Being attacked unexpectedly
One begins by being assaulted and then the others realize their mistake. taoscopy.com
Deliverance40
Release from tension and obstacles. Break free, adapt, and embrace change. Find relief in newfound clarity.
↓ Line 3
Carrying unnecessary burdens while seeking progress invites trouble. It is wise to let go of what is not needed.
↓ Line 4
Free yourself from minor hindrances, and trustworthy allies will appear.
↓ Line 6
Taking decisive action against a high target leads to success. Boldness and precision are rewarded.
↓ Repair18
Address issues; repair what's been neglected. Embrace responsibility to restore and improve.
40 Deliverance
Other titles: Deliverance, The Symbol of Loosening, Release, Eliminating Obstacles, Taking-apart, Untangled, Solution, Dissolution, Relief, Unloose, Release of Tension
Judgment
Legge:Liberation finds advantage in the southwest. When the operation is completed, a return to stability brings good fortune. If operations are incomplete, it is best to finish them quickly.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Deliverance. The southwest furthers. If there is no longer anything (Sic) where one has to go, return brings good fortune. If there is still something (Sic) where one has to go, hastening brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Release. The west and south are favorable. Those with nothing to gain from going forward will find good fortune by turning back; those who do have much to gain from going forward must hasten to be sure of doing well. [This is not a time to stay where we are. If we have no good reason to advance, it is best to retreat.]
Liu: Liberation. The southwest benefits. If there is nothing for one where one has to go, then returning brings good fortune. If there is something in a place where one can go, then going quickly leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Taking-apart. Harvesting: Western South. Without a place to go: one's coming return significant. Possessing directed going: Daybreak significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of reflection and release from tension. It emphasizes that analyzing and understanding things in order to be delivered from compulsion is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Untangled: Beneficial to the southwest; there is nowhere to go; his coming in return is auspicious; there is someplace to go to spend the night; auspicious.
Cleary (1): For liberation, the southwest is beneficial. When going nowhere, the return brings good fortune; when going somewhere, promptness brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): For solution, the southwest is beneficial. Going nowhere, coming back is fortunate, etc.
Wu: Relief indicates advantage in the southwest. If he undertakes to do something without a cause, it will be auspicious for him to return to his former station. If he undertakes to do something with a cause, it will be auspicious for him to do it early.
The Image
Legge: Liberation shows a thunderstorm clearing the atmosphere. The superior man, in accordance with this, forgives errors and deals gently with crimes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and rain set in: the image of Deliverance. Thus the superior man pardons mistakes and forgives misdeeds.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder and rain bringing release. The Superior Man tends to forgive wrongs and deals leniently with crimes. [The component trigrams suggest that a certain amount of forceful action is required.]
Liu: Thunder and rain come, symbolizing Liberation. The superior man forgives errors and pardons criminals.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, rain, arousing. Taking-apart. A chun tzu uses forgiving excess to pardon offenses.
Cleary (1): Thunder and rain act, dissolving. Thus do superior people forgive faults and pardon crimes.
Cleary (2): Thunder and rain – solution. Etc.
Wu: There come thunder and rain; this is Relief. Thus the jun zi pardons inadvertent transgressors and extenuates (Sic) criminal offenders.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Liberation shows the trigram of Movement above the trigram of Danger -- through movement there is an escape from peril. An early movement to the southwest wins the allegiance of the masses and returns the state to normalcy and equilibrium. When heaven and earth are freed from the grasp of winter, we have thunder and rain. When these come, the buds of the fruit-producing vegetation begin to open. Great indeed are the phenomena in the time ofLiberation.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Liberation is the symbol of unloosing -- untying a knot or unraveling a complication. This hexagram denotes a condition in which the obstruction and difficulty of the preceding figure have been removed. The lesson is how this new and better state of the kingdom should be dealt with. If no tasks remain to be completed, the sooner things resume their normal course the better. If further operations are necessary, let them be accomplished without delay. The K'ang-hsi editors say that moving to the south and west is the same as returning to normality.
