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Youthful Folly4
Seek guidance and be open to learning. Embrace mistakes as opportunities for growth.
↓ Line 2
Patience and understanding with those who are inexperienced lead to positive outcomes. Knowing how to manage relationships is beneficial.
↓ Line 3
Avoid those who are easily swayed by appearances or superficial qualities. Such relationships are not advantageous.
↓ Line 4
Be cautious of becoming ensnared in foolishness, as it can lead to disgrace.
↓ Line 5
Approaching situations with a sense of innocence and openness can lead to positive results.
↓ Retreat33
Step back and reassess. Retreat to gain strength and clarity. Focus on inner resources, conserve energy, and observe quietly. Let go gracefully, avoid confrontation, and prepare for future action.
4 Youthful Folly
Other Titles: Youthful Folly, The Symbol of Covering, Immaturity, Uncultivated Growth, Youth, Acquiring Experience, Youthful Ignorance, Enveloping, Folly, Darkness "Often the I Ching uses this hexagram to show us that we should not be asking this question." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Inexperience means progress and success. I do not seek the inexperienced youth, but he seeks me. When he shows the sincerity proper for divination, I instruct him. If he asks two or three times, that is troublesome, and I do not instruct the troublesome. Firm correctness brings advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Youthful Folly has success. It is not I who seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me. At the first oracle I inform him. If he asks two or three times, it is importunity. If he importunes, I give him no information. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Immaturity. Good fortune! I am not one to seek out uncultivated youths, but if such a youth seeks me out, I shall at first read and explain the omens. Yet should he ask me many times, just because of his importunity, I shall not explain anything more. The omen indicates a need for proper direction. [This hexagram suggests stubbornness (the upper trigram) issuing from the softness of the womb (the lower trigram). While it sometimes happens that youthful rashness succeeds where sober counsels fail, it is nevertheless the duty of the mature man to cultivate the minds of the young and to respond, within reason, to their requests for guidance. As an omen, this hexagram may be taken to imply a case in which a certain amount of rashness may lead to success, but in which older people are not absolved from the duty of guiding the young. There is also a suggestion that the Book of Change itself, though fully responsive to those who make the right approach, will not brook importunity in the form of trivial questions or of seeking to reverse its judgments by further questioning. Whether the omen may be taken to mean that we should go ahead with some rash scheme or that it is time for us to restrain someone's youthful rashness will depend upon the nature of the enquiry, the people concerned in it and the particular moving lines involved in the response.]
Liu: It is not I who seek him, the youth seeks me. The first time he asks, I answer; but if he asks again and again, it is annoyance: no answer. Benefit for continuance.
Ritsema/Karcher: Enveloping, Growing. In-no-way me seeking youthful Enveloping. Youthful Enveloping seeking me. The initial oracle-consulting notifying. Twice, three-times: obscuring. Obscuring, by-consequence not notifying. Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of concealment and clouded awareness. It emphasizes that actively accepting this concealment in order to nurture growth is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Folly: Receipt; it is not we who seek youthful folly; youthful folly seeks us. The initial milfoil divination is auspicious, but if two or three times drawn out, being drawn out then it is not auspicious; beneficial to determine.
Cleary(1): In darkness is development. It is not that I seek naïve innocence; naïve innocence seeks me. The first augury informs; the second and third defile. Defilement does not inform. It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary(2):Darkness. Getting through. It is not that I seek the ignorant; the ignorant seek me. The first pick informs, the second and third muddle. That which is muddled does not inform. Benefit is a matter of correctness.
Wu:Ignorance is pervasive. It is not that I ask the ignorant lad to come for instruction. It is that the ignorant lad comes to request my instruction. As in divination, he will be instructed the first time. If he asks the same question for the second and third times, he is disrespectful. Having been judged disrespectful, he will not be instructed again. It will be advantageous to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: A spring issuing from the mountain -- the image of Inexperience. The superior man, in accordance with this, nourishes his virtue and strives for resoluteness of conduct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A spring wells up at the foot of the mountain: the image of Youth. Thus the superior man fosters his character by thoroughness in all that he does.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a watery hole at the foot of a mountain amidst uncultivated growth. The Superior Man by determined good conduct nourishes his virtue. [The second sentence is deduced from the first; both are suggested by the component trigrams.]
