One makes a commitment to one's superiors not to talk about it further. taoscopy.com
Enthusiasm16
Inspiration fuels energy; align enthusiasm with purpose to move forward effectively.
↓ Line 2
Steadfastness and patience are required. By holding firm, success will come in due time.
↓ Line 3
Overreaching or hesitating can lead to regret. It is important to find a balance and act with confidence.
↓ Line 5
Despite challenges and difficulties, perseverance will lead to survival and eventual success.
↓ Critical Mass28
Embrace resilience during times of overwhelming pressure. Acknowledge the burden, make necessary adjustments, and seek support to prevent collapse. Balance is crucial for enduring success.
16 Enthusiasm
Other titles: The Symbol of Harmonious Joy, Repose, Happiness, Providing-for/Provision, Excess, Merriment, Self-confidence, Contentment, Harmonize, Excitement, Intemperance, Self-deception "Repose in the absolute confidence that the action now being taken is right. Also refers to music." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Enthusiasm indicates that feudal princes may be set up and the army advantageously mobilized.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Enthusiasm. It furthers one to install helpers and to set armies marching.
Blofeld:Repose profits those engaged in building up the country and sending forth armies. [This means that perfect certainty as to the rightness of our cause is of great value under the conditions mentioned. The usual meaning of this character is "beforehand" or "happiness." In the English translation of Wilhelm's version, it appears as "enthusiasm." "Repose" was suggested by the Chinese experts who kindly vetted this manuscript. At first I felt hesitant about adopting it, until I realized that, where it is used favorably, it must be understood as the kind of mental repose which follows absolute confidence that the action now being taken is the right one. In lines one, three and six, however, it clearly means failure to act when action is essential; in line five, failure to act owing to incapacity.]
Liu:Happiness. It is of benefit to build up the country (or business), and send the army forth. [Receivers of this hexagram should be wary of exhibiting excessive enthusiasm when beginning a new undertaking. If they are not, there will be misfortune. The hexagram also advises that everything necessary for advancement should be made ready. Then if an opportunity presents itself, it should be seized immediately, without hesitation.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Providing-for , Harvesting: installing feudatories to move legions. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of what is needed to meet the future. It emphasizes that accumulating strength through foresight and prudence so things can be fully enjoyed is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: provide-for!]
Shaughnessy: Excess: Beneficial to establish a lord and to move troops.
Cleary (1):Joy. It is advantageous to set up a ruler and mobilize the army.
Wu:Merriment indicates the advantage of establishing principalities and taking military actions.
The Image
Legge: Thunder exploding out of the Earth -- the image of Enthusiasm. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, composed their music and honored virtue, offering it especially to God when they worshipped him at the service of their ancestors.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder comes resounding out of the earth: the image of Enthusiasm. Thus the ancient kings made music in order to honor merit, and offered it with splendor to the Supreme Deity, inviting their ancestors to be present.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder over the earth. The ancient rulers venerated heaven's gifts with solemn music and they sacrificed abundantly to the Supreme Lord of Heaven in order to be worthy of their ancestors.
Liu: Thunder arising from the earth symbolizes Happiness. The ancient kings composed music to honor virtue, offering it to God and the spirits of their ancestors.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder issuing-forth-from earth impetuously. Providing-for. The Earlier Kings used arousing delight to extol actualizing-tao. Exalting worship's Supreme Above. Using equalizing the grandfather predecessors. [Actualize-tao:ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): When thunder emerges the earth stirs: Thus did the kings of yore make music to honor virtue, offering it in abundance to God, thereby to share it with their ancestors.
Wu: Thunder breaks out above the earth with a boom; this is Merriment. Thus the ancient kings used music to praise virtuous accomplishments and made grand offerings to the Supreme Being to be accompanied by their ancestors.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Enthusiasm shows one dynamic line inspiring responsive obedience in all the others: devoted obedience takes action. Such obedient action conforms to natural law and creates order and discipline in the people. The planets and the seasons follow their natural cycles. The sages similarly obey the laws of their nature and the people acknowledge their regulations and punishments as just.
