Searching for the cause of the failure
One knows that they will have tasks to perform before being able to understand what could prevent the proper functioning of the system. taoscopy.com
Union8
Collaboration and uniting with others bring strength. Commit to shared goals and build alliances.
↓ Line 4
External commitment and perseverance in relationships are beneficial. Show your loyalty openly.
↓ Line 5
Leadership and restraint in relationships bring harmony. Allow others freedom and trust in their loyalty.
↓ Enthusiasm16
Inspiration fuels energy; align enthusiasm with purpose to move forward effectively.
8 Union
Other titles: The Symbol of Subaltern Assistance, Union, Unity, Grouping, Alliance, Co-ordination, Leadership, Merging (as with tributaries of a river), Seeking Union, Unification, Accord, Subservience, Individuation, Integration
Judgment
Legge:Holding Together indicates good fortune, but let the querent re-examine himself by divination whether his virtue is great, un-intermitting and firm. If so, there will be no error. Those who are ready will then join him, but those who delay will meet with misfortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Holding Together brings good fortune. Inquire of the oracle once again whether you possess sublimity, constancy, and perseverance; then there is no blame. Those who are uncertain gradually join. Whoever comes too late meets with misfortune.
Blofeld:Unity (or co-ordination). Good fortune! Further consultation of the oracle will provide an omen of great and lasting value. No error! Those whose hearts are troubled assemble. The laggards suffer disaster. [Just as the last hexagram deals ostensibly with military affairs, so does this one largely concern administration. For divination purposes, it should be regarded figuratively -- unless a problem of administration is actually involved in the enquiry.]
Liu: Union. Good fortune. The prediction for one attempting union should be greatness, continuation, and constancy; no blame. If one hesitates, then joins late: misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Grouping, significant. Retracing the oracle-consulting: Spring, perpetual Trial. Without fault. Not soothing, on-all-sides coming. Afterwards, husbanding: pitfall. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of how you categorize people and things and how you relate to these categories. It emphasizes that joining people and things through recognizing their essential qualities is the adequate way to handle it.]
Shaughnessy:Alliance: auspicious. The original milfoil divination: prime; permanent determination is no trouble. The un-tranquil land comes; for the latter fellow inauspicious.
Cleary (1):Accord is auspicious. Investigating and ascertaining, if the basis is always right, there is no error: Then the uneasy will come; but the dilatory are unfortunate.
Cleary (2): Accord bodes well. Make sure the basis is always right, so that there will be no fault. Then the uneasy will come. Latecomers are unfortunate.
Wu: Subservience indicates auspiciousness. Seeking to confirm the intent and motivation of allegiance by divination is without fault. Those who seek peace can all come, but those who hesitate and come late will have ill fortune.
The Image
Legge: The image of the earth, and over it water, form Holding Together. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, established the various states and maintained an affectionate relation to their princes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: On the earth is water: the image of Holding Together. Thus the kings of antiquity bestowed the different states as fiefs and cultivated friendly relations with the feudal lords.
Blofeld: The hexagram symbolizes water lying upon the land -- co-ordination. [This is indicated by the nature of the component trigrams. It is by co-operation between the fertile earth and the water which irrigates it that growth is achieved.] The ancient rulers strengthened the realm by being on affectionate terms with the feudal lords. [This may suggest dealing kindly with immediate subordinates.]
Liu: Water over the earth symbolizes Union. The ancient kings established many states and were friendly with the feudal lords.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above earth possessing stream. Grouping. The Earlier Kings used installing myriad cities to connect the connoted feudatories.
Cleary (1): There is water on the earth, in accord. Thus did the kings of yore establish myriad realms and associate with their representatives.
Wu: There is water on the ground; this is Subservience. Thus the late kings founded the states and kept a personal relationship with all the princes.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Holding Together denotes help, and we see in the figure inferiors docilely following their superior. All that is said in the Judgment follows from the position of the dynamic line in the center of the upper trigram. Those who do not respond to him have exhausted their good fortune.
