Wiki I Ching

Approach 19.1.2.3.6 52 Keeping Still

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19
Approach
To
52
Keeping Still

Starting a rumor
One affirms without evidence what others have not wanted to acknowledge.
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Approach 19
Openness and approachability bring success.
Embrace others with sincerity and attentive leadership.
Seize opportunities with confidence while recognizing the temporary nature of influence.


Line 1
The beginning of a new cycle.
Cooperation and perseverance lead to success.


Line 2
Harmonious cooperation with others brings good fortune and progress.


Line 3
Complacency may lead to stagnation.
Awareness and reflection can prevent blame.


Line 6
A generous and open-hearted approach leads to good fortune and is without blame.


Keeping Still 52
Stay still and composed.
Focus inward, find tranquility amidst chaos.
Embrace calmness to understand your inner self.



19
Approach


Other titles: The Symbol of Advance and Arrival, Nearing, Overseeing, Condescension, Getting Ahead, Promotion, Conduct, Drawing Near, Becoming Great, The Forest, Advance, Advancing, "Two people advancing together; or a good influence which hasn't been seen or felt for some time, is approaching." -- D.F. Hook

 

Judgment

Legge: Approach means successful progress through firm correctness. In the eighth month there will be evil.

Wilhelm/Baynes : Approach has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. When the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune.

Blofeld:Approach.Sublime success! Righteous persistence brings reward. However, when the eighth month is reached, misfortune will befall. [The eighth moon of the lunar calendar corresponds approximately to September.]

Liu: Approach. Great Success. It is of benefit to continue. When the eighth month arrives, then there will be misfortune.

Ritsema/Karcher: Nearing, Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. Culminating tending-towards the eighth moon: possessing a pitfall. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of approaching and being approached. It emphasizes that acting without immediately expecting to attain what you desire is the adequate way to handle it...]

Shaughnessy: The Forest: Prime receipt; beneficial to determine; arriving at the eighth month there is inauspiciousness.

Cleary (1):Overseeing is creative and developmental, beneficial if correct. In the eighth month there is misfortune.

Cleary (2):Overseeing is very successful, beneficial if correct. If you go on until the eighth month, there will be misfortune. [If you ride on the momentum of the time and do not know to turn back, at a certain point deterioration will inevitably set in, after flourishing has reached its climax, and there will surely be misfortune.]

Wu:Condescension is great, pervasive, and persevering, etc. [Condescension as used in several judgments has two meanings: to condescend (or to look down from a higher position) and to press forward with authority.]

Hua-Ching Ni: Advance. It is beneficial to go forward with a positive attitude, but be mindful of the cyclical nature of things.

 

The Image

Legge: The earth over a marsh -- the image of Approach. The superior man is inexhaustible in his instruction and unflagging in his nourishing support of the people.

Wilhelm/Baynes: The earth above the lake: the image of Approach. Thus the superior man is inexhaustible in his will to teach, and without limits in his tolerance and protection of the people.

Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes land rising above a marsh. The Superior Man's teaching and his affection for his juniors are inexhaustible. Nothing hinders him in his care for the people. [The lower component trigram suggests the nourishment which the Superior Man gives joyfully to others. The upper trigram symbolizes the great bulk of those who benefit.]

Liu: The earth above the lake symbolizes Approach. The superior man's will for instruction has no limit. He is boundless in his support and protection of the people.

Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing earth. Nearing. A chun tzu uses teaching to ponder without exhausting. [A chun tzu uses] tolerating to protect the commoners without delimiting.

Cleary (1): Above the lake there is earth, overseeing. Superior people use

inexhaustibility of education and thought to embrace and protect the people without bound.

Wu: There is ground above the marsh; this is Condescension. Thus the jun zi realizes that there is no limit to the ideas of education and there is no boundary in the protection of people.

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: In Approach we see the dynamic lines gradually increasing and advancing. The lower trigram is the symbol of Being Pleased, and the upper of Being Compliant. The strong line is in the central position, and is properly responded to. It is the way of heaven to bring progress and success through firm correctness, however the advancing power will decay after no long time.

