Seeking refuge among one's kind
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Inner Truth61
Inner truth and sincerity lead to harmony and trust. Genuine communication fosters unity. Be truthful with yourself and others to create meaningful connections.
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True sincerity creates connections and understanding, leading to a harmonious outcome.
↓ Decrease41
Simplify and reduce. Embrace minimalism to gain clarity and focus on what truly matters. Letting go can bring unexpected abundance.
61 Inner Truth
Other titles: The Symbol of Central Sincerity, Inward Confidence, Inner Truthfulness, Sincerity, Centering- Conforming, Central Return, Faithfulness in the Center, Sincerity in the Center, Insight, Understanding, The Psyche, "Take the middle road and avoid extremes." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Inner Truth moves even pigs and fish, and leads to good fortune. There will be advantage in crossing the great stream. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Inner Truth. Pigs and fishes. Good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Inward Confidence and Sincerity. Dolphins -- good fortune! It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). Persistence in a right course brings reward.
Liu:Inner Truthfulness. Sea Lions -- good fortune. It is of benefit to cross the great water.
Ritsema/Karcher:Centering Conforming, hog fish significant. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting trial. (Hog fish, T’UN YU: aquatic mammals; porpoise, dolphin; intelligent aquatic animals whose development parallels the human; sign of abundance and good luck.) [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the relation between your inner core and the circumstances of your life. It emphasizes that bringing your central concerns and your life situation into a sincere and reliable accord is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Central Return: the piglet and fish are auspicious; harmonious: beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial to determine.
Cleary (1): Faithfulness in the center is auspicious when it reaches even pigs and fish . It is beneficial to cross great rivers. It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary (2): Sincerity in the center is auspicious when simple-minded ... etc.
Wu:Sincerity moves piglets and fishes. Auspicious. It will be advantageous to cross the big river with perseverance.
The Image
Legge: Wood on a Marsh -- the image of Inner Truth. The superior man deliberates about cases of litigation and delays the infliction of death.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind over lake: the image of Inner Truth. Thus the superior man discusses criminal cases in order to delay executions.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing over a marshy lake. The Superior Man devotes careful thought to his judgments and is tardy in sentencing people to death.
Liu: The wind over the lake symbolizes Inner Truthfulness. The superior man judges criminals and postpones capital punishment.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing wind. Centering Conforming. A chun tzu uses deliberating litigating to delay dying.
Cleary (1): There is wind above a lake, with truthfulness between them. Thus superior people consider judgments and postpone execution.
Cleary (2): There is wind over a lake, with sincerity in the center. True leaders consider judgments and postpone execution.
Wu: There is wind above the marsh: this is Sincerity. Thus, the jun zi deliberates the verdicts and enjoins the death sentence.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Inner Truth shows two magnetic lines occupying the innermost part of the hexagram, with dynamic lines in the centers of the trigrams. We see the attributes of Cheerfulness and Flexible Penetration -- sincerity thus symbolized reaches even to pigs and fishes and will transform the country. We see one riding on the symbol of Wood, which forms an empty boat -- hence it is advantageous to cross the great stream. The virtue of Inner Truth requires firm correctness and shows the proper response of man to heaven.
Legge: Inner Truth denotes the highest quality of man, giving its possessor the power to prevail with spiritual beings, with other men and with lower creatures. There are two magnetic lines in the center and two dynamic lines above and below them. The magnetic lines represent the heart and mind free from all preoccupation, without any consciousness of self. The two dynamic lines immediately above and below them are each in the center of their respective trigram, and denote the solid virtue of one so free from selfishness.
The trigram of Wood above the trigram for a Lake or Marsh suggests a boat crossing the great stream. The pigs and fishes symbolize the rudest and most obstinate of men. Ch'eng-tzu observes: "We have in the sincerity shown in the upper trigram superiors condescending to those below them in accordance with their peculiarities, and we have in that of the lower those below delighted to follow their superiors. The combination of these two things leads to the transformation of the country and state."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: It is a great accomplishment when Inner Truthalters archetypal forces within the psyche. The ego’s devotion to the Work is the means to this end.
The Superior Man carefully differentiates his options and avoids drastic measures. (Can sometimes mean: "Don't act until you are sure of all the facts.")
