Lacking dignity
One fails in one's attempt to mock the unloved. taoscopy.com
Peace11
Harmony and prosperity arise when opposites attract and balance is maintained. Positive energies are in alignment, and collaborative efforts lead to growth and advancement. Embrace peace and cooperation for continued success.
↓ Line 1
Unity and cooperation bring success. Working together leads to good outcomes.
↓ Line 2
Patience and tolerance towards those who are less refined will ultimately lead to positive results.
↓ Line 4
Humility and sincerity in relationships bring harmony and trust.
↓ Line 5
Generosity and alliances through relationships bring great blessings and success.
↓ Influence 31
Mutual attraction fosters influence and inspiration. Connect deeply to inspire change and strengthen bonds.
11 Peace
Other titles: Peace, The Symbol of Successfulness, Prospering, Pervading, Greatness, Tranquility, Prosperity, Conjunction, Major Synthesis, Hieros Gamos, Holy Marriage, "Yang supporting yin and going to meet each other. Good prospects for a marriage or partnership." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Harmony shows the inferior departed and the great arrived. There will be good fortune with progress and success.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Peace. The small departs, the great approaches. Good fortune. Success.
Blofeld: Peace. The mean decline; the great and good approach -- good fortune and success! [In the following hexagram (Divorcement), where the trigrams symbolize heaven and earth in what would appear to be their normal positions, that arrangement is held to be disastrous; whereas here, where they seem to be upside down, everything is propitious. This may be because heaven above earth is held to imply that the two are existing separately without the intercourse which is the root of all growth; whereas here their intercourse is so absolute that heaven is actually supporting earth.]
Liu: Peace. The small is departing, the great is arriving. Good fortune. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher: Pervading . The small going, the great coming. significance Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of prospering and expanding. It emphasizes that continually spreading this prosperity through communicating is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Greatness: the little go and the great come; auspicious; receipt.
Cleary (1): The small goes, the great comes. This is auspicious and developmental.
Cleary (2):Tranquility … Getting through auspiciously.
Wu:Prosperity shows that the small stays outside and the great stays inside. It will be auspicious and pervasive.
The Image
Legge: The intercourse of heaven and earth -- the image of Harmony.The wise ruler models his laws upon the principles of heaven and earth, and enforces them for the people's benefit.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven and earth unite: the image of Peace. Thus the ruler divides and completes the course of heaven and earth; he furthers and regulates the gifts of heaven and earth, and so aids the people.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes heaven and earth in communion. [The component trigrams illustrate the kind of close intercourse just alluded to. This is surely the only way of depicting it under the circumstances, for any mingling of their component lines would produce quite different trigrams having no reference to heaven and earth.] It is as though a mighty ruler, by careful regulation of affairs, has brought to fruition the way of heaven and earth. In harmony with the sequence of their motions, he gives help to people on every hand.
Liu: Heaven and earth are unified, symbolizing Peace. The ruler reforms and completes the way of heaven and earth; He observes the appropriate methods of heaven and earth to direct the people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven and Earth mingling. Pervading. The crown-prince uses property to accomplish Heaven and Earth's tao. The crown-prince uses bracing to mutualize Heaven and Earth's propriety. The crown-prince uses the left to right the commoners.
Cleary (1): When heaven and earth commune, there is tranquility. Thus does the ruler administer the way of heaven and earth and assist the proper balance of heaven and earth, thereby helping the people.
Cleary (2): … So as to influence the people.
Wu:Prosperity results from the interaction of heaven and earth. The king uses the wealth of the nation to achieve the ways of heaven and earth and to support their designs, so as to bring the sentiments of the people to the center.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Harmony shows the union of heaven and earth, and all things consequently united -- high and low, superior and inferior are all in accord. The lower trigram is made up of dynamic lines, and the upper of magnetic lines: strength is within, devotion is without; the superior man is inside and increasing, the inferior man is outside and decreasing.
