Hiding one's sins
One claims one's innocence so that one doesn't have to say what one really did. taoscopy.com
Contemplation 20
Pause and observe the world around you. Gain clarity by distancing yourself from immediate involvement, allowing for a broader perspective. Insight comes from seeing both the big picture and the subtle details.
↓ Line 1
At the beginning stage, one's view is immature and lacks depth. This is acceptable for those who are inexperienced, but for those who should know better, it is a cause for embarrassment.
↓ Line 3
Self-reflection is crucial at this stage. By examining one's own life, one can make informed decisions about whether to move forward or withdraw.
↓ Line 6
At the highest level, one contemplates the entirety of their life. This comprehensive reflection ensures that the superior person remains free from fault.
↓ After Completion63
Completion; things fall into place, but remain cautious. Stability achieved, yet vigilance needed to sustain harmony.
Original Readings
20 Contemplation
Other titles: View, The Symbol of Steady Observation, Looking Down, Observation, Viewing, Looking Up, Observing, Admiration, To Examine, Rulers and Their Subjects, Introspection, Perception, Contemplation of the Work
Judgment
Legge: Contemplation shows us a worshipper who has purified himself, but must still present his sacrifice with that dignified sincerity which inspires reverence.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Contemplation . The ablution has been made, but not yet the offering. Full of trust they look up to him.
Blofeld: Lookingdown.[This word often means “contemplation" and I have so translated it when the context so requires.] The ablution has been performed, but not the sacrifice. Sincerity inspires respect. [This is generally understood to mean that the first step has been taken or that one has bound oneself to follow a certain course...but that the main duties are yet to be performed.]
Liu:Observation. The hand-washing ritual is completed, but the sacrifice is still to come. All done and looked upon with sincerity.
Ritsema/Karcher:Viewing: hand-washing and-also not worshipping. Possessing conformity, like a presence. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of something seen from a distance, out of immediate reach. It emphasizes that carefully observing and divining the meaning is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Looking Up. Washing the hands but not making offering; there is a return with head held high.
Cleary (1): Observing, one has washed the hands but not made the offering; there is sincerity, which is reverent.
Wu:Admiration indicates a worshipper washing his hands in preparation for the offerings, but not participating in it. He shows sincerity and awe.
The Image
Legge: The image of earth and wind moving above it form Contemplation. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, examined the different regions of the kingdom to see the ways of the people, and set forth their instructions.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind blows over the earth: the image of Contemplation. Thus the kings of old visited the regions of the world, contemplated the people, and gave them instruction.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing across the earth. The ancient rulers visited the different regions to keep watch over their people and carefully instruct them.
Liu: The wind blowing over the earth symbolizes Observation. The ancient kings visited their territories, observed the people, and gave instruction.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind moving above earth. Viewing. The Earlier Kings used inspecting on-all-sides, viewing the commoners to set-up teaching.
Cleary (1): Wind is over the earth, observing. Thus did the kings of yore set up education after examination of the region and observation of the people.
Cleary (2): Wind travels over the earth – observing.Kings of yore examined the regions and observed the people to set up education. [In Buddhist terms, the ancient Buddhas examined the “regions” of possible experience and observed the people in various states of being, then set up various teachings to accommodate them, just as the wind travels over the earth reaching everywhere.]
Wu: The wind pervades above the earth; this is Admiration. Thus the ancient kings inspected various regions of the country, observed the sentiments of the people, and laid down their instructions.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Observation from above -- from the trigram of Flexibility surmounting the trigram of Docility. The ruler is in his correct central position, and thus exhibits his lessons to all below. He has purified himself, but not yet sacrificed. All beneath look to him and are transformed. When we contemplate the spirit-like way of heaven, we see how the four seasons proceed without error. The sages, in accordance with this spirit-like way, laid down their instructions, and all under heaven yield submission to them.
Legge: The Chinese character from which this hexagram is named is used in the sense of both seeing and being seen. The theme is the sovereign and his people -- how he shows himself to them, and how they in turn perceive him. The two dynamic lines at the top belong to the ruler, and the four magnetic lines below represent his subjects. In the Judgment the ruler is portrayed as a worshipper at the commencement of a sacrifice. He is the great Manifester in line five.
The lower trigram symbolizes earth, with the attribute of Docility; the upper trigram symbolizes wind, with the attributes of Flexibility and Penetration. Wind moving above the earth has the widest sweep, and nothing escapes its influence. The personal influence of the ruler effects much, but the ancient kings wished to add to that the power of published instructions which were specially adapted to the character and circumstances of the people.