Thunder and rain clear the atmosphere, and a feeling of oppression is relieved. The images of springtime in the Confucian commentary refer to the gentle policy of a conquering ruler who forgives the opposition of those who cease to offer resistance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Do what obviously needs to be done and return to stability as soon as possible.
The Superior Man forgives, forgets, and bears no grudges. (i.e., Stability is more important than fixing blame or haggling over who is right.)
If the thirty-ninth hexagram of Impasse is turned upside down it becomes the fortieth hexagram of Liberation or Deliverance. The two figures represent opposite situations: if Impasse creates tension, then Liberation releases it. The upper trigram of Movement ascends to escape from the lower trigram of Danger, giving us an unambiguous image of freedom and relief.
Apart from all personification, the whole of space in which life finds itself has a malevolently spiritual character, and the "demons" themselves are as much spatial realms as they are persons. To overcome them is the same thing as to pass through them, and in breaking through their boundaries this passage at the same time breaks their power and achieves the liberation from the magic of their sphere. H. Jonas --The Gnostic Religion
Legge's commentary in the preceding hexagram explains that the "southwest" is the direction of "earth," the fertile lowland where life is natural and uncontrived. Confucius tells us here that an early move in this direction will win the "allegiance of the masses." Psychologically interpreted, this refers to the inner kingdom of the psyche, where “the masses” are the drives, emotions and archetypal complexes which make up our being. The symbolism suggests a conscious freeing up of inner tension.
These forces, therefore, must not be left to run wild, but should be disposed of in harmless ways or, better still, used for constructive purposes: creative activities of various kinds; the rebuilding of our personality, contributing to our Psychosynthesis. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows a porter with his burden, yet riding in a carriage. He will only tempt robbers to attack him. However firm and correct he may try to be, there will be cause for regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If a man carries a burden on his back and nonetheless rides in a carriage, he thereby encourages robbers to draw near. Perseverance leads to humiliation.
Blofeld: Traveling with both luggage-bearers and a carriage, he attracted the attention of robbers. To persist would bring misfortune. [This could mean that someone bearing luggage on his back rides in a carriage. In any case, the Chinese additional commentaries explain that the passage refers to those who usurp privileges to which they are not entitled by rank or merit.]
Liu: A man carries goods on his back and rides in a carriage – thus invites robbers to come. To continue brings humiliation.
Shaughnessy: Carrying on the back and riding in a cart brings robbers to arrive; determination is distressful.
Cleary (1): Riding bearing a burden causes enemies to arrive. Even being righteous one is humiliated.
Cleary (2): Carrying and riding brings on enemies. It is right to be humiliated.
Wu: A man bearing a load rides in a carriage. What he swaggers is conducive to robbery. Even though he does nothing wrong, he will be humiliated.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: For a porter with his burden to be riding in a carriage is a thing to be ashamed of. It is he himself that tempts the robbers to come. On whom besides can we lay the blame? Wilhelm/Baynes: He should really be ashamed of himself. When I myself thus attract robbers, on whom shall I lay the blame? Blofeld: Moreover, his using both of them was shameful. If I were to act thus and bring robbers down on me, who but myself would be to blame? Ritsema/Karcher: Truly permitting the demoniac indeed. Originating-from my involving arms. Furthermore whose fault indeed. Cleary (2): Carrying and riding are both disgraceful. One brings attack by oneself – who else is to blame? Wu: It is a shame for a bearer to ride in a carriage. He exposes himself to robbery. Who else is to be blamed?
The Master said:The makers of the I Ching may be said to have known the philosophy of robbery. The I Ching says, "He is a burden-bearer, and yet rides in a carriage, thereby exciting robbers to attack him." Burden- bearing is the business of an inferior man. A carriage is the vehicle of a gentleman. When an inferior man rides in the vehicle of a gentleman, robbers will think of taking it from him. When one is insolent to those above him, and oppressive to those below, robbers will wish to attack him. Careless laying up of things excites to robbery, as a woman's adorning of herself excites to lust. What the I Ching says about the burden-bearer's riding in a carriage, and exciting robbers to attack him shows how robbery is called out.
