Wanting to see only the bright side
One refuses to hear embarrassing confidences. taoscopy.com
Splitting Apart23
Unraveling structures; necessary endings. Prepare for new beginnings. Embrace the change, allowing the old to fall away.
↓ Line 1
The foundation is weak, and persistence in this situation leads to ruin.
↓ Line 2
The situation is deteriorating, and continued effort will not prevent the collapse.
↓ Line 5
Support comes from unexpected quarters, leading to favorable outcomes.
↓ Inner Truth61
Inner truth and sincerity lead to harmony and trust. Genuine communication fosters unity. Be truthful with yourself and others to create meaningful connections.
23 Splitting Apart
Other titles: Splitting Apart, The symbol of Falling or Flaying, Peeling Off, Decay, Flaying, Stripping Away, Intrigue, Deterioration, Collapse, Fracturing, Tearing, Disintegration, Ruin, Unraveling, "Can refer to a physical parting. Making a secure foundation." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Disintegration means that it is not advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Splitting Apart. It does not further one to go anywhere.
Blofeld: Peeling off. At present, there is no goal (or destination) which can be sought with advantage. [Peeling off in the sense of getting rid of hindrances (or hinderers) one after another. The first four lines of this hexagram symbolize a process of ridding ourselves progressively of all those upon whom we are accustomed to rely, for the powers of darkness are in the ascendant and no one can be trusted. However, in the long run, virtue triumphs, as indicated by line five, and ultimately we are all the more esteemed for our steadfastness, as can be seen from line six.]
Liu: Decay. It is unfavorable to undertake anything.
Ritsema/Karcher:Stripping not Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of something outmoded or worn out. It emphasizes that eliminating what has become unusable is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Flaying: Not beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1):Stripping away does not make it beneficial to go anywhere.
Cleary (2): … It is not beneficial, etc.
Wu: Tearing indicates that it is not advantageous to have any undertaking.
The Image
Legge: The image of a mountain adhering to the earth forms Disintegration. Superiors therefore strengthen their inferiors to secure the peace and stability of their own position.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The mountain rests on the earth: the image of Splitting Apart. Thus those above can ensure their position only by giving generously to those below.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a mountain resting upon the earth. The truly great shower generosity upon those under them to enable them to live in peace and comfort. [The upper and lower trigrams, mountain and Earth, symbolize the Superior Man and the people in his care.]
Liu: The mountain stands on the earth, symbolizing Decay. Those above should act with benevolence toward those below. Then there will be peace and security.
Ritsema/Karcher: Mountain adjoining with-respect-to earth. Stripping. Using munificence above to quiet the position below.
Cleary (1): Mountains are joined to the earth. Those above secure their homes by kindness to those below.
Wu: The mountain is subordinated to the earth; this is Tearing .Thus those above treat those below with liberal rewards to secure their own positions.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Disintegration means overthrowing or being overthrown: the magnetic lines attack the dynamic line at the top in order to change it into one of themselves. It is unwise to move in any direction because inferior elements are now increasing in power. The superior man, observing this, stops all forward movement. He defers to the exigency of the time, realizing that increase and decrease, ripeness and decay are cyclic rhythms.
Legge:Disintegrationis the symbol of falling or causing to fall, and refers to the process of decay or overthrow in both the natural and political worlds. The figure consists of five yin lines below and one yang line on top. Decay has begun at the bottom and crept upward. The hexagram symbolizes the ninth month when summer has passed and the year is about to fall into the sterile arms of winter. In the political world, inferior men have gradually displaced good men until only one remains. The lesson for him is to wait because the power operating against him is too strong. Eventually a change for the better will appear. The specific image is that of a bed and its occupant, and the symbolism describes the attempts made to overthrow him. The lower trigram of Docility and the upper trigram of Keeping Still suggest to the superior man of line six how he can best deal with the prevailing circumstances. The situation is not hopeless -- winter is followed by spring, night by day, and the waning moon soon grows full again. So will it be in the course of human affairs.
The idea behind the Image is that a mountain has the earth for its foundation. If the earth is thick, the mountain preserves its height. So it is with the sovereign and people.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Disintegration means do not act.
The Superior Man stabilizes his responses and seeks tranquility.
