I keep the postbox feature on this blog open because oftentimes, I never know what kinds of questions I get. Sometimes the questions are a little sly (people trying to sneak in a “Reading” under the pretext of “a question”) but sometimes they end up being inadvertently interesting.

Today I got an email asking the following question (amongst a bunch of other questions relating to the person’s chart which I will not be answering because they are not TECHNICAL questions):

“Choosing the industry that is the strongest element the chart will get to path of least resistant and get maximum return.What is your opinion on this matter?”

Well, my opinion on this question is voluminous to say the least. But then again, I certainly am not a Xin of Few Words (and you should be very afraid of those).

I want to emphasise something very important here in answering this question. What I am about to say is MY OPINION. Opinions may be freely held by many people in many forms. What makes one opinion more valuable over the other? Well, that is for the person to decide. But what is most important when determining if one accepts a particular opinion or not is whether or not that opinion is valid, has a basis, is substantiated, informed, and perhaps most importantly, SENSIBLE.

Because really, an opinion that is built on a logic flaw deserves to be challenged!

So let me be upfront and state my views.

a) I do not believe in the path of least resistance.

b) Maximum return is a catchphrase. If you actually think about it, it really means nothing because it is the individual who defines what is the ‘return’ in any decision or choice that they make. Thus, whether or not it is “maximal’ or not depends on the metric you put on it in the first place. In short, you can’t decide if you hit the KPI (Key Performance Indicator) if you didn’t know what the KPI was in the first place.

Let me talk about (a) first.

I do not believe in the path of least resistance because I am a Wealth Structure. Wealth Structures are not interested in the path of least resistance. They are interested in the path with the greatest VALUE, with the least amount of INEFFICIENCY. The path of least resistance is of zero interest to the Wealth Structure if in effect, it is also the path with zero outcomes or outcomes that are not of value.

So of course you are thinking – Baziqueen is splitting hairs. Of course the path of least resistance should lead to the maximum return (duh!).

Yet we have phrases like “necessity is the mother of invention” and the history of humanity is replete with examples of success that were derived from failure and defeat. The invention of the lightbulb is perhaps the best example of this, along with Edison’s point that Genius is “99% perspiration, 1% inspiration”. Anything that is worth doing, is invariably difficult. Otherwise, all of us would be 100 meter sprinters, Olympic gold medalists, Nobel Prize Winners and US Presidents.

So really the path of least resistance is only logical, if in fact, your goals are pedestrian. If you want to be an Olympic champion, a top lawyer, a great CEO – there is no path of least resistance because these paths all feature resistance, whether it be internal or external.

The path of least resistance also assumes there is no such thing as competition. But the truth is that unless you intend to be something obscure like a Alpaca Herder, there’s going to be competition for everything you do in life. And competition is not necessarily created by Luck alone – it is in fact, a product of statistics and demographics, something that BaZi cannot control (although ironically, your personal actions can – you can quite simply chose to be the one eyed man in the kingdom of the blind!)

So I do not believe in the path of least resistance because I believe, resistance (by way of adversity and challenge) produces the best outcome and the truest outcome, but also, a worthy outcome.

And here is the BaZi reason:

If you are Geng Metal, then even more, the path of least resistance DOES NOT MAKE SENSE because Geng Metal requires hardship. If you are Ren Water, you are at your best when there are 7 Killings in the equation because Wu controls and channels Ren, enabling it to be useful and focused. The path of least resistance implies avoiding 7 Killings (which at it’s most simplistic, is STRESS). If you are Wu Earth, you cannot be MOVED without Jia, which is 7 Killings. Which means if you are Wu Earth, the path of least resistance is not to move at all. And if you do not move at all, then quite how you will achieve anything in life…is open to debate (unless you decide to chose a career as a sentry or a government servant in which please proceed to ‘least resist’).

What about the Yin Stems like Xin and Yi and Gui? These would naturally seem like candidates for “path of least resistance”.

On some levels that is true – Xin, Yi and Gui are on some levels, somewhat cowardly stems that are not into hardship. These are the stems that will probably be most motivated to attempt ‘path of least resistance’. However, both Xin and Yi’s great vanity is they consider themselves ‘smarter’ than the average stem. Xin uses Water (intelligence) whilst Yi uses everyone…so these two stems do not so much solicit the path of least resistance as they are able to adapt to obstacles (through the use of their inherent abilities).

Gui of course, loves to escape any kind of confines but is also easily distracted – so really, it isn’t the path of least resistance so much as the path of lost interest or changed the goalposts.

I could go on.

But the point I’m trying to make is this: the path of least resistance IS NOT ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA. It actually depends on what it is that you are trying to do. If what you want to achieve requires fundamental skill that is derived from repeating your actions 10,000 times, there is no LEAST resistance in that equation. Because the MINIMUM is 10,000 times.

