Okay, so I was thinking about this whole thing with the community garden project lately. You know how these things go. Everyone’s excited at first, then little groups form, people start whispering about who’s doing what, who’s not pulling their weight. It gets messy, fast. Feels like pulling teeth just to agree on where to plant the tomatoes.
My Process with Hexagram 13
Anyway, it got me frustrated. I ended up pulling out my coins the other day, just trying to get some perspective on dealing with people, you know? Just threw them down without a super specific question, more like asking ‘what’s the deal with getting folks to actually work together?’ And up came number 13, Fellowship, or whatever you want to call it. Heaven over Fire.
So I sat with that for a bit. Looked at the lines. Didn’t dive too deep into commentaries this time, just tried to get the feel of it. What hit me was the emphasis on being open. Like, really open. Not having secret meetings, not forming little ‘in-groups’. The image it gave me was people meeting out in the open field, not huddled in closed rooms. Makes sense, right? Fire under Heaven – things are illuminated, clear.
I started thinking back. Years ago, I was involved in this volunteer group trying to clean up a local park. It totally fell apart. Why? Exactly the stuff I was seeing now with the garden – cliques, people feeling left out, hidden agendas. Nobody trusted anyone because it all felt secretive. We spent more time arguing about who was in charge than actually picking up trash.
Then I remembered a different time, a work project, surprisingly. We had this one manager who insisted on ‘radical transparency’. Sounds like corporate buzzword stuff, I know. But honestly? It kinda worked. Every discussion, every decision, even the uncomfortable ones, happened where everyone involved could see it. We used a shared document for everything. It was messy sometimes, people disagreed openly, but you always knew where things stood. We got that project done, and done well.
- First step: Got frustrated with the current group dynamic.
- Next: Decided to consult the I Ching for a broader view.
- Action: Tossed the coins, received Hexagram 13.
- Reflection: Focused on the core feeling – openness, community in the clear light of day.
- Connection: Compared this idea to past experiences, both bad (secretive volunteer group) and good (transparent work project).
- Realization: The key difference seemed to be that open, public approach versus hidden cliques and agendas.
So, looking at Hexagram 13 again, it felt less like some mystical advice and more like sturdy, practical sense. It was basically saying: “Stop the whispering. Get everyone together out in the open. Find the common goal.” It’s about gathering people based on shared purpose, visible to all, not because they’re buddies or part of some secret club.
What I did then? Well, I didn’t magically fix the community garden overnight. But I decided my approach would change. I started making a point of discussing my ideas or concerns about the garden openly in the main group chat, not in private messages. If I disagreed with someone, I tried to state it plainly during our next actual meeting, not complain about it afterwards. It’s awkward sometimes, sure. People aren’t used to it. But it feels… cleaner. More honest.
It just seems like this hexagram points to a basic truth. Working together successfully means being out in the open, finding that common ground publicly. Seems obvious, but man, it’s hard to actually do. Still practicing, I guess.
