Ask the I Ching: Do Exercise Programs Help Children Stay Fit?

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Ancient oracles have such an excellent sense of humor.  When asked about the New York Times article, Do Exercise Programs Help Children Stay Fit?, the I Ching simply replied…

The message here is for the adults of course.  And the adults understand too, though without quite getting it.

“Kids naturally love to run around and play,” Dr. Booth said. “But they’re just not doing it as much now. And we don’t know why. So what we really need to understand is, what’s happening to our kids that makes them quit wanting to play?”

Unfortunately the doc wants to do something about it, instead of keeping still, as the I Ching suggests.  If children naturally play, it’s something the adults are already doing that is draining the life from these youngsters. The process should be to stop doing stuff to these kids until they get their groove back.  Instead, things like this are being said…

But none of these suggestions will be easy to put in place, Dr. Booth said, or inexpensive, and all will require scientific validation. No one expected, after all, that well-designed exercise interventions for children would prove to be so ineffective.

… Wait…

No one expected, after all, that well-designed exercise interventions for children would prove to be so ineffective.

Really?

Well then here’s some exceptionally good advice for kids: Run!

[Reading via Psychic Science] [Previously on ACM – Ask the I Ching: Has ‘Europe’ Failed?]

Ask the I Ching: Has ‘Europe’ Failed?

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To get another opinion on the question posed in the New York Times Op-Ed, Has ‘Europe’ Failed?, which discusses the ethnic conflicts undermining an already shaky European Union, we turned to the I Ching for comment and found general agreement…

The first hexagram, Possession in Great Measure (from the Wilhelm translation), is one of success and even with the changing lines there is a clear guide to maintaining good fortune.

…there are many difficulties to overcome. It is only by remaining conscious of these difficulties that one can keep inwardly free of possible arrogance and wastefulness, and thus in principle overcome all cause for blame.

…benevolence alone is not sufficient at the time of Possession in Great Measure. For insolence might begin to spread. Insolence must be kept in bounds by dignity, then good fortune is assured.

If ‘Europe’ hasn’t failed yet, the second hexagram, Seduction (or Coming to Meet), marks an “unfavorable and dangerous situation” in which failure is suddenly an option.  While the Daniels’ translation bids the EU to “recognise that primitive forces and desires are driving the situation”, the implication seems to be that if everyone would just be sensible for a moment, everything would be alright.

Might as well cross our fingers too…

[Reading via Psychic Science] [Previously on ACM – Ask the I Ching: Should We Break Up the Big Banks?]

Ask the I Ching: Should We Break Up the Big Banks?

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Former Citigroup CEO Sanford “Sandy” Weill has ruffled some feathers by suggesting that we should break up the big banks, separating investment banking from commercial banking as was the law under the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act.  It’s definitely an interesting idea coming from “The Shatterer of Glass-Steagall,” particularly since he didn’t agree in 2010 when his former co-CEO at Citi, John Reed, apologized for his part in taking down the act.

Plenty of people are going to weigh in on the subject now, but how about we ask a source that hasn’t been a player in tanking the world economy?

Enter the I Ching…

The adornments must be stripped away.  Sounds a little bit like something you’d expect to hear from an ancient oracle, but that’s what it is.

The situation has been about appearances.  Bigger was thought to be better and so many banks became four.  But there is no too big to fail.  The bigger they come, the harder they fall.  That’s general policy.

Substance is more important than packaging.  If only the banks had consulted the I Ching before slicing and dicing all those mortgages.  And before they turned from stodgy suits into wild gamblers.  It took pushing us to the edge to do it, but trust in these institutions has faded.

Strip away the dead wood.  Perhaps it will be the Safe, Accountable, Fair and Efficient (SAFE) Banking Act that reigns in leverage and places a cap on how big these dead trees can be.

Rely on our own simple efforts.  Like a few other industries, trust is flowing to local alternatives where profit and expansion aren’t the primary concerns.

Or at least that’s one interpretation.  You could read more about the two hexagrams above with the Wilhelm translation to dive further into this reading or check back with the I Ching to see what it thinks today.

[I Ching reading via Psychic Science, Trust charts from the Chicago Booth | Kellogg School’s Financial Trust Index]