February 1997. Still that Sunday. They’d grabbed each other as if to save themselves from drowning. Now that it’s over they still cling, not wanting to let go. It’s been a strange first time. Hexagram 23 was scary and unexpected in that it stated baldly what they both felt to be happening. Most of the time a hexagram is not to be taken literally: a judgment in which the superior man does this or that on a mountain is not necessarily about a man or a mountain. The thrower of the coins has a wide margin for interpretation. The I Ching doesn’t tell you what’s going to happen, it offers material that can show you how you feel about what’s happening at the moment when you throw the coins. This physical act has in it your state of mind at that moment and evokes the book’s response.
Still naked, Lola sits up with Max’s arm around her. ‘There were sixes in the beginning and in second place,’ she says. ‘That’s two old yins changing Hexagram 23 to Hexagram 41.’
Max reaches for the book. ‘“Sun/Decrease,”’ he reads: ‘“above, KEN-KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN; below, TUI – THE JOYOUS, LAKE.”’
‘Ah!’ says Lola, THE JUDGMENT:
‘Decrease combined with sincerity
Brings about supreme good fortune
Without blame.
One may be persevering in this.
It furthers one to undertake something.
How is this to be carried out?
One may use two small bowls for the sacrifice.’
‘Our luck is changing for the better,’ says Max.
‘I like the text,’ says Lola:
‘Decrease does not under all circumstances mean something
bad. Increase and decrease come in their own time.
What matters here is to understand the time and not to
try to cover up poverty with empty pretense.’
‘And so on. Good, eh?’
‘I promise to stop covering up my poverty,’ says Max, feeling irrationally that this line in the text might be a comment on the size of his member.
‘You know that’s not what it means,’ says Lola, following his gaze. ‘Here’s THE IMAGE’:
‘At the foot of the mountain, the lake:
The image of DECREASE.
Thus the superior man controls his anger
And restrains his instincts.’
She reads on:
‘The mountain stands as the symbol of a stubborn strength
that can harden into anger. The lake is the symbol of
unchecked gaiety that can develop into passionate drives
at the expense of the life forces. Therefore decrease is
necessary; anger must be decreased by keeping still, the
instincts must be curbed by restriction. By this decrease
of the lower powers of the psyche, the higher aspects of
the soul are enriched.’
‘I wish my soul had better higher aspects,’ says Max.
‘I do too,’ says Lola, ‘but I guess we’ll have to make do with whatever aspects come to hand.’
‘You’re very gracious,’ says Max. ‘And for the rest of my life I’ll remember how you looked at me when you took off your jumper.’
‘I’m glad you appreciated that,’ says Lola. ‘I didn’t take it off lightly. And bear in mind that we’ve now been warned about unchecked gaiety and passionate drives.’
‘Right,’ says Max. ‘Will you stay here tonight?’
‘OK,’ says Lola. ‘But first I’ll have to check your gaiety.’
‘I think you’ll find it in good working order,’ says Max.