Horoscope for today

[cantdog]

Yeah, I guess they do, actually

 

[Guest]

Actually, the 8-ball is useful.

I like the I Ching, but the 8-ball is the same idea.

All those flip-a-coin, or more sophisticated (like I Ching or tarot) sorts of oracles are good if you lack data.

If you honestly cannot know enough to make an informed decision, the problem contains too many unknowns or imponderables, then your intelligence is stymied. You might as well decide randomly, at that point. I think, though, you do better if you can somehow consult your "gut."

I think gut feelings, intuitions without foundation, whatever you want to call them, may be access to a reasoning which is below your conscious reach. You may have smelled something or seen something that you don't remember because you filtered it. You may have heard a story once years ago about someone in an analogous situation, but you haven't applied it to the problem because it just didn't occur to you.

Or, there may be Luck, or God, or whatever, in the universe.

Either way, invite it. With no data, you have nothing to lose consulting an oracle. I Ching and tarot are not just yes/no oracles, either, but evocative nonsense.

For example:

Will I get laid tonight?

I Ching:

--Strife--
When ego attaches to a point of view the result is Strife.
Realizing everything is relative, he seeks either to embrace
a radically different perspective, or to find an objective
mediator. He prefers working toward resolution to
attempting to prevail.

--Light stone in the place of Conscience--
Though he has sufficient power to prevail, engaging in Strife
will not get him what he most desires. Content simply to
maintain his personal integrity, he attains inner peace.


This is, objectively, nothing to do with the question. But it evokes a train of thought, it kicks you into thinking of something different or trying to relate your difficulty to a new and unexpected idea.

"...engaging in strife will not get him what he most desires..." and also "When ego attaches to a point of view the result is Strife."

Suddenly you think, maybe I want this too much, and I'm not thinking about the larger context. Maybe I ought to be thinking instead how to evoke a desire in her to get me laid.. "..working toward resolution rather than attempting to prevail."

But whatever the question was, some left-field kind of oblique answer like the I Ching always gives can be something that shakes you out of the rut your thinking was in, because you will of course try to make the irrelevant "answer"apply to the question somehow.

Or, you could just be inviting Luck into the problem.

cantdog

BUSY TRY AGAIN LATER

Actually, all libido aside, you've raised some interesting points.

And the study of Buddhism does fit in with much of what you've stated.

A great deal of martial arts training allows for intuition as a standard - hell, it demands it!

But as I type this, my husband is currently focusing his Chi power to bust open a bag of ice for our rum and cokes.

So - never mind.



(Well, as long as we use our powers for good. Otherwise we could fall into the trap of the Dark Shotokan.)