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Shock51
Sudden change or shock, like thunder, that can jolt you awake. Embrace the disruption as an opportunity for growth, respond calmly, and align your actions with the new reality.
↓ Line 2
The shock may cause loss and hardship, but patience and perseverance will eventually restore what was lost. Avoid hasty actions.
↓ Line 3
The shock may cause confusion, but it can also be a catalyst for positive action. Responding appropriately will prevent negative outcomes.
↓ Line 5
The shock causes chaos and danger, but ultimately nothing is lost. There is still work to be done to restore order.
↓ Breakthrough 43
Break through obstacles with determination and clarity. Confront negativity openly while maintaining integrity and wisdom. The truth must be revealed, yet patience is required.
51 Shock
Other titles: The Arousing, Thunder, The Symbol of Startling Movement, Shake, The Beginning of Movement, Shocking, The Thunderclap, Action, Motion, Sudden Change, Surprise! "The necessity to keep tranquil in the midst of upheaval." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Shock intimates ease and development. When the time of movement which it indicates comes, the subject of the hexagram will be found looking out with apprehension, and yet smiling and talking cheerfully. When the movement like a crash of thunder terrifies all within a hundred miles, he will be like the sincere worshipper who is not startled into dropping his ladle and cup of sacrificial spirits.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Shock brings success. Shock comes --oh, oh! Laughing words -- ha, ha! The shock terrifies for a hundred miles, and he does not let fall the sacrificial spoon and chalice.
Blofeld: Thunder -- success! Thunder comes with a terrible noise, laughing and shouting in awesome glee and frightening people for a hundred miles around. The sacrificial wine is not spilt. [This suggests that the holder of the sacrificial vessel is not easily alarmed or else that he is very wise and able to distinguish between the apparently dangerous and the truly dangerous.]
Liu: Thunder. Success. Thunder comes -- ho ho! Speaking and laughing -- ha ha! It shocks and terrifies for a hundred miles. But one does not drop the spoon or chalice.
Ritsema/Karcher: Shake, Growing. Shake coming: frightening, frightening. Laughing words, shrieking, shrieking. Shake scaring a hundred miles. Not losing the ladle, the libation. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a disturbing and inspiring shock. It emphasizes that rousing things to new activity, the action of Shake is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: stir things up!]
Shaughnessy:Thunder: Receipt; thunder comes so renewingly; laughter and talk yaya; thunder alarms one hundred miles; not losing the ladle or goblet.
Cleary (1): Thunder is developmental. When thunder comes, there is alarm, then laughter. Thunder startles for a hundred miles, but one does not lose the spoon and wine.
Cleary (2):Thunder comes through. Etc.
Wu:Motion indicates pervasiveness. When Motioncomes, it frightens people. Later, it makes people talk and laugh. Its majesty reaches one hundred li in all directions. There is no misplacement of the ladle or sacrificial wine.
The Image
Legge: The image of Thunder, being repeated, forms Shock. The superior man, in accordance with this, is fearful and apprehensive, cultivates his virtue, and examines his faults.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder repeated: the image of Shock. Thus in fear and trembling the superior man sets his life in order and examines himself.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes continuous thunder. The Superior Man in fear and trembling seeks to improve himself.
Liu: Thunder doubled symbolizes shock. The superior man contemplates himself with fear and caution.
Ritsema/Karcher: Reiterated thunder. Shake. A chun tzu uses anxious fearing to adjust inspecting.
Cleary (1):Traveling thunder reverberates. Thus superior people cautiously practice introspection.
Cleary (2): Repeated thunder reverberates.Developed people practice introspection with caution.
Wu: One thunderclap after another constitutes hexagram Motion. Thus the jun zi reflects and rectifies for fear of being wrong.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His feeling of dread leads to happiness because he is thereby made to adopt proper laws for himself. The movement startles the distant and frightens the near, yet he makes the proper sacrifices the same as always.
Legge: Shock consists of the trigram for Thunder doubled. (This trigram also represents Movement and the Eldest Son.) The hexagram therefore symbolizes a crash or peal of thunder, and combined with the idea of movement shows a sudden change taking place in the kingdom. The lesson is the conduct to be pursued in a time of sudden change through an awareness of danger and the proper regulation of oneself.
A successful issue is predicted if the dynamic first line can be superior to the two magnetic lines above him. It is in the idea of the hexagram that he should be moving and advancing. Although sensible of the danger, he is confident and self-possessed -- so much so that he can calmly perform his religious duties during the prevailing chaos. This is proper behavior for the eldest son, who must eventually assume the duties of his father.