Legge: The third line is magnetic where it should be dynamic. In the top place of the lower trigram it suggests the idea of a porter riding in a carriage. People will say: "How did he get there? The things cannot be his own." Therefore robbers will attack and plunder him since he can't protect himself or accomplish anything good.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man has obtained material goods and comfort and seeks a life of ease which does not suit his nature. Like a woman's self-adornment which excites to lust, this way of life merely invites robbers and leads to humiliation.
Wing: You have been able to assume a somewhat powerful position, which you do not know how to control. You pretend to be something that you are not. This invites envy. If you continue in this way you will suffer humiliation at the hands of others who would usurp your position.
Editor: Receiving this line can be a reprimand for an unworthy attitude. It shows one who aspires beyond his station, or who incorrectly seeks an easy solution to his problems. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number thirty-two,Consistency, the corresponding line of which begins: "Shows one who does not constantly maintain his virtue..." The idea is that a desire to move ahead quickly tempts one into an improper response to the situation at hand. Sometimes the context of the question can suggest that the "vehicle" (carriage) is the oracle itself -- you want it to answer a question you can figure out for yourself. The porter's burden is an obvious responsibility or duty. The robbers are anything that would harm the Work.
The acceptance of the need to relate to a power or powers beyond our personal control and rational comprehension does not necessitate, indeed does not even permit, abandonment of our personal responsibility but rather requires of us that in the domain of the personal life assigned to us our own responsibility must be exerted to the limits. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Get your head out of the clouds and assume your responsibilities.
B. Did you expect a spiritual helicopter to take you to the top of the mountain?
Line 4
Legge: To the subject of the fourth line, dynamic, it is said: "Remove your toes. Friends will then come, and there will be mutual confidence between you."
Wilhelm/Baynes: Deliver yourself from your great toe. Then the companion comes, and him you can trust.
Blofeld: A fumbled release. Put your trust in the friend(s) who will come. ["A fumbled release" is the result of my attempt to make something of three Chinese words -- "release" and "thumb" (or "big toe") joined by a grammatical particle with various possible meanings. Whether my guess is right or not, the commentary on the line makes it clear that the omen is not a fortunate one. Happily, an awkward situation will be relieved by the arrival of a friend (or friends).]
Liu: Loosen your big toe. When your friend comes, you can trust each other.
Ritsema/Karcher: Taking-apart and-also the thumbs. Partnering culminating, splitting-off conforming.
Shaughnessy: Untangling his hemlock; a friend arrives and returns this.
Cleary (1): Releasing your big toe, when the companion comes, then trust.
Cleary (2): Remove your big toe. When a companion comes, then you trust.
Wu: He unties his big toes. This will bring the trust of his friends.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The places of this line and of the third and first are all inappropriate to them. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. Blofeld: A fumbled release is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet an appropriate situation indeed. Cleary (2): You are not yet in the right position. Wu: Because he is out of place.
Legge: Line four is dynamic in a magnetic place, and his correlate is magnetic in a dynamic place. Such a union will not be productive of good. In the symbolism line one becomes the toe of line four. The K'ang-hsi editors say that "Line four is neither central nor in his correct place. He has line one for a correlate and line three for his close associate -- both of whom are magnetic in dynamic places. Hence it is said that they are all in places inappropriate to them."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man removes the inferior people who have attached themselves to him and have even become indispensable in some respects. This is a necessary prelude to great attainments. Their departure will enable him to cultivate friends with similar views and mutual confidence.
Wing: There are people who attach themselves to you for reasons of their own. This is a parasitic relationship, which may become habitual. You should liberate yourself from this kind of entanglement, since it repels others who might be valuable allies in your endeavors.