Legge: The Judgment refers to the structure of the hexagram, with the three dynamic lines below, and the three magnetic lines above. The former are "the great," active and vigorous; the latter are "the inferior," passive and yielding. In many editions of theI Chingbeneath the hexagram of Harmonythere appears hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety, which becomes Harmonyif the third and fourth lines exchange places. A situation in which the motive forces are represented by three dynamic, and the opposing by three magnetic lines, must be progressive and successful.Harmonyis called the hexagram of the first month of the natural spring, when for six months the forces of growth are in ascendance.
Canon McClatchie translates: "The Image means that heaven and earth have now conjugal intercourse with each other, and the upper and lower classes unite together."
Ch'eng-tzu says on the Image that a ruler should frame his laws to operate like the seasons, so that the people exist within the structure of a natural rather than an arbitrary order.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Harmony depicts the waning of egotistical illusions and the waxing of true potential.
The Superior Man allows his inner virtue to rule the psyche.
Without changing lines, Harmony suggests a fruitful union of opposites and consequent state of balance in the matter at hand.
Wilhelm translates the opening phrase of the Confucian commentary as: "Heaven and earth unite." Blofeld renders it: "The celestial and terrestrial forces have intercourse and all things are in communion with one another." Legge has already called attention to McClatchie's version of: "Heaven and earth have now conjugal intercourse with each other."
This image is one of the most universal symbols produced by the human psyche: the sexual union of Spirit and Matter (heaven and earth). This is the hieros gamos or holy marriage of alchemy, the union of Shiva and Shakti in Hinduism, the conjoined male and female deities in tantric Buddhism, the syzygies of Gnosticism and the union of heaven and earth in the Kabbalah.
The notions of the couple and the sacred marriage held a very important place in ancient Chinese religious thinking. Every sacred power was twofold, male and female; but since only one half of the sacred couple was generally enclosed in any one sanctuary, the ritual was directed at reconstituting the whole... The complete being is male and female; since most men neglect or repress their feminine nature, they are out of balance; their male aggressiveness comes to the fore, and their whole vitality suffers. There can be no true Holiness without a prior revitalization of femininity. M. Kaltenmark --Lao Tzu and Taoism
Psychologically, the condition pictured by this hexagram is a metaphor for a high state of integration within the psyche. Here it is described in alchemical and Jungian terminology:
The hermetic vessel is oneself. In it the many pieces of psychic stuff scattered throughout one's world must be collected and fused into one, so making a new creation. In it must occur the union of the opposites called by the alchemists the coniunctio or marriage... (This union), in psychological terms corresponds to man with his feminine soul, the anima, or to a woman with her masculine counterpart, the animus -- the union in each case constituting the inner marriage, the hieros gamos by which the individual must become whole. M.E. Harding --Psychic Energy
To receive this hexagram does not necessarily mean that one has attained such a high integration, but it might indicate a step in that direction. The ultimate hieros gamos only occurs after all of the scattered and mismatched forces within the psyche have been brought together in correct alignment -- in I Ching terms, when all of the lines are in their proper places with proper correlates as imaged in hexagram number 63, Completion. Until this final union there are innumerable "lesser" conjunctions which must first take place -- a fact recognized in tantric yoga:
The final goal of the tantricist is to reunite the two contrary principles -- Shiva and Shakti -- in his own body. When Shakti, who sleeps, in the shape of a serpent, at the base of his body, is awoken by certain yogic techniques, she moves through a medial channel by way of the chakras up to the top of the skull, where Shiva dwells, and unites with him. The union of the divine pair within his own body transforms the yogin into a kind of "androgyne." But it must be stressed that "androgynization" is only one aspect of a total process, that of the reunion of the opposites. Actually, Tantric literature speaks of a great number of "opposing pairs" that have to be reunited. Mircea Eliade -- Myths, Rites, Symbols
The establishment of the " Kingdom of Heaven on Earth" is yet another metaphor for this process of psychic unification. Here is the Kabbalistic version:
It is by the establishment of the celestial on the terrestrial, or of heaven upon earth, that the house of the King (humanity) will become united and the King will rejoice thereat, for then the two kingdoms will become one and then the new and living way will become opened to those who make themselves susceptible and receptive of the Higher and Diviner life... When these two worlds become united and blended together they are symbolized by the union of the male and female, the one being the complement of the other. The Zohar
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Legge points out that many editions of the I Chingassociate hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety, with this figure. What do the changing third and fourth lines ofPropriety imply about the role of the ego in the Work? The traditional name forPropriety is "The Marrying Maiden" -- how does that relate to the concept of the holy marriage in Harmony? Compare the Judgments and Images of the two hexagrams and the role of the superior man in each. Note also the lesson implied when lines two and five in Harmony unite to make hexagram number sixty-three, Completion.
