Missing the return

The top line of Hexagram 24 Fu / Return means:

Missing the return. Misfortune.
Misfortune from within and without.
If armies are set marching in this way, one will in the end suffer a great defeat,
Disastrous for the ruler of the country.
For ten years it will not be possible to attack again.

During ancient times in China, rulers often consult the Book of Changes before they set their armies moving to war. On the assumption, upon consultation, the Yi gave the above ominous line as the prognostication, I am sure the court historiographers would have advised their ruler not to send forth the army; otherwise it will bring disaster upon him and the state, if the troops are massacred. To build up an army again from the remnants will take ten years about half a generation.

Fast forward a few thousand years and if you are an investor in either the Chinese stock markets or the KLSE who happens to know a bit about Yi timing, what would you have done if you had foreseen the time of ‘missing the return’? Wait cheerfully or panic!

Keep quiet and let regular readers come to harm or blog to forewarn them of misfortune from within and without? (Think of inflation, moping up of surplus money supply, street demonstrations from within; subprime mortgages mess and credit crunch from without.)

From my past two or three entries on the KLSE, you may know what I had chosen to do. In the next few trading days, you could be forced to make a choice, if you still have one. If the plunge really happens, choose wisely. It can make a world of difference. Otherwise for ten years it will not be possible to attack again. And we do not want that, do we?

Happy New Year!