Difficulty at the beginning

On the day leading up to Yom Kippur in 2023 (Jewish year 5784) I threw the I Ching with the question, “How should I approach the upcoming year?” The resulting hexagram was Chun, rendered as “Difficulty at the Beginning” by an English retranslation of Richard Wilhelm’s classic German translation of the I Ching. One quoted phrase in the poem comes from this retranslation.

☵  Thunder
☳  Water

Now Italk again

I must rise into the storm, “the inchoate profusion of such times”

I want andI know I want

And I wanttoo much

Tell me howto want

Perseverance may engender failure, waiting though can be glory

Andy Oram
September 24, 2023

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