Anyone who monitors his dreams and other images knows that the unconscious is a continuous wellspring of psychic energy. Jung has observed that we are probably dreaming all of the time -- the only reason we don't usually notice this is because the conscious mind is so powerful that the more subtle manifestations of the psyche are eclipsed. Since consciousness consists of only the upper layers of a deep continuum of awareness it is obvious that we are being continuously "created from within." The ultimate source of our being is not easily accessible, but all of the empirical evidence points to a "Self" which transcends the space-time continuum -- i.e., lives in another "dimension."
The capacity to nullify space and time must somehow inhere in the psyche, or, to put it another way, the psyche does not exist wholly in time and space. It is very probable that only what we call consciousness is contained in space and time, and that the rest of the psyche, the unconscious, exists in a state of relative spacelessness and timelessness. Jung --Letters
This seemingly exotic concept was written by Jung in 1939, yet today the theories of the quantum physicists are approaching the point where awareness itself will be recognized as space-time transcendent.
In the modern Kaluza-Klein theory all the forces of nature, not merely gravity, are treated as manifestations of spacetime structure. What we normally call gravity is a warp in the four spacetime dimensions of our perceptions, while the other forces are reduced to higher-dimensional spacewarps. All the forces of nature are revealed as nothing more than hidden geometry at work ... There is a deep compulsion to believe in the idea that the entire universe, including all the apparently concrete matter that assails our senses, is in reality only a frolic of convoluted nothingness, that in the end the world will turn out to be a sculpture of pure emptiness, a self-organized void. Paul Davies -- Superforce
The physicists now hypothesize an eleven-dimensional universe, and state that the seven "extra" dimensions are somehow "rolled up to a very small size" so that they are not apparent to our senses. If we are going to hypothesize such fantastic realms it is more elegant to hypothesize consciousness itself as emanating from an extra-dimensional source. This is the Pleroma of the Gnostics and Alchemists, the upper and lower worlds of shamanism, or in Jungian parlance: the Objective Psyche or Collective Unconscious.
The familiar spacetime of our conscious experience consists of three linear dimensions, plus time. Time is considered a dimension, but not like the other three -- one can go up, down, forward and backward, to the left or right at will, but one cannot go back to this morning or forward to next Thursday afternoon. The time dimension is a continuous "now" and we experience it and the other three dimensions from the reference point of consciousness -- we are the center from which all dimensions radiate. Consciousness is like time in that it is always "now," and since consciousness emerges from within in a continuous and autonomous flow, we can legitimately hypothesize that we emanate from a power source in another dimension. We are a kind of continuous explosion from within -- a microcosmic version of the "Big Bang" which originated the universe, and which, incidentally, is still exploding-expanding outward into space.
If everything that is recognizable is so only because it has separated itself from the "all and nothingness," leaving its complementary half behind in the unmanifested state, then the earth too must have its complementary half in the unmanifested state, and the force of gravitation it exerts on all the creatures and objects living on it is the striving for reunification between the earth and its unmanifested complementary half which has been left behind in the void as its negative reflection. The earth's gravitational pull thus draws all the earth towards the void which stands beyond time and space, in order to bring about this reunion. If the earth were to yield, all the earth and everything on it would disappear into the center, into the void. But that would be a return to the paradisiacal unity -- to God -- to bliss! Elisabeth Haich -- Initiation
The image of the hexagramInner Truth gives us the idea of an "empty" center -- as good an image as could be devised from the structural components of the trigrams to show the inner source of human consciousness. The pigs and fishes of the Judgment are the archetypal complexes which must be tamed through the process of the Work, and to "cross the great stream" with firm correctness is to accomplish this holy task.
Through all ages men have sought, and some have found; there is a door through which we can pass out on to the higher planes, but that door is within the soul, it is an enlargement of consciousness whereby we perceive these things to which we have hitherto been blind, and from such perception comes the sense of reality which is lacking while we perceive nothing but appearances. Whoso has this wider vision is freed from the limitations of the five physical senses; his memory extends back beyond birth, and his hopes go forward beyond death ... Having all aspects of his own nature harmoniously developed, he is at one with all aspects of the universe, nothing is alien to him, and no form of existence is hostile. The path of life is open before him and he treads it with joy. D. Fortune -- The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows its subject perfectly sincere, and linking others to him in closest union. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He possesses truth, which links together. No blame.
Blofeld: He seems to be pulled forward by his confidence in what he is doing -- no error!