Anthony: In the I Chingshock means being subjected to unsettling events. It also means perceiving and reacting to these events … perceiving, in any of these changes, that a new set of limits, or deprivations, has been placed on our life which seems to restrict or even penalize us. This sense of being projected by events into a sort of emotional trap is what this hexagram calls “Fate.” Acknowledgement of this fate, or trap, and the imperative – to find the way out – is one of the purposes of shock. As far as the I Ching is concerned, there is only one way out – to undergo spiritual development.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: During sudden changes, adjust your tempo and move ahead, remembering that while conditions may alter, the goal remains the same.
The Superior Man double-checks his premises, confronts his weak spots and adheres to the rules and ideals of the Work.
The image here is one of a sudden, dramatic release of energy, power and force. To receive this hexagram without changing lines can refer to almost any abrupt, startling or unexpected situation. Sometimes it is the oracle's way of saying: "Surprise!” It can also be a kind of reprimand for asking a dumb or inappropriate question -- the oracle is "shocked” by your temerity, ignorance, etc. In such instances there is often an element of wry humor in the situation -- usually at the ego's expense. On rare occasions, it is possible to receive this hexagram as a warning about an upcoming event which has no bearing on the question posed. Should you receive such an oracle, be extremely vigilant – as always, the advice to the superior man in the Image suggests the proper course.
A true test of devotion to the Work is to maintain one's will under all circumstances. The world may be falling apart around us, but the adept does not ruin the performance of his sacrifice: the ego continues the Work regardless of conditions, and keeps a cool head under all circumstances.
Have no fear of sudden terror
or of assault from wicked men,
since Yahweh will be your guarantor,
He will keep your steps from the snare.
Proverbs 3: 25-26
Both Yahweh and Christ are what Jung calls "god images” which exist in one form or another in every human psyche, whether it is consciously religious or not. The god image is synonymous with the Self, and the implication of the above quotation from Proverbsis that as long as the ego remains devoted to the Work -- in I Chingterms: "maintains the sacrifice” -- it is under the protection of the Self.
The Perfect Man is godlike. Though the great swamps blaze, they cannot burn him; though the great rivers freeze, they cannot chill him; though swift lightning splits the hills and howling gales shake the sea, they cannot frighten him. A man like this rides the clouds and mist, straddles the sun and moon, and wanders beyond the four seas. Even life and death have no effect on him, much less the rules of profit and loss! Chuang Tzu
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject, when the movement approaches in a position of peril. She judges it better to let go the articles in her possession, and to ascend to a very lofty height. There is no occasion for her to pursue after the things she has let go; in seven days she will find them.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Shock comes bringing danger. A hundred thousand times you lose your treasures and must climb the nine hills. Do not go in pursuit of them. After seven days you will get them back again.
Blofeld:Thunder approaches -- trouble is at hand! Sadly he lets go of his valuables and fleeing sets foot among the nine hills. He should not search for them; in seven days he will regain them.
Liu: Thunder comes, causing danger. You will lose a great deal of your wealth, then climb nine hills without searching for it. After seven days you will regain it.
Ritsema/Karcher: Shake coming: adversity. A hundred-thousand lost coins. Climbing tending-towards the ninth mound. No pursuit. The seventh day: acquiring.
Shaughnessy:Thunder comes so dangerously; one loses cowries; sacrificing to the nine peaks; do not follow, in seven days you will get it.
Cleary (1):Thunder comes: dangerous thoughts. Losing valuables, you climb nine hills: Don’t chase it – you’ll get it in seven days. [Mounting strength with weakness, arbitrary imagination gets too high, and one tries to do what one cannot do. This is losing basic sense and acting on dangerous thoughts … It is fortunate if you maintain rectitude when you are weak, not daring to act arbitrarily…]
Cleary (2):Thunder comes – dangerous. Remembering that you have lost your treasure, you climb nine hills. But do not pursue it; in seven days you will get it.
Wu: He encounters severe movements and presumes to have lost his precious possessions. He climbs up a hill that has nine winding passes, There is no need to search for his possessions. He will recover them after seven days. [He climbs up to high ground to distance himself from the movement below.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: A magnetic line is mounted on a dynamic one. Wilhelm/Baynes: It rests upon a firm line. Blofeld: That the approach of thunder presages trouble is indicated by the position of this yielding line over a firm one. Ritsema/Karcher: Riding a solid indeed. Cleary (2): The danger of thunder coming is mounting the unyielding. Wu: Because he rides on a yang. [The weak second six “rides” on the strong first nine and finds what a perilous situation he is in.]