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, suggests the idea of grass pulled up, and bringing with it other stalks with whose roots it is connected. Advance on the part of its subject will be fortunate.
Wilhelm/Baynes: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Undertakings bring good fortune.
Blofeld: When grass is uprooted, what is attached to it is pulled up as well. It is an auspicious time for advancing according to plan. [This would seem to mean that we are likely to get what we seek plus something more.]
Liu: When ribbon grass is pulled out, its roots come with it: they are of the same kind. Undertakings lead to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Eradicating thatch-grass intertwined. Using one's classification. Chastising significant.
Shaughnessy: Plucking the cogon-grass stem with its roots; to be upright is auspicious.
Cleary (1): When pulling out a reed by the roots, other roots come with it. It is auspicious to go forth.
Wu: Like pulling up reeds with all their connecting roots, advancing will be auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His will is set on what is external to himself. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The will is directed outward. Blofeld: The mind is outward looking (i.e. fixed upon the people's welfare.) [This really means the mind of the Superior Man, whose duty it is to look after the people’s welfare. If he is truly a Superior Man, when his mind is turned inward it is to meditate upon and eradicate his faults; when outward turned, it is concentrated upon his duty to the ruler (provided the king is worthy) and his care of the people.]Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose located outside indeed. Cleary (2): Means focusing the will beyond. Wu: Because the aspiration is to go upward.
Legge: The symbolism of the first line is suggested by the three dynamic lines of the lower trigram, all together, and all possessed by the same instinct to advance. The movement of the first line will be supported by the others, and will be fortunate. "He has his will set on what is external to himself" means that he is bent on going forward.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man brings others of like mind with him as he enters public office during a period of prosperity.
Wing: Actions that you might now take, particularly those actions that are connected to the welfare of others, will meet with good fortune. You will attract others and find co- operation among those who have goals similar to your own.
Editor: This line changes the hexagram to number forty-six, Pushing Upward, another image of growth with a corresponding line which further reinforces the idea of upward progress: "Advancing upward with the welcome of those above him..." "Grass roots" are a foundation, source or essence, as in “grass roots support” in a political campaign. To "uproot" is to remove from a fixed or entrenched position. "Other stalks" are analogous elements -- "fellow travelers." The image suggests the positive alteration of a heretofore static situation.
When the shadow has been made conscious and has been accepted as part of the personality, its contents and part of its energies are added to those of the ego, so that a further development of the I results. Similarly, when the anima or animus has been united to the conscious psyche by a process described in many religious systems as an inner marriage, a further enlargement of consciousness results, and the conscious personality begins to display those qualities of dignity and stability which are the marks of the unique or individuated personality. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. Removal from an entrenched position advances the general welfare. Go beyond yourself.
B. A union of similar forces moves progressively.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows one who can bear with the uncultivated, will cross the river without a boat, does not forget the distant, and has no selfish friendships. Thus does he prove himself acting in accordance with the due mean.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bearing with the uncultured in gentleness, fording the river with resolution, not neglecting what is distant, not regarding one's companions: thus one may manage to walk in the middle.
Blofeld: Supporting the uncultivated, crossing the river without boats, not retreating despite the distance from his base, not abandoning his comrades, he still manages to steer a middle course.
Liu: Bear with the undeveloped. Swim across the river decisively, not forgetting what is remote, nor disregarding one's friends. Thus one can gain the middle way.
Ritsema/Karcher: Enwrapping wasteland. Availing-of crossing the channel. Not putting-off abandoning. Partnering extinguished. Acquiring honor, tending-towards centering moving.
Shaughnessy: Wrapped recklessness; herewith ford the river; not distantly leaving it behind and not forgetting it, gains elevation in the central ranks.
Cleary (1): Accepting the uncultivated, actively crossing rivers, not missing the remote, partisanship disappears, and one accords with balanced action.