Legge:Enthusiasm shows harmony and contentment throughout the kingdom -- a time when the people rejoice in their sovereign and readily obey him. At such a time his appointments and any military undertakings would be hailed and supported. Because he is close to the fifth place of dignity, the dynamic fourth line is seen as the chief executive officer of the ruler. The ruler has confidence in him, and all of the magnetic lines yield their obedience. Obedience is the attribute of the lower trigram which here takes the initiative and uses Movement, which is the attribute of the upper trigram.
The symbolism of the Image is more obscure than usual. The use of music at sacrifices is supposed to assist in producing the union between God and his worshippers as well as the present and past generations.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Delegate authority and gather your forces.
The Superior Man synchronizes his will with the intent of the Self via the principles of the Work.
Enthusiasm is the reverse of the preceding hexagram of Temperance. In Temperance we saw the calm strength of a mountain concealed within the earth. In Enthusiasm we see thunder exploding out of the ground into the sky: the strength that was formerly tempered and restrained is now released. It is significant to note that while every line of Temperance is more or less "favorable,” every line of Enthusiasm is either negative or cautionary -- even the generally positive fourth line carries a hint of warning about “doubt.”
Negatively, Self-Deception (the passion of True Believers) seems to be what this hexagram is portraying. The figure often suggests a callow or deluded buoyancy -- the kind of outlook associated with romantic idealists. In its most negative aspect, Enthusiasm is Intemperance -- the exact opposite of the moderation and restraint shown in the preceding hexagram. The behavior of an untrained Great Dane puppy suddenly bursting into a formal dinner party could be described as "enthusiasm,” but hardly a desirable form thereof. The lower trigram of Obedient Devotion has suddenly employed the action and energy of the upper trigram of Thunderous Shock to express itself. This is inconsistent with the code of the superior man.
Conversely, in its most positive sense, Enthusiasm suggests the surety of total self-confidence. Blofeld translates this as Repose, explaining that the name was suggested to him by his Chinese advisors. We begin to understand this subtle distinction when we compare the seemingly obscure connection with music in the Image with a passage from Chuang- tse:
He who understands the music of heaven lives in accordance with nature in his life and takes part in the process of change of things in his death. In repose, his character is in harmony with the yin principle; in activity, his movement is in harmony with the yang principle. Therefore he who understands the music of heaven is not blamed by heaven or criticized by men ... It is said, "In action he is like heaven. In repose he is like the earth ... Because his mind has found repose, therefore the creation pays homage to him.”
To understand “the music of heaven” is to attain Repose, which is another way of describing the tranquility that comes with furthering the intent of the Self. The only dynamic line in the hexagram is in the minister's place just below the fifth-line ruler. He has the confidence of his sovereign and his actions therefore accord with heaven. We can turn to the Stoics to find an illustration of this idea:
My will is simply that which comes to pass. For I esteem what God wills better than what I will. To Him will I cleave as His minister and attendant; having the same movements, the same desires, in a word the same will as He. -- Epictetus
Thus we see that the hexagram can describe either one of two opposite conditions -- the intemperate Enthusiasm of ego-confidence (a synonym for Self-Deception), or the calm Repose of true SELF-confidence. The fifteenth and sixteenth hexagrams, each the inverse of the other, represent magnetic and dynamic aspects of the same general idea: Enthusiasm, when it emanates from the Self, is just Temperance in action.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows one who is firm as a rock. She sees a thing without waiting till it has come to pass; with her firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Firm as a rock. Not a whole day. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Unmoved as a rock; before the end of day, righteous persistence will bring good fortune. [Unmoved as a rock because of the repose which results from absolute confidence in a decision already taken.]
Liu: Firm and stable like a rock. Do not wait a whole day. Continuing brings good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Chain-mail tending-towards petrification: Not completing the day. Trial: significant.
Shaughnessy: Scratched on a rock; not to the end of the day; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Firm as a rock, not procrastinating, rectitude is good.
Wu: He is upright like a rock. In less time than the passing of the day, he discriminates the good from the bad. To be persevering is auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is shown by the central and correct position of the line. Wilhelm/Baynes: Because it is central and correct. Blofeld: This is indicated by the suitable position of this line which is central to the lower trigram. Ritsema/Karcher: Using centering correcting indeed. Cleary (2):
It is balanced in the right way. Wu: Because he is central and correct.