Legge: The peril in line two is suggested by her position immediately above line one. The rest of the symbolism is obscure, and Chu Hsi says he does not understand it. The subject of the line does what she can to get out of danger, and finally, as is signified by the central position of the line, the issue is better than could have been expected. On the symbolism of "seven days," Ch'eng-tzu says: "The places of a hexagram amount to six. The number seven is the first of another hexagram. When the movement symbolized by Shock has gone through its cycle, things will be as they were before."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: An uprising endangers the man. He accepts the material losses and ascends to lofty heights inaccessible to the threatening forces. After the shock and upheaval have subsided, his property will be restored without his fighting for it.
Wing: A cataclysmic upheaval can cause you great losses. Do not try to resist or fight the forces, since this is impossible. Instead, remove yourself from the dangerous situation. Become inaccessible. In time you will recoup your losses.
Editor: Symbolically, the symbolism is not obscure at all: the basic idea is to transcend your habitual responses and view them from a higher perspective. When things have settled down again, losses will prove to be illusory.
Verily destruction is the foundation of existence,
And the tearing down thou seest
Is but the assembling of material
for a greater structure...
Deluded are they who say,
"Man liveth by the Mercy of the Lord."
Know ye
That the balance of Mercy and Severity
Is the continuance of every life,
Yea, and of this whole universe.
P.F. Case -- The Book of Tokens
A. A new situation renders old methods obsolete.
B. Detach yourself from your accustomed responses and wait for the situation to mature. Losses are imaginary.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows its subject distraught amid the startling movements going on. If those movements excite her to right action, there will be no mistake.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Shock comes and makes one distraught. If Shock spurs to action one remains free of misfortune.
Blofeld: Thunderous impetuosity -- to emulate it at this time will not give rise to harm. [The Superior Man usually acts calmly and carefully, but there are times when impetuosity serves a good purpose or, at the very least, does no particular harm.]
Liu: Thunder comes causing a terrified manner. But if one is cautious, one remains free of disaster.
Ritsema/Karcher: Shake: reviving, reviving. Shake moving without blunder.
Shaughnessy: Thunder is so slow; thunder moves without inspection.
Cleary (1): Frightened by thunder; wary action is free from trouble.
Cleary (2): The thunder is faint. Act vigorously, and there will be no trouble.
Wu: He is frightened and uneasy because of the movement, but will not incur misfortune for his undertakings.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her position is unsuitable to her. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. Blofeld: Thunderous impetuosity is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed.
Cleary (2): The position is not appropriate. Wu: His position is improper.
Legge: Line three is magnetic in a dynamic place, but if she moves on to the fourth place, which would be correct for her, the issue will not be bad.
Anthony: The shock of encountering our fate, which seems unbearably harsh, causes emotional trauma. It is as if we are suddenly and irrevocably put into a bad predicament with no options. This negativism, however, means we are still under the effects of shock. If we can withdraw from this negative view, we will see that there are workable and correct means out of the problem. We need to be open-minded in order that the options can become visible. First, we must “keep still” within, refusing to look at the negative images, or listen to the voices of our inferiors.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The startling strokes of fate bring mental conflict to the man. He should retain presence of mind. If he tailors his responses appropriately, he will overpower these external blows.
Wing: An external blow of fate will put to a test your inner strength. Try, at all costs, to maintain your composure. Look for an avenue of change that will alleviate the danger.
Editor: Wilhelm comments: "The word su, here rendered by ‘distraught,’ denotes literally the reviving movements of insects still stiff after their winter sleep.” Ritsema/Karcher translate SU as: "Regain vital energy, courage or strength; bring to life, cheer up; relief; lit.: herb whose smell revives weary spirits. The doubled character intensifies this quality.” The image is one of groggy confusion during a time demanding decisive action: "Wake up and smell the coffee!” Wilhelm also mentions that the line has reference to a foreordained or fated situation -- the shock of fate. The idea is that your fate is demanding that you get moving, that you wake up from your torpor and take action in accordance with the goals of the Work.
The marvel is that there is not a perpetual state of war within the psyche, for each of these elements is endowed with energy and so cannot die. Fortunately for our sanity, many of these irreconcilable elements lie deep within the unconscious, locked in primordial sleep; those which may have stirred are shut away in separate compartments. But as life progresses and an increase of consciousness is achieved, the inner conflicts awaken, and the problem of reconciling the oppositions they reveal has to be undertaken as a serious and urgent task. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. Wake up and resolve your confusion.
B. Get a move on -- drastic circumstance demand drastic responses.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows its subject going and coming amidst the startling movements of the time, and always in peril; but perhaps she will not incur loss, and find business which she can accomplish.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Shock goes hither and thither. Danger. However, nothing at all is lost. Yet there are things to be done.
