Asking for everyone's approval
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Danger29
Face repeated challenges with courage and determination. Embrace setbacks as opportunities to build resilience. Stay true to your principles to navigate through difficulties.
↓ Line 1
This line warns of the danger of falling into a cycle of misfortune. It suggests caution and awareness to avoid repeated mistakes.
↓ Line 3
This line suggests that when surrounded by danger, it is wise to pause and assess the situation before proceeding.
↓ Line 4
This line indicates that simplicity and modesty in difficult times can lead to contentment and avoid blame.
↓ Line 6
This line warns of being trapped in a situation with no apparent escape, leading to prolonged misfortune. It advises seeking a new perspective or approach.
↓ The Creative1
Pure potential. Creative energy. Initiate bold actions.
29 Danger
Other titles: The Abysmal, The Symbol of Sinking, Water, The Abyss, Gorge, Repeating Gorge, Repeated Entrapment, Double Pitfall, Multiple Danger, Double Water, The Deep, Dark Forces, The Perilous Pit, "May not be as bad as it sounds, but whatever happens, remain true to yourself." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: The trigram of Danger, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is penetrating. Action in accordance with this will be of high value.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Abysmal repeated. If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, and whatever you do succeeds.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss -- grave danger! All will be well if confidence is maintained and a sharp hold kept upon the mind; activities so conducted will win esteem.
Liu: Water doubled. Danger. Sincerity leads to success (peacefulness) in your heart and mind. You will succeed in your actions. [This hexagram means danger, misfortune, or entanglement in a difficult situation... You should be both careful and patient; do not struggle with all of the difficulties around you.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Repeating Gorge. Possessing conformity. Holding-fast the heart Growing. Movement possesses honor. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a dangerous situation you cannot avoid. It emphasizes that taking the risk without reserve, the action of Gorge, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: venture and fall!]
Shaughnessy: Repeated Entrapment: There is a return; the appended heart; receipt; in motion there will be elevation.
Cleary (1): In mastering pitfalls there is truthfulness; thus the mind develops. There is excellence in practice.
Cleary (2): In multiple danger, if there is sincerity, the mind gets through and action has value.
Wu:Entrapment indicates there is confidence. The heart of the matter is that it is pervasive. Actions taken in its accord will be commendable.
The Image
Legge: The image of water flowing on continuously forms the repeated trigram of Danger. The superior man, in accordance with this, maintains constantly the virtue of his heart and the sincerity of his conduct, and practices the business of instruction.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal. The image of the Abysmal repeated. Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water flowing on and on and abyss upon abyss. [The trigram K'an is usually inauspicious; here it occurs in duplicate as the upper and the lower trigram; thus the implication is that we are beset by grave dangers from which, if we can escape them at all, the utmost skill and confidence will be required to extricate ourselves.] The Superior Man acts in accordance with the immutable virtues and spends much of his time instructing others in the conduct of affairs.
Liu: Water flows unceasingly into the depths symbolizing Water doubled. The superior man constantly preserves his virtue and practices his task of education.
Ritsema/Karcher: Streams reiterating culminating. Repeating Gorge. A chun tzu uses rules actualizing-tao to move. [A chun tzu uses] repeating to teach affairs. [Actualize-tao, TE: realize tao in action; power, virtue; 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): Water travels, double water. Thus do superior people consistently practice virtue and learn how to teach.
Cleary (2): Water comes repeatedly – multiple danger. Developed people practice teaching by constant virtuous action. [This is in perfect accord with the Tiantai Buddhist teaching of knowing how to get through an impasse, the method of making an impasse itself into a way through; this is also the method of skillfully using natural ills.]
Wu: Water comes time and again; this is Entrapment. Thus the jun zi practices virtuous conduct and reviews didactics.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Danger repeated shows us one defile succeeding another. This is the nature of water -- it flows on, without accumulating its volume so as to overflow; it pursues its way through a dangerous defile, without losing its true nature. That the mind is penetrating is indicated by the dynamic line in the center. Advance in accordance with this will be followed by achievement. The dangerous height of heaven cannot be ascended; the difficult places of the earth are mountains, rivers, hills and mounds. Kings and princes arrange, by means of such strengths, to maintain their territories. Great indeed is the use of what is here taught about seasons of peril.