Liu: A spring comes out at the foot of the mountain; this symbolizes Youth. The superior man will cultivate his character through decisive action.
Ritsema/Karcher: below Mountain issuing-forth spring-water. Enveloping. A chun tzu uses fruiting movement to nurture actualizing-tao. [Actualize-tao: ... 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): Under a mountain a spring is produced, in darkness. A superior person nurtures character with fruitful action.
Cleary (2): Under a mountain emerges a spring, in darkness. Leaders use effective action to nurture inner qualities.
Wu: A spring flows at the foot of a mountain; this is Ignorance. The jun zi resolves to taking steps to cultivate his virtue.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Inexperience shows the trigram of the Mountain above that of the Abyss. The perilous impasse suggested by these figures evokes the idea of inexperience. Progress and success are suggested because the action and development of the hexagram conform to the requirements of the time. When inexperience seeks wisdom, will responds to will. The oracle responds to sincerity because it has the qualities of the dynamic line in the central second place, but the oracle does not respond to ignorant importuning. The proper duty of a sage is to nourish the correct nature of the ignorant.
Legge: Difficulty shows us plants struggling within the earth, and Inexperiencesuggests the small and undeveloped sprouts which then appear upon its surface. This is an image of youthful ignorance, and the object of the hexagram is to show how those in authority should deal with it. The Judgment takes the form of the oracle's response to the questioner.
The upper trigram represents a frowning mountain which blocks the progress of the traveler. The lower trigram symbolizes a stream of water in a dangerous canyon, such as might be found at the foot of a mountain. The combination of these symbols suggests the perilous nature of ignorant inexperience.
The subject of line two represents the oracle, who demands sincerity from the unenlightened. It is his duty to evoke the innate "correct nature" hidden within the questioner, to bring this quality out and develop it. In regard to the Image, Chu Hsi says that "the water of a spring is sure to move on and gradually advance." This may serve as a symbol of the general process and progress of education.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Inexperience portrays the relationship between the ego and the Self as one of student to master. Communication via the oracle demands seriousness of purpose -- the Self refuses to pander to the ego's illusions.
The Superior Man furthers the Work by developing his will and intent.
Wilhelm's title for this hexagram is Youthful Folly, which tends to lend it a negative connotation that is not always strictly applicable. However, he is quick to point out that the title "should be understood to mean the immaturity of youth and its consequent lack of wisdom, rather than mere stupidity."
While the title of Inexperience avoids the negative connotation, it must be acknowledged that there is an aura of irritation in this hexagram which illustrates an uncomfortable truth about the relationship between the ego and the Self. The Self is an awesome archetype, and once one has established contact with him, he assumes a distinctly stern personality. The Self will not pander to the ego's illusions, and has no patience with anything but the unvarnished truth. Tact and patience are not among his attributes. Lao Tse describes him very accurately:
The Sage is unkind: He treats the people like sacrificial straw dogs.
Which is just the way it is. As a satellite of the Self, the ego-complex was not created just so that it could spend a lifetime indulging its fantasies. The Work must be undertaken, and the Self knows more than you do what remains to be done. Like any excellent teacher, he demands more of us than we think we have in us to give. This phenomenon of the tyrannical and often "unjust" Self has been noted in many times and places. Here is an example from Neo-Platonism:
What shall we say in regard to the question: "Why do the divinities that are invoked require the worshipper to be just, although they themselves when entreated consent to perform unjust acts?" In reply to this I am uncertain in respect to what is meant by "performing unjust acts," as the same definition may not appear right both to us and to the gods. We, on the one hand, looking to that which is least significant, consider the things that are present, the momentary life, what it is and how it originates. The beings superior to us, let me say, know for certain the whole life of the soul and all its former lives; and if they bring on a retribution from the supplication of those who invoke them, they do not increase it beyond what is just. On the contrary, they aim at the sins impressed upon the soul in former lifetimes, which men do not perceive, and so imagine that is unjust that they fall into the misfortunes which they suffer. Iamblichus -- The Egyptian Mysteries
A contemporary expression of this idea comes from consciousness researcher, John Lilly, famous for his work with dolphins and isolation tank experiments with psychedelic drugs:
Cosmic Love [e.g., the Spiritual Self] is absolutely Ruthless and Highly Indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not. John Lilly
By definition, "the gods" (archetypes) are not human. Were it possible for them to evolve without human vessels in Spacetime, presumably we humans would not exist. It is these archetypes, in the guise of our complexes and limiting beliefs, that are being altered by the Work. Because the unconscious psyche is a multiverse, it is sometimes very difficult to differentiate just "who" is advising us, and the Self via the oracle, will occasionally test us for our ability to use intuitive common sense.