Cleary (2): … Employing those who can cross rivers, not overlooking the remote, free from partisanship, one can seriously perform balanced action.
Wu: This is like the sky enveloping all corners of the earth. Walking along a riverbank, one will not lose the direction even going far. He will show no favoritism toward friends. He will maintain a course of centrality.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His intelligence is bright and his capacity is great. Wilhelm/Baynes: Because the light is great. Blofeld: A middle course can be steered because the situation is so brilliantly clear. Ritsema/Karcher: Using the shining great indeed. Cleary (2): Due to greatness of illumination. Wu: Indicate an ability to attain enlightenment.
Legge: The second line is dynamic, but in a magnetic place. This tempers his action and describes his first characteristic of forbearance. Because the place is central and has a proper correlate above in the fifth place, all the favorable images are manifested.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man observes the mean during times of peace. He is magnanimous toward the uncultivated, ready for necessary risks, watchful over future possibilities, and independent of cliques and factions.
Wing: During Prospering times it is important to hold to worthy attitudes and behavior in order to achieve your aim. You now have a responsibility to undertake difficult tasks, to be tolerant of all people, and to maintain far-reaching visions. Avoid getting involved in current factions and special-interest groups.
Editor: Wilhelm/Baynes translate "no selfish friendships" as: "not regarding one's companions." The idea is that correct behavior takes precedence over popular opinion. Thoreau's famous line: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer," is an analogous idea. The discipline of the Work immediately places one in this category. A complete understanding of this line depends upon what is said in line five, which see.
From my point of view, he can be called a remarkable man who stands out from those around him by the resourcefulness of his mind, and who knows how to be restrained in the manifestations which proceed from his nature, at the same time conducting himself justly and tolerantly towards the weaknesses of others. Gurdjieff
A. Turmoil is a fact of life. Unaffected by conventional norms, one bucks the current of ignorance and focuses on the goals of the Work. Cope competently.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject fluttering down -- not relying on her own rich resources, but calling in her neighbors. They all come not as having received warning, but in the sincerity of their hearts.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He flutters down, not boasting of his wealth, together with his neighbor, guileless and sincere.
Blofeld: Running to and fro, kept from riches by those around him, he does not cease to put his trust in them. [He runs to and fro in his anxiety to be of service, whether people reward his kindness or not.]
Liu: One strives with a cheerful manner, not boasting of riches to a neighbor. One has full confidence without fear.
Ritsema/Karcher: Fluttering, fluttering. Not affluence: using one's neighbor. Not warning: using conforming.
Shaughnessy: So fluttering, not wealthy together with his neighbors; not warned about his return.
Cleary (1): Unsettled, one is not rich, along with the neighbors, being loyal without admonition.
Cleary (2): Unsettled, not prosperous, one works with the neighbor. Sincerity is exercised, without caution.
Wu: Carefree like a flying bird, he is not in a position to accumulate wealth, but rather to share his affection with his neighbors. He is free from anxiety, for he has the confidence of others.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Both she and her neighbors are out of their real place where they are. This is what they have desired in the core of their hearts. Wilhelm/ Baynes: All of them have lost what is real. He desires it in the depths of his heart. Blofeld: His running to and fro and his lack of riches are due to his idealism. He preserves his faith in others because in his heart of hearts he WANTS to trust them. Ritsema/Karcher: Altogether letting-go substance indeed. Centering the heart desiring indeed. Cleary (2): Being unsettled and not prospering are both due to loss of the real. Exercise of sincerity without caution is the heart’s true desire. Wu: He is destined to remain empty … Because his willingness to share comes from his heart.
Legge: The subjects of the fourth and other yin lines of the upper trigram are not to be seen as opponents of the yang lines in the lower trigram, but as their correlates. They are of one heart and mind to maintain the state of Harmony, and humbly and readily yield their power to the yang lines below. Chu Hsi says that the upper lines "have lost their substantiality." As magnetic lines, their proper place is below.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man of high rank joins with the lowly in an atmosphere of spontaneity and mutual confidence.
Wing: The important thing now is that you are sincerely united and communicating with people who are your superiors. Pay no thought to ultimate rewards but maintain a steady course toward your aim. Use the help of others, if offered.