Legge: The trigram of Danger which is doubled to form this hexagram is the symbol of water, and means a pit, a perilous cavity or defile with water flowing through it. The trigrams consist of a dynamic central line between two magnetic lines. Together they symbolize danger -- how it should be encountered, its effects on the mind, and how to escape from it.
Liang Yin says: "Water stops at the proper time, and moves at the proper time. Is not this an emblem of the course of the superior man in dealing with danger?”
The K'ang-hsi editors say that to exercise one's self in meeting difficulty and peril is the way to establish and strengthen the character, and the use of such experience is seen in all measures for self-defense.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Commitment to the Work engenders a keen discernment of threatening situations and the factors which create them. With the ability to recognize the dangerous elements in a situation, success is assured.
The Superior Man maintains his connection with the Self and learns from the trials thus provided.
This is one of the first hexagrams that one learns to recognize by name and number, and it is usually received with trepidation. Like the Death card in Tarot, it is often interpreted as an evil omen, although a deeper understanding reveals opportunity rather than defeat in such images.
There is danger and suffering in the Work, but probably far less of it (in the long run) than in an ordinary unexamined life. Anguish in the service of purpose is ultimately tolerable -- it is the incredible suffering of ignorance that is truly tragic: all that pain and sorrow expended on worldly illusions!
The Confucian commentary provides some valuable insights concerning the defensive use of danger by kings and princes to protect their realms. To master a dangerous challenge before one can progress to a higher level of awareness is a classical theme of initiation: without it, the candidate would be destroyed by forces he wasn't ready to confront. (This is the purpose and meaning behind of the "Guardian of the Threshold" archetype.) Danger is evil or unfortunate only if one is intimidated by it -- correct behavior in accordance with the principles of the Work will always take you to your destination. The Self will seldom, if ever, give you a test that you cannot pass if you fully apply yourself. When it seems otherwise, bear in mind that failure often renders better lessons than success, or the illusion thereof.
A neurosis is by no means merely a negative thing, it is also something positive. Only a soulless rationalism reinforced by a narrow materialistic outlook could possibly have overlooked this fact. In reality the neurosis contains the patient's psyche, or at least an essential part of it; and if, as the rationalist pretends, the neurosis could be plucked from him like a bad tooth, he would have gained nothing but would have lost something very essential to him. That is to say, he would have lost as much as the thinker deprived of his doubt, or the moralist deprived of his temptation, or the brave man deprived of his fear. To lose a neurosis is to find oneself without an object; life loses its point and hence its meaning. This would not be a cure, it would be a regular amputation. Jung -- Civilization in Transition
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows its subject in the double defile, and yet entering a cavern within it. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Repetition of the Abysmal. In the abyss one falls into a pit. Misfortune.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss! In one of them, he tumbles into a cranny -- misfortune!
Liu: Water flows repeatedly. One falls into the pit of water. Misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Repeating Gorge. Entering tending-towards the Gorge, the recess. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Repeated entrapment; entering the trap pit; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Repeating pitfalls, one goes into a hole in a pit: bad results.
Cleary (2): Multiple danger, going into a hole in a pit, leads to misfortune.
Wu: Entrapment enters into the depths of a pit. There will be foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She has missed her proper way, and there will be evil. Wilhelm/Baynes: One falls into the abyss because one has lost the way; this brings misfortune. Blofeld: Namely the misfortune of getting lost upon the way. Ritsema/Karcher: Letting-go tao: pitfall indeed. Cleary (2): The misfortune of losing the way. Wu: The misfortune of losing the way.
Legge: Line one is magnetic at the bottom of the figure, and has no correlate to help her. This renders her situation as hopeless. By her own efforts she will only make matters worse.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man is hopelessly in danger. As a consequence of allowing himself to grow accustomed to evil, he has lost the right way. His efforts will only embroil him more deeply.