 

Chinese Metaphysics is grounded in the fundamental view of HEAVEN, EARTH, MAN – in itself, all methods of Chinese metaphysics envisage the requirement of EFFORT on the part of the individual when it comes to attaining outcomes. EFFORT is in itself, not easy. And the path of least resistance well – that implies EASY doesn’t it?

So as has been clearly established, I have a scathing opinion of the notion of path of least resistance. To me, this notion is basically is the hallmark of two Stars: Indirect Resource and Rob Wealth. And these two stars are hardly the paradigm of effort. And nor might I add, are they stars that produce any outcomes.

If you want MONEY, you want to use the Wealth Star. Guess what? That star involves EFFORT. A lot of it. Making money requires effort. Otherwise, we’d all be rich. Where’s the path of least resistance? There is none.

Is BaZi about the path of least resistance? No it is not.

BaZi, or any form of Chinese Metaphysics, is about being STRATEGIC. Which means it is not about doing what is easy or what is hard, but what brings out the best in your chart, and is the most effective way to attain the outcome that you want.

For example, let’s say you want to sell your house. And your BaZi consultant tells you that you have to wait 2 years.

For some people, waiting is the path of least resistance. After all, it involves doing nothing. But guess what? People don’t usually want to sell their house because they feel like it. They want to sell their house because…THEY NEED THE EFFING MONEY! (because they want to buy a bigger house etc etc – insert reason).

Which means that waiting just became MONUMENTALLY HARD. It just became a path of least resistance THAT IS VERY HARD TO DO. And wait, least resistance shouldn’t be HARD right?

Now let’s take another example. You want to find Mr/Miss Right. And let’s just say, the path to least resistance is to marry someone ugly. Or fat. Or poor. Or not very smart. (insert whatever you think is a negative attribute for you personally). Or it might even be something as simple as being matchmake/arranged marriage.

For some people, the above is unfathomable.

The nature of human beings is to believe we are entitled to more than what we have, and to dream big. (okay not everyone but let’s just assume that for the purposes of this debate). In itself, we have set ourselves up to assume any path EXCEPT the path of least resistance.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is why I do not subscribe to the notion of the path of least resistance. Because it fundamentally creates the false notion that the process is necessarily EASY or involves minimal effort. BaZi as a practice and an art is difficult because when a consultant is trying to find a solution (“path”) for a client, we do not just get to tell the person to do something they cannot do or which they are not setup to achieve because of character or personality traits. And finding a solution for someone who is trying to do something very significant or achieve something outstanding is even harder. Because not only do you need to control their every decision and action, you need THEM to be able to control their every decision and action.

Now let’s talk about MAXIMUM RETURNS.

Again, I do not subscribe to this notion because it is just really another one of those phases like “financial freedom”. There is no such thing as financial freedom because it is our nature to grow in our spending capacity as our income grows. To be human, is to want. Otherwise, everyone would only have one spouse and divorce would not exist. We tire of things. We change viewpoints. Our interests alter. Financial freedom means after we hit point X in income, we don’t need to work any more. Yes, but that also assumes point Y in expenditure and point Y is finite.

What I get all my BaZi clients to do almost always is define their goals. You do not know if you have hit the maximum return if you don’t know what it is that you want. And you know why people see a BaZi consultant? Because well, they don’t know what that return that they want is. They don’t know what they want in life. And maybe they are not very prepared to think very hard about it.

But for the sake of argument, if we are to put the phase “MAXIMUM RETURN” in a BaZi context, it is defined by the Hurting Officer/Eating God stars, but also, the Wealth Stars (because “return” by extension implies “value” and the star that is involved in determining “Value” is always the Wealth Star).

Now, if your Output Star is defined by a static element (ie: Earth, Metal),then it is conceivable that you do actually have a fixed context of a maximum return. In other words, you do not necessarily have altering goals. You literally have maybe 1-2 objectives in life and if you hit those objectives, you are done. However, in order to be this type of person, you probably would also need a large majority of the chart to be static in nature, with very few or minimal dynamic elements (in other words, no Wood, no Water, no Ding Fire or very little of these).

The minute a chart contains any kind of dynamic elements (Ren/Gui/Yi/Jia/Ding), this means there are components of the chart that ALTER. What does alter mean? Means what you have now, may not be what you want later.

So for example, if your Hurting Officer Star is Gui Water – then you will never ever have fixed goals or ambitions. Because Gui is the most changing/dynamic/inconsistent of all the 10 Stems and it alters form. In short, there is no Everest for you. To infinity and beyond. Similarly, if your Resource Star is Wood, then you will always find that you outgrow your interests or your passions or your comfort level, albeit slowly. Your taste, your likes, your standards, change gradually but surely.

So, MAXIMUM RETURN once again, cannot possibly exist as a singular notion, but is by necessity, defined by the Day Master, and more significantly the chart. For some people, there is no fixed maximum return, only an ideal outcome!