The twenty-third hexagram is the inverse ofReturn, the hexagram immediately following it. Each figure depicts an opposite pole in a cyclic progression. Here the old cycle has disintegrated to the point of dissolution. The following hexagram depicts theReturnto the beginning of a new cycle.
The first four lines of Disintegration show the gradual erosion of a position or frame of reference, symbolized by a bed or couch. The inferior forces creep up from below like termites to undermine a solid foundation. The fifth line shows a gathering of forces for a potentially positive transformation, and the top line suggests the first stages of this transformation. The implication is that times of disintegration needn't always be regarded as negative, or a foregone conclusion. We still have the choice to alter conditions in our favor.
That the superior man "strengthens his inferiors" to insure the stability of his position, means that one stabilizes one's psychological situation by defusing the causes of rebellion -- safeguard the foundation where it is weak. Hexagram number forty-three, Resoluteness, is a negative picture of this figure, and the message in the Image is very similar: "The superior man does not hoard his wealth, but shares it with his subordinates." The idea is subtle -- it doesn't mean to indulge your weaknesses, but to monitor them encouragingly so that they may become transformed into positive forces.
Whenever we go deep enough toward the core of a sub- personality, we find that the core -- which is some basic urge, or need -- is good. For practical purposes, this can be considered an absolute. No matter how many layers of distortion may surround it, the basic need, the basic motivation, is a good one -- and if it becomes twisted, it was because of not being able to express itself directly. The real core -- not what the sub- personality wants, but what it needs -- is good. A basic purpose of the coordination phase is to discover this central urge or need, to make it conscious, and to find acceptable ways in which it can be satisfied and fulfilled. And, provided we have sufficient understanding and skill, it can be satisfied -- if not fully, at least enough to maintain the process of growth. James Vargiu -- Subpersonalities
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows one overturning the couch by injuring its legs. The injury will go on to the destruction of all firm correctness, and there will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The leg of the bed is split. Those who persevere are destroyed. Misfortune.
Blofeld: He starts the peeling off at the foot of the bed. There is no steadfastness -- misfortune!
Liu: The legs of the bed are rotting. If one continues despite this, misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stripping the bed, using the stand. Discarding the Trial: pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Flaying the good together with the legs; determination about the military is inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Stripping a bed of the legs, destroying rectitude brings misfortune.
Cleary (2): … Destroying uprightness, etc.
Wu: He tears down the legs of the bed. Without regard to what is correct, it will be foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Thus she commences her work of ruin with what is lowest in the superior man. Wilhelm/Baynes: "The leg of the bed is split," in order to destroy those below. Blofeld: This implies ridding ourselves of those below. [Because he finds them unworthy. What is said in the various lines about the foot, edge and mattress of the bed means that he is obliged to continue the peeling off process until he reaches those very close to himself; there is no one left whom he can trust to help him in his work of righteousness.] Ritsema/ Karcher: Below using submerging indeed. Cleary (2): (He) is destroying the foundation.[In contemplating mind, this refers to removing the foundation of discipline.] Wu: He destroys the underpinning.
Legge: The attempt in line one is made by commencing with the legs of the couch. The symbolism goes on to explain itself. The object of the evil worker is the overthrow of all firm correctness. Of course there will be evil.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the superior men around the ruler are being undermined by the slander and intrigue of inferior men on their destructive path. All that can be done is to be patient while the evil continues.
Wing: Your position is being undermined. Persons of inferior persuasions have entered the situation from below and are creating an environment for Deterioration. The time bodes evil for persons of integrity. All you can do is patiently wait.
Editor: A bed is a resting place, a context or matrix, as “the bed of a river.” The legs of the bed are its support, or foundation. Thus, the injury or disintegration of the legs is synonymous with "not having a leg to stand on." The image suggests the destruction of a fundamental premise which is essential for correct behavior.
That a bed signifies doctrine, is from correspondence, for as the body rests in its bed, so does the mind rest in its doctrine. Swedenborg
A. Your assumptions are unfounded -- to continue in error brings unfortunate consequences.
B. Destructive forces are active -- to pursue your present course is to feed their intent.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows one overthrowing the couch by injuring its frame. The injury will go on to the destruction of all firm correctness, and there will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The bed is split at the edge. Those who persevere are destroyed. Misfortune.
Blofeld: He continues peeling off at the edge of the bed. There is no steadfastness -- misfortune!