Liu: His truthfulness is steadfast. No blame. [Good fortune in everything.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Possessing conformity, binding thus. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: There is a return linkedly; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): With faithfulness that is firm, there is no fault.
Cleary (2): With sincerity that is firm, there is no fault.
Wu: Sincerity can unite people as if connecting them with strings. No blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The place of the line is the correct and appropriate one. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The place is correct and appropriate. Blofeld: This is indicated by the correct position of this ruling line. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation correcting appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): The position is correct. Wu: It comes from the proper position.
Legge: Line five is dynamic and in the central place of the ruler. He is the sage on the throne whose sincerity goes forth to bind all in union with himself.
Wilhelm/ Baynes: This describes the ruler who holds all elements together by the power of his personality. Only when the strength of his character is so ample that he can influence all who are subject to him, is he as he needs to be. The power of suggestion must emanate from the ruler. Without this central force, all external unity is only deception and breaks down at the decisive moment.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The perfect sincerity of the sage on the throne binds all in union with himself.
Wing: This is the position of a true ruler. Such a person holds to virtuous goals and principles and emanates, to those all around him, the overwhelming force of his character. Others cling to him, and there is no blame in this.
Editor: The line and its commentaries present a highly accurate image of the individuation process in its concentrated essence. The goal of the Work is to unite all of the disparate aspects of the psyche into a harmonious whole. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number forty-one, Compensating Sacrifice, the corresponding line of which images a profound and beneficial increase: “Someone does indeed increase him. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it. Supreme good fortune” (Wilhelm). Psychologically interpreted, this is the seat of the Self in the hexagram of Inner Truth.
Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17: 21
A. Inner Truth links powers together within the psyche.
B. "The truth shall make you free."
41 Decrease
Other titles: Decrease, The Symbol of Lessening, Loss, Diminishing, Reduction, Diminution of Excesses, Decline, Bringing into Balance, Dynamic Balance, Sacrifice, "Not necessarily material loss. Can mean decreasing the lower self to increase the higher." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Compensating Sacrifice means that sincerely maintained rectitude brings great success. Action is appropriate if one's sacrifice is sincere -- even two baskets of grain, though there be nothing else, may be offered.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Decrease combined with sincerity brings about supreme good fortune without blame. One may be persevering in this. It furthers one to undertake something. How is this to be carried out? One may use two small bowls for the sacrifice.
Blofeld: Loss accompanied by confidence -- sublime good fortune and no error! It is favorable to have in view some goal (or destination). If there is doubt as to what to use for the sacrifice, two small bowls will suffice.
Liu:Decrease with sincerity: great good fortune, no blame. One may continue. It is beneficial to go somewhere. How can this (decrease with sincerity) be done? One may use two bamboo containers of grain for a sacrifice.
Ritsema/Karcher: Diminishing, possessing conformity. Spring significant. Without fault, permitting Trial. Harvesting: possessing directed going. Asking-why: having availing of. Two platters permit availing-of presenting. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of sacrifice and loss. It emphasizes that lessening yourself and decreasing your involvements is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: There is a return; prime auspiciousness; there is no trouble. It can be determined. Beneficial to have someplace to go. Why use two tureens; you can use aromatic grass.
Cleary (1): Reduction with sincerity is very auspicious, impeccable. It should be correct. It is beneficial to go somewhere. What is the use of the two bowls? They can be used to receive.
Cleary (2): … It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, etc … They can be used for presentation.
Wu: Loss indicates that with confidence there will be great fortune, no error, perseverance, and advantage to have undertakings. What to use in offerings? Two boxes of grain are adequate.
The Image
Legge: The image of a mountain and beneath it the waters of a marsh form Compensating Sacrifice. The superior man, in accordance with this, restrains his wrath and represses his desires.
Wilhelm/Baynes: At the foot of the mountain, the lake: the image of Decrease. Thus the superior man controls his anger and restrains his instincts.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a marshy lake at the foot of a mountain. The Superior Man keeps his anger under control and is moderate in his desires.
Liu: The lake beside the mountain symbolizes Decrease. The superior man curbs his indignation and restricts his desires.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below mountain possessing marsh. Diminishing. A chun tzu uses curbing anger to block the appetites.
Cleary (1): There is a lake under a mountain, reducing it. Thus does the superior person eliminate wrath and cupidity.
Cleary (2): Lake below a mountain – Reducing. Thus do developed people eliminate anger and greed.