Which is to say: when the gods (or the "Self") become totally "unreasonable," we can only go along with them to the limit of our human understanding. Slavish obedience to all injunctions from the unconscious is to sell our souls outright to something that we don't understand. The renunciation of "common sense" is the renunciation of our most precious birthright.
On the other hand, to "disobey" at will is to put our souls at risk. This is one of the most painful of all dilemmas -- how far do we go in our obedience to unseen powers? Aspects of this problem have been called The Dark Night of the Soul -- an inner initiation, a trial by fire to see what we are really made of. There are times in the advanced course of the Work when one receives the strange insight that the Self actually wants us to disobey! This ordeal can only be lived through -- no one can advise you except your own sense of what is right for you at any given moment.
The most useful guideline that I have found is that the precepts of the Work (as found in the Perennial Philosophy) are consistent worldwide, and constitute a reliably moral structure for responsible choice. If the oracle seems to be telling you to do something contrary to your inner sense of right and wrong, contrary to your understanding of the precepts of the Work, then go with this intuition rather than the oracle. The Self, via the oracle, will test you in many ways to make you develop. (The ultimate goal is to become so infallibly intuitive that oracles become superfluous.)
The gods need our intelligent disobedience if they themselves are to evolve. It is in the stress between obedience and conscientious disobedience that growth takes place. In one sense, whatever choice you make, as long as it is conscious and you fully accept the consequences, is the right choice for you at that moment. We learn through our mistakes, and can never fail our lessons if we truly integrate the experience into our unfolding lives.
Confucius, one of the greatest teachers who ever lived, obviously took his teaching method from the Judgment of this hexagram:
The Master said:"I won't teach a man who is not anxious to learn, and will not explain to one who is not trying to make things clear to himself. And if I explain one- fourth and the man doesn't go back and reflect and think out the implications in the remaining three-fourths for himself, I won't bother to teach him again."
And so it is with the oracle (the Self) -- the deeper one gets involved in the Work, the more difficult the lessons become, so that one is always kept in a position of relative Inexperience. There are times, when a simple answer would suffice, that you will receive an ambiguous image, which (if you do three-fourths of the work), will lead you to a profound insight.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject exercising forbearance with the ignorant, in which there will be good fortune; and admitting even the goodness of women, which will also be fortunate. He may be described also as a son able to sustain the burden of his family.
Wilhelm/Baynes: To bear with fools in kindliness brings good fortune. To know how to take women brings good fortune. The son is capable of taking charge of the household.
Blofeld: Being gentle with the immature brings good fortune. Taking a wife brings good fortune. Sons will be capable of taking over the household affairs when the strong (young) and the weak (old) are in mutual harmony.
Liu: To treat youth generously brings good fortune. Arranging a marriage brings good fortune. The son can take over the household.
Ritsema/Karcher: Enwrapping Enveloping. Significant. Letting-in the wife. Significant. The son controlling the dwelling.
Shaughnessy: Wrapping folly; auspicious. Sending in the wife; auspicious. The son can marry.
Cleary (1): Taking in darkness is good, taking a wife is good; the heir ably takes over the family affairs.
Cleary (2): It bodes well to embrace the ignorant. It bodes well to take a wife. The child becomes head of the family.
