Asking the question
Whenever we ask the I CHING a question we have to have in mind the following:
1) All questions should be asked in terms of what is best for us as individual investors and not for everyone in general. Many times the I CHING will give us an answer not only in terms of what we want to know specifically, but also in terms of what is going to happen to us in the future. After all, the I CHING knows what is good for us and, even though an investment may be good for others, it may not necessarily be good for us. Two investors might consult the I CHING about a particular stock. One of them might get a very positive reading while the other might get a negative one. In a short while, the one who got the negative reading might need the funds for an emergency and be forced to sell at a loss, while the one who got a positive reading might get excellent returns in a 42-month period because he could wait for the corporation to recover.
2) The question must be well thought out and preferably in writing. The more details the investor includes in the question, the easier will be to interpret the answer. Keep in mind that we will never understand the answer if we don’t understand the question.
3) The question should be addressed to the Superior Man who lives within us and not to some strange entity. We must regard the I CHING as an instrument to connect to our Hearts – the real portal to the universe. After all, the answer to all our needs lies within us.
As a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch, I could only recommend those investments our research department recommended. I worked with a discipline of buying for my clients, with their approval of course, those stocks our research department believed would have increases in its earnings per share and selling those they believed would have decreases in its earnings per share. I also worked with mutual funds as well as with an open architecture investment program made up of external managers who handled clients’ portfolios under a sub -contractual basis, excellent managers such as Nicholas Applegate, Roger Engeman, Lord Abbett, and many others.
As a financial advisor, I also had the opportunity to closely follow the I CHING’s advice on a large number of stock purchases and recommendations from various investment houses. And I can tell you that a little time spent with the I CHING could have saved many people money, time and effort. Also many investors could have done much better if they had shown a little patience.