Legge: The idea of union between the different members and classes of a state and how it can be secured, is the subject of Holding Together. The dynamic line in the fifth place of authority represents the ruler to whom the subjects of all the other lines offer a ready submission. Generally, the second line is the proper correlate of the fifth, but here all of the other lines are also his subjects. Harmonious union is secured by the sovereign authority of the ruler, but he is warned to see that his virtue is worthy of his position, and his subjects are warned not to delay in submitting to him. Those who do not seek to promote and enjoy union until it is too late are left out in the cold. The sentiment is the same as that in the lines of Shakespeare about the tide in the affairs of men. In the Image, "water upon the face of the earth" suggests an emblem of close union.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The success of the Work is determined by the proper integration of intrapsychic forces. Separated and disparate forces are an index of its failure. Unremitting willpower is the catalyst for unity. Do you have the requisite will to facilitate this goal? Ask the oracle.
The Image: Archetypal intelligences (the gods) created many dimensions of awareness (Jung's collective unconscious or objective psyche), maintaining benevolent contact with them all. ("Benevolent" refers to original intent -- Plato's realm of ideal forms -- "The Good." This is the image of an evolving multiverse of awareness – a human psyche.)
Psychologically interpreted,Holding Together depicts the Self as the fifth-line ruler surrounded by its satellite complexes. Astrologically rendered, we see the same image in the solar system with its Sun surrounded by planets -- each symbolizing a faculty within the psyche (e.g., Mercury is intellect, Mars is aggression, etc). Viewed this way, the eighth hexagram portrays the functioning of a divine process. (Whenever the "ancient kings" are mentioned in the I Ching,we can take them as the symbolic architects of a primordial ideal of perfection.)
The Image in Holding Together is an allegory of the Self establishing the various complexes within the psyche (the Sun establishing its planets) so that they can evolve into a reflection of the ideal intent of the Work. (In the timeless realms of hyperspace, the Garden of Eden and the New Jerusalem exist simultaneously, although here in spacetime, as key facilitators in a “work in progress,” we labor somewhere between cause and effect.)
Although the psyche of a functional human being is held together relatively coherently, its inner relationships are continuously orbiting each other in cycles of change. (Astrological transits symbolize such changes.) The Tao of psychic evolution (the Work) is to respond to the changes consciously and coherently so that all forces eventually become synchronized with the will of their source. The ego’s sole responsibility is to do this in the spacetime dimension for the benefit of the Self.
In whatever way one may conceive the relationship between the individual self and the universal Self, be they regarded as identical or similar, distinct or united, it is most important to recognize clearly, and to retain ever present in theory and practice, the difference that exists between the Self in its essential nature -- that which has been called the ‘fount', the ‘center', the ‘deeper being', the ‘apex' of ourselves -- and the small ordinary personality, the little ‘self' or ego, of which we are normally conscious. The disregard of this vital distinction leads to absurd and dangerous consequences. Roberto Assagioli – Psychosynthesis
The message for the superior man in this hexagram is the only injunction in the Book of Changesto re-consult the oracle. Implicit in this curious challenge is a need to evaluate your competence to further the Work. The answer should tell you the condition of your will.
The will is, curiously, not recognized as the central and fundamental function of the ego. It has often been depreciated as being ineffective against the various drives and the power of the imagination, or it has been considered with suspicion as leading to self-assertion (will-to-power). But the latter is only a perverted use of the will, while the apparent futility of the will is due only to a faulty and unintelligent use. The will is ineffective only when it attempts to act in oppositionto the imagination and to the other psychological functions, while its skillful and consequently successful use consists in regulating and directing all other functions toward a deliberately chosen and affirmed aim. Roberto Assagioli – Psychosynthesis
The differences between hexagrams number seven and number eight are the differences between a geocentric and a heliocentric frame of reference – emphasizing the fact that the ego and the Self each perceive the psyche from an entirely different point of view.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
my ways not your ways -- it is Yahweh who speaks.
Yes, the heavens are as high above earth
as my ways are above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts.
Isaiah 55: 6-9
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject seeking for union with the one beyond herself. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Hold to him outwardly also. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Blofeld: He co-operates with people beyond his immediate circle. Righteous persistence will bring good fortune.
Liu: Union outside. Continuing brings good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Outside Grouping it. Trial: significant.
Shaughnessy: From outside ally with him; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Accord with one outside is right and bodes well.
