In March, for a second time, I took a very non-Western approach to making judgments about what choices to make in life. I consulted the Yijing of ancient China and sent you my inferences for making good decisions this year, as stimulated by thinking about one of its 64 hexagrams hexagram 43.
Now, President Joe Biden has just announced that he will no longer seek re-election to the presidency of this country.
In my commentary on what the Yijing indicated might happen in the American presidential election, I wrote:
A yang environment, not restrained by yin energies, is a call to action, a time to start big projects, to aim high. It is a year that will reward vitality with success. Those with courage, tenacity, confidence and enthusiasm will do well.
To me, this bodes well for Donald Trump in the forthcoming American November election, but not for Joe Biden. Trump is all energy and action. Biden is, more and more, slowing down.
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The hexagram supposes the flow of water parting or breaking through an obstacle, scattering whatever is in the way. This will happen in a fortuitous coming together of supporters, say voters or investors.
In the American presidential election, again, this environment would seem to favor Trump, the challenger, over Biden, an incumbent. Yet, will Trump provide a “sincere and truthful” message which will align with yang priorities? Or will he pout and focus on himself, which are behaviors and casts of mind more aligned with yin attributes and so be out of sync with the times?
Some say that Trump’s near death experience a week ago with a failed assassination attempt indeed changed him when he later addressed the Republican Party convention to accept his nomination as its candidate for the presidency. He did, for some, speak less as an obnoxious braggart, but with subdued sincerity about his caring for others.
Can we always rely upon the Yijing to accurately advise us as to the future we face? I doubt it. But thinking about its values can more fully open our minds and hearts to different perspectives and possibilities.