Wu: Accommodating the ignorant is auspicious. It is also auspicious to take a wife. A son will bring prosperity to the family.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He is able to sustain the burden of his family because of the reciprocation between this dynamic line and the magnetic fifth line. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Firm and yielding are in union. Blofeld: [No Confucian commentary on this line, Ed.]Ritsema/Karcher: Solid and Supple articulating indeed. Cleary (2): Firmness and flexibility meeting and joining. Wu: The strong-minded and the softhearted have communicated with each other.
Legge: On the second line, dynamic and in the central place, devolves the task of enlightening the ignorant with forbearance and humility. In proof of his generosity he even receives or learns from weak and ignorant women. He appears as the son taking his father's place.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is tolerant of the ignorant and kind to women. He resembles an official capable of assuming the delegated duties of a prince in directing a large social body with inner strength and outward reserve.
Wing: The person in this position has indeed developed in himself a true appreciation of humanity in all of its folly and beauty. Such a person can lead others with wisdom, compassion, and inspiration, and attain all the success attributed to the great and wise historical leaders.
Editor: Because the I Chingis an empirically valid guide to ethical behavior, we must interpret the sexist imagery in Legge and Wilhelm's version of this line as intrapsychic symbolism. Ignorant: Aspects within the psyche resistant to change. Women: Eros function, emotions, feelings. To "admit even the goodness of women" is to acknowledge those feelings which nurture the psyche. Family:The psyche. Son: The conscious ego. (Father = the Self.) Able to sustain the burden of his family: Able to control psychic impulses.
From Sextus I learned a benevolent disposition, and the example of a family governed in a fatherly manner ... And to tolerate ignorant persons, and those who form opinions without consideration: he had the power of readily accommodating himself to all. Marcus Aurelius
A. You are competent to handle the situation.
B. The image suggests the consciously responsible management of thoughts and feelings.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows that one should not marry a woman who, when she sees a man of wealth, will not keep herself from him. In no way will advantage come from her.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Take not a maiden who, when she sees a man of bronze, loses possession of herself. Nothing furthers.
Blofeld: Do not choose a wife who, on seeing a wealthy man, cannot contain herself. Nothing brings advantage. [This line, besides furnishing a specific warning to those with marriage in view, means generally that this time is unpropitious from the point of view of the enquirer, whatever his question may concern.]
Liu: Do not choose a girl who, when she sees a rich man, loses her control. No benefit.
Ritsema/Karcher: No availing-of grasping womanhood. Visualizing a metallic husband. Not possessing the body. Without direction: Harvesting. [Without direction: Harvesting, WU YU LI: no plan or direction is advantageous; in order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events.]
Shaughnessy: Do not use to take a woman; see the metal fellow who does not have a torso; there is no place beneficial.
Cleary(1): Don’t take this woman in marriage; if she sees a moneyed man, she’ll lose herself. Nowhere beneficial.
Cleary(2): Do not take a girl to see a moneyed man, or she will lose herself, to no one’s benefit.
Wu: Marry the woman not. When she sees a wealthy man, she cannot keep her composure. Nothing good will come out of the marriage.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: A woman such as is here represented should not be taken in marriage -- her conduct is not agreeable to what is right. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Her conduct is not in accord with order. Blofeld: Do not take to wife one whose behavior is disorderly. Ritsema/Karcher: Movement not yielding indeed. Cleary(2): Do not introduce the girl because his conduct is not harmonious. Wu: her behavior is not beyond reproach.
Legge: The third line is magnetic and occupies a dynamic place beyond the center. She separates the fourth line from the second, and the fifth line separates her from her sixth line correlate. All these things give her a bad character.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man guards against the loss of his individuality. He should not imitate persons of senior rank or act like a flippant girl throwing herself at a handsome man. Neither should he accept overtures from such subordinates.
Wing: You are in danger of throwing yourself away in a foolish attempt to be close to that which you fervently desire. Without strength of character and individuality you can accomplish nothing meaningful in life.
Editor: In the symbolic language of the unconscious psyche, the female principle is associated with Eros and the feelings. Line three depicts a woman unable to control herself, and by analogy some form of inappropriate emotional expression, desire or passion.