Wu: There is a marsh below the mountain; this is Loss. Thus the jun zi mitigates his anger and restrains his desires.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Compensating Sacrificethe lower trigram is diminished to increase the upper, and the flow is upward. The two baskets of grain accord with the time. There is a time when the strong should be diminished and the weak strengthened. Decrease and increase, overflowing and emptiness, take place in harmony with the demands of the time.
Legge: Ch'eng-tzu says: "Every diminution and repression of what we have in excess to bring it into accordance with right and reason is comprehended under Compensating Sacrifice. If there is sincerity in doing this it will lead to success and happiness, and even if the offering is small, yet it will be accepted."
The K'ang-hsi editors say: "What is meant by diminishing in this hexagram is the regulation of expenditure or contribution according to the time. This would vary in a family according to its poverty or wealth, and in a state according to the abundance or scantiness of its resources. If one supplements the insufficiency of his offering with the abundance of his sincerity, the insignificance of his two baskets will not be despised."
The waters of a marsh are continually rising up in vapor to bedew the hill above it, and thus increase its verdure. What is taken from the marsh gives increase to the hill.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A sacrifice creates equilibrium.
The Superior Man sacrifices his appetites to a higher principle.
The traditional name for this hexagram is Decrease, but the lines and commentary all describe a compensating exchange of forces to attain equilibrium. The idea of "sacrifice" is mentioned in the Judgment, and that also might make a good title, though the image of two baskets of grain suggests a balancing scale: a "compensating" device. In this hexagram, the flow of energy moves from below upwards -- the waters of the lake or marsh are dispersed to enrich the mountain. In psychological terms we think of the ego sacrificing or decreasing its autonomy to achieve psychic equilibrium with the Self: we forfeit something valuable to obtain something even more valuable. Without this quid pro quo, the concept of sacrifice is meaningless and irrational.
A sacrifice is meant to be a loss, so that one may be sure that the egoistic claim no longer exists. Therefore the gift should be given as if it were being destroyed. But since the gift represents myself, I have in that case destroyed myself, given myself away without expectation of return. Yet, looked at in another way, this intentional loss is also a gain, for if you can give yourself it proves that you possess yourself. Nobody can give what he has not got. Jung -- Transformation Symbolism in the Mass
Compare the Image message from hexagram number 15, Temperance with the notion of a compensating balance: "The superior man, in accordance with this, diminishes his excesses to augment his insufficiencies, thus creating a just balance." We are reminded of another "Temperance" -- the 14th Arcanum of the Tarot, which depicts an angel pouring water from one vessel into another: "compensating." A comparison of its symbolism with that of hexagram number 41 yields many insights:
The Path of ... TEMPERANCE, leads from ... the Personality [ego] to the Higher Self ... The whole experience is one of preparation of the Personality [ego], and the body in which it is operating, to deal with an influx of Light which would be devastating to a system unready to handle such energy. Most important here is the monitoring of progress, the continual testing from above. It is the angel here which is at once the Higher Self and the initiatory forces of Nature, which pours the elixir from vase to vase. This is an ongoing process of testing; measuring to see how much the physical vehicle can bear. R. Wang --The Qabalistic Tarot
Without belaboring the point, we can see that all sacrifice is a kind of remuneration: it couldn't be otherwise in an interconnected universe. The Image instruction for the superior man to “control his anger” is also echoed in the Temperance card. This relates to:
...an aspect of the Mysteries only rarely discussed, and certainly germane to the Twenty-Fifth Path [the Kabbalistic equivalent of the relationship between lines one and four in this hexagram]: this is the very real hostility often felt by the student toward the Path itself, as he works day after day and seems to be getting nowhere. Such hostility and frustration is in itself a major test; it is part and parcel of the work prior to the emergence of inner proofs. -- Ibid
"Decrease with sincerity" (Liu) refers to one's continuous sacrifice for the goals of the Work, and "curbing anger" (Ritsema/Karcher) is how one handles the archetypal forces evoked when the decrease seems endless and you've yet to receive anything in return. Like any other hexagram, Compensating Sacrifice can symbolize an infinity of possible situations, but psychologically speaking we can first regard it as an image of sacrifice for the purpose of attaining a balance of power within the psyche. Without the sacrificial devotion of the ego, the Self cannot attain its will; and if the Self can't make it, the ego is doomed by default.