Almost a year ago, I threw three coins six times and from those “heads” and “tails” derived a Yi Jing hexagram predicting what was likely to happen in 2023.
Here is a retrospective report on my predictions:
Then, in general, I predicted for 2023 that “this is not going to be a year of rest and success for narcissists and nihilists.”
Most dramatically perhaps, the October 7 aggression by Hamas against Israel did not work out well for the Palestinian residents of Gaza.
One year of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukrainians – not close family, but more distant cousins of the Russians – did not go well. There was retreat and static defense of a border.
The year did not go well for the very self-centered Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trump was attacked by his enemies with criminal allegations in the courts. Biden’s poll numbers dropped and dropped. By the end of the lunar year – right now – polling shows that significant numbers of black, Hispanic and younger voters have turned against him. The economy has not gone his way. Inflation – Bidenflation? – reduced the real standard of living for the middle class and the poor, while making it easier for the rich to make money off the higher interest rates paid on their investment portfolios.
Last February, I proposed that: “President Biden would be well advised to stop illegal immigration across the U.S. border with Mexico, as such an inflow of strangers will not contribute to reassuring ordered liberty in the American “dwelling.” Similarly, the hexagram indicates that advantages will come in general from reducing criminality in American cities to restore the confidence of Americans in feeling “at home.”” Biden did neither and his support among the people for those failures declined and declined.
The nihilism which is critical race theory took a big hit in the last month of lunar year 2023 – January 2024 – when Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University and career-focused on the promotion of racism as the lens Americans should use in arranging their domestic relationships, resigned after her consistent use of plagiarism to boost herself up the academic pecking order was exposed to the public.
Last February, I had predicted that: “In the U.S., it may bring the peaking and then the initial decline of “wokeness” in business, education and government. Critical race theory will continue to lose its hold over the public’s mind. Diversity, equity and inclusion programs for differential treatment of individuals will encounter growing resistance. … Americans will become more demanding that individual merit, intellectual rigor and blindness to skin color determine success in educational institutions. Those who teach should be teachers, not babysitters. Those who study should be students, not coddled wards of the state.”
And for Putin, I commented that: “The year will not be auspicious for Vladimir Putin as long as his “dwelling” is in disorder and fails to provide warm radiance across the community of Russians. The hexagram indicates that reaching peace in Ukraine and providing a good “home” for its people will be well rewarded with achievement.”
I also predicted that: “In general, it will not be a year of success for hard-fisted, dictatorial rulers who ignore the moral needs and dignity of those they rule.” An outsider won the presidency of Argentina and the army dictatorship of Myanmar grew weaker.
As for China, I said that: “2023 may be more auspicious for Xi Jinping if he focuses on the economy, the well-being of the Chinese and gives individuals more autonomy to be dutiful to one another.” He did not and China’s economy stagnated, with warning signs of more trouble ahead appearing towards the end of the year. Just now, stories are in the papers about younger Chinese going on a disrespectful and counterproductive “work-slowdown” to show their disenchantment with Xi Jinping Thought. Chinese women are resisting regime calls to get pregnant and have babies. Later in the year, Xi purged senior generals, his foreign minister and others. None of this is a sign of “domestic tranquility.”
Lunar year 2024 begins at midnight on February 10. Then, I will consult the Yi Jing as to what might lie ahead for us all during the next 12 months and report my predictions and observations to you.