Liu: The frame of the bed is rotting. If one continues despite this, misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stripping the bed, using marking-off. Discarding the Trial: pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Flaying the good together with the dividers; determination about the military is inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Stripping a bed of its frame, destroying rectitude brings misfortune.
Cleary (2): … Destroying uprightness, etc.
Wu: He strips away the panels of the bed. Without regard to what is correct, it will be foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The superior man has as yet no associates. Wilhelm/ Baynes: One has no comrade. Blofeld: This implies being left without friends. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet possessing associating indeed. Cleary (2): There is nothing to work with. Wu: He does not have a responsive correlate.
Legge: line two has the same effect as line one, except that the foe has advanced from the legs to the frame of the couch.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The inferior men grow stronger. No help is in sight. Great caution and stubborn adherence to personal convictions are required.
Wing: The time requires the utmost caution. You are without allies in a compromising situation. Adapt as best you can to the circumstances. Do not take a self-righteous position or you could be badly hurt.
Editor: The legs are what the bed stands upon; the frame is what defines its perimeter. Line two therefore suggests the destruction of a definition which is essential to a doctrine, belief or discipline. For example, a basic tenet of Alcoholics Anonymous is the idea that each member must abstain entirely from alcohol. To expand the rules to permit the consumption of one ounce of alcohol per day would be to "overthrow the couch" -- the entire concept of what Alcoholics Anonymous is would be destroyed by including such an idea in its framework. Sometimes receiving this line is a simple acknowledgment that an old viewpoint or belief was inadequate -- in which case it needed to be destroyed.
As long as soul stays true to itself, it loves the divinity and desires to be at one with it, as a daughter loves with noble love a noble father. When, however, the soul has come down here to human birth, it exchanges (as if deceived by the false promises of an adulterous lover) its divine love for one that is mortal. And then, far from its begetter, the soul yields to all manner of excess. Plotinus
A. Suggests a situation with weak or disintegrating boundaries.
B. Conclusions based on faulty premises are worthless. Rationalization may be a factor.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows its subject leading on the others like a string of fishes, and obtaining for them the favor that lights on the inmates of the palace. There will be advantage in every way.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A shoal of fishes. Favor comes through the court ladies. Everything acts to further.
Blofeld: A string of fishes symbolizing the high favor enjoyed by maids in the palace -- everything is favorable. [This line seems somewhat to contradict the omen provided by this unlucky hexagram. In such cases, what is said in the moving line must be regarded as specially apt for our particular circumstances; i.e. in spite of the wretched conditions prevailing, those who receive this moving line can pursue their goals without fear of failure.]
Liu: A string of fish. Favor comes through women of the palace. Everything is good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Threading fish. Using housing people, favor. Without not Harvesting.
Shaughnessy: Strung fish; eating the palace men's steamer; there is nothing not beneficial.
Cleary (1): Leading fish, gaining favor through court ladies; beneficial in every respect.
Cleary (2): Leading fish with the favor shown to court ladies, there is all-around benefit.
Wu: Like a school of fish, the court ladies are led in to gain the royal favor. Everything will be fine.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In the end there will be no grudge against her. Wilhelm/ Baynes: In the end this is not a mistake. Blofeld: This implies that ultimately we shall be entirely free from blame. Ritsema/Karcher: Completing without surpassing indeed. Cleary (2): In the end there is no grudge. Wu: There will be no resentment in the end.
Legge: With line five the symbolism changes. She is the ruler of all the other magnetic lines who are at her disposal. They are imaged as fishes (which come under the category of yin), following each other as if strung together. The ruler of these yin lines is loyal to the yang sixth line, the rightful sovereign in his palace, and she leads the others to him to enjoy his favors. The K'ang-hsi editors say: "The magnetic fifth line occupies the most honorable place in the figure. She is a queen who leads her subjects to obtain the favors given to the inmates of the palace. She has no jealousy or other vice which seeks to overthrow the ruler."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The dark forces undergo change, yielding to the strong influence of the basic goodness of men.
Wing: An inferior situation is beginning to change for the better. Through co-operation, opposing forces can come together for mutual benefit. There is now a possibility for success in your endeavors.
Editor: This is an image of an intermediate power organizing inferior powers to lend support to (or obtain favors from) a superior power. Psychologically interpreted, one can think of ego, archetypal complexes and Self, respectively.