Editor: None of the translations of this line say quite the same thing, yet the meaning is clear enough when interpreted in relation to the symbolism of the figure as a whole. This is the first magnetic line of the hexagram, and the message is stated in terms of a female sexual response. She doesn't rely upon her "rich resources" -- she doesn't use her magnetic power aggressively, but willingly surrenders to dynamic initiative. Psychologically this means that Eros defers to Logos, emotion to reason, ego to Self, or whatever the situation at hand suggests is a proper subordination of one principle to another.
In every exposition of the Perennial Philosophy the human soul is regarded as feminine in relation to the Godhead, the personal God and even the Order of Nature. Hubris, which is the original sin, consists in regarding the personal ego as self-sufficiently masculine in relation to the Spirit within and to Nature without, and in behaving accordingly. Aldous Huxley
A. The image suggests the voluntary surrender of power and position to create a higher alliance of forces.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, reminds us of king Ti-yi's rule about the marriage of his younger sister. By such a course there is happiness and there will be great good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The sovereign I gives his daughter in marriage. This brings blessing and supreme good fortune.
Blofeld: By giving his daughter in marriage, the Emperor attained felicity and extreme good fortune.
Liu: The Emperor I gives his daughter in marriage. This will bring blessings and great good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The supreme burgeoning, converting maidenhood. Using satisfaction, Spring significant.
Shaughnessy: Di Yi marries off the maiden by age; prime auspiciousness.
Cleary (1): The emperor marries off his younger sister, whereby there is good fortune; this is very auspicious.
Wu: Di Yi married off his younger sister. The marriage was blessed with great happiness.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She employs the virtues proper to her central position to carry her wishes into effect. Wilhelm/Baynes: Because he is central in carrying out what he desires. Blofeld: This was because of his impartiality in carrying out what he felt to be desirable. [This suggests a need for impartiality in conducting our affairs.] Ritsema/Karcher: Center uses moving desire indeed. Cleary (2): The balanced carrying out of deliberate, purposeful undertakings. Wu: It was done with a wish from a central position.
Legge: According to Ch'eng-tzu, Ti-yi was the first to enact a law that daughters of the royal house, in marrying princes of the states, should be in subjection to them, as if they were not superior to them in rank. Here line five, while occupying the place of dignity and authority in the hexagram, is yet a magnetic line in the place of a dynamic one. She accordingly humbly condescends to her dynamic and proper correlate in line two.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The example of King I's decree that his younger sister must obey her outranked husband is presented. The modest union of the high and the low brings real satisfaction.
Wing: You can achieve your aim and realize great good fortune by remaining impartial in your behavior. Humility and modesty will allow you to communicate with the sentiments of your followers in mind. You will then be supported in your endeavors.
Editor: The rulership of the hexagram is shared jointly by the second and fifth lines. In the situation symbolized here, the magnetic fifth line yields her authority to the dynamic second line -- each is out of its "correct" place, and so they swap positions, so to speak. The meaning is that yin willingly defers to yang, female yields to male, emotions to intellect, feelings to principle, etc. It is significant to note that in a hexagram depicting a holy marriage, the perfect union of Heaven and Earth, that the only line mentioning marriage is this one. The marriage is between lines two and five, and when they both change the hexagram created is number 63, After Completion, the "perfect" or reference hexagram determining all correct relationships. Lines two and five are the only lines in the figure that are "out of place," and each takes its meaning from the other, which implies that they exchange places to create a perfect configuration. Implicit in all this is the idea of yin (emotion) being correct when it is alchemically conjoined with yang (reason). Emotion and intellect must blend into intuition. The ego can't "make" this happen, but it can help create the conditions which make it possible.
When the understanding of truth which is with the man makes one with the affection of good which is with the woman, there is a conjunction of the two minds into one. This conjunction is the spiritual marriage from which conjugal love descends; for when the two minds are so conjoined that they become one mind, there is love between them. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia
A. Defer feelings to reason or principle.
B. Ego defers to the will of the Self.
C. A fundamental rule of the Work is to concede one's initiative to a higher principle.
Legge: Upon fulfillment of the conditions implied in Initiative, there will be free course and success. Advantage depends upon firm correctness, as in marrying a young lady. Good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Influence. Success. Perseverance furthers. To take a maiden to wife brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Attraction. Success! Righteous persistence brings reward. Taking a wife will result in good fortune.