Cleary (2): According with the wise outside, correctness brings good results.
Wu: He gives his support to the exterior one. To be persevering will be auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Union is sought with one beyond herself, and in this case with a worthy object -- she is following the ruler above her. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Hold outwardly also to people of worth, in order thus to follow the one above. Blofeld: Cooperation with such people and leading them into virtuous ways must be accomplished by working through their leaders. Ritsema/Karcher: Using adhering-to the above indeed. Cleary (2): Accord with the wise outside is the way to follow the advanced. Wu: “He gives support to the exterior one,” who is a good man, because he follows the one above him.
Legge: "The one beyond herself" is the ruler or king who is the subject of line five, and with whom union ought to be sought. The magnetic line, moreover, is in a place proper to her, and if she is firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The minister shows open loyalty to his king. This behavior contrasts to that of a person without a post. The latter should remain reserved, so as to retain his personal honor.
Wing: You are in close contact with the center of your community. This may refer to the leader or ruler. Show your support openly, but do not forget who you are or lose yourself in your allegiances.
Editor: Wilhelm suggests the idea of an outward display of allegiance. The quality of your commitment to the Work is seen in your actions and way of life. Sometimes the line suggests the idea of having confidence in yourself, or confidence in your intuition. At its simplest level it can just mean: Make connections beyond your "immediate circle." (Blofeld)
Regeneration is for nothing else than that the natural [ego] may be subjugated, and the spiritual [Self] obtain dominion; and the natural is subjugated when it is brought into correspondence. And when the natural is brought into correspondence it no longer resists but acts as it is commanded, and follows the behest of the spiritual -- scarcely otherwise than as the acts of the body obey the dictates of the will. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia
A. Live your beliefs. "Walk your talk."
B. Get in touch with what is beyond you. Seek a higher comprehension.
C. Get in touch with your basic motivations.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, affords the most illustrious instance of seeking union and attachment. We see in it the king urging his pursuit of the game only in three directions, and allowing the escape of all the animals before him, while the people of his towns do not warn one another to prevent it. There will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Manifestation of Holding Together. In the hunt the king uses beaters on three sides only and foregoes game that runs off in front. The citizens need no warning. Good fortune.
Blofeld: Relying on his people's co-operation, the King pursues game which is enclosed on three sides, but loses the quarry ahead. This is because the local people were not warned. [This would seem to suggest that our loss is not due to disloyalty but to having failed to take people into our confidence.] Righteous persistence brings good fortune.
Liu: Union with honor. The king hunts on three sides only, losing game through the front. The people are not afraid. Good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Manifest Grouping. The king avails-of three beaters. Letting-go the preceding wildfowl. Capital people are not admonished. Significant.
Shaughnessy: Lustrously ally. The king herewith thrice drives (the hunt) losing the front catch; the city men are not warned; auspicious.
Cleary (1): Manifesting accord. The king uses three chasers and loses the game ahead. The citizens are not admonished. Auspicious.
Cleary (2): Manifest accord … The local people are not warned, etc.
Wu: This [line] reveals the essence of allegiance. The king deploys a three-sided chase in his hunt, such that he allows the game in front of him to escape. The townspeople do not warn one another of the king’s doing. There will be auspiciousness.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune is because of the line's correct and central place. The king takes only those animals who present themselves obediently. He allows the others to escape. That the people do not warn one another to prevent the animals to escape shows how the king, in his high eminence, has made them pursue the due course. Wilhelm/Baynes: The position is correct and central. Discarding those who resist, accepting the devoted: this is the meaning of "foregoes game that runs off in front." "The citizens need no warning," for the one above makes them central. Blofeld: This good fortune is indicated by the central position of the ruling line. Leaving alone those difficult to catch and following where the chances seem good, the King nevertheless loses the game in front of him. This means that, although the local people were not warned, the ruler adopts a fair and liberal policy. [The implication is that such a policy is required for the success of our plans.]Ritsema/Karcher: Situation correctly centered indeed. Stowing-away countering, grasping yielding. Letting-go the preceding wildfowl indeed. Capital people not admonished. Commissioning centering above indeed. Cleary (2): The local people are not warned, because the ruler has effected balance. Wu:“To allow the game in front of him to escape” means setting free those who want to leave and taking in those who want to come, etc.