The study of epilepsy demonstrates conclusively that our feelings do not necessarily depend on anything going on in the real world around us, and that the strength of our feelings is not a measure of the authenticity of our experiences or the credibility of our beliefs. We can “feel" strongly about something and yet be dead wrong. R. Restak -- The Brain
A. Don't throw yourself away: curb your urges, compulsions, impulses or emotions.
B. An image of a bad deal or bad alliance.
C. Stop over-reacting to the situation at hand.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject as if bound in chains of ignorance. There will be occasion for regret.
Blofeld: Obstinacy and immaturity cause harm. [This line may also be taken as a warning against a too idealistic or visionary attitude.]
Liu: The youth beset by confusion. Humiliation.
Ritsema/Karcher: Confining Enveloping. Abashment.
Shaughnessy: Bound folly; distress.
Cleary(1): Stuck in darkness, there is regret.
Cleary(2): Stuck in darkness, regretful.
Wu: Being besieged by ignorance is a cause for regret.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is due to her distance from the solidity shown in lines two and six. Wilhelm/Baynes: This line of all things is furthest from what is real. Blofeld: They harm us by leading us astray from the right course. Ritsema/Karcher: Solitariness distancing substance indeed. Cleary (2): The regret of being stuck in darkness is having strayed from reality on one’s own. Wu: The subject is alone and far from the yang.
Legge: The fourth line is far from both the second and sixth, and can get no help from her first line correlate who is as weak as she is. What good can be done with or by her?
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Clinging to folly inevitably means humiliation. The wise teacher may have to instruct by letting the subject experience the consequences of his errors.
Wing: Your fantasies and obsessions will consume you. Your attitude is unrealistic in regard to what is really going on in your life and therefore you cannot be instructed. You may ultimately be saved by experiencing fully the humiliation that follows.
Editor: This is an image of confusion and illusion. In the best sense, it's a counsel against making a foolish choice. (i.e., hopefully you haven't made it yet.)
Thus comes about what is called "loss of wings" or the "chaining" of the soul. Its no longer are the ways of innocence in which ... it presided over the higher realms. Life above was better by far than this. A thing fallen, chained, at first barred off from intelligence and living only by sensation, the soul is, as they say, in tomb or cavern pent. Plotinus -- The Enneads
A. Illusion prevails -- you are totally out of touch with reality.
B. "Don't touch the tar baby."
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows its subject as a simple lass without experience. There will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Childlike folly brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Youthful innocence brings good fortune. [Here the Chinese text suggests that we are dealing not with youthful folly but with the innocent misdemeanors of quite small children.]
Liu: The youth submits. Good fortune. [If you receive this line, you can expect to attain your goals easily.]
Confucius/Legge: Her good fortune is due to her docility going on to humility. Wilhelm/Baynes: The good fortune of the childlike fool comes from his being devoted and gentle. Blofeld: This is because such conduct coincides with what is soft and gentle. Ritsema/Karcher: Yielding uses Ground indeed. Cleary (2): Harmonizing smoothly. Wu: (This) is due to his docility and humility.
Legge: Line five is in the place of honor, and has for its correlate the dynamic line in the second place. Being receptive, it is taken as the symbol of a simple lass, willing to be taught by its dynamic correlate in line two.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.
Wing: An attitude of innocent acceptance in regard to seeking advice from others will be rewarded. Good fortune.
Editor: As so often in theI Ching, the full meaning of this line is found in the relationship between it and its correlate. The second line is the dynamic sage, and the fifth line is the magnetic (receptive) student. As the ruler of the hexagram, line five exemplifies the idea of receptivity to instruction necessary for the evolution of ignorance into gnosis. This is the relationship of the inexperienced ego to the omniscient Self.
Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion; follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. – T. H. Huxley
A. "Awaken the mind by fixing it nowhere." -- Zen proverb.
B. Accept your ignorance and inexperience and humbly devote yourself to comprehension of the Work.
33 Retreat
Other titles: The Symbol of Retirement, Yielding, Withdrawal, Retiring, Wielding, Strategic Withdrawal, Inaccessibility, Disassociation from Inferior Forces, “When an opportunity for something better comes along, do not quarrel with an impossible situation.” -- D. F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Retreatmeans successful progress. Advantage comes from firm correctness and attention to details.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Retreat . Success. In what is small, perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Yielding. Success! Persistence in small things wins advantage. [Much of the teaching of the Book of Change is concerned with the wisdom of restraint or withdrawal as the best way of achieving our goal under certain circumstances; so this hexagram is not necessarily unfavorable to the wise. This is not a time when we can hope to achieve much; but attention to small matters will stand us in good stead later.]