Wing: You have become accustomed to evil influences and no longer fight them. This could be the result of a weakness in your character. In any event, you've lost your way. The more action you take, the farther afield you'll stray. Begin again at another time.
Editor: There is no ambiguity here: To enter a cavern within a labyrinth, or "double defile" is to make things hopelessly worse.
Having once strayed into the labyrinth of evils, the wretched Soul finds no way out. Naassene Psalm
A. You have lost your way and are surrounded by negative forces.
B. An image of confusion compounded -- you are making a bad situation worse.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows its subject, whether she comes or goes, descends or ascends, confronted by a defile. All is peril to her and unrest. Her endeavors will lead her into the cavern of the pit. There should be no action in such a case.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. In danger like this, pause at first and wait, otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss. Do not act in this way.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss rears up and the danger is acute. He falls into a cranny and there is nothing he can do to help himself.
Liu: Water flows on and on. One is in the pit of the abyss. Danger. Do not act.
Ritsema/Karcher: Coming's Gorge, the Gorge. Venturing moreover reclining. Entering tending-towards the Gorge, the recess. No availing-of.
Shaughnessy: Bringing it so entrappedly, both steep and deep; entering the trap pit; do not use it.
Cleary (1): Coming and going, pitfall upon pitfall, dangerous and obstructed, going into a hole: Don’t act this way.
Wu: There is danger in coming and there is danger in going. The subject is in danger and is stopped from exiting. He enters into the depths of a pit and nothing useful will come out of it.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She will never in such circumstances achieve any success. Wilhelm/Baynes: Here any effort ends up as impossible. Blofeld: This presages our ultimate failure to accomplish anything at all. Ritsema/ Karcher: Completing without achieving indeed. Cleary (2): In the end there is no accomplishment. Wu: In the end nothing will be accomplished.
Legge: Line three is magnetic and occupies the place of a dynamic line. She is in an evil case. She goes and comes, moves up and down, backwards and forwards, making no advance. This can be of no use in extracting her from the danger.
Anthony: Every step leads to danger. Our attitude has brought out elements in others which further expose us to difficulty. We should take refuge in neutrality and disengagement until a way out shows itself.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man becomes entangled in danger at every turn. He should refrain from action, which only worsens the situation, and wait until the solution reveals itself.
Wing: You are surrounded by danger and you do not understand it. Any action will only make matters worse. Maintain your principles and wait for the solution to reveal itself.
Editor: Here is an image of raw panic -- the fear of a trapped animal: a bird in a house mindlessly battering itself against a plate-glass window. Hysteria is a grossly futile and incompetent response to stress: a demeaning lack of self- control. Get a grip on yourself!
Disquietude is always vanity, because it serves no good. Yes, even if the whole world were thrown into confusion and all things in it, disquietude on that account would be vanity. Saint John of the Cross
A. Stop right now! Calm down and wait it out.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject at a feast, with simply a bottle of spirits, and a subsidiary basket of rice, while the cups and bowls are only of earthenware. She introduces her important lessons as her ruler's intelligence admits. There will in the end be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A jug of wine, a bowl of rice with it; earthen vessels simply handed in through the window. There is certainly no blame in this.
Blofeld: A flagon of wine and a bamboo food-basket -- both. These objects were handed to him through a hole in the rock. To the very end he remains free from blame. [The terrible trouble in which we find ourselves occurs through no fault of ours; others are able to help us to some extent -- but it looks as though their help may serve only to prolong our agony.]
Liu: A jug of wine. Two bowls of food should be put into an earthen container and passed through the window. There is no blame in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher: A cup, liquor, a platter added. Availing-of a jar. Letting-in bonds originating-from the window. Completing, without fault.
Shaughnessy: Offering wine and tureens in pairs; use earthenware. Take in the angelica from the window; in the end there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): One jug of wine, two vessels. Use simplicity, sincerity, and openness, and in the end there will be no fault.