Legge: As the ruler, line five is the center of union. The ancient rule for hunting expeditions was that after the beating was completed and the king was ready to commence taking game, one side of the enclosure into which it had been driven was left open and unguarded. This was proof of the royal benevolence which didn't want to make an end of all the creatures inside. So well known and understood was this benevolent principle, that all of his subjects cooperated in carrying it out. The union shown here is therefore characterized by mutual confidence and the appreciation of benevolent virtue.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The superior ruler accepts those who voluntarily come to him and lets others go who care to go. He neither invites nor flatters. Union is based on mutual confidence and appreciation.
Wing: You can trust fate at this time to bring you together with those who would further you. There is a natural attraction at work here. The atmosphere is liberal, and much can be accomplished. The time is auspicious, indeed.
Editor: This line is the subject of the Judgment and most of the commentary on the Judgment. It depicts a shake-down or refining process. In terms of the Work, because the ego has free will, it always has the option of "escape." The Self allows it to choose, because free choice is essential to any permanent psychic integration. A coerced synthesis could hardly be expected to hold together for very long. Blofeld's translation and note seem to miss this idea.
A human being can choose to deny his individuality or truth, although, sooner or later, he must inevitably choose, of his own free will, to remain dormant or submit to the Way of Heaven. Z.B.S. Halevi -- A Kabbalistic Universe
A. A sorting-out process -- some elements are gathered, and some discarded. (Could be a test of your discrimination.)
B. Psychic forces re-position themselves in relation to their source.
C. The decision is yours whether or not to follow the demands of the Work.
D. Astute choice separates truth from error.
16 Enthusiasm
Other titles: The Symbol of Harmonious Joy, Repose, Happiness, Providing-for/Provision, Excess, Merriment, Self-confidence, Contentment, Harmonize, Excitement, Intemperance, Self-deception "Repose in the absolute confidence that the action now being taken is right. Also refers to music." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Enthusiasm indicates that feudal princes may be set up and the army advantageously mobilized.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Enthusiasm. It furthers one to install helpers and to set armies marching.
Blofeld:Repose profits those engaged in building up the country and sending forth armies. [This means that perfect certainty as to the rightness of our cause is of great value under the conditions mentioned. The usual meaning of this character is "beforehand" or "happiness." In the English translation of Wilhelm's version, it appears as "enthusiasm." "Repose" was suggested by the Chinese experts who kindly vetted this manuscript. At first I felt hesitant about adopting it, until I realized that, where it is used favorably, it must be understood as the kind of mental repose which follows absolute confidence that the action now being taken is the right one. In lines one, three and six, however, it clearly means failure to act when action is essential; in line five, failure to act owing to incapacity.]
Liu:Happiness. It is of benefit to build up the country (or business), and send the army forth. [Receivers of this hexagram should be wary of exhibiting excessive enthusiasm when beginning a new undertaking. If they are not, there will be misfortune. The hexagram also advises that everything necessary for advancement should be made ready. Then if an opportunity presents itself, it should be seized immediately, without hesitation.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Providing-for , Harvesting: installing feudatories to move legions. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of what is needed to meet the future. It emphasizes that accumulating strength through foresight and prudence so things can be fully enjoyed is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: provide-for!]
Shaughnessy: Excess: Beneficial to establish a lord and to move troops.
Cleary (1):Joy. It is advantageous to set up a ruler and mobilize the army.
Wu:Merriment indicates the advantage of establishing principalities and taking military actions.
The Image
Legge: Thunder exploding out of the Earth -- the image of Enthusiasm. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, composed their music and honored virtue, offering it especially to God when they worshipped him at the service of their ancestors.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder comes resounding out of the earth: the image of Enthusiasm. Thus the ancient kings made music in order to honor merit, and offered it with splendor to the Supreme Deity, inviting their ancestors to be present.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder over the earth. The ancient rulers venerated heaven's gifts with solemn music and they sacrificed abundantly to the Supreme Lord of Heaven in order to be worthy of their ancestors.