Editor: The respective meanings of lines one and four are derived from their correlation with each other. Note that this correlation is seen as favorable to line one, but unfavorable to line four. There are seven lines in theI Chingwhich mention toes, and all except the present one are first lines. In this case the toe referred to is the first line, which is magnetic in a dynamic place during a time of liberation from peril or stagnation. This suggests that from the point of view of line four, his magnetic correlate in the first place is a liability to be discarded. As regards the immanent assistance of "friends," Wilhelm comments that "the present line and the [dynamic line] in the second place are friends of kindred nature, jointly rendering loyal help to the ruler in the fifth place." Since line two is the only other dynamic line in the hexagram and is portrayed as a "hunter who disposes of inferior men," such help is obviously advantageous. As confusing as all this seems to be, the essential idea is clear enough: free yourself of a compulsion or entanglement in order to obtain help. (A toe either gives us the impetus to move or obstructs movement when we stumble over it.) Perhaps it represents a timid, conservative or over-cautious attitude which is holding us back.
It takes a great leap of imagination to conceive of this ego position. We are so much in the habit of taking our conscious selves for granted that our sense of ourselves seems to us the primary fact from which all other experiences arise merely secondarily. We find it difficult to regard the subjective experience of "I" as in any way secondary, as something through which some objective "other" -- namely, a "not-I," an objective psychic stratum -- brings itself to experience as consciousness, as a focal point of the total field in terms of space and time. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Liberate yourself from egotism and allow the trustworthy insights of the Self to guide you.
B. Control your compulsive fear or anxiety and success will come of itself.
C. The image suggests that perhaps you have fallen in with bad company – abandon inferior influences.
Line 6
Legge: In the sixth line, magnetic, we see a feudal prince with his bow shooting at a falcon on the top of a high wall, and hitting it. The effect of this action will be in every way advantageous.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The prince shoots at a hawk on a high wall. He kills it. Everything serves to further.
Blofeld: The prince shot an arrow and killed a hawk perching on a high wall. Everything is favorable!
Liu: A duke shoots a hawk on the high wall and catches it. Everything is beneficial.
Ritsema/Karcher: A prince avails-of shooting a hawk, tending- towards the high rampart's above. Without not Harvesting: catching it.
Shaughnessy: The duke herewith shoots a hawk on the top of a high wall, bagging it; there is nothing not beneficial.
Cleary (1): The prince shoots at a hawk on a high wall and gets it, to the benefit of all.
Wu: The duke aims his arrow at a hawk perching on a high city wall. He bags the predator. Nothing is disadvantageous.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Thus he removes the promoters of rebellion. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Thereby he delivers himself from those who resist. Blofeld: This means that he was able to liberate himself from perverse men. Ritsema/ Karcher: Using Taking- apart rebelling indeed. Cleary (2): The lord shoots the hawk to solve the conflict. Wu: To relieve the threat of sedition.
The Master said: "The falcon is a bird of prey; the bow and arrow is a weapon of war; the shooter is a man. The superior man keeps his weapon concealed about his person, and waits for the proper time to move; doing this, how should his movement be other than successful? There is nothing to fetter or embarrass movement, and hence when he comes forth, he succeeds in his object. The language speaks of movement when the instrument necessary to it is ready and perfect."
Legge: Line six is the highest line in the figure, but not the place of the ruler. Hence he appears as a feudal duke, who carries out the idea of the figure against inferior men.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Using hitherto concealed, ready, and perfect instruments, the man removes the powerful promoter of obstruction and rebellion.
Wing: Prepare yourself to forcefully dispense with a great adversary. This is done with careful planning and clever timing. This is a formidable enemy so you must be constantly alert. When you have removed this obstacle to your progress, everything that you attempt will succeed.
Editor: The line does not lend itself to the usual gender symbolism. Prince: Minor official -- the ego. Bow: The tension and release of aimed power -- conceptualization. Arrow: Perception, realization, that which pierces the heart of the matter. Hawk/Falcon: A predator bird. Swedenborg says: "Birds signify such things as relate to the understanding, and thence to thought and deliberation." The hawk, then, is aggressive, dangerous thinking. Confucius calls him a "promoter of rebellion," hence: undisciplined thinking, the source of an illusion. Wall: From the outside, it defines a space, outlines a perimeter; from the inside, it is protection from what lies outside: a division between one state or condition and another. A "high" wall suggests the realm of thought, ideas. The wall is the threshold, and the falcon is the guardian of the threshold.