Liu: Attraction. Success. To continue is of benefit. To marry a girl is good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Conjoining, Growing. Harvesting Trial. Grasping womanhood significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the influence that separated parts of an intrinsic whole have on each other. It emphasizes that bringing these parts into contact is the adequate way to handle the situation...]
Shaughnessy: Feelings : Receipt; beneficial to determine; to take to wife a woman is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Sensitivity is developmental. It is beneficial to be correct. Marriage brings good fortune.
Cleary (2):Sensing gets through, beneficial if correct. Marriage is auspicious.
Wu:Affection indicates pervasion and advantage to be persevering. There will be good fortune to marry a young woman.
The Image
Legge: The image of a marsh over a mountain forms Initiative. The superior man frees his mind of preoccupation so that he is open to the influence of others. [Lit: "Thus the superior man receives people by virtue of emptiness."]
Wilhelm/Baynes: A lake on the mountain: the image of Influence. Thus the superior man encourages people to approach him by his willingness to receive them.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a lake situated upon a mountain. In dealing with men, the Superior Man shows himself to be entirely void of selfishness.
Liu: The lake on top of the mountain symbolizes Attraction. With a humble manner the superior man receives people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing marsh. Conjoining. A chun tzu uses emptiness to acquiesce people.
Cleary (1): There is a lake on a mountain. Thus does the superior person accept people with openness.
Cleary (2): There is a lake atop a mountain – Sensing. Developed people accept others with openness.
Wu: There is a marsh in the mountain; this is Affection. Thus the jun zi receives people with humility.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Initiative is here used in the sense of mutually influencing. The magnetic trigram is above and the dynamic trigram is below -- their two influences move, respond and unite with each other. The male is placed below the female -- his repression is her satisfaction and brings fulfillment. Advantage depends upon firm correctness, as in the marrying of a young lady. Heaven and earth stimulate each other and all things attain birth. The sages stimulate the minds of men and harmony is born. If we examine the pattern of these influences, the nature of heaven and earth is revealed.
Legge: The lines of the hexagram all deal with moving or influencing to movement, and the figure is an essay on the different ways of creating an influence, and the results engendered thereby. The lower trigram of the youngest son supports the upper trigram of the youngest daughter in happy union. This is correct because the lower trigram (here yang) should always take the initiative. No influence is so powerful and constant as that between husband and wife, and where they are both young, it is especially active. Therefore, mutual influence, correct in itself, and for correct ends is sure to be effective.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Initiative succeeds only when it originates from the Self.
The Superior Man clears his mind and remains receptive to the will of the Self.
Wilhelm's translation of the name of this hexagram is Influence, but I have chosen Initiative to emphasize the idea of the proper source of the influence implied in the symbolism. Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines initiative as follows:
Initiative 1 : an introductory step or movement: an act designed to originate or set on foot, as a process or train of events. Often used in the phrase: on one's own initiative, as in: "Don't blame me, he acted on his own initiative."
The Judgment states that the situation can be furthered only by the firm correctness associated with the proper contracting of a marriage. We already know that the symbolism of marriage refers to a union of opposites within the psyche. To understand what is meant by the proper contracting of a marriage, we need only look at hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety (The Marrying Maiden), to see the improper way to do it -- that is, when the woman takes the initiative.