The governor of a circle is of course its center, around which everything revolves. In the psyche likewise, the center is ruler of the entire man. In the conscious realm the ego is master, but in this larger sphere the ego is only one voice among many. The ruler here must transcend the ego. It must be a suprapersonal value that can command the allegiance and obedience of the ego, just as the ego, through the development of consciousness, comes to transcend the [archetypal complexes]. This ruler Jung has called the Self. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. An approaching synthesis. Disparate forces are brought under control.
B. Insights present themselves for contemplation.
C. Contemplate what is wrong in the situation and integrate your forces.
61 Inner Truth
Other titles: The Symbol of Central Sincerity, Inward Confidence, Inner Truthfulness, Sincerity, Centering- Conforming, Central Return, Faithfulness in the Center, Sincerity in the Center, Insight, Understanding, The Psyche, "Take the middle road and avoid extremes." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Inner Truth moves even pigs and fish, and leads to good fortune. There will be advantage in crossing the great stream. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Inner Truth. Pigs and fishes. Good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Inward Confidence and Sincerity. Dolphins -- good fortune! It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). Persistence in a right course brings reward.
Liu:Inner Truthfulness. Sea Lions -- good fortune. It is of benefit to cross the great water.
Ritsema/Karcher:Centering Conforming, hog fish significant. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting trial. (Hog fish, T’UN YU: aquatic mammals; porpoise, dolphin; intelligent aquatic animals whose development parallels the human; sign of abundance and good luck.) [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the relation between your inner core and the circumstances of your life. It emphasizes that bringing your central concerns and your life situation into a sincere and reliable accord is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Central Return: the piglet and fish are auspicious; harmonious: beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial to determine.
Cleary (1): Faithfulness in the center is auspicious when it reaches even pigs and fish . It is beneficial to cross great rivers. It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary (2): Sincerity in the center is auspicious when simple-minded ... etc.
Wu:Sincerity moves piglets and fishes. Auspicious. It will be advantageous to cross the big river with perseverance.
The Image
Legge: Wood on a Marsh -- the image of Inner Truth. The superior man deliberates about cases of litigation and delays the infliction of death.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind over lake: the image of Inner Truth. Thus the superior man discusses criminal cases in order to delay executions.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing over a marshy lake. The Superior Man devotes careful thought to his judgments and is tardy in sentencing people to death.
Liu: The wind over the lake symbolizes Inner Truthfulness. The superior man judges criminals and postpones capital punishment.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing wind. Centering Conforming. A chun tzu uses deliberating litigating to delay dying.
Cleary (1): There is wind above a lake, with truthfulness between them. Thus superior people consider judgments and postpone execution.
Cleary (2): There is wind over a lake, with sincerity in the center. True leaders consider judgments and postpone execution.
Wu: There is wind above the marsh: this is Sincerity. Thus, the jun zi deliberates the verdicts and enjoins the death sentence.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Inner Truth shows two magnetic lines occupying the innermost part of the hexagram, with dynamic lines in the centers of the trigrams. We see the attributes of Cheerfulness and Flexible Penetration -- sincerity thus symbolized reaches even to pigs and fishes and will transform the country. We see one riding on the symbol of Wood, which forms an empty boat -- hence it is advantageous to cross the great stream. The virtue of Inner Truth requires firm correctness and shows the proper response of man to heaven.
Legge: Inner Truth denotes the highest quality of man, giving its possessor the power to prevail with spiritual beings, with other men and with lower creatures. There are two magnetic lines in the center and two dynamic lines above and below them. The magnetic lines represent the heart and mind free from all preoccupation, without any consciousness of self. The two dynamic lines immediately above and below them are each in the center of their respective trigram, and denote the solid virtue of one so free from selfishness.
The trigram of Wood above the trigram for a Lake or Marsh suggests a boat crossing the great stream. The pigs and fishes symbolize the rudest and most obstinate of men. Ch'eng-tzu observes: "We have in the sincerity shown in the upper trigram superiors condescending to those below them in accordance with their peculiarities, and we have in that of the lower those below delighted to follow their superiors. The combination of these two things leads to the transformation of the country and state."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: It is a great accomplishment when Inner Truthalters archetypal forces within the psyche. The ego’s devotion to the Work is the means to this end.
The Superior Man carefully differentiates his options and avoids drastic measures. (Can sometimes mean: "Don't act until you are sure of all the facts.")