Now the mind flies forth like an arrow from a cross-bow, to be the arbiter of right and wrong. Now it stays behind as if sworn to an oath, to hold on to what it has secured. Chuangtse
In this quote from Chuangtse, the first sentence describes the action of the prince, and the second sentence describes the function of the threshold guardian -- in this case the hawk. The line suggests the elimination of an illusion which thereby liberates one to explore a whole new realm of thought or experience.
A. Attain liberation by identifying and eliminating a dangerous entrenched thought, idea, attitude, concept or limiting belief which has been preventing a resolution of the matter at hand.
18 Repair
Other titles: Work On What Has Been Spoiled, The Symbol of Destruction, Decay, Arresting of Decay, Work after Spoiling, Fixing, Rectifying, Corrupting, Branch, Degeneration, Misdeeds "Can refer to heredity and psychological traits.” -- D. F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Successful progress is indicated for those who properly repair what has been spoiled. It is advantageous to cross the great stream. One should consider carefully the events three days before the turning point and the tasks remaining for three days afterward.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Work On What Has Been Spoiled has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days.
Blofeld:Decay augurs sublime success and the advantage of crossing the great river (or sea). [I.e. of going on a journey or of going forward with one's plans.] What has happened once will surely happen again (literally, "three days before the commencement; three days after the commencement"). [It would have been hard to make sense of these words, were it not that the Confucian Commentary on the Text clearly explains them; hence the liberty I have taken with the Text.]
Liu: Work after spoiling. Great success. It is of benefit to cross the great water. Before starting, three days. After starting, three days. [This hexagram implies that, although conditions are bad now, improvement can be expected.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Corrupting, Spring Growing. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Before seedburst three days, after seedburst three days. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of disorder, perversion and putrefaction. It emphasizes that letting things rot away so they become obsolete is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Branch: Prime auspiciousness; receipt. Beneficial to ford the great river; preceding jia by three days, following jia by three days.
Cleary (1): Correcting degeneration is greatly developmental. It is beneficial to cross great rivers. Three days before the start, three days after the start. [The way to correct degeneracy is not in empty tranquility without action; it is necessary to work in the midst of great danger and difficulty, to act in the dragon’s pool and the tiger’s lair. Only then can one restore one’s original being, cultivating it into something indestructible.]
Cleary (2): From degeneration comes great development, etc.
Wu: Misdeeds is great and pervasive. It will be advantageous to cross the big river. It would be advisable to begin an undertaking three days before Jia and examine the ongoing progress three days thereafter.
The Image
Legge: The image of wind below the mountain forms Repair. The superior man, in accordance with this, stimulates the virtue of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind blows low on the mountain: the image of Decay. Thus the superior man stirs up the people and strengthens their spirit.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing at the foot of a mountain. The Superior Man, by stimulating people's hearts, nourishes their virtue.
Liu: Wind blowing around the foot of the mountain symbolizes Work after Spoiling. The superior man encourages people to cultivate virtue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below mountain possessing wind. Corrupting. A chun tzu uses rousing the commoners 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): There is wind in the mountains; degeneration. Thus superior people rouse the people and nurture virtue.
Cleary (2): … Leaders thus arouse the people to nurture virtue.
Wu: There is wind at the foot of the mountain; this is Misdeeds. Thus the jun zi arouses the people and nurtures his own virtue.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The dynamic trigram is above, and the magnetic trigram is below. Pliancy is below, and Stopping above: these suggest troubled conditions verging on ruin. But Repair brings order to all under heaven, and he who advances will encounter the business to be done. The end of confusion is the beginning of order; such is the procedure of heaven.
Legge: Repair means the performance of painful but necessary duties. It shows a situation in which things are going to ruin, as if through poison or venomous worms. In order to justify the auspice of progress and success, the duty of the figure is to rectify this and restore conditions to health. This will require a major effort, such as crossing the great stream, and the careful differentiation of the causes of the problem, as well as the measures taken to fix it. The attribute of the lower trigram is Pliancy, and the upper represents Stoppage or Arrest. Hence, the feeble pliancy of decadence is stopped cold by the immovable mountain. The three days before and after the turning point symbolize the careful attention and differentiation necessary for any rectification to succeed.
