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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 4
True enthusiasm attracts support and leads to great achievements. Trust in your vision and gather allies.
↓ Line 6
Misguided enthusiasm can lead to mistakes, but recognizing and correcting them will prevent blame.
↓ Youthful Folly4
Seek guidance and be open to learning. Embrace mistakes as opportunities for growth.
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 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows him from whom the harmony and satisfaction come. Great is the success which he obtains. Let him not allow suspicions to enter his mind, and thus friends will gather around him.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The source of enthusiasm. He achieves great things. Doubt not. You gather friends around you as a hair clasp gathers the hair.
Blofeld: From repose, great results accrue. Harbor no doubts. Why should it be harmful to befriend this official? [The meaning of this terse question is not obvious; but the enquirer may find it apt in the context either of his question or of subsequent events.]
Liu: The source of happiness. One receives great gain without hesitation. Your friends are already successful.
Ritsema/Karcher: Antecedent Provision. The great possesses acquiring. No doubting. Partners join-together suddenly.
Shaughnessy: Really excess; if one greatly has gain, do not doubt; cowries and shells slander.
Cleary (1): Being the source of joy, there is great gain. Do not doubt. Companions gather.
Wu: Let merriment have its way. There is much to gain. No doubt about it. Friends will unite their hairpins.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His aims take effect on a grand scale. Wilhelm/Baynes:
His will is done in great things. Blofeld: The first sentence indicates the fullest attainment of our will. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose: the great moving indeed. Cleary (2): The aspiration is carried out greatly. Wu: His aspirations are fully realized.
Legge: The dynamic subject of line four is the agent to whom the happy condition is owing, and it is only necessary to caution him to maintain his confidence in himself and his purpose. His adherents and success will continue.
Anthony: The source of enthusiasm is in believing in our path and its ultimate success, because it is correct. We gather friends and helpers when this belief is strong enough that we do not try to convince people or contend with them. Contending comes from the ego, which secretly disbelieves.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is confident, free of suspicions of others, and sincere in his dedication. He instills harmony and satisfaction among his associates. People gather around him in effective cooperation.
Wing: Harmonious times are approaching. It is safe to exhibit your confidence in the future. Your attitude will attract others to you, who will co-operate in your endeavors. In this way you can accomplish great deeds.
Editor: As the only dynamic line in the hexagram, line four is considered to be its ruler. When we note that Legge mentions "harmony and satisfaction" instead of "enthusiasm," we begin to see the meaning behind Blofeld's title of Repose. Indeed, his translation of the line begins: "From repose, great results accrue..." Wilhelm's version gives the idea of consolidating forces "as a hair clasp gathers the hair." Psychologically interpreted, a process of integration is symbolized. The line can sometimes be a gentle admonition to have faith in your own unconscious processes to advance the Work.
The One does not aspire to us, to move around us; we aspire to it, to move around it. Actually, we always move around it; but we do not always look. We are like a chorus grouped about a conductor who allow their attention to be distracted by the audience. If, however, they were to turn towards their conductor, they would sing as they should and would really be with him. We are always around The One. If we were not, we would dissolve and cease to exist. Yet our gaze does not remain fixed upon the One. When we look at it, we then attain the end of our desires and find rest. Plotinus -- The Enneads
A. A powerful force calmly organizes separate elements to effect a synthesis.
B. Quiet SELF-confidence inspires the allegiance of inner forces, accumulating energy for transformation.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject with darkened mind devoted to the pleasure and satisfaction of the time. But if she changes her course even when it may be considered as completed, there will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Deluded enthusiasm. But if after completion one changes, there is no blame.
Blofeld: Madcap repose. Fortunately a change takes place, so no blame is involved. [Madcap repose implies being tardy to the point of extreme rashness in the face of approaching danger or of a need to act.]
Liu: Deluded happiness. Change after completion. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dim Providing-for. Accomplishment: possessing denial. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Dark excess; if complete perhaps you will be informed; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Oblivious in joy. What comes about has change; there is no blame.
Cleary (2): … What has come about changes, etc.
