision-making is our lower, or animal-like instinctual decisions, while the SI is our higher, or spiritual-like decisions.
Delli and Eric,
Great discussion- I love it!
I will start by saying that pulling the “Heiner card” is not fair! :)
You two are so lucky. hehehe
I”m still trying to figure out a way to convince Heiner to move to Israel….
I think we agree about the SI’s role, and I think we mainly agree that it is *not* about relationships. It’s about sepretaing pure and impure. Which is just a more simple and TCM (if you’d like) way to say what Heiner told you two.
What it does on a physical level, it also does on the most higher levels, deciding what will move me closer to unity.
On the level of the Shen it is also helps us decide what we allow us to make us angry, and what we say “ok, this is not mine, I”m not going to let it affect me”. And we all know that this is very important.
This is the only was that makes sense- at least to me- of the couple HT-SI.
Thank you so much for this discussion!!!
Yael
I wholeheartedly agree that after everything falls apart, as it seems it is for many of us, there will be plenty of room for more of what we need. Good luck to all of us!
Sorry to hear about the lost of your grandma. I like your post, it’s great. For me spiritual matters are an accumulation of life experiences, and generally any changes I have made in my spiritual orientation have been made very gradually only after much thought and contemplation.