Legge: Approach suggests the approach of authority -- to inspect, to comfort or to rule. The figure shows two dynamic lines advancing on the four magnetic lines above them. Their action will be powerful and successful, but it must be governed by rectitude and a caution that understands the nature of continuous change.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Judgment: Two steps forward are followed by one step backward.

The Superior Man remains true to the Work regardless of fluctuations within the psyche.

The meaning of Approach is derived from the two dynamic lines advancing from below to encounter the magnetic lines above. These two are firm allies, and the action of the superior man in the Image suggests that their ascent is one of benevolent regard for the welfare of their subordinates -- only the third line need change for the hexagram to become number eleven, Harmony. We are reminded of the proper relationship between the ego and the Self -- when they advance together, the magnetic forces in the rest of the psyche are eventually transformed.

This hexagram recognizes the inevitably slow progress of the Work (" Rome wasn't built in a day"), and that advances are always followed by retreats. The point is that if one maintains the will to advance, one can be confident that the Work is advancing, regardless of appearances.

(Confucius) tried his best, but the issue he left to Ming. Ming is often translated as Fate, Destiny or Decree. To Confucius, it meant the Decree of Heaven or Will of Heaven ... Thus to know Ming means to acknowledge the inevitability of the world as it exists, and so to disregard one's external success or failure. If we can act in this way, we can, in a sense, never fail. For if we do our duty that duty through our very act is morally done, regardless of the external success or failure of our action.
Fung Yu-Lan -- A Short History of Chinese Philosophy

Without changing lines, the hexagram suggests a progressive advance in the matter at hand. Nature being what it is however, no advance can be sustained indefinitely and an eventual regression can be expected. (This observation is such a truism that we must assume it is more than usually applicable to the current situation.)


Line 1

Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows its subject advancing in company with the subject of the second line. Through his firm correctness there will be good fortune.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.

Blofeld: All approach -- righteous persistence will bring good fortune! [All approach can be taken to mean that all things desirable are converging upon us.]

Liu: Approach with sincerity. To continue brings good fortune.

Ritsema/Karcher: Conjunction Nearing, Trial: significant.

Shaughnessy: Prohibited forest; determination is auspicious.

Cleary (1): Sensitive overseeing leads to good results when correct.

Wu: Pressing forward with a companion will be auspicious.

Hua-Ching Ni: Advance impartially. One should start in this manner and continue in this direction. Good Fortune.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: His will is set on doing what is right. Wilhelm/Baynes: His will is to act correctly. Blofeld: This is because what is willed is carried out in righteous ways. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose moving, correcting indeed. Cleary (2): Because the intention and the action are correct. Wu: Because his aspiration is correct.

Legge: Line one is dynamic in his proper place. The danger is that he may be more strong than prudent -- hence the caution requiring firm correctness.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Siu: At the outset, the man advances with his associates to a higher position. He must remain more prudent than strong in doing right and not be carried away by the popular will.

Wing: Begin your endeavors in the company of those who share your enthusiasm. This will give you the kind of strong support necessary to achieve your aims. At the same time you should be certain that you are pursuing worthwhile goals. Continuing in your principles brings good fortune.

Editor: The texts of the first two lines are almost identical. As the only two yang forces in the hexagram they support and reinforce each other in their advance on the yin lines. The image suggests an ego-Self accord in the work of pacifying disparate forces within the psyche. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram becomes number seven, Discipline, which reinforces the idea of a disciplined dynamic advance. In the context of certain questions, the Confucian commentary here sometimes seems more accessible than the original line.

If you want to go your original way, it is the way you make for yourself, which is never prescribed, which you do not know in advance, and which simply comes into being of itself when you put one foot in front of the other. If you always do the next thing that needs to be done, you will go most safely and sure-footedly along the path prescribed by your unconscious.
Jung -- Letters

A. Mutual advancement. Ego and Self are in accord. Advance the Work.

Line 2

Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject advancing in company with the subject of the first line. There will be good fortune; advancing will be in every way advantageous.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Joint approach. Good fortune. Everything furthers.

Blofeld: All approach -- good fortune! Nothing is unfavorable. [All approach can be taken to mean that all things desirable are converging upon us.]