Wu: Merriment is obscured. There may be success, but changes are pending. There will be no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: How can one in such a condition continue for long? Wilhelm/Baynes: Deluded enthusiasm in a high place: how could this last? Blofeld: Since this is a top line, the state of madcap repose cannot possibly last long. Ritsema/Karcher: Dim Providing-for located above. Wherefore permitting long-living indeed? Cleary (2): Oblivion in joy is at the top. What can last? Wu: How can the situation continue for long?
Legge: The magnetic sixth line at the end of the hexagram is all but lost.
The action of the figure is over, and if she postpones changing her evil ways any longer, there is no hope remaining for her. However, there is still a chance of safety if she will but change.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is distracted by pleasure and satisfaction. If he changes after the events of the day have run their course, however, the sober awakening will prevent future errors.
Wing: The person in this position is lost in the memory of a compelling and harmonious experience. The time is past, and what is left is empty egotism. Fortunately, reform is possible. There is an opportunity to move on to a situation of new growth.
Editor: This line has a similar auspice as that of its (improper) correlate in line three. Wilhelm's commentary states: "A sober awakening from false enthusiasm is quite possible and very favorable." Note that “no blame” is mentioned, suggesting that you are more ignorant than culpable in the situation at hand.
While he is in a state of bondage, that is while lusts and falsities rule, the man who is subjected by them supposes that he is in a state of freedom; but it is a gross falsity, for at the very time he is carried along by the delight of his lusts and of the pleasures derived from them, that is, by the delight of his loves; and because it is by a delight it appears to him as free. Everyone thinks himself free while he is being led by some love -- so long as he follows whithersoever it leads. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia
A. Conquer your illusions and change your ways.
B. Illusions are shattered when pursued to their logical conclusions.
4 Youthful Folly
Other Titles: Youthful Folly, The Symbol of Covering, Immaturity, Uncultivated Growth, Youth, Acquiring Experience, Youthful Ignorance, Enveloping, Folly, Darkness "Often the I Ching uses this hexagram to show us that we should not be asking this question." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Inexperience means progress and success. I do not seek the inexperienced youth, but he seeks me. When he shows the sincerity proper for divination, I instruct him. If he asks two or three times, that is troublesome, and I do not instruct the troublesome. Firm correctness brings advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Youthful Folly has success. It is not I who seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me. At the first oracle I inform him. If he asks two or three times, it is importunity. If he importunes, I give him no information. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Immaturity. Good fortune! I am not one to seek out uncultivated youths, but if such a youth seeks me out, I shall at first read and explain the omens. Yet should he ask me many times, just because of his importunity, I shall not explain anything more. The omen indicates a need for proper direction. [This hexagram suggests stubbornness (the upper trigram) issuing from the softness of the womb (the lower trigram). While it sometimes happens that youthful rashness succeeds where sober counsels fail, it is nevertheless the duty of the mature man to cultivate the minds of the young and to respond, within reason, to their requests for guidance. As an omen, this hexagram may be taken to imply a case in which a certain amount of rashness may lead to success, but in which older people are not absolved from the duty of guiding the young. There is also a suggestion that the Book of Change itself, though fully responsive to those who make the right approach, will not brook importunity in the form of trivial questions or of seeking to reverse its judgments by further questioning. Whether the omen may be taken to mean that we should go ahead with some rash scheme or that it is time for us to restrain someone's youthful rashness will depend upon the nature of the enquiry, the people concerned in it and the particular moving lines involved in the response.]
Liu: It is not I who seek him, the youth seeks me. The first time he asks, I answer; but if he asks again and again, it is annoyance: no answer. Benefit for continuance.
Ritsema/Karcher: Enveloping, Growing. In-no-way me seeking youthful Enveloping. Youthful Enveloping seeking me. The initial oracle-consulting notifying. Twice, three-times: obscuring. Obscuring, by-consequence not notifying. Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of concealment and clouded awareness. It emphasizes that actively accepting this concealment in order to nurture growth is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Folly: Receipt; it is not we who seek youthful folly; youthful folly seeks us. The initial milfoil divination is auspicious, but if two or three times drawn out, being drawn out then it is not auspicious; beneficial to determine.