Cleary (2): A jug of wine with a ceremonial vessel of grain alongside. Use a plain cup; take in a pledge through the window. In the end there is no fault.
Wu: Using a jar of wine and a bamboo basket of food with ordinary table earthenware, he presents himself at the window. In the end, he will be blameless. [The judgment describes a person in a precarious position (the fourth) presenting himself in a simple way to his ruler (the fifth). The scene may also be viewed as a loyal minister offering his counsel to his king in time of crisis.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This describes the meeting of the dynamic and magnetic lines. Wilhelm/Baynes: It is the boundary between firm and yielding. Blofeld: This passage is suggested by the nature of the line, which forms a border between yielding and firm. Ritsema/Karcher: Solid and Supple, the border indeed. Cleary (2): The border of hard and soft. Wu: The meeting of the strong and weak.
Legge: Line four is the magnetic minister who will get no help from her first line correlate. She can't avert the danger herself, but she is close to the fifth line ruler whom she cautiously enlightens with the sincerity of her simple nourishment. Consequently, there will be no error.
Anthony: The Sage, knowing that we are in danger, voluntarily comes to our aid. Consequently, we are enlightened by a breakthrough in our understanding.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is without a sponsor because of the lack of impressive gifts. Ceremonial forms and expensive gifts are unnecessary, however, during periods of great urgency. Spurred on by unostentatious sincerity, he presents his thoughts directly to the chief. No error will result from this honest request for mutual help during times of peril.
Wing: Take the simple and direct approach to solving your problems and overcoming difficulties. Strive for clarity of mind. Do not clutter your actions with useless pretense, since it will only confuse the situation.
Editor: This image implies that the dangerous elements in the situation are caused by some kind of complexity -- vanity, bureaucracy, or Byzantine intellectualism perhaps. Whatever it is, a return to basics is indicated. While surrounded by a feast (of choices) one partakes only of simple nourishment (options).
In order to effect a constructive and lasting change in our lives we must strive toward a transformation of the potentially disrupting or disruptive complexes by reaching their archetypal cores. Such a transformation can occur only when we have gone beyond the personal dimension to the universal. This process is sustained by guidance from the objective psyche through dreams and fantasies. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Reduce the situation to its lowest common denominator and proceed from there.
B. Complexity demands patience. Nourish yourself on simplicity.
C. An educational process. The image suggests patience and gradual change.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject bound with cords of three strands or two strands, and placed in the thicket of thorns. But in three years she does not learn the course for her to pursue. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bound with cords and ropes, shut in between thorn-hedged prison walls: for three years one does not find the way. Misfortune.
Blofeld: Bound with black ropes and imprisoned amidst thorns, for three years he fails to obtain what he seeks. [This situation is far from cheerful, but not as hopeless as the situation of those who receive moving lines in the second and third places.]
Liu: Tied with thick ropes, one is put in prison among thorn bushes. One cannot find the way for three years. Misfortune. [If you receive this line, avoid all entanglements, both physical and mental. Be cautious, or you will be detained.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Tying availing-of stranded ropes. Dismissing tending-towards dense jujube-trees. Three year's-time, not acquiring. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: The attachment uses braids and cords: place him in the clumped thorn bushes, for three years not getting him; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Bound with rope, put in a briar patch, for three years one cannot find the way out; misfortune.
Cleary (2): … Helpless for three years – misfortune.
Wu: He is tied with black ropes and surrounded by thorny vines. He cannot set himself free for three years. Foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She misses her proper course -- there will be evil for three years. Wilhelm/Baynes: This misfortune continues for three years. Blofeld: The line indicates that we lose our way and suffer misfortune for three years. Ritsema/Karcher: Pitfall: three year's-time indeed. Cleary (2): The top yin loses the way, unfortunate for three years. Wu: The sixth yin violates the proper way of doing things and the violation results in the misfortune for three years.
Legge: The case of line six is hopeless. When danger has reached its peak, there she is -- yielding, without a proper correlate. The thicket of thorns is a metaphor for a prison.
