Seattle Area Readings: An Authentic Translation of the I Ching

RantWoman heartily endorses and commends to her readers' attention the following wonderful new book and series of readings coming up this week in the Seattle area.

RantWoman especially recommends this book because it is the first translation of the I Ching by a woman. RantWoman had the privilege of meeting the author this morning and is impressed by the breadth of her scholarship and the slightly understated firmness she brings to comments about really key characters in the original Chinese being female rahter than male. RantWoman is pretty sure that better scholars of Chinese and Chinese history than RantWoman will find much of interest, much to digest and interrogate.

Readers who also need their daily quota of RantWoman ranting and rambling are invited to scroll to the bottom.

The Original I Ching.
An Authentic Translation of the Chinese Book of Changes
by Margaret J. Pearson, Tuttle Publishing, 2011.

My book is designed to help people navigate change which living with kindness and courage in a world
which can be perilous for those committed to living with integrity.
For September 11, 2011, Hexagram 11 PEACE (depicting earth above sky)

Translation:
Sky and earth interact: the image of peace. Thus the queen guides the natural
forces of both sky and earth, assisting them into harmony by
[gathering] the people to her right and left.
Explanation: As earth and sky interact with one another; all things are
created. This kind of peace is the reverse of immobility. Instead it
is a time when those above are receptive to those beneath them, so
that creativity rises up in abundance. When mother, teacher, manager,
or leader hears and heeds her children, students, or co-workers, she
acts as a life-giving refuge which provides protection to new lives
when they are as vulnerable as fledglings or new kings. Only the
greatest leaders are capable of the self-restraint and generosity
required for true receptivity to those beneath them. But such leaders
gain a realistic, nuanced picture of the realities they face and
elicit sincere and creative loyalty. Authoritarian rulers, listening
only to sycophants, quash creativity and real loyalty, bringing
destruction to their people. Because Mao refused to listen to those
who brought unwelcome news of bad harvests during the Great Leap
Forward, millions perished.
Peace here is not static, not everyone stuck in their “proper
places,” but out of their usual places and therefore moving towards
one another. Here earth, the receptive, lies above the creative,
usually associated with the sky above. It is because leaders are
willing to be humble and their subordinates dare to create that a
fecund peace can be attained.

Compare to hexagram 12, sky above earth: stagnation.
Seattle area readings
From The Original I Ching.
An Authentic Translation of
the Chinese Book of Changes
by Margaret J. Pearson,
Tuttle Publishing, 2011.

September 15 at 7pm, signing and talk, no cost to attend or need to RSVP
East West Bookshop of Seattle
6500 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206-523-3726
800-587-6002

September 16 at 7pm, signing and talk, no cost to attend or need to RSVP
University Bookstore
4326 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
206.634.3400
Toll Free: 1.800.335.READ

September 19 at 7pm, signing and talk, no cost to attend or need to RSVP
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
206.366.3333
http://www.thirdplacebooks.com/


RantWoman needs to express vexation: as far as RantWoman knows, the book is only available in print, no electronic formats and RantWoman did not think to ask about some usual distribution streams for materials for the blind. RantWoman is aware that distribution in electronic formats comes with economic hassles for authors and small publishers but RantWoman is still vexed.

RantWoman has eyeballs enough to scrape over about a page or two at a time, especially in the typeface used by the book. RantWoman has a CCTV to enlarge the pages but it is ergonomically so uncomfortable to deal with that RantWoman has to steel herself to use it.

RantWoman can interact with the whole subject of human readers. RantWoman confesses, though, despite several years of experience with this midlife vision meltdown thing, RantWoman still has really not overcome her childhood association of being read aloud to with bedtime and falling asleep. Strange as it seems to some, RantWoman finds computer speech easier to stay awaked with because RantWoman can typically tweak speed and voice characteristics in various ways to enhance comprehension and increase the likelihood that RantWoman will stay awake.

RantWoman's personal experience with the I Ching is limited to some kind of reference in a book RantWoman remembers basically as Hippies 101. Based on where RantWoman knows she was living when this occurred, this would have been when RantWoman was about 10 or 11. RantWoman remembers for some reason thinking any more interaction would have been just too much. RantWoman has a few friends whose study of and experience with the I Ching is considerably more encyclopedic. RantWoman's point: in this, RantWoman's fiftieth year, finally RantWoman is charmed enough by the new book ans the author's insights about history and translation that she is going to have to try to overcome one or more of her reading whines to read at least some of this book!