The Master said:"Does not he who knows the inception of things possess spirit-like wisdom? The superior man, in his intercourse with the high, uses no flattery, and, in his intercourse with the low, no coarse freedom: does not this show that he knows the inception of things? Those beginnings are the slight stirrings of movement, and the earliest indications of good fortune or ill. The superior man sees them, and acts accordingly without waiting for the delay of a single day. As is said in the I Ching, `He is firm as a rock, and acts without waiting for the delay of a single day. With firm goodness there will be good fortune.' Firm as a rock, how should he have to wait a single day to ensure his knowing those beginnings and his course? The superior man knows the minute and the manifested; he knows what is weak, and what is strong: he is a model to ten-thousand."
Legge: The magnetic second line is in her correct central position in the lower trigram. Quietly and firmly she is able to abide in her place and exercise a far-seeing discrimination. All is indicative of good fortune.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is quiet, but firm as a rock, yet sensitive to the first imperceptible signs of impending changes. He does not delay in taking action.
Wing: To be able to recognize the early signs of a change in fortune is a tremendous gift. While others may be swept away by compelling rhythms and fads, you adhere firmly to the underlying principles of your nature and react appropriately to the demands of the time. Such is the behavior of leaders.
Editor: All translations except Legge and Cleary's render the second sentence in the imagery of "not waiting for a whole day to pass,” which suggests action taken on the basis of foresight, premonition or intuition. This line is sometimes an injunction to follow your common sense -- saying in effect, that an oracle is unnecessary to proclaim the obvious.
You don't need a weatherman to know
which way the wind blows.
-- Bob Dylan
A. Proper discrimination knows when to act, and when to refrain from action.
B. Your own intuition already knows the answer to your query.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one looking up for favors, while she indulges the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. If she would understand! If she be late in doing so, there will indeed be occasion for repentance.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Enthusiasm that looks upward creates remorse.
Shaughnessy: A bowl's excess; regret; being slow there is regret.
Cleary (1): Looking up to joy, if repentance is tardy, there will be regret.
Cleary (2): Looking up in joy, repent. If too late, there is regret.
Wu: Gazing at merriment will bring regret. Loitering about will bring regret.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is intimated by the position not being the appropriate one. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. Blofeld: This is indicated by the line's unsuitable position. Ritsema/ Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): Wu: Because his position is improper.
Legge: Line three is magnetic in a dynamic place. She looks upward and depends upon the ruling line above while she does nothing herself but indulge in pleasure. Unless she changes her attitude, the auspice is bad.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man looks upward for favors and continues his dependency upon others. He indulges in visions of pleasure and affluence. Unless he changes immediately, he will be sorry.
Wing: You have waited complacently for a cue from someone else to motivate you. Whatever the reasons for your hesitation, whether it is idle pleasure in the present or simply inertia, you are losing your independence and self-reliance. You can still save yourself. Move.
Editor: This line is magnetic when the times call for dynamic action, giving us an image of indolent dependency. Without doing anything, she wants to "have her cake and eat it too.” Sometimes one receives this line when in a state of despair: feeling as if abandoned to one's fate by an incomprehensible cosmos. The idea is that fate isn't going to make the transition for you: you must do it yourself.
To those who are self-conceited and vain of their imaginary knowledge of exterior things, having no real wisdom, nothing can be shown, because the perverted action of their own minds opposes the harmonious action of the Universal Mind and repulses it. The spheres of their souls become narrow and contracted, and cannot expand towards the whole. They rest self-satisfied, buried in the shadow of their own ignorance, and are inaccessible to the light of Nature. Paracelsus -- Philosophia Sagax
A. Stop indulging yourself and do what you know to be correct in the matter at hand.
B. Your confidence is misplaced.
C. The image suggests weakness and dependency.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows one with a chronic complaint, but who lives on without dying.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Persistently ill, and still does not die.
Blofeld: Illness is presaged, but it will not last long or cause death.
Liu: Long illness, but still living.
Ritsema/Karcher: Trial: affliction. Persevering, not dying.
Shaughnessy: Determination is illness; if constant you will not die.
Cleary (1): There is a persistent illness, but one never dies.
Cleary (2): Chaste in illness, one never dies.