Blofeld: Thunder comes and goes alternately -- trouble is at hand! Careful thought will avert loss, but there are affairs needing attention.
Liu: Thunder going back and forth brings danger. No great loss. Something remains to be achieved.
Ritsema/Karcher:Shake going, coming adversity. Intention without losing possesses affairs.
Shaughnessy: Thunder goes and comes so dangerously; there is no loss, there is service.
Cleary (1): Actively mulling over dangerous plans. No loss; there is concern.
Cleary (2): Thunder goes and comes – dangerous. On reflection there is no loss; there is something to do.
Wu: Either advance or retreat is precarious. There will be no big loss, only small problems.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her doings are full of risk, but must be undertaken in her central position. Far will she be from incurring any loss. Wilhelm/Baynes: One walks in danger. The "things to be done" are in the middle, hence nothing at all is lost. Blofeld: The first sentence implies that danger threatens our activities. That affairs need our attention is indicated by this central line of the upper trigram. There will be no important losses. Ritsema/Karcher: Exposed moving indeed. One's affairs located-in the center. The great without losing indeed. Cleary (2): This is acting in peril. Wu: This means that any undertaking will be risky… Problems will be solved through compromise.
Legge: Line five is magnetic in a dynamic place where the action of the hexagram is concentrated. Hence she is always in peril, but her central position indicates safety in the end.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is exposed to repeated shocks and continuing peril. As long as he maintains a central position, safety is assured in the end.
Wing: The shocks will continue and you will be faced with constant troubles and difficulties. You can survive the times if you actively change with the changes, thus remaining centered internally and externally.
Editor: Although there is no relationship of correspondence, this line is similar to line three. Psychologically interpreted, the idea is that the ego is responsible for the Work in spacetime, and it is never easy -- every choice you make is a judgment call.
The practice of shock therapy shatters the distorted ego complex to the point of extinction; contact can then be reestablished with the hope of forming new patterns. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. "Roll with the punches" and keep your head.
B. Don't allow unsettled conditions to divert you from the Work. Do what the situation requires.
43 Breakthrough
Other titles: Break-through, The Symbol of Decision, Resolution, Determination, Parting, Removing Corruption, Eradication
Judgment
Legge: Recognizing the risks involved in criminal prosecution, justice demands a resolute proof of the culprit's guilt in the royal court. One informs one's own city that armed force is not necessary. In this way progress is assured.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Break-through. One must resolutely make the matter known at the court of the king. It must be announced truthfully. Danger. It is necessary to notify one's own city. It does not further to resort to arms. It furthers one to undertake something.
Blofeld: Resolution. When a proclamation is made at the court of the King, frankness in revealing the true state of affairs is dangerous. [In vital matters, frankness may prove dangerous.] In making announcements to the people of his own city, it is not fitting for the ruler to carry arms. [It is better to repose trust in our own people.] It is favorable to have some goal (or destination).
Liu: Determination. Someone is proud in the king's court, and the king trusts him. If one exposes the truth, danger. It must be told to one's own people. Using force does not benefit. It does benefit to do something else. [You must decide how to deal with a situation before it reaches a dangerous point, or things will take their own course and overwhelm you.]
Ritsema/Karcher:Parting, displaying tending-towards kingly chambers. Conforming, crying-out, possessing adversity. Notifying originates from the capital. Not Harvesting: approaching arms. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of separation and diverging directions. It emphasizes that resolutely dividing your energies is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Resolution: Raised up at the royal court, returning crying out; there is danger. Announcing from the sky; not beneficial to regulate the belligerents; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1): Parting is lauded in the royal court. The call of truth involves danger. Addressing one’s own domain, it is not beneficial to go right to war, but it is beneficial to go somewhere. [The royal court is the abode of the mind-ruler, where true and false are distinguished.]
Cleary (2): Decision is brought up in the royal court. A sincere statement involves danger, etc.
Wu:Eradication indicates a conceited pronouncement in the royal court on the one hand, and a concerted call for vigilance on the other. It is essential to make the danger known to the people, but not to resort to force now. It is advantageous to have undertakings.
The Image
Legge: The image of the waters of a marsh mounting over heaven forms Resoluteness. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not hoard his wealth, but shares it with his subordinates.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The lake has risen up to heaven: the image of Break-through. Thus the superior man dispenses riches downward and refrains from resting on his virtue.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a marshy lake being drawn (sucked) towards the sky. The Superior Man distributes his emoluments to those below; dwelling in virtue, he renounces them.