Liu: Thunder arising from the earth symbolizes Happiness. The ancient kings composed music to honor virtue, offering it to God and the spirits of their ancestors.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder issuing-forth-from earth impetuously. Providing-for. The Earlier Kings used arousing delight to extol actualizing-tao. Exalting worship's Supreme Above. Using equalizing the grandfather predecessors. [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): When thunder emerges the earth stirs: Thus did the kings of yore make music to honor virtue, offering it in abundance to God, thereby to share it with their ancestors.
Wu: Thunder breaks out above the earth with a boom; this is Merriment. Thus the ancient kings used music to praise virtuous accomplishments and made grand offerings to the Supreme Being to be accompanied by their ancestors.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Enthusiasm shows one dynamic line inspiring responsive obedience in all the others: devoted obedience takes action. Such obedient action conforms to natural law and creates order and discipline in the people. The planets and the seasons follow their natural cycles. The sages similarly obey the laws of their nature and the people acknowledge their regulations and punishments as just.
Legge:Enthusiasm shows harmony and contentment throughout the kingdom -- a time when the people rejoice in their sovereign and readily obey him. At such a time his appointments and any military undertakings would be hailed and supported. Because he is close to the fifth place of dignity, the dynamic fourth line is seen as the chief executive officer of the ruler. The ruler has confidence in him, and all of the magnetic lines yield their obedience. Obedience is the attribute of the lower trigram which here takes the initiative and uses Movement, which is the attribute of the upper trigram.
The symbolism of the Image is more obscure than usual. The use of music at sacrifices is supposed to assist in producing the union between God and his worshippers as well as the present and past generations.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Delegate authority and gather your forces.
The Superior Man synchronizes his will with the intent of the Self via the principles of the Work.
Enthusiasm is the reverse of the preceding hexagram of Temperance. In Temperance we saw the calm strength of a mountain concealed within the earth. In Enthusiasm we see thunder exploding out of the ground into the sky: the strength that was formerly tempered and restrained is now released. It is significant to note that while every line of Temperance is more or less "favorable,” every line of Enthusiasm is either negative or cautionary -- even the generally positive fourth line carries a hint of warning about “doubt.”
Negatively, Self-Deception (the passion of True Believers) seems to be what this hexagram is portraying. The figure often suggests a callow or deluded buoyancy -- the kind of outlook associated with romantic idealists. In its most negative aspect, Enthusiasm is Intemperance -- the exact opposite of the moderation and restraint shown in the preceding hexagram. The behavior of an untrained Great Dane puppy suddenly bursting into a formal dinner party could be described as "enthusiasm,” but hardly a desirable form thereof. The lower trigram of Obedient Devotion has suddenly employed the action and energy of the upper trigram of Thunderous Shock to express itself. This is inconsistent with the code of the superior man.
Conversely, in its most positive sense, Enthusiasm suggests the surety of total self-confidence. Blofeld translates this as Repose, explaining that the name was suggested to him by his Chinese advisors. We begin to understand this subtle distinction when we compare the seemingly obscure connection with music in the Image with a passage from Chuang- tse:
He who understands the music of heaven lives in accordance with nature in his life and takes part in the process of change of things in his death. In repose, his character is in harmony with the yin principle; in activity, his movement is in harmony with the yang principle. Therefore he who understands the music of heaven is not blamed by heaven or criticized by men ... It is said, "In action he is like heaven. In repose he is like the earth ... Because his mind has found repose, therefore the creation pays homage to him.”
To understand “the music of heaven” is to attain Repose, which is another way of describing the tranquility that comes with furthering the intent of the Self. The only dynamic line in the hexagram is in the minister's place just below the fifth-line ruler. He has the confidence of his sovereign and his actions therefore accord with heaven. We can turn to the Stoics to find an illustration of this idea:
My will is simply that which comes to pass. For I esteem what God wills better than what I will. To Him will I cleave as His minister and attendant; having the same movements, the same desires, in a word the same will as He. -- Epictetus
Thus we see that the hexagram can describe either one of two opposite conditions -- the intemperate Enthusiasm of ego-confidence (a synonym for Self-Deception), or the calm Repose of true SELF-confidence. The fifteenth and sixteenth hexagrams, each the inverse of the other, represent magnetic and dynamic aspects of the same general idea: Enthusiasm, when it emanates from the Self, is just Temperance in action.