Wu: It is like having a persistent illness, but not fatal.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She is mounted on a dynamic line in the central position, and her memories of the past have not yet perished. Wilhelm/Baynes: It rests upon a hard line. That it nevertheless does not die is due to the fact that the middle has not yet been passed. Blofeld: Illness is indicated because this yielding line comes immediately above a firm one. Recovery rather than death is to be expected because this line is, nevertheless, central to the upper trigram. Ritsema/Karcher: Trial: affliction. Riding a solid indeed. Persevering, not dying. Center not-yet extinguished indeed. Cleary (2): Being chaste in illness means riding on firmness. Never dying means not losing balance. Wu: Because its position remains central.
Legge: Line five is magnetic in the place of a dynamic ruler, and in danger of being carried away by the lust of enthusiasm. Her proximity to the powerful influence below is a source of danger. Hence she is represented as suffering from a chronic complaint.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is continually complaining. Yet the very struggling against the daily troubles constitutes his immediate incentive for living.
Wing: Total harmony is obstructed and impossible. Yet the very awareness of this will keep you from sinking again into chaos and eventual defeat.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Here enthusiasm is obstructed. A man is under constant pressure, which prevents him from breathing freely. However, this pressure has its advantage – it prevents him from consuming his powers in empty enthusiasm. Thus constant pressure can actually serve to keep one alive.
Anthony: The situation is difficult and uncomfortable. We are still under the influence of striving to achieve results or hedging to prevent them. However, our discomfort is useful in causing us to seek out these attitudes which block our progress.
Editor: At its most neutral, the image suggests a chronic condition currently not amenable to being cured. Sometimes this feels like ironic irritation: the oracle seems to be asking: "When are you ever going to learn?” The ego is clinging to outmoded ways (the "memories" mentioned in Legge's Confucian commentary), and is yet unable to fully comprehend the demands of the Work. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes #45, Gathering Together, with a corresponding line hinting that the source of our illness may be less-than-pristine dedication. Cleary (2): “Gathering around the position, there is no blame. If those who are not loyal remain ever-faithful to their original commitment, regret vanishes.”
Better is one’s own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed. Bhagavad Gita
A. A chronic problem remains unresolved.
B. Nobody’s perfect: do the best you can with what you have.
C. Old illusions obstruct your growth.
28 Critical Mass
Other titles: Preponderance of the Great, The Symbol of Great Passing, Excess, Great Excess, The Passing of Greatness, Great Surpassing, Great Gains, Experience, Greater than Great, Greatness in Excess, Dominance by the Mighty, The Passing of Greatness, Excess of the Great, Law of Karma
Judgment
Legge:Critical Mass depicts a weak beam. Under such conditions it is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. Success is indicated.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Preponderance of the Great. The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. Success.
Blofeld:Excess! The ridgepole sags. It is favorable to have some goal (or destination) in view. Success! [A glance at the hexagram will show that it is too heavy in the middle and too weak at the ends. A number of firm lines is generally auspicious, but there can be too much of a good thing!]
Liu: Great Excess. The ridgepole is crooked. It benefits to go anywhere. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher:Great Exceeding, the ridgepole sagging. Harvesting; possessing directed going. Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of your connection to a ruling principle. It emphasizes that pushing the guiding idea beyond ordinary limits and accepting the results is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Great Surpassing: The ridgepole bows upward; beneficial to have someplace to go; receipt.
Cleary (1): When the great is excessive, the ridgepole bends. It is good to go somewhere; that is developmental. [When the ridgepole snaps, the whole house falls down. In the same way, practitioners of the Tao who promote yang too much, who do not know when enough is enough, who can be great but cannot be small, suffer damage to their spiritual house.]
Cleary (2): When greatness passes, the ridgepole bends. It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, for you will succeed.
Wu:Excess of the Great indicates a beam that warps. It will be advantageous to have undertakings. It will be pervasive.
The Image
Legge: The image of trees beneath a marsh forms Critical Mass. The superior man, in accordance with this, fearlessly stands alone, and stays retired from the world without regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The lake rises above the trees: the image of Preponderance of the Great. Thus the superior man, when he stands alone, is unconcerned, and if he has to renounce the world, he is undaunted.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a forest submerged in a great body of water. The Superior Man, though standing alone, is free from fear; he feels no discontent in withdrawing from the world. [This is suggested by the component trigrams. Water is necessary for the nourishment of the trees, but too much of it can cause serious damage.]