Liu: The lake ascends to heaven, symbolizing Determination. The superior man distributes wealth below him, without displaying his favors.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh with-respect-to heaven. Parting. A chun tzu uses spreading-out benefits to extend to the below. A chun tzu uses residing-in actualizing tao, by- consequence keeping-aloof. [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 what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): Moisture ascends to heaven, which parts with it. Thus do superior people distribute blessings to reach those below, while avoiding presumption of virtue. [After people get mixed up in temporal conditioning, the discriminatory consciousness takes charge of affairs; wine and sex distract them from reality, the lure of wealth deranges their nature, emotions and desires well forth at once, thoughts and ruminations arise in a tangle, and the mind-ruler is lost in confusion. Because habituation becomes second nature over a long period of time, it cannot be abruptly removed. It is necessary to work on the matter in a serene and equanimous way, according to the time: Eventually discrimination will cease, and the original spirit will return; the human mind will sublimate and the mind of Tao will be complete – again you will see the original self.]
Cleary (2): … If they presumed on their virtue, they would be resented.
Wu: The marsh rises to heaven; this is Eradication. Thus the jun zi distributes his emolument to those below and is loath to monopolize virtues.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Resoluteness is the symbol of displacing or removing. We see the dynamic lines displacing the magnetic line. The figure displays the attributes of Strength and Cheerfulness. There is displacement, but harmony continues. The exhibition of the criminal's guilt in the royal court is shown by the magnetic line mounted on five dynamic lines. The awareness of danger and appeal for justice makes the matter clear. If he has recourse to arms, what he prefers will soon be exhausted. When the advance of the dynamic lines is complete, there will be an end to displacement.
Legge:Resoluteness represents the third month when the last vestige of winter, represented by the sixth line, is about to disappear before the advance of summer. The single yin line at the top symbolizes an inferior man, a feudal prince or high minister who is corrupting the government. The five yang lines below are the representatives of good order. The lesson of the hexagram is how to remove corruption from the kingdom. He who would do this must do so by the force of his character more than the force of arms. Never forgetting the dangerous nature of his undertaking, he must openly denounce the criminal in the court and awaken general sympathy to his cause. Among his own adherents ("In his own city") he must prevent any tendency to resort to armed conflict. As a worthy statesman he is not motivated by private feelings.
Hu Ping-wen says: "If but a single inferior man is left, he is sufficient to make the superior man anxious; if but a single inordinate desire be left in the mind, that is sufficient to disturb the harmony of the heavenly principles. The eradication in both cases must be complete, before the labor is ended."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Resoluteness involves astute discernment of what is wrong and a discreet re-establishment of order without polarizing the situation. Be clear in your own strategy, but let common sense be your guide about how much you need to disclose to others. Avoid aggression at all costs.
The Superior Man maintains equilibrium by distributing his energy equitably -- he smoothes things out.
The forty-third hexagram is an image of the eradication of an inferior force from the situation at hand: five yang lines resolutely advance on the single yin line, which is about to be pushed out of the hexagram at the top. This is a negative image of the twenty-third hexagram, Disintegration, which shows the opposite situation of five lower yin lines undermining one upper yang line. It is instructive to compare the nearly identical message for the superior man in the Images of each of these figures. The idea is one of fostering an equitable distribution of energy within the situation -- Disintegration and the Resoluteness required to rectify it are extreme situations requiring extreme measures. Such extremes must always be neutralized through a justly distributed balance of forces.
It's not the concern of law that any one class in the city fare exceptionally well, but it contrives to bring this about for the whole city, harmonizing the citizens by persuasion and compulsion, making them share with one another the benefit that each class is able to bring to the commonwealth. And it produces such men in the city not in order to let them turn whichever way each wants, but in order that it may use them in binding the city together. Plato --The Republic
Compare the nuances of meaning in each translation of the Judgment. Wilhelm's is most radical, advising a direct (albeit dangerous), expose of what is wrong. Most of the others imply room for discretion about what needs to be revealed. Diplomacy is the art of knowing when full- disclosure only prevents resolution of the problem. Ritsema/Karcher allude to the proper mind-set required to manage such situations: "[A chun tzu uses] residing-in actualizing tao, by-consequence keeping-aloof." To "reside in actualizing tao," is to live directly from one's essence, and when this is associated with "keeping-aloof" we get an image of quietly rectifying a situation without revealing our purpose or strategy.
Psychologically interpreted,Resoluteness, like Disintegration, depicts an extreme situation which must first be rectified, then prevented from re-occurring through the maintenance of a just balance of power which is administered by the ego under the will of the Self.