Cleary(1): In darkness is development. It is not that I seek naïve innocence; naïve innocence seeks me. The first augury informs; the second and third defile. Defilement does not inform. It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary(2):Darkness. Getting through. It is not that I seek the ignorant; the ignorant seek me. The first pick informs, the second and third muddle. That which is muddled does not inform. Benefit is a matter of correctness.
Wu:Ignorance is pervasive. It is not that I ask the ignorant lad to come for instruction. It is that the ignorant lad comes to request my instruction. As in divination, he will be instructed the first time. If he asks the same question for the second and third times, he is disrespectful. Having been judged disrespectful, he will not be instructed again. It will be advantageous to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: A spring issuing from the mountain -- the image of Inexperience. The superior man, in accordance with this, nourishes his virtue and strives for resoluteness of conduct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A spring wells up at the foot of the mountain: the image of Youth. Thus the superior man fosters his character by thoroughness in all that he does.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a watery hole at the foot of a mountain amidst uncultivated growth. The Superior Man by determined good conduct nourishes his virtue. [The second sentence is deduced from the first; both are suggested by the component trigrams.]
Liu: A spring comes out at the foot of the mountain; this symbolizes Youth. The superior man will cultivate his character through decisive action.
Ritsema/Karcher: below Mountain issuing-forth spring-water. Enveloping. A chun tzu uses fruiting movement to nurture actualizing-tao. [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): Under a mountain a spring is produced, in darkness. A superior person nurtures character with fruitful action.
Cleary (2): Under a mountain emerges a spring, in darkness. Leaders use effective action to nurture inner qualities.
Wu: A spring flows at the foot of a mountain; this is Ignorance. The jun zi resolves to taking steps to cultivate his virtue.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Inexperience shows the trigram of the Mountain above that of the Abyss. The perilous impasse suggested by these figures evokes the idea of inexperience. Progress and success are suggested because the action and development of the hexagram conform to the requirements of the time. When inexperience seeks wisdom, will responds to will. The oracle responds to sincerity because it has the qualities of the dynamic line in the central second place, but the oracle does not respond to ignorant importuning. The proper duty of a sage is to nourish the correct nature of the ignorant.
Legge: Difficulty shows us plants struggling within the earth, and Inexperiencesuggests the small and undeveloped sprouts which then appear upon its surface. This is an image of youthful ignorance, and the object of the hexagram is to show how those in authority should deal with it. The Judgment takes the form of the oracle's response to the questioner.
The upper trigram represents a frowning mountain which blocks the progress of the traveler. The lower trigram symbolizes a stream of water in a dangerous canyon, such as might be found at the foot of a mountain. The combination of these symbols suggests the perilous nature of ignorant inexperience.
The subject of line two represents the oracle, who demands sincerity from the unenlightened. It is his duty to evoke the innate "correct nature" hidden within the questioner, to bring this quality out and develop it. In regard to the Image, Chu Hsi says that "the water of a spring is sure to move on and gradually advance." This may serve as a symbol of the general process and progress of education.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Inexperience portrays the relationship between the ego and the Self as one of student to master. Communication via the oracle demands seriousness of purpose -- the Self refuses to pander to the ego's illusions.
The Superior Man furthers the Work by developing his will and intent.
Wilhelm's title for this hexagram is Youthful Folly, which tends to lend it a negative connotation that is not always strictly applicable. However, he is quick to point out that the title "should be understood to mean the immaturity of youth and its consequent lack of wisdom, rather than mere stupidity."
While the title of Inexperience avoids the negative connotation, it must be acknowledged that there is an aura of irritation in this hexagram which illustrates an uncomfortable truth about the relationship between the ego and the Self. The Self is an awesome archetype, and once one has established contact with him, he assumes a distinctly stern personality. The Self will not pander to the ego's illusions, and has no patience with anything but the unvarnished truth. Tact and patience are not among his attributes. Lao Tse describes him very accurately:
The Sage is unkind: He treats the people like sacrificial straw dogs.
