Hexagram 1. Outcome stories

 

Hexagram 1:

Line 2. 

Crazy Neighbour 

 

“I had been staying in a small, pleasant expat resort. There was a guy called George from California living there too. I knew him a bit; he seemed nice enough, but he was a bit crazy—sort of bipolar crazy. This didn’t seem to be too serious, though. When he told me he was moving into the bungalow next to mine, I casually asked I Ching about it.

Then he moved in, and things got very strange indeed. He started having massive quarrels on his own. I thought he was raving at someone on the phone at first. Then I realised he was fighting with his Alexa robot player. He yelled vile expletives and threatened to call its supervisors. He accused it of defrauding him and breaching the contract, and this went on for hours. It was getting late, and I went to try to calm him down, and that seemed to work, but later, in the small hours, he started again! This time, when I went over to talk to him, he started attacking me verbally, saying the same things he had said to Alexa.

The final straw came when he threatened to call the police on me, and as I am a weed smoker living in a country with harsh penalties, I took this seriously. He had gone too far, and I got very angry and lectured him harshly on his deplorable behaviour. He was shocked by my vehemence and did quiet down for some days. He did get angry with me one more time, and I was even firmer with him. I am a teacher and I know how to really give a good dressing down. Things were a bit strained for a while, and then we went back to normal neighbourly relations. I think I did him a favour, as if he carried on with that kind of behaviour, he would have ended up in an asylum. As it is, he is living peacefully. The trick was giving him a profound shock completely by surprise.” 

 

Line 5 

The Lady Gaslights

 

“One evening I was training in a field nearby. After I finished, I saw some people sitting around and looking happy. I said hello and seeing they had guitar I offered to play a song. I played some of my songs which have good choruses and soon they were singing along enthusiastically. The guy had a good voice and we got some good harmonies going. 

The party consisted of an attractive woman and with what I assumed was her partner and a kid of about ten. It turned out they had just moved into a rental right by the entrance to the field. After a good session we parted on excellent terms. I asked I Ching about them when I got home.

The next morning the lady came out and enthusiastically invited me in for tea. We had a nice chat and all seemed well, a little too well perhaps. We decided to link up on whatsapp, but I didn’t have details with me. Next morning I brought over my  phone to make the link. She met me at the gate but did not invite me in, we made the link and then she said something strange. “I hope you will pop in on me sometimes, but mostly I won’t want to see you”. I said OK its up to you, I won’t just pop in, and if you want to chat just give me a wave. She seemed a bit put out by this. 

 

A few more days went by, and then she waved me in. We sat and talked but it was not the same, she was more distant and distracted, the tea she offered was cold and no biscuits. Since then she has never spoken to me. None of this matters, but the interesting thing is, why did she change from overly friendly to pretty unfriendly? We didn’t talk about anything contentious and I have no idea, but it certainly was an attempt to gaslight me.”