Liu: Retreat. Success. To persist in small matters is of benefit.
Ritsema/Karcher:Retiring, Growing. The small: Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of conflict and consequent seclusion. It emphasizes that withdrawing from the affairs at hand to conceal yourself in obscurity is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: retire!]
Shaughnessy: Wielding: Receipt; little beneficial to determine.
Cleary (1): Withdrawal is developmental. The small is beneficial and correct.
Cleary (2): Withdrawal is successful. Small benefit is correct.
Wu: Retreat indicates pervasion. It will be advantageous for the little men to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: A mountain beneath the sky -- the image of Retreat. The superior man keeps inferior men at a distance by his dignified bearing rather than hostility.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Mountain under heaven: the image of Retreat. Thus the superior man keeps the inferior man at a distance, not angrily but with reserve. [He does not hate him, for hatred is a form of subjective involvement by which we are bound to the hated object.]
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes mountains beneath the sky. The Superior Man, by keeping his distance from men of inferior character, avoids having to display wrath and preserves his dignity. [The component trigrams, symbolizing mountain and sky, indicate withdrawal to a solitary place when circumstances are unfavorable.]
Liu: The mountain beneath the sky symbolizes Retreat. The superior man keeps his distance from the inferior, not with anger, but with dignity.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below heaven possessing mountain. Retiring. A chun tzu uses distancing Small People. A chun tzu uses not hating and-also intimidating.
Cleary (1): There are mountains under heaven, which is inaccessible. Thus do superior people keep petty people at a distance, being stern without ill will.
Cleary (2): … Being strict without ill will.[Petty people can be useful, so there is no ill-will, but their pettiness cannot wield authority, so be strict. In terms of learning to be a sage, the celestial ruler is the master, and the physical body takes orders from it, so that the desires of the various parts of the body cannot cause disturbance.]
Wu: There is a mountain under heaven; this is Retreat. Thus the jun zi distances himself from the little men, not because of despising them, but because of maintaining his own esteem. [The difference between the jun zi and the little men is one of education and not of birth. Confucius was a teacher first and a philosopher second, for he said: “Education is classless.” Every one of us has the potential of becoming a sage.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is progress in Retreat. The dynamic ruler in the fifth place receives a proper response from his correlate in line two. The action is in accordance with the requirements of the time because what is inferior is gradually increasing and advancing. The actions required during a Retreat are of great significance.
Legge: Retreat is the hexagram of the sixth month when the yin influence, represented by the two magnetic lines, has established a foothold. This suggests the growth of inferior and unprincipled men in the state, before whose advance superior men are obliged to retire. Yet the auspice of Retreat is not all bad. By firm correctness the threatened evil may be arrested to some extent. Ch'eng-tzu says: “Below the sky is the mountain. The mountain rises up below the sky, and its height is arrested, while the sky goes up higher and higher, till they come to be apart from each other. In this we have an emblem of retiring and avoiding.”
Anthony: The correct time for retreat comes when others are not receptive to us, when delicacy of feeling is lost, when we begin to be attacked by doubt, or when our actions no longer yield progress. The person who can hold his ego in check has many creative moments open to him.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: When carried out with shrewd discernment, Retreat is a strategy for success.
The Superior Man removes himself from disintegrating forces without calling attention to himself. He controls his weaknesses by maintaining his serious purpose.
With the possible exception of line two, there is very little ambiguity in the hexagram of Retreat. Without changing lines it is a clear injunction to remove yourself from an inferior situation, influence, emotion or way of thinking. The figure has certain affinities with hexagram number forty- four: Temptation which also depicts an inferior element encroaching from below.
To yield is to be preserved whole. Lao-tse
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare hexagrams number forty-four, Temptation; number thirty-three, Retreat; and number twelve, Divorcement; in that order. What are the next three logical hexagrams in the sequence, and what are the implications of the series as a whole?