Which is just the way it is. As a satellite of the Self, the ego-complex was not created just so that it could spend a lifetime indulging its fantasies. The Work must be undertaken, and the Self knows more than you do what remains to be done. Like any excellent teacher, he demands more of us than we think we have in us to give. This phenomenon of the tyrannical and often "unjust" Self has been noted in many times and places. Here is an example from Neo-Platonism:
What shall we say in regard to the question: "Why do the divinities that are invoked require the worshipper to be just, although they themselves when entreated consent to perform unjust acts?" In reply to this I am uncertain in respect to what is meant by "performing unjust acts," as the same definition may not appear right both to us and to the gods. We, on the one hand, looking to that which is least significant, consider the things that are present, the momentary life, what it is and how it originates. The beings superior to us, let me say, know for certain the whole life of the soul and all its former lives; and if they bring on a retribution from the supplication of those who invoke them, they do not increase it beyond what is just. On the contrary, they aim at the sins impressed upon the soul in former lifetimes, which men do not perceive, and so imagine that is unjust that they fall into the misfortunes which they suffer. Iamblichus -- The Egyptian Mysteries
A contemporary expression of this idea comes from consciousness researcher, John Lilly, famous for his work with dolphins and isolation tank experiments with psychedelic drugs:
Cosmic Love [e.g., the Spiritual Self] is absolutely Ruthless and Highly Indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not. John Lilly
By definition, "the gods" (archetypes) are not human. Were it possible for them to evolve without human vessels in Spacetime, presumably we humans would not exist. It is these archetypes, in the guise of our complexes and limiting beliefs, that are being altered by the Work. Because the unconscious psyche is a multiverse, it is sometimes very difficult to differentiate just "who" is advising us, and the Self via the oracle, will occasionally test us for our ability to use intuitive common sense.
Which is to say: when the gods (or the "Self") become totally "unreasonable," we can only go along with them to the limit of our human understanding. Slavish obedience to all injunctions from the unconscious is to sell our souls outright to something that we don't understand. The renunciation of "common sense" is the renunciation of our most precious birthright.
On the other hand, to "disobey" at will is to put our souls at risk. This is one of the most painful of all dilemmas -- how far do we go in our obedience to unseen powers? Aspects of this problem have been called The Dark Night of the Soul -- an inner initiation, a trial by fire to see what we are really made of. There are times in the advanced course of the Work when one receives the strange insight that the Self actually wants us to disobey! This ordeal can only be lived through -- no one can advise you except your own sense of what is right for you at any given moment.
The most useful guideline that I have found is that the precepts of the Work (as found in the Perennial Philosophy) are consistent worldwide, and constitute a reliably moral structure for responsible choice. If the oracle seems to be telling you to do something contrary to your inner sense of right and wrong, contrary to your understanding of the precepts of the Work, then go with this intuition rather than the oracle. The Self, via the oracle, will test you in many ways to make you develop. (The ultimate goal is to become so infallibly intuitive that oracles become superfluous.)
The gods need our intelligent disobedience if they themselves are to evolve. It is in the stress between obedience and conscientious disobedience that growth takes place. In one sense, whatever choice you make, as long as it is conscious and you fully accept the consequences, is the right choice for you at that moment. We learn through our mistakes, and can never fail our lessons if we truly integrate the experience into our unfolding lives.
Confucius, one of the greatest teachers who ever lived, obviously took his teaching method from the Judgment of this hexagram:
The Master said:"I won't teach a man who is not anxious to learn, and will not explain to one who is not trying to make things clear to himself. And if I explain one- fourth and the man doesn't go back and reflect and think out the implications in the remaining three-fourths for himself, I won't bother to teach him again."
And so it is with the oracle (the Self) -- the deeper one gets involved in the Work, the more difficult the lessons become, so that one is always kept in a position of relative Inexperience. There are times, when a simple answer would suffice, that you will receive an ambiguous image, which (if you do three-fourths of the work), will lead you to a profound insight.