Anthony: Misfortune comes because we press on, taking matters into our hands. This line warns of the failure we may expect in maintaining this attitude and notes the obstinacy that has brought us to this impasse. The remedy is to return to the path of perseverance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is hopelessly enmeshed in his own faults after missing the proper course. No chances of escape are apparent.
Wing: None of your solutions or efforts have been appropriate. The way out of danger is blocked. There will come a long time of disorder. All you may do is wait.
Editor: On the face of it, there is little ambiguity in this line -- it depicts one who is severely confined because of not knowing the proper course to pursue. If we closely examine the psychological symbols of this restriction however, we see deeper into the possible reasons for it. Chetwynd, in his Dictionary of Symbols identifies cords or ropes with links to the inner psyche -- the umbilical cord being the connection to the Mother, or source of our physical-emotional being. He also points out that thorns are a common symbol of the dark side of the Mother principle. To be bound with cords and imprisoned by thorns then, is to be trapped in a "womb" of primitive emotional darkness, or suffocated by some entity which does not want to evolve into conscious awareness.
The rest of the souls are also longing after the upper world and they all follow, but not being strong enough they are carried round below the surface, plunging, treading on one another, each striving to be first; and there is confusion and perspiration and the extremity of effort; and many of them are lamed or have their wings broken through the ill-driving of the charioteers; and all of them after a fruitless toil, not having attained to the mysteries of true being, go away, and feed upon opinion. Plato -- Phaedrus
A. You have lost your way and are imprisoned by illusions.
B. Your limiting beliefs prevent you from furthering the Work.
1 The Creative
Other titles: The Creative, The Symbol of Heaven, The Creative Principle, Force, The Key, Creativity, The Originating, Creative Power, Primal Power, Yang, The Life Force, Kundalini, God the Father
Judgment
Legge:The Dynamic represents what is great and originating, penetrating, advantageous, correct and firm.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Creative works sublime success, furthering through perseverance.
Blofeld: The Creative Principle . Sublime Success! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward.
Liu:The Creative brings great success, benefiting all through perseverance.
Ritsema/Karcher:Force: Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the primal spirit power that both creates and destroys. It emphasizes that dynamic, unwearied persisting, the action of Force, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: persist!]
Shaughnessy:The Key: Primary reception; beneficial to determine.
Cleary(1):Heavencreates, develops, brings about fruition and consummation.
Cleary(1): The creative is successful; this is beneficial if correct.
Wu:The Originator is primordial, pervasive, prosperous and persevering.
The Image
Legge: Heaven, in its motion, gives the idea of strength. The superior man, in accordance with this, nerves himself to ceaseless activity.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The movement of heaven is full of power. Thus the superior man makes himself strong and untiring.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes the power of the celestial forces in motion, wherewith the Superior Man labors unceasingly to strengthen his own character.
Liu: Heaven moves powerfully; the superior man strengthens himself unceasingly.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven moves persistingly. A Chun tzu uses originating strength not to pause.
Cleary(1): The activity of heaven is powerful; superior people thereby strengthen themselves ceaselessly.
Wu: Heaven moves in full strength. Thus the jun zi strives ceaselessly to be self-reliant.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: All things owe their inception to the vast and originating power of The Dynamic. It contains all the meaning of the word: Heaven. Clouds move, rain falls, and the myriad things appear in their created forms. The sages comprehend the link between the end and the beginning. They understand how the changes of the six lines of the hexagram are accomplished, each in its season, and with this knowledge they ascend toward Heaven as though mounted on six dragons. The intent of The Dynamic is to transform everything so that it reflects its correct nature as originally conceived by the mind of Heaven. Thereafter, this great harmony is preserved in union and firm correctness. The sage appears aloft, high above all things, and the myriad states are harmoniously united.
Legge: For the Chinese, the dragon has been from the earliest times a symbol of dignity, wisdom, sovereignty and sagehood. It is the symbol of the superior man, and especially the "great man," exhibiting all the virtues and attributes of Heaven. Although the dragon's home is in the water, it can disport itself on land, and also fly through the air.
