Dispelling doubts
One tries the experiment again to show others that one was right. taoscopy.com
Biting Through21
Face conflicts head-on to clear blockages; decisive action breaks through obstacles.
↓ Line 1
The situation is difficult, but it is necessary to endure it without complaint.
↓ Line 3
Challenges are tough and may lead to minor setbacks, but persistence will lead to no lasting harm.
↓ Line 5
Success is possible through careful and persistent effort, despite the risks.
↓ Line 6
Being overly rigid or harsh can lead to misfortune and loss of understanding.
↓ Influence 31
Mutual attraction fosters influence and inspiration. Connect deeply to inspire change and strengthen bonds.
21 Biting Through
Other titles: Biting Through, Gnawing, The Symbol of Mastication and Punishment by Pressing and Squeezing, Gnawing Bite, Severing, Chewing, Punishment, Reformation, Reform, Differentiation, Discrimination, Making a Distinction, Getting the message "Something which should be, or has to be bitten through. This is essentially the legal hexagram. When asking about a man's intentions, he is probably married." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Success is found in Discernment. The restrictions of the law bring advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Biting Through has success. It is favorable to let justice be administered.
Blofeld: Gnawing. Success! The time is favorable for legal processes. [The concept of gnawing is suggested by the component trigrams, which are regarded (owing to the arrangement of their lines) as not commingling; they are as separate from each other as the upper and lower jaw when something tough is being gnawed.]
Liu: Chewing: Success. It benefits to administer justice. [Chewing indicates success through hard work. Those who get this hexagram will have trouble in the beginning.]
Ritsema/Karcher:Gnawing Bite, Growing. Harvesting: availing of litigating. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confronting a tenacious obstacle. It emphasizes that biting through and picking things clean until the essential is revealed is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: gnaw and bite through!]
Shaughnessy: Biting and chewing: Receipt; beneficial to use a court case.
Cleary (1):Biting through is developmental. It is beneficial to administer justice.
Cleary (2): Biting through is successful. It is beneficial to apply justice.
Wu: Discernment is pervasive. It will be advantageous to exact punishments.
The Image
Legge: The images of thunder and lightning form Discernment. Thus the ancient kings promulgated their laws and framed their penalties with intelligence.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and lightning: The image of Biting Through. Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes lightning accompanied by thunder. The ancient rulers, after making their legal code perfectly clear to all, enforced the laws vigorously. [The firm and yielding lines more or less alternate; or the lower trigram can be regarded as filled with the power of thunderous force, while the upper trigram, representing beauty, is soft and yielding. (Li, the upper trigram, stands for lightning as well as for fire, beauty, etc.) I do not know what the ancient Chinese views on thunder and lightning were; it appears from this that they were regarded as two forces which, like steel and flint, emitted brilliance when brought into sharp contact with each other. A pair of trigrams both with yielding centers is not felt to be a good arrangement; that it nevertheless favors the process of the law may have been suggested to the writer of the Text by the fact that the weak lines (morally weak people?) are fully contained by the strong (prison walls, warders and so forth?)]
Liu: Thunder and lightning symbolize Chewing. The ancient kings made the laws and clarified the penalties.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, lightning. Gnawing Bite. The Earlier Kings used brightening flogging to enforce the laws.
Cleary (1): Thunder and lightning, biting through. Thus did the kings of yore clarify penalties and proclaim laws. [Those who administer laws should emulate the ancient kings in first clarifying them before executing them, in order to avoid mistakenly injuring life.]
Wu: Thunder and lightning form Discernment. Thus the ancient kings made just punishments and upheld the law of the land.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The existence of something between the jaws gives rise to the name Discernment-- union by means of biting through the intervening article. The dynamic and magnetic lines are equally divided in the figure. Movement is denoted by the lower trigram, and Clarity by the upper -- thunder and lightning uniting in them, and having brilliant manifestation. The magnetic fifth line is in the center, and acts in her high position. Although she is not in her proper place, this is advantageous for the use of legal constraints.
Legge: Discernment means literally "union by gnawing." The figure consists of undivided lines in the top, bottom and fourth places -- giving the image of open jaws with something in them "being gnawed." When the object has been bitten through, the upper and lower jaws come together in union -- hence: " Union by gnawing." Remove the obstacles to union and high and low will meet together in understanding. The force exerted by gnawing suggests the idea of legal constraints.
The equal division of the dynamic and magnetic lines is seen by taking them in pairs, though the order of the first pair is different from the other two. The magnetic fifth line is the ruler of the hexagram, indicating that judgment is tempered by leniency.
Ch'eng-tzu says that thunder and lightning are always found together, and hence their trigrams go together to give the idea of union intended in Discernment: one trigram symbolizing majesty and the other intelligence.
Cleary (1): Practice of the Tao is like administering justice: Discerning true and false, right and wrong, is like the judge deciding good and bad; getting rid of falsehood and keeping truth, so as to preserve essence and life, is like the [just] administration rewarding the good and punishing the bad, so as to alleviate the burden of injustice.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Further the Work through careful Discernment between what is true and false, right and wrong, correct and incorrect.
The Image portrays the connection between cause and effect, where consequences are always based on the inexorable laws of nature.
To bite is to comprehend, and to bite through is to make distinctions. The top and bottom lines of the hexagram represent the upper and lower jaws, and both bear images of restriction and punishment. Each of the lines between them portrays some version of biting through flesh. Hence, the jaws define the general problem, and the teeth differentiate the details.
The symbol of losing teeth has the primitive meaning of losing one's grip because under primitive circumstances and in the animal kingdom, the teeth and mouth are the gripping organ. If one loses teeth, one loses the grip on something. Now this can mean a loss of self-control, etc. The English word grip is contained in the German word begriff (conception or notion). The Latin word conceptio means the same, i.e., catching hold of something, having a grip on something. Jung -- Letters
In I Ching symbolism, the "ancient kings” are always synonymous with spiritual authority. Analogous to gods or cosmic forces, their "laws" are like the laws of karma or of nature -- inexorable in their outcome. Therefore, the punishment theme in the hexagram warns us that a lack of Discernment in the matter at hand has built-in penalties: i.e., "Get the message or suffer the consequences.”
Behold, sin and punishment are one, and the fire of punishment is the fire that refines my works. Even in the sinner I am the actor, and I, too, am the sufferer in the experience of punishment. P.F. Case -- The Book of Tokens
To receive this hexagram without changing lines indicates a need to make some important distinctions in the matter at hand. “Figure it out” might make a good alternate title at such times. Cleary’s Taoist note on the image (“Those who administer laws should emulate the ancient kings in first clarifying them before executing them, in order to avoid mistakenly injuring life”) is a clear admonition to get all of your facts straight before proceeding with your inquiry. That you don’t know or understand something is implied.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
The twenty-first hexagram turned upside down becomes the twenty-second. The message for the superior man in the Image of each concerns the enforcement of law. What is the relationship between Discernmentand Persona in such a context? The component trigrams of these two figures also make up hexagrams number fifty-five, Expansion of Awareness and number fifty-six, Transition.The messages for the superior man in each of these figures also relate to litigation. Why? What do the four hexagrams suggest about the nature of the Work?
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows one with his feet in the stocks and deprived of his toes. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: His feet are fastened in the stocks so that his toes disappear. No blame.
Blofeld: The feet are shackled so that they may not walk -- no error is involved! [This line suggests that extreme firmness would not be culpable at this time.]
Liu: His feet are put in the stocks. It will injure his toes. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Shoes locked-up, submerging the feet. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Wearing stocks on the feet and with cut off feet; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Wearing stocks stopping the feet, there is no blame.
Wu: He wears a pair of shackles, which covers his toes. There is no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is no walking to do evil. Wilhelm/Baynes: He cannot walk. Blofeld: This method is used to prevent evil-doers from progressing in their wickedness. Ritsema/Karcher: Not moving indeed. Cleary (2): Means not acting. Wu: The light punishment warns him not to walk the wrong path again.
The Master said:The inferior man is not ashamed of what is not benevolent, nor does he fear to do what is not righteous. Without the prospect of gain he does not stimulate himself to what is good, nor does he correct himself without being moved. Self-correction, however, in what is small will make him careful in what would be of greater consequence; and this is the happiness of the inferior man. It is said in the I Ching, "His feet are in the stocks, and he is disabled in his toes - there will be no further occasion for blame."
Legge: The first and last lines of the hexagram are undergoing punishment which is inflicted by the other lines. Line one's offense is minor, and he is confined to the stocks to prevent him from making it worse.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man receives a mild sentence as a warning for a small offense.
Wing: Since this is only your first departure from the right path, only a mild punishment is forthcoming. This should serve the purpose of early Reform.
Editor: To be deprived of one's toes is to be unable to move -- the toes (or feet in some translations) are found in seven hexagrams, and all but one appear in the first line which indicates the beginning of movement. The idea is to nip a bad choice in the bud before it gains momentum. Sometimes the line can refer to circumstances beyond one's control which prevent one from taking an ill-considered or harmful action.
Even the venerable Church Fathers had to admit that evil is not only unavoidable but actually necessary in order to avert a greater evil... Punishment is also an evil and just as much a transgression as crime. It is simply the crime of society against the crime of the individual. And this evil, too, is unavoidable and necessary. Jung --Letters
A. You are held fast to prevent mistakes. Comprehension or growth is effected through restricted circumstances.
B. Circumstances impede or prevent action.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one gnawing dried flesh, and meeting with what is disagreeable. There will be occasion for some small regret, but no great error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites on old dried meat and strikes something poisonous. Slight humiliation. No blame.
Blofeld: Gnawing dried meat, he was poisoned, but not severely enough to indispose him for long -- no error! [This line presages trouble through no fault of ours which will not, however, incapacitate us for long.]
Liu: By chewing dried salt meat one gets poisoned. Small humiliation, but no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Gnawing seasoned meat. Meeting poison. The small abashed. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Biting dried meat and meeting with poison; small distress; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Biting on dried meat, running into poison. There is a little shame, but no blame.
Wu: He bites dried salted meat and gets an unpleasant aftertaste. There will be slight regret, but no error. [A yin in a yang position makes his judgment hard like biting on dried cured meat. The “unpleasant aftertaste” may suggest he is biting more than he can chew, he faces rowdy offenders, or he has a little rough time. But he makes no error.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She meets with what is disagreeable and hurtful -- her position is not the proper one for her. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. Blofeld: His being poisoned is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Wu: His position is improper.
Legge: Line three is magnetic in a dynamic place. Her action will be ineffective, and is symbolized by gnawing through tough meat only to taste something rancid. Since punishment is the rule in this hexagram, the auspice is not all bad.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man lacks sufficient power and authority and the culprit does not submit to him. It is like biting through old dried meat and coming upon something poisonous. Some humiliation results but no blame.
Wing: You lack sufficient power and authority to bring about Reform. Your attempts meet with indifference, and you may feel humiliated at your ineffective actions. Yet Reform is necessary, and therefore your endeavors are justified.
Editor: In his commentary Wilhelm emphasizes that "the matter at issue is
an old one.” A magnetic line in a dynamic place suggests weakness or passivity which is unable to deal very effectively with a long-standing problem. Implicit also is the idea of confronting something disagreeable within one's own psyche.
For there are very many kinds of evil which formed the delight of his former life, that is of the old life. These evils cannot all be subdued at once and together; for they cleave tenaciously, since they have been inrooted in the parents for many ages back, and are therefore innate in man, and are confirmed by actual evils from himself from infancy. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia
A. You seem impotent in coming to grips with an old issue. Recognition and acceptance of this are the first steps toward initiating needed reforms.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows one gnawing at dried flesh, and finding the yellow gold. Let her be firm and correct, realizing the peril of her position. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites on dried lean meat. Receives yellow gold. Perseveringly aware of danger. No blame.
Blofeld: While gnawing dried meat, he encountered a piece of gold embedded in it -- unwavering determination now will bring down trouble, but no error is involved. [If we persist with our plans, trouble will arise; the only comfort we can take is that we shall not be to blame for it.]
Liu: By chewing the dried meat one gains gold. To continue is dangerous. No blame.
Shaughnessy: Biting dry meat and meeting with poison; determination is dangerous; there is no trouble.
Cleary (2): Biting dry meat, finding gold, if one is upright and diligent there will be no blame.
Wu: He bites dried meat and gets yellow gold. He will have no error if he remains perseverant in such a critical situation. [What he bites suggests he still has a hard time simply because he is not strong-minded. A softhearted person vested with the authority of a judge should be perseverant in impartiality.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She will possess every quality appropriate to her position and task. Wilhelm/Baynes: She has found what is appropriate. Blofeld: That we shall not be to blame for the trouble is indicated by the suitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Acquiring the appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): This is finding what is appropriate. Wu: Because he acts properly.
Legge: The fifth line represents the ruler and judge. As it is a magnetic line, she will be disposed to leniency, and her judgments will be correct. This is shown by her finding the "yellow metal." (Yellow is one of the five "correct" colors.) The position is in the center, but because the line is magnetic, a caution is given, as under the previous line.
Anthony: We would like to be lenient, but our job is to be impartial. To accept an alliance merely because the other person wants it, while they are not firmly committed to being correct, would be wrong. They must realize, through their own perception, that correctness is the only path to an alliance, and that spiritual growth is the source of unity that endures.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: A clear-cut case meets with difficulty because of a tendency to be lenient. The man must be as true as gold and as impartial as the mean.
Wing: Even though there are few alternatives, a decision is difficult to make. Once you choose the course you will take, do not waver from your decision. Remain aware of the dangers and in this way you will surmount them.
Editor: Flesh: Meat, food, nourishment -- the raw material, data or experience of the situation at hand. Dried: Tough, difficult to chew and digest -- difficult to sort out, comprehend or accept as true. Yellow:Color of the mean, of the sun -- suggests wisdom which comes from clarity, balanced perception. Gold: The supreme treasure, Divine Intelligence, truth.
When a man sins, good and evil are intermingled. A legal opinion is a clear separation between the permitted and the forbidden, the clean and the unclean. When you study religious law, good is once again separated from the evil and the sin is rectified. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
A. Sorting out a complex issue involves difficulty, but success is possible -- you have the resources to comprehend the matter.
B. Success lies in making a hard choice.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows one wearing the cangue, and deprived of his ears. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: His neck is fastened in the wooden cangue, so that his ears disappear. Misfortune.
Blofeld: He wears a wooden cangue which hides his ears -- misfortune!
Liu: His neck is put in the wooden collar. His ear is injured. Misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore locking-up submerging the ears? Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Carrying a cangue on the shoulders and with a cut-off ear; inauspicious.
Cleary (2): Wearing a cangue destroying the ears is unfortunate.
Wu: He wears a cangue that covers his ears. There will be foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He wears the cangue and is deprived of his ears -- he hears, but will not understand. Wilhelm/Baynes: He does not hear clearly. Blofeld: This implies dullness of hearing or intellect. [This suggests that, for the present, we should not put much trust in our own judgment.] Ritsema/Karcher: Understanding not brightened indeed. Cleary (2): Means not listening clearly. Wu: Because he hears, but does not heed.
From the Great Treatise: If acts of goodness be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to give its finish to one's name; if acts of evil be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to destroy one's life. The inferior man thinks that small acts of goodness are of no benefit, and does not do them; and that small deeds of evil do no harm, and does not abstain from them. Hence his wickedness becomes great till it cannot be pardoned. This is what theI Ching says, "He wears the cangue and his ears are destroyed: there will be evil."
Legge: The action of the hexagram has passed, and here we have one still persisting in wrongdoing. He is a strong criminal, wearing the cangue and deaf to counsel. Of course the auspice is evil.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is deaf to repeated warnings. Evil accumulates, as he thinks, "Small sins do no harm.” His guilt grows until it cannot be pardoned.
Wing: A person who cannot recognize his own shortcomings will drift farther and farther from the path. A person who is no longer on the path cannot understand the warnings of others. The original text states: "There will be evil.”
Editor: Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines "Cangue" as: "A wooden collar three or four feet square used in oriental countries for confining the neck and sometimes also the hands for punishment.” It is a more severe analogue of the stocks mentioned in the first line of the hexagram.
He who rejects discipline despises his own self; he who listens to correction wins discernment. Proverbs 15: 32
A. You haven't gotten the message and must suffer the consequences of your lack of comprehension.
B. "Deaf to counsel." Stubborn illusions prevent you from making a connection.
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?