Liu: To approach with sincerity brings good fortune. It is beneficial for everything.

Ritsema/Karcher: Conjunction Nearing: significant. Without not Harvesting.

Shaughnessy: Prohibited forest; auspicious; there is nothing not beneficial.

Cleary (2): Sensitive overseeing is good, beneficial all around. [The second yang is also in the momentum of gradually increasing strength, but at this point it is best to keep still and not ride on the momentum to try to advance; then it will be good and beneficial all around.]

Wu: Pressing forward with a companion will be auspicious. Everything will be advantageous.

Hua-Ching Ni: Impartial advance without prejudice continues…

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: This is because those to whom the advance is made are not yet obedient to the ordinances of heaven. Wilhelm/Baynes: One need not yield to fate. Blofeld: This indicates that there is nevertheless some disobedience. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet yielding-to fate indeed. Cleary (2): This is addressed to those who are not yet in harmony with the universal order. Wu: There are still those who do not obey the ordinances of heaven. [Since prosperity of the yang is considered a good omen and meets the approval of heaven, presence of the four yin in the yang’s path of advance is indicative of disobeying the ordinances of heaven.]

Legge: Line two is dynamic, but in a magnetic place. This is counterbalanced by the central position and the proper correlate in line five.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Siu: People who are not obedient to the ways of heaven are induced to follow the steadfast man in a high position. The future will be advantageous in every way.

Wing: What you propose to do wins sympathy and support from higher forces. So correct are your ideals that you can overcome even inherent difficulties. The future is bright indeed.

Editor: The differences in meaning between lines one and two are extremely slight in English translation. Cleary’s Buddhist commentary on the line suggests the idea of controlling the momentum of an otherwise favorable action. (See also his commentary on the Judgment.) Wu’s note on the Confucian commentary shows line two in immediate contact with four yin lines, interpreted here as recalcitrant forces. On another tack, if we take Ritsema/Karcher's version of "Conjunction Nearing: significant...” literally, we can imagine two possible approaching syntheses (line 1 and line 2), one of which may be more auspicious than the other. Only the context of your query can provide a plausible interpretation of these very different readings.

If Jung's method is used in the analysis, the change initiated by the conflict proceeds under the guidance of the individual's own unconscious. The analyst does not assume that he knows the answer to the problem but sets out with his patient to explore the unconscious and seek the solution. He is necessary to the proceeding because he has a technique for interpreting the obscure unconscious material thrown up in the dreams and fantasies; also, he is needed as a fixed point to which the patient can cling during the transition, when all values are under question and all landmarks may disappear.
M. E. Harding -- Psychic Energy

A. An approaching conjunction of forces (or obvious choices) will nullify an adverse bias in the situation.

B. An alliance for progress furthers the Work.

C. Ego and Self administer the psyche.

Line 3

Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one well pleased indeed to advance, but whose action will be in no way advantageous. If she becomes anxious about it however, there will be no error.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Comfortable approach. Nothing that would further. If one is induced to grieve over it, one becomes free of blame.

Blofeld: A willing approach, but there is nowhere towards which it would be advantageous to set out. Feeling regret on that account involves no error.

Liu: Cheerful approach does not benefit further. If one fears regret, no blame.

Ritsema/Karcher: Sweetness Nearing. Without direction: Harvesting. Already grieving-over it: Without fault.

Shaughnessy: Sweet forest; there is no place beneficial; having been saddened by it, there is no trouble.

Cleary (1): Presumptuous overseeing is of no benefit. If one is troubled over this, there is no blame.

Cleary (2): … but if you trouble over it, there will be no blame.

Wu: Condescending for flaunting purposes has nothing to gain. If he is concerned of his behavior, he will make no error.

Hua-Ching Ni: Easy advancement. If one abuses one’s position, there will be trouble in the long run. If this tendency is corrected immediately, there will be no blame.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: She shows herself well pleased to advance, but her position is not that appropriate to her. If she become anxious about it her error will not be continued. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. A fault that induces grief no longer exists. Blofeld: The foregoing is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. However, if we grieve for it, we shall not be involved in error for long. [At present, there is no goal or destination towards which it would be profitable to move; however, if we sincerely regret this, it will not be long before we emerge from the rut.] Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Fault not long-living indeed. Cleary (2): Once you trouble over it, blame will not last long. Wu: He is out of place. His error will be temporary.

Legge: Line three is magnetic, neither central nor in her correct position, and therefore her action will not be advantageous. Being at the top of the lower trigram of Pleased Satisfaction, she is well pleased to advance. Anxious reflection will save her from error.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Siu: The man gains power, influence, and comfort. There is danger of relation and carelessness in dealing with others. But if he becomes apprehensive about his actions, he will not continue in his error and will avoid troubles.

Wing: An easy Promotion is possible now. This might lead to a careless attitude on your part. There is danger in such overconfidence. If you are quick to recognize the need for continuous caution, however, you can avoid mistakes that would otherwise harm you.

Editor: The image depicts a case in which one’s powers are not equal to the challenge. Ritsema/Karcher translate Without direction: Harvesting as: “No plan or direction is advantageous; in order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events.” That is, success demands that you refrain from action or drop the subject of inquiry. Their rendition of: Grieving-over it means: “Sorrow, melancholy; mourn; anxious, careworn; hidden sorrow…heart-sick and anxious.” One can receive this line under conditions of deep grief, wherein (as in any line of the I Ching), extremely subtle insights often transcend an exact paraphrase.

Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Psalms 127: 1

A. Whether simplistic, overconfident, or just naive, your assumptions in the matter at hand are incorrect. Do not act on them.

B. Desire for something to be true doesn't make it true. Correct your viewpoint. If sorrow is involved, accept it as your teacher.

C. Unwarranted overconfidence. Nothing can be done now.

D. There are no free rides -- wake up and serve the Work.

Line 6

Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows the advance of honesty and generosity. There will be good fortune, and no error.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Greathearted approach. Good fortune. No blame.

Blofeld: A magnanimous approach -- good fortune, no error.

Liu: Benevolent approach brings good fortune. No blame.

Ritsema/Karcher: Magnanimity Nearing. Significant. Without fault.

Shaughnessy: Thick forest; auspicious; there is no trouble.

Cleary (2): Attentive overseeing is good and blameless.

Wu: Condescending with honesty is auspicious, etc.

Hua-Ching Ni: Sincere advancing. Good Fortune. No blame.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: This is because her will is focused on the first two lines of the lower trigram. Wilhelm/Baynes: The will is directed inward. Blofeld: This good fortune arises from concealing our will within our hearts. [This would seem to mean that, for the present, we should gladly accord with others and carefully conceal our aims.] Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose located inside indeed. Cleary (2): The good of attentive overseeing is in the will being within. Wu: Because his aspiration is directed inward.

Legge: Line six is at the top of the upper trigram of Docility. Although the first and second lines of the hexagram are not her proper correlates, it is proper for the yin to seek for the yang, and it is emphatically so in this case.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Siu: The sage returns from retirement to teach and help others, who greatly benefit from his experience.

Wing: The person in this position will allow others to benefit from the wealth of his experience. Such generosity will bring unaccountable progress to all concerned. This is a true moment of greatness.

Editor: An "advance of honesty" suggests truth: to be "honest" about something is to acknowledge its truth. "Generosity" implies the unselfish acceptance of this truth: perhaps a tolerant concession to a less-than-perfect status quo. Wilhelm renders the Confucian commentary in the imagery of the will being directed inward; Blofeld interprets it as magnanimity coupled with a hidden agenda which is not inconsistent with good will. Ritsema/ Karcher's "Purpose located inside indeed," reinforces this idea. Tolerance or leniency is definitely implied: Wilhelm describes a sage, retired from the world, generously lending his wisdom to the people. Psychologically, the image can suggest that advance in the situation at hand consists of turning inward for support: the developing ego concentrates on connecting with the perfect will of the Self.

Since the mind which persuades and that which is persuaded are one in their basic unity, true persuasion consists in revealing the truth of the oneness of existence.
Prince Shotoku

A. A charitable forbearance with an imperfect world makes room for the Work to grow.

B. Ego/Self alignment facilitates profitable interaction with others.

52
Keeping Still


Other titles: Mountain, Keeping Still, The Symbol of Checking and Stopping, Desisting, Stilling, Stillness, Stoppage, Bound, Reposing, Resting, Meditation, Non-action, Stopping, Arresting Movement, "Refers to meditation and yoga." -- D.F. Hook

 

Judgment

Legge: When his repose is like the back, and he loses all consciousness of self; when he walks in his courtyard and does not see the people, there will be no error.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Keeping Still. Keeping his back still so that he no longer feels his body. He goes into his courtyard and does not see his people. No blame.

Blofeld: Keeping the back so still as to seem virtually bodiless, or walking in the courtyard without noticing the people there involves no error!

Liu: Stillness. Keeping the back still -- one feels that the body no longer exists. Even when one walks in the courtyard, one sees no people. No blame.

Ritsema/Karcher: Bound: one's back. Not catching one's individuality. Moving one's chambers. Not visualizing one's people. Without fault. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confronting a boundary or obstacle. It emphasizes that stopping and acknowledging the limit, the action of Bound, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to stop!]

Shaughnessy: Stilling his back , but not stilling his body: Walking into his courtyard, but not seeing his person; there is no trouble.

Cleary (1):Stopping at the back, one does not have a body; walking in the garden, one does not see a person. No fault.

Cleary (2):Stilling the back, one does not find the body, etc.

Wu:Stoppage indicates that, resting on his back, he does not find his body and walking in his courtyard, he does not see any person. Faultless.


The Image

Legge: The image of one mountain atop another formsKeeping Still. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not allow his thoughts to go beyond the duties of his immediate circumstances.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Mountains standing close together: the image of Keeping Still.. Thus the superior man does not permit his thoughts to go beyond his situation.

Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes two mountains conjoined. The Superior Man takes thought in order to avoid having to move from his position.

Liu: Mountain next to mountain symbolizes stillness. The superior man's thoughts do not go beyond his position.

Ritsema/Karcher: Joined mountains. Bound. A chun tzu uses pondering not to issue-forth-from one's situation.

Cleary (1):Joining mountains. Thus do superior people think without leaving their place.

Cleary (2):The mountains are still. Thus the thoughts of developed people are not out of place.

Wu: One mountain overlapping another makes Stoppage. Thus the jun zi does not contemplate things beyond his position. [Confucius said: “If you do not hold an office, do not give counsels on its administration.” What he meant is: not to volunteer counsels freely. On the other hand, if you are requested, then give the best you can.]

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge:Keeping Stillmeans stopping: One rests when it is time to rest, and acts when it is time to act. When action and rest occur at the proper times, one's behavior is enlightened. Keeping his back still, he rests in his proper place. The upper and lower lines of the hexagram all mirror each other, but are without any interaction: Hence it is said that he has no consciousness of [ego]. He does not see the persons in his courtyard, and there will be no error.

Legge: Two trigrams symbolizing Mountain make up the hexagram ofKeeping Still. Mountains rise up grandly from the surface of the earth, their huge masses resting on it in quiet and solemn majesty. They are barriers to the onward progress of the traveler. The attributes of this hexagram are both resting and arresting. It denotes the characteristic of resting in what is right in principle, right on the widest possible scale -- in the absolute conception of the mind and in every possible position in which a man can be placed. As in hexagram number thirty-one, Initiative, the symbolism is taken from the different parts of the human body.

According to the K'ang-hsi editors, the second sentence in the Image should be translated: "The superior man, in consequence with this, thinks anxiously how he shall not go beyond the duties of his position."

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Judgment:"Wipe out imagination: check desire: extinguish appetite: keep the ruling faculty in its own power.” -- Marcus Aurelius

The Superior Man eliminates all distraction and concentrates on the matter at hand.