The sage rules in the world of men as Heaven rules nature. He sees the connection between the end and the beginning as the law of cause and effect in the operations of nature and human affairs. The various steps in that course are symbolized by the lines of the hexagram, and the ideal sage, conducting his ideal government, is represented as driving through the sky in a carriage drawn by six dragons.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:The Dynamic is the life force itself.
The Superior Man tirelessly furthers the Great Work of Transformation.
The image of a dragon appears in every line of this hexagram, except the third. Like most symbols, the dragon has both a positive and a negative aspect. In Western myth, it is usually an adversary which the hero must conquer before he can obtain a treasure or often, a captive maiden. The Chinese, on the other hand, regard the dragon positively. Blofeld comments:
In China, the dragon has always been regarded as a highly admirable creature of celestial origin. Dragons provide rain; make rivers run and rule the ocean. The European dragon is clearly of another species.
This seeming anomaly may say more about how east and west perceive the forces of nature, rather than refer to any true differences in the forces perceived.
Wilhelm compares the dragon to the electrical energy within a thunderstorm -- as lightning it can destroy us, but in the form of electricity it can be harnessed to do useful work. A dragon is nothing if not a huge serpent, and this suggests the idea of the "serpent power," or Kundalini energy which when aroused in the human body has been likened to a sudden jolt of electricity running up from the base of the spine to the top of the head. The Kundalini force is equated in turn with sexual energy -- dynamic power which ensures the continuance of all but the most primitive of living organisms. Without the powerful energy of sexuality, life as we know it could not exist.
When the dragon remains unconquered in the cave-like depths of the unconscious, the life force autonomously rules our lives and we become passive vehicles for random desires and appetites. This "electricity" will flow wherever it finds a circuit of least resistance, and under these conditions an individual's life is largely "created" by chance and circumstance. When one begins the Work, the task of Individuation, one assumes the role of the hero or warrior, who does battle with the dragon in order to bring it under his will. This is a great struggle, and success is not guaranteed, but if one is able to control the primordial power of the life force, the treasure (or the maiden, which in the male psyche amounts to the same thing), is obtained. This is tantamount to attaining a higher level of consciousness -- in its highest form it constitutes "enlightenment."
The symbolism of all of the hexagrams works on many different levels, and this is especially true of the first two, which must be studied together for a full comprehension of each. (Kabbalists, for example, will recognize in these two figures the same forces found in Chokmah and Binah on the Tree of Life.) For the purposes of this comparison it must be noted that the first hexagram symbolizes Heaven, and the second symbolizes Earth: Force and Form. (As consciousness is to the body it inhabits, so Force is to Form and Heaven to Earth.) Form is magnetic, or "negative" in polarity, and Force is dynamic, or "positive."
In esoteric symbolism "Heaven" does not mean the universe above us -- it means the consciousness within us. This polarity is also reflected in the relationship between the ego and the Self -- in a properly regulated psyche, the ego is always magnetic to the dynamic Self.
There is an invisible universe within the visible one, a world of causes within the world of effects. There is force within matter, and the two are one, and are dependent for their existence on a third, which is the mysterious cause of their existence. There is a world of soul within a world of matter, and the two are one, and caused by the world of spirit. F. Hartmann -- Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
To get a fuller grasp of the numinously beautiful structure of the I Ching and the transcendent reality which it reflects, one should meditate on each of the hexagrams as often as possible -- one can never exhaust their meaning. The first two hexagrams (because they are the "cosmic parents" of all the others), are especially rich in their associations. Here are a few suggestions for meditation:
1. Compare and contrast the general ideas in the first three hexagrams, noting how the third is a logical progression of the first two.
2. The Confucian commentary on The Dynamic is particularly rich in meaning. Read it over and over again -- it contains the principles of the Work as outlined in more detail in the other hexagrams. Compare the sixth sentence with the ideas in hexagram number twenty, Contemplation.
3. Compare the first two hexagrams with hexagram number eleven, Harmony, and number twelve, Divorcement, noting the implications of the symbolism in terms of the proper management of the Work.