Anyone who monitors his dreams and other images knows that the unconscious is a continuous wellspring of psychic energy. Jung has observed that we are probably dreaming all of the time -- the only reason we don't usually notice this is because the conscious mind is so powerful that the more subtle manifestations of the psyche are eclipsed. Since consciousness consists of only the upper layers of a deep continuum of awareness it is obvious that we are being continuously "created from within." The ultimate source of our being is not easily accessible, but all of the empirical evidence points to a "Self" which transcends the space-time continuum -- i.e., lives in another "dimension."
The capacity to nullify space and time must somehow inhere in the psyche, or, to put it another way, the psyche does not exist wholly in time and space. It is very probable that only what we call consciousness is contained in space and time, and that the rest of the psyche, the unconscious, exists in a state of relative spacelessness and timelessness. Jung --Letters
This seemingly exotic concept was written by Jung in 1939, yet today the theories of the quantum physicists are approaching the point where awareness itself will be recognized as space-time transcendent.
In the modern Kaluza-Klein theory all the forces of nature, not merely gravity, are treated as manifestations of spacetime structure. What we normally call gravity is a warp in the four spacetime dimensions of our perceptions, while the other forces are reduced to higher-dimensional spacewarps. All the forces of nature are revealed as nothing more than hidden geometry at work ... There is a deep compulsion to believe in the idea that the entire universe, including all the apparently concrete matter that assails our senses, is in reality only a frolic of convoluted nothingness, that in the end the world will turn out to be a sculpture of pure emptiness, a self-organized void. Paul Davies -- Superforce
The physicists now hypothesize an eleven-dimensional universe, and state that the seven "extra" dimensions are somehow "rolled up to a very small size" so that they are not apparent to our senses. If we are going to hypothesize such fantastic realms it is more elegant to hypothesize consciousness itself as emanating from an extra-dimensional source. This is the Pleroma of the Gnostics and Alchemists, the upper and lower worlds of shamanism, or in Jungian parlance: the Objective Psyche or Collective Unconscious.
The familiar spacetime of our conscious experience consists of three linear dimensions, plus time. Time is considered a dimension, but not like the other three -- one can go up, down, forward and backward, to the left or right at will, but one cannot go back to this morning or forward to next Thursday afternoon. The time dimension is a continuous "now" and we experience it and the other three dimensions from the reference point of consciousness -- we are the center from which all dimensions radiate. Consciousness is like time in that it is always "now," and since consciousness emerges from within in a continuous and autonomous flow, we can legitimately hypothesize that we emanate from a power source in another dimension. We are a kind of continuous explosion from within -- a microcosmic version of the "Big Bang" which originated the universe, and which, incidentally, is still exploding-expanding outward into space.
If everything that is recognizable is so only because it has separated itself from the "all and nothingness," leaving its complementary half behind in the unmanifested state, then the earth too must have its complementary half in the unmanifested state, and the force of gravitation it exerts on all the creatures and objects living on it is the striving for reunification between the earth and its unmanifested complementary half which has been left behind in the void as its negative reflection. The earth's gravitational pull thus draws all the earth towards the void which stands beyond time and space, in order to bring about this reunion. If the earth were to yield, all the earth and everything on it would disappear into the center, into the void. But that would be a return to the paradisiacal unity -- to God -- to bliss! Elisabeth Haich -- Initiation
The image of the hexagramInner Truth gives us the idea of an "empty" center -- as good an image as could be devised from the structural components of the trigrams to show the inner source of human consciousness. The pigs and fishes of the Judgment are the archetypal complexes which must be tamed through the process of the Work, and to "cross the great stream" with firm correctness is to accomplish this holy task.
Through all ages men have sought, and some have found; there is a door through which we can pass out on to the higher planes, but that door is within the soul, it is an enlargement of consciousness whereby we perceive these things to which we have hitherto been blind, and from such perception comes the sense of reality which is lacking while we perceive nothing but appearances. Whoso has this wider vision is freed from the limitations of the five physical senses; his memory extends back beyond birth, and his hopes go forward beyond death ... Having all aspects of his own nature harmoniously developed, he is at one with all aspects of the universe, nothing is alien to him, and no form of existence is hostile. The path of life is open before him and he treads it with joy. D. Fortune -- The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage