Speaking truthfully
One calms others by telling them the truth. taoscopy.com
Clarity30
Clarity and adaptability. Embrace the light to illuminate your path. Recognize patterns in life, align with them, and nurture personal growth.
↓ Line 2
This line represents clarity and brightness in one's path. It signifies supreme good fortune and success.
↓ Line 3
This line warns of the dangers of complacency and the fear of decline. It suggests that one should not dwell on past glories or future fears.
↓ Opposition38
Conflict arises from differences. Seek common ground and understanding to overcome separations and oppositions. Mutual respect paves the way for harmony.
30 Clarity
Other titles: The Clinging, The Symbol of Brightness and of Separateness, Flaming Beauty, Radiance, Fire, The Net, Allegiance, The Cosmic Mean, Synergy, Sunlight, Perception, Pertaining to Comprehension, The Light, Consciousness, Lucidity
Judgment
Legge: The free course and success of Clarity comes from firm correctness. The nourishment of bovine docility creates good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Clinging. Perseverance furthers. It brings success. Care of the cow brings good fortune.
Blofeld:Flaming beauty. Righteous persistence brings reward. Success! Rearing cows -- good fortune! [Cows are gentle creatures which require looking after; hence this sentence means that good fortune can be gained by looking after those in need of help.]
Liu: Fire. It is of benefit to continue. Success. To take care of the cow leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Radiance, Harvesting Trial. Growing. Accumulating female cattle. Significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of expanding light, warmth and awareness. It emphasizes that joining with and depending on what spreads this light, the action of Radiance, is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:The Net: Beneficial to determine; receipt; raising a cow is auspicious.
Cleary(1):Fire is beneficial for correctness and development. Raising a cow brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): Fire is beneficial if correct; then there is success, etc. [In Buddhism, when demons cause disturbance, it is necessary to cleave to true teaching to get rid of aberrations.]
Wu: Allegiance indicates that it will be advantageous to be persevering and pervasion will follow. It will be auspicious to raise the cow.
The Image
Legge: The image of brightness repeated forms Clarity. The great man, in accordance with this, cultivates more and more his brilliant virtue, and diffuses its brightness over the four quarters of the land.
Wilhelm/Baynes: That which is bright rises twice: the image of Fire. Thus the great man, by perpetuating this brightness, illuminates the four quarters of the world.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire rising in two tongues of brilliant flame. The Superior Man, by perpetuating the brilliance of the ancients, illuminates every quarter of the earth. [In other words, we should make ourselves as completely dependent on the principle of righteousness as natural objects are dependent upon nature; in this way, we are sure to be successful.]
Liu: Doubled brightness symbolizes Fire. A great man perpetuates the light and illuminates the four corners of the universe.
Ritsema/Karcher: Brightness doubled arousing Radiance. Great People use consecutive brightening to illuminate tending- towards the four sides.
Cleary (1):Light has dual function. Thus do great people illumine the four quarters with continuing light. [The sun goes in at night and comes out in the daytime; this pattern represents inner illumination and outer illumination, one light having dual function…Outer illumination has to be based on inner illumination… Illumination must reach inside and outside, so that both are illumined and both are correct.]
Cleary (2): Illumination doubled makes fire. Great people illumine the four quarters with continuing illumination.
Wu: Brightness doubled makes Allegiance. Thus the great man carries on the brightness to shine the four corners of the earth.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Clarity means clinging attachment. The sun and moon have their roots in heaven, and all the growing things have their roots in the earth. The double brightness of the two trigrams is rooted in correctness, and all under heaven are thereby transformed. The magnetic second line is central and correct, indicating a free and successful course. Nourishing a passive docility will lead to good fortune.
Legge:Clarity is the trigram of fire and light, and the sun is the source of both of these. Its attribute is brightness, and by a natural metaphor: intelligence. But this trigram also means inhering or in adhering to -- being attached to. In the hexagram we have a double brightness -- a phrase which denotes the ruler. If we take the two central lines as emblematic of the situation, we have the magnetic dwelling with the dynamic above and below -- a condition requiring a docile humility and strict adherence to what is correct. Ch'eng-tzu says: "The nature of the ox is docile, and that of the cow is much more so. The subject of the hexagram adhering closely to what is correct must be able to act in obedience to it, as docile as a cow, and then there will be good fortune."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Willed persistence gets results. Be receptive to your inner light, and reflect it in your life.
The Superior Man cultivates his capacity to manifest his comprehension of the Work in his everyday choices.
Light is a symbol of both normal consciousness and super- consciousness. Probably every religion in the world uses it in the latter sense -- from the "Let there be light" in the first chapter of Genesis, to The Lord of Light (Ahura Mazda), the supreme being of Zoroastrianism. The TibetanBook of the Dead speaks of the "clear white light" which is the first thing encountered after bodily death -- a phenomenon reported as the experiential perception of those who have had near-death experiences. Light means Truth, it means Reality, and the "double brightness" of this hexagram tells us that Clarity is manifested both above and below.
Meditation on light is one of the most important exercises in the various schools of Tibetan Yoga. The more these psychic and spiritual powers can be achieved during life, the stronger is the ability to penetrate and overcome the bardo. D. I. Lauf, Secret Doctrines Of The Tibetan Book Of The Dead
The Confucian commentary gives the examples of the sun and moon in the heavens, and of growing things on the earth as emblems of Clarity. Sun and moon are certainly luminous, but growing things are not, and when we meditate on the reason for this strange juxtaposition we are led to the idea of the Self and the ego. The Self is the sun, the source of illumination which causes the ego to grow. Sun is to growing things as Self is to ego. This idea is repeated in the relationship between the sun and the moon -- the moon is not self-luminous, it can only reflect the light of the sun. Therefore, sun is to moon as Self is to ego.
The idea is that despite our illusions to the contrary, all of our power originates somewhere else. When we allow the power to work through us without interference, we become "docile" like the cow in the judgment. Clarity, therefore, is attained through docility -- the ability to subdue and restrain the autonomous components of the psyche, which left to their own devices would prefer to go around pontificating their brilliant illusions rather than quietly reflecting the truth. It is not easy to reflect the truth, and the superior man is counseled to constantly perfect his capacity to do so. It is only when Self and ego come together in a fusion reaction that the energy released attains the true "double brightness" imaged in the hexagram. The identical idea is found in the Kabbalah:
Said Rabbi Simeon: "When the Holy One arrays himself, it is in the ornaments from both the celestial and terrestrial worlds; from the former with that heavenly light on high that no human being can approach unto; from the latter with the souls of the righteous who the more they approximate themselves to this divine light the more receptive and filled with it do they become, so that through them it expands in all directions and the world like a cistern or ocean is filled with it." The Zohar
Wilhelm mentions that the hexagram "divided within and closed without, is an image of the meshes of a net in which animals remain snared." This gives us the image of Clarity as Comprehension -- a net which captures and encloses insights. To receive the figure without changing lines is often a confirmation of an idea or action -- it is saying: "You have comprehended," or "Your proposed action is lucid, intelligent, etc."
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject in her place in yellow. There will be great good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Yellow light. Supreme good fortune.
Blofeld: Yellow sunlight -- sublime good fortune.
Liu: The yellow light of the sun indicates great good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Yellow radiance. Spring significant.
Shaughnessy: Yellow net; prime auspiciousness.
Cleary(1): Yellow fire is very auspicious.
Wu: The yellow fire will bring great fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Good fortune because she holds the course of the due mean. Wilhelm/Baynes: One has found the middle way. Blofeld: The good fortune of being able to keep to a middle path. [This is suggested by the position of the line, which is central to the lower trigram. The middle path, the golden mean, is praised by Taoists, Confucians and Buddhists alike. It has always been regarded by traditionally minded Chinese as the principle upon which conduct should be based. Extremes of any kind have no place in Chinese philosophy, which is thus more humanistic than many of the philosophies of India and the Middle East.]Ritsema/Karcher: Acquiring centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): Attaining the middle way. Wu: Because it is centrally situated.
Legge: Line two is magnetic and occupies the center. Yellow is one of the five correct colors, and here symbolizes the correct course to which she adheres.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man occupies the central position of reasonableness, which results in enduring good fortune.
Wing: A reasonable and moderate attitude will bring you the best possible luck. Remember, indulge in no excess, no extremes of thought or action.
Editor: Yellow is a nearly universal symbol of light and clarity. Both the sun and gold are yellow, and because it is in the middle of the trigram this line images the concept of the golden mean. Wilhelm's commentary places this line at midday when the sun is directly overhead, hence: full illumination. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram becomes number fourteen, Wealth (Possession in Great Measure), suggesting the richness of clear insight.
I, wisdom, am mistress of discretion, the inventor of lucidity of thought. Good advice and sound judgment belong to me, Perception to me, strength to me. Proverbs 8: 12
A. The image suggests a position of balance and lucidity. Full comprehension is implied.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows its subject in a position like that of the declining sun. Instead of playing on his instrument of earthenware, and singing to it, he utters the groans of an old man of eighty. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: In the light of the setting sun, men either beat the pot and sing or loudly bewail the approach of old age. Misfortune.
Blofeld: In the light of the setting sun, young men do not beat upon their cooking pots or sing; the old sigh piteously -- misfortune!
Liu: Under the light of the setting sun, one sings without beating the pot, bemoaning one's old age. Misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Sun going-down's radiance. Not drumbeating a jar and-also singing. By-consequence great old-age's lamenting. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: The net of the sun's decline; not drumming the earthenware jar and yet singing, then the sighing of the great mourning kerchief; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): The afternoon light; unless you drum on a jug and sing, there will be the lament of old age, which is unfortunate.
Cleary (2): In the fire of the afternoon sun, you either drum on a jug and sing, or lament as in old age. This bodes ill. [When you use insight too much without concentration to balance it, sometimes you will be extremely joyful, drumming and singing, and sometimes you will be extremely anxious, lamenting as in old age. Sadness and joy disturb the song of your heart; intellectual insight cannot sustain itself – backsliding and loss are inevitable.]
Wu: The sun is passing the meridian. Ifhe does not playhis earthen instrument and sing, but sighs like an old man of eighty years, there will be foreboding. [The passing of the meridian is like the passing of the prime time in life. If one does not make the best of his life now, it will be gone forever.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: A position like that of the setting sun -- how can it continue long? Wilhelm/Baynes: How can one wish to hold for long the light of the setting sun? Blofeld: Sunset beauty -- how can it endure for long? [This passage suggests that our present happiness or success is not destined to endure; we must prepare for a setback.] Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore permitting lasting indeed? Cleary (2): Afternoon sun cannot last long. Wu: How long will the day last?
Legge: Line three is at the top of the lower trigram, whose light is now exhausted, suggesting a sunset. He should accept his position and resign himself to the ordinary amusements mentioned, but he groans and mourns instead. His restless activity interferes with the lowly contentment he should cherish. The K'ang-hsi editors say that the declining sun is an emblem of "obscuration coming over the virtue of the mind."
Anthony: Fear and worry over the length of time required to attain recognizable progress puts us in the wrong balance. If we can nobleheartedly accept that things will be fulfilled when they will, we secure our fate by making possible that it can be fulfilled. As long as the ego stands by expectantly, measuring and weighing our progress, the dark force of doubt operates and the power of good cannot manifest itself. Obtaining this line reminds us that adversity lasts only for a time; through it we mould our character.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man reaches his declining years and recalls the transitoriness of life. Instead of enjoying the ordinary pleasures while they last, he groans in melancholy.
Wing: The best attitude to cultivate at this time in your life is a general acceptance of fate. To totally lose yourself in the happiness of the moment is as bad as to bemoan the passing of time. Such folly of the mind and the emotions leads to a loss of inner freedom. Misfortune.
Editor: There is apparently more than one way to translate this line, best seen in the contrast between Cleary’s Taoist and Buddhist versions. One implies that frivolity is an antidote to depression, the other that both positions are extreme. Emphasized in all translations is the contrast between joy and sorrow, singing and groaning, youth and old age. The setting sun symbolizes the decline of awareness, the "darkening of the light," the advance of illusion. That is: to either mindlessly sing or to bewail one's fate is to be deluded -- one has forgotten one's Source. Frivolity and despair are polarized attitudes, and the line tells us that clarity wanes whenever one takes an extreme position. In another context, the setting sun suggests the inevitability of death. Those who believe that death is final usually respond in either of the two ways shown, and thus miss the mark. There is also a suggestion of the futility of trying to hold onto something that is by nature transitory. Note the similarity between this line and line three of Hexagram #61,Inner Truth: “He finds a comrade. Now he beats the drum, now he stops. Now he sobs, now he sings.” Wing’s paraphrase is probably the best.
No soul, not even our own, enters into the body completely. Soul always remains united by its higher part to the intelligible realm. But if the part that is in the realm of sense dominates, or rather becomes dominated and disturbed, it keeps us unaware of what the higher part of the soul contemplates. Plotinus -- The Enneads
A. An image of gross illusion. Clarity is lost when perception is polarized.
B. Nothing lasts here below, but that's only half the story -- the least interesting half.
C. “Gather your rosebuds while ye may.”
38 Opposition
Other titles: Opposition, The Symbol of Strangeness and Disunion, The Estranged, Opposites, Polarizing, Alienation, Distant From, Perversion, Disharmony, Separated, Contradiction, Estrangement, Incongruity
Judgment
Legge: Despite Mutual Alienation there will be success in small matters.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Opposition. in small matters, good fortune.
Blofeld: The Estranged -- good fortune in small matters.
Liu: Opposition. In small things, good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Polarizing, Small Affairs significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of things that are connected but should not join. It emphasizes that putting things in opposition while acknowledging their essential link is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Perversion: Little affairs are auspicious.
Cleary (1): Disharmony. A small matter will turn out all right.
Cleary (2): Opposition, Etc.
Wu: Incongruity indicates auspiciousness for doing small things.
The Image
Legge: The image of fire over a marsh forms Mutual Alienation. The superior man, in accordance with this, accepts the diversities which make up the whole.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Above fire; below the lake: the image of Opposition. Thus amid all fellowship the superior man retains his individuality.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire above and a marshy lake below. The Superior Man achieves difference through unity.
Liu: Fire above the lake symbolizes Opposition. Living with the people, the superior man distinguishes among them.
Ritsema/Karcher: Fire above, marsh below. Polarizing. A chun tzu uses concording and-also dividing. [Cf. Solve et Coagula—Ed.]
Cleary (1): Above is fire, below is a lake, disparate. Thus are superior people the same yet different.
Cleary (2): Above is fire, below is a lake – opposite. Developed people, etc.
Wu: Fire above and marsh below form Incongruity. Thus the Jun zi take separate paths, but arrive at the same goal.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Mutual Alienation we see fire ascending and water descending. We see two sisters living together whose wills move in opposite directions. However, the lower trigram of Cheerfulness is attached to the upper trigram of Clarity, and the magnetic fifth line is responded to by the dynamic second line; these are signs that there can still be good fortune in small matters. Heaven and earth are separate and apart, but the work which they do is the same. Male and female are separate and apart, but with a common will they seek the same object. There is a diversity between the myriad classes of beings, but there is an analogy between their several operations. Great indeed are the phenomena and the results of this condition of disunion and separation.
Legge: Mutual Alienationshows a condition in which disunion and mistrust prevail. The hexagram teaches how this state of affairs may be overcome in small matters and the way prepared for the cure of the whole system. The commentators suggest that the condition symbolized here is a necessary sequel to the regulation of the family in the preceding hexagram.
The K'ang-hsi editors observe that in many hexagrams we have two daughters dwelling together, but that only in this and number forty-nine is attention called to it. The reason is that in these two diagrams the sisters are the second and third daughters, while in the others one of them is the eldest, whose place and superiority are fixed, so that between her and either of the others there can be no division or collision. The lesson in the Confucian commentary is not unity in diversity, but union with diversity.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: In resolving disputes, begin with their least controversial aspects.
The Superior Man respects alternative points of view.
Turn the hexagram of Familyupside-down and you get the hexagram ofMutual Alienation. The opposite of family unity is estrangement, which combined with the idea of polarity, suggests the kind of energetic "pushing away" one feels when two horseshoe magnets are matched to the same poles. Despite this opposition however, every line deals positively with the situation -- there is not one image in the hexagram that doesn't intimate an eventual resolution.
The thirty-eighth hexagram lays even more emphasis than usual on the relationships (polarities) existing between its correlate lines. This suggests that inner connections outrank any superficial estrangement. The Mutual Alienationthen, is not a permanent condition -- it represents more of a challenge than a disaster. All polarity is potential energy to accomplish useful work, and in this hexagram the polarities are more than usually available for this purpose. This doesn't mean that the work here is necessarily easy, just that it offers a major opportunity for growth.
A crisis develops when some pressure or event creates a state of uncomfortable disequilibrium which fails to respond to usual defenses and coping mechanisms. It involves danger with both a considerable risk for worsening and opportunity for growth (with enhancement of insight, mastery, and self-esteem) ... The patient should be educated to understand his situation and helped to see that painful episodes may prove to be part of a constructive process, and are not proof of a dire outcome. R.P. Kluft -- Hypnotherapeutic Crisis Intervention in Multiple Personality