Liu: The lake rising over the trees symbolizes Great Excess. The superior man, when isolated, is undisturbed. If he has to retreat from society, he feels no regret.
Ritsema/Karcher: Marsh submerging wood. Great Exceeding. A chun tzu uses solitary establishing not to fear. (A chun tzu uses) retiring-from the age without melancholy.
Cleary (1): Moisture destroys wood in excess. Thus superior people stand alone without fear, and leave society without distress.
Cleary (2): Moisture destroys wood. Developed people, etc. [Only when sustained by the power to stand alone without fear and avoid society without distress can learning be firmly rooted and development have a proper basis; then it is possible to refine and support the mediocre.]
Wu: Marsh covers over wood; This is Excess of the Great. Thus the jun zi stands alone without fear and withdraws from the world without melancholy.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Excess is weakly supported at either end, with weakness in both the lowest and topmost lines. The dynamic lines are in excess, but two of them are in the central positions. The trigrams of Flexibility and Satisfaction indicate that there will be advantage in moving in any direction whatever -- there will be success. Great indeed is the work to be done during this extraordinary time.
Legge: Extraordinary times require extraordinary skill in their management. The figure shows two magnetic lines at top and bottom, with four dynamic lines between them -- giving the image of a great beam unable to sustain its own weight. Lines two and five are both dynamic and central however, and from this and the attributes of the component trigrams a good auspice is obtained.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A stressful situation is best managed with a comprehensive strategy. (Or: in the chess game of life, one succeeds by planning several moves in advance.)
The Superior Man serves The Work by going his own way, regardless of public opinion.
Wilhelm titles this hexagram Preponderance of the Great. I prefer R.L. Wing's paraphrase of Critical Massas more evocative of the figure's meaning in modern terminology.
In Critical Mass four dynamic lines lurk inside of the hexagram, weakly contained at top and bottom by two magnetic lines. This energetic concentration could explode in an unpredictable release of force, and hence the Judgment tells us to move now (remember: non-action is also action) to avoid unwanted consequences. (Often the outcome is predictable – be prepared to just walk away if and when that is your best move.)
Legge’s translation of the Judgment is:
"...It is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. "
This is a different message than Wilhelm's:
"...It furthers one to have somewhere to go."
Legge’s version implies an almost hysterical flight from danger while Wilhelm's rendition suggests prior intention and planning. The latter interpretation is definitely what is meant here, as confirmed by Cleary’s Buddhist commentary:
When the transformative path is flourishing, contaminations easily arise; it is best to set up guidelines and regulations. When meditation work is advanced, ignorance is about to dissolve; it is best to exercise the mind skillfully.
Coupled with Cleary’s translation of the Image as: “Developed people stand alone without fear, avoid society without distress,” the idea is that one should follow one's best intuition and ignore popular illusions, political correctness or inner fears. (Psychologically: conventional thinking, socially conditioned reflexes, knee-jerk responses, etc.). During a time of Critical Mass, pay close attention to direction from the Self to preserve the Work. This is not the time to follow the crowd. Sometimes this can mean that you are obliged to go it alone – one of the Work’s frequent tests (Cf. line 6):
The Gulf is something that has to be leaped, and leaped alone, stripped of all hindering burdens, in faith ... It is thus one of the crisis points of spiritual progress because of the great temptation to turn back from the unknown to the apparent safety of known things, and to succumb to this temptation is to lose all the fruits of past endeavor. G. Knight -- A Practical Guide to Kabbalistic Symbolism
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the Judgment and Image of this hexagram with those of hexagram number 32, Consistency.
Anthony: We must regain modesty through the effort to rid ourself of strong elements that cause us to press forward. The strong elements may exist in someone else, causing them to assault us with their fear, mistrust or doubt. Strong refers to impetuous movement to resolve what is ambiguous … We can meet the challenge by remaining detached and letting things go through their changes … To be truly rich is to remain modest; to be truly powerful is to remain reticent.