On the Image, Ch'eng-tzu says: "When the wind encounters the mountain, it is driven back, and the things about are all scattered in disorder; such is the emblem of the state denoted by Repair." The nourishing of virtue appears especially in line six -- all the other lines belong to the helping of the people.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Repair means to set your house in order. Analyze your choices before the renovation and evaluate their consequences afterward.
The Superior Man orders his thoughts and feelings, reforms old attitudes, and strengthens his will. (Psychologically, to "stimulate the virtue of the people" (Legge) is to rectify the components of a complex.)
To imagine any truly objective state of perception we must include all that exists: the entire cosmos. Each differentiation of this, from atom to galaxy, is one slice out of an infinite whole. As a portion of the entirety, we are always linked with our ancestors in an infinite web of relationships which includes our family history, our racial-cultural-historical heritage and Homo sapiens as a species. Though seldom aware of them, it is useful to remember these links. Emanating from an unfathomable complexity, their karmically-charged morphogenetic fields are constantly shaping our lives. It follows that, although we perceive ourselves as separate from our ancestors, the separation is a subjective experience which is true only in a temporally limited sense.
Every line of Repair, except two and six, shows a son dealing with the troubles caused by his father. This reminds us of the biblical curse:
For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Exodus 20: 5
The father archetype has a wide range of meanings: this extends from the Primal Spirit ("God the Father"), to a prior cause or intent in the psyche which has engendered a present condition. Psychologically interpreted, it is this latter reading which usually applies. If a "father" symbolizes the cause, then a "son" is the effect. If the effect is imperfect, then to rectify it is also to rectify the original intent.
To a large extent our lives consist of well-intentioned but misguided choices which create less than perfect consequences. To modify our attitude or behavior so that it corrects errors in our original intent is to "deal with the troubles caused by the father."
For example: In a misconceived expression of affection, a parent allows his child unrestricted access to candy. As a consequence of this choice, the kid's teeth become rotten, and the only logical way to correct the original error is to now curtail his intake of sugar. The fact that this new choice will create stress in the relationship between parent and child is just a consequence of the original choice and has no bearing at all on what is correct in the situation.
In some situations this hexagram may be interpreted as a response to a karmic chain of cause and effect:
To harmonize with the Wisdom Teachings, the scripture should read that the karma of the "father" is visited upon the "child" unto the fourth incarnation, not generation. The mistakes you made in the last four incarnations may be visited upon you in the form of karma flowing out of the heart seed atom in the present incarnation. Thus what you "fathered," or created, in your last incarnation may be the source ("parent") of your karma today. You are a child of that parent today. You have inherited from that parent -- the you of the past, not your physical parents -- all of your characteristics, weaknesses and strengths. Earlyne Chaney -- The Mystery of Death and Dying
The interpretation of any oracle response can only be as profound as our minds are prepared to accept. As moderns we find it difficult to empathize with "ancestor worship," yet properly understood, it can provide useful insights into the Work. In the unconscious realm all time is immediate, not sequential, and the Objective Psyche consists of a non- temporal web of forces shading from personal to universal. This means that if we have a complex engendered in us by our father, for example, we can reasonably assume that he was passing on what he received from his own parents. In this way, the unresolved complexes of the ancestors shape our own personalities: they live in and through us right now, even if they had their birth in forefathers long forgotten. This is a kind of near-immortality: individuals may die, but beliefs, attitudes, complexes live as long as they have receptive vessels to inhabit. (This is probably the engine of karma.) To the extent that an ancestral chain of causality still motivates our choices, we are totally responsible for "setting right what has been spoiled by the father."
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Most people have some level of unfinished business with their parents: psychologists would have little to do if this weren't true. It can be a healing ritual to set up an altar to a deceased parent and meditate there on the stresses that still remain between you. To approach the situation without judgment, to realize (non-logically) that forces pre-existing you provoked the condition as much as your parent did, will elicit much insight. Be especially aware of the presence of the past and the illusion of linear time. (Is it possible somehow to be your own great-grandfather?) Ancestor “worship” of this sort can be profoundly therapeutic.