A large portion of the Work consists of nothing more than the will to keep still. Anyone who has ever tried it can attest that Keeping Still, or doing “nothing,” is probably the most difficult thing that a human can be asked to do. We are an ever-flowing fountain of restless desire -- the senses are mindlessly programmed to encounter their objects, and when we prevent them from doing this, a great commotion occurs in the psyche. We are so accustomed to feeling our desires, drives, instincts and appetites as integral to our awareness, that we are seldom conscious of the fact that they are actually autonomous forces -- as separate from the ego, or choice-making complex, as we are from other people, creatures or objects in the physical world. Try controlling an ingrained habit, such as smoking, and observe how difficult it is to impose your will upon it. Who controls whom?

The power of sight does not come from the eye, the power to hear does not come from the ear, nor the power to feel from the nerves; but it is the spirit of man that sees through the eye, and hears with the ear, and feels by means of the nerves. Wisdom and reason and thought are not contained in the brain, but they belong to the invisible and universal spirit which feels through the heart and thinks by means of the brain. All these powers are contained in the invisible universe, and become manifest through material organs, and the material organs are their representatives, and modify their mode of manifestation according to their material construction, because a perfect manifestation of power can only take place in a perfectly constructed organ, and if the organ is faulty, the manifestation will be imperfect, but not the original power defective.
Paracelsus -- De Viribus Membrorum

The ego has only one legitimate function -- to make choices: it is the switchboard in the psyche which directs where the energy of the instinctual powers shall go. If these autonomous forces are stronger than the will of the ego, they soon learn to get their way as often as possible. The main difference between an inferior and a superior man is that the latter has learned to control and direct his energies for a higher purpose. One of the best ways to acquire this ability is to learn the lessons inherent within Keeping Still.

Psychoanalysis has demonstrated that the power of these images and complexes lies chiefly in the fact that we are unconscious of them, that we do not recognize them as such. When they are unmasked, understood, and resolved into their elements, they often cease to obsess us; in any case we are then much better able to defend ourselves against them.
Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis

The lines of the upper and lower trigrams are mirror images of each other, yet not one of them has a proper correlate: they don't connect with each other. This suggests the separation of the senses from their objects. For example, eyeballs are sensory-receptors designed for the perception of light and form -- close your eyes, and they are prevented from contacting the phenomena they were created to perceive. That the psychic entities attached to this desire to perceive phenomena might resist restriction is a foregone conclusion, but the ego has control over the eyelids -- or should have. “Not seeing the people in one's own courtyard” means that one ignores one's autonomous impulses.

Regulation of the psyche’s autonomous manifestations in accordance with the will of the Self is for the purpose of gaining a controlling influence over one’s karma. As stated herein many times, you, as ego, are nothing more than a tool created by the Self for the direction of its own destiny.

Both karma theory and quantum mechanics refuse to accept that observers can exist independent of the systems they observe. Spiritual science goes so far as to take the observer’s own internal universe and its states as its experimental field. For it is within that field that karma is produced and stored …The “matter” from which we and our obstructions are created includes both the dense physical material from which our bodies are built and the thoughts, attitudes and emotions that make up our minds. Tantric practice is karmic engineering within this field of name and form, orchestration of substance and action into result. First you direct new causes against previous effects to nullify adverse influences on your awareness, then you unleash yet further actions to negate the influence of the nullifying actions.
Robert Svoboda –Aghora III, The Law of Karma

How any ego could tackle such responsibilities with any hope of progress is impossible to imagine without the direction of the Self. Keeping Still certainly has its own karmic consequences, but when the “not choosing” implied in this hexagram is done in accordance with the Self’s will and intent, the results slowly lead to ever higher levels of awareness – eventually into realms beyond the physical. That is what the Work is all about: any other choice is to lock ourselves into a continuous round of birth and death in physical manifestation.

The Kabbalists teach that everything we do stirs up a corresponding energy in other realms of reality. Actions, words, or thoughts set up reverberations in the universe. The universe unfolds from moment to moment as a function of all the variables leading up to that moment. When we remain cognizant of this mystical system, we are careful about what we do, say, or even think, for we know that everything is interdependent; we know that a seemingly insignificant gesture could have weighty consequences.
Rabbi David Cooper – God is a Verb

 

SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION

Notice that every line of this hexagram except the last deals with an inherent challenge involved in the discipline required to keep still. Compare the lines in Keeping Still with similar lines in hexagram 31, Initiative.