Far from being a sexist idea, the symbolism reveals a profound archetypal truth. The polarity of forces in the psyche shows the ego as magnetic to the dynamic Self. That is, the conscious ego-complex in any psyche, male or female, is feminine, or magnetic in relation to the Self, which is masculine, or dynamic. In the I Ching the Self is symbolized by heaven, and the ego is symbolized by earth. This primordial relationship between the two qualities is found in many symbol systems. Here's the Kabbalistic version:
This clearly indicates the function of polarity that prevails between the planes of form and the planes of force; the planes of form being the female aspect, polarized and made fertile by the influencesof the planes of force. D. Fortune -- The Mystical Qabalah
The Hermetic tradition describes it this way:
There is this dual aspect in the mind of every person. The "I" [Self] represents the Masculine Principle of Mental Gender -- the "Me" [ego] represents the Female Principle. The Kybalion
In the contracting of a marriage between heaven and earth (uniting the polarities within the divided psyche), the ego must learn, usually through great suffering, that its correct role is a magnetic one in relation to that of the Self. The Work cannot progress until this lesson has been learned and accepted completely. As long as the ego insists on taking dynamic initiative “as usual" in the illusory world of appearances, the results can only be the kind of objective world we inhabit -- one of chaos and strife. The lesson of this hexagram then, is the realization that the only correct source of power lies with the Self, and that the ego must yield to that source as a bride to her bridegroom. (Unfortunately, the contemporary relationship between the sexes has become so confused that this metaphor is seldom effective in conveying the profound truth it represents.)
The Self (the Causal Body of Theosophy) dwells beyond the restrictions of spacetime and is pre-eminently suited for directing the Work, since it can "see ahead” so to speak, and it knows the effects of all of the available choices. The ego, on the other hand, dwells in spacetime and is able to take action: by its choices it makes or breaks the Work. The ideal reciprocity between ego and Self is a simple and logical division of labor -- the Self can see ahead but cannot take direct action, and the ego can take direct action but cannot see ahead. For the ego to act without direction from the Self is to grope blindly in the dark -- and the Work clearly cannot progress under such circumstances. The superior man therefore, "clears his mind and remains receptive to the will of the Self.” Obviously, it takes time to learn how to do this properly; in its initial stages, that's what the Work is all about.
The majority of people are more or less the slaves of heredity, environment, etc., and manifest very little freedom. They are swayed by the opinions, customs and thoughts of the outside world, and also by their emotions, feelings, moods, etc. They manifest no Mastery, worthy of the name. The Kybalion
The second and third sentences in the Confucian commentary elicit the sexual symbolism in this hexagram quite clearly: "The [female] trigram is above and the [male] trigram is below -- their two influences move, respond and unite with each other. The male is placed below the female -- his repression is her satisfaction and brings fulfillment.” Blofeld comments on this in a footnote:
I doubt if this should be regarded as shedding light upon the ancient Chinese concept of the most acceptable position for intercourse; it is more likely to mean that the girl is able to depend upon the man as a plant depends upon the earth for its nourishment.
Symbolism works on many levels, and Blofeld's aborted insight does apply to some of them. It is an established fact that the sentences in question accurately describe tantric sexual techniques practiced in the Orient for millennia. To understand the principles of the Work we must be able to see the "obvious" as symbolic of an abstraction -- and vice- versa. Sexual polarity is a very tricky and volatile symbol because we are predisposed to confine it to its most literal meaning. The hardest part of symbolic interpretation is to know where in the continuum a specific symbol belongs in any given situation.
Without changing lines this hexagram suggests that you examine your impulses and motivations to act and see if they are truly in accordance with the goals of the Work. The figure can sometimes take on the meaning of importuning: "to press or urge with frequent or unreasonable requests or troublesome persistence.” In other words, you might be importuning the oracle for answers which it is of no mind to give you. It is also significant to note that every line has a more or less negative connotation. These are all very strong warnings to the ego to control its compulsive need to take the Initiative, to influence the situation. Calm down -- reality is not what it appears to be. Please allow the Self to direct the Work.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the concepts in this hexagram with hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety; number fifty-three, Gradual Progress; and number eleven, Harmony. How do they all deal with the symbol of marriage as an aspect of the Work? Compare the first three lines with hexagram number 52,Keeping Still.
Initiativeis the first hexagram of Part II of the I Ching. Why do you suppose the book was divided into two unequal sections? Why did the division appear between the thirtieth and thirty-first hexagrams? (An even division would be between the thirty-second and thirty-third.)
The (I Ching) was originally divided into two books. (Appendix VI) considers the first of these as dealing with the world of nature, and the second as dealing with that of man. Fung Yu-Lan -- A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
What insights does the alchemical concept of the Unus Mundus bring to bear on these questions?