The spirit-like way of heaven is the invisible order underlying the laws of nature. [Ed. Note: Ritsema/Karcher use the phrase: "Viewing Heaven's spirit tao... The all-wise person uses spirit tao to set-up teaching." Spirit(s), SHEN: independent spiritual powers that confer intensity on heart and mind by acting on the soul, KUEI; gods, daimons. Tao: way or path; ongoing process of being and the course it traces for each specific person or thing; keyword. The ideogram: go and head, leading and the path it creates.]
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Contemplate your motivations and discern the purity of your intent. "Put your money where your mouth is.” or "Walk your talk.”
The Superior Man evaluates and rectifies his attitudes.
The "ancient kings” in the Image symbolize the creators of an original state of perfection -- an archetypal model toward which the superior man aspires. This idea is common to all mystical traditions, many of which depict this state in the image of an ideal or prototypical man. Here is a summary of the Gnostic conception:
Not only the body but also the "soul" is a product of the cosmic powers, which shaped the body in the image of the divine Primal (or Archetypal) Man and animated it with their own psychical forces: these are the appetites and passions of natural man, each of which stems from and corresponds to one of the cosmic spheres [i.e., planets] and all of which together make up the astral soul of man, his "psyche." H. Jonas -- The Gnostic Religion
In the Kabbalah, the template of this archetypal man (named Adam Kadmon) exists in each of the four realms of consciousness corresponding to intuition, intellect, emotion and sensation, and "he" is perceived as androgynous in all of these worlds except the last -- the "sensation” world of our physical spacetime reality.
The Adam of these first three worlds was androgynous. The Adam of the fourth world is the Adam of the expulsion, the Adam of flesh traversing the desert of his exile, and the Adam capable of reproducing himself now that he is no longer androgynous. C. Ponce -- Kabbalah
Considering that androgyny is one of the symbols used in the Western Mystery Tradition to depict the correct union of male and female forces within the psyche, we quickly recognize that the properly matched male and female correlate lines in theI Ching are a Chinese depiction of the identical concept. Note that the messages of the following three quotations are in complete accord with the goal of the Work as outlined in theI Ching:
Somewhere there is an Adam within each of us in need of restoration, in exile from the Garden. The aim of Kabbalism is the restoration of the divine man in the medium of mortal man. We are the laboratory and we are the workers who work in that space. C. Ponce --Kabbalah
Within our six-foot body we must strive for the form which existed before the laying down of heaven and earth. The Secret of the Golden Flower
The destiny of man is to build the Heavenly Jerusalem on Earth. In other words, to civilize a planet. It is the aim of the occultist, in consort with all men of good will, to bring about this heavenly fact into earthly reality. And the only way it will come about is by every man doing the right thing at the right time for twenty-four hours a day. Gareth Knight -- The Work of a Modern Occult Fraternity
The ancient kings in hexagram number-20 base their laws upon their recognition of diversity among the various forces which make up the kingdom of the psyche. Their divine regulations therefore represent the proper ecology existing between heaven and earth, yin and yang, male and female, Logos and Eros. In this regard, theI Ching's version of the Archetypal Man might be seen as hexagram number-63, Completion, in which the polarity of each of the lines is in perfect correlation. (See the editor's commentary on Hexagram number 11 for further insights into this idea.)
The theme of the hexagram is Contemplationof your situation to see if your attitude meets the archetypal standards of the Work. The worshipper in the Judgment has purified himself for sacrifice but has not yet carried it out. Wilhelm uses the word "ablution” in his translation of the Judgment. An ablution is a ritual cleansing associated with a religious rite:
Ablution: In alchemy ... the adept worker achieves [success] only by purifying his soul of all that commonly agitates it. Washing, then, symbolizes the purification not so much of objective and external evil as of subjective and inner evils ... The principle involved in this alchemic process is that implied in the maxim "Deny thyself." J. E. Cirlot --Dictionary of Symbols
It is important to note that the sacrifice has yet to be performed: preparation is meaningless until it is acted upon. Psychologically, this refers to intellectual "gnosis" which still needs to be grounded in behavior.
Wisdom is achieved very slowly. This is because intellectual knowledge, easily acquired, must be transformed into `emotional,' or subconscious, knowledge. Once transformed, the imprint is permanent. Behavioral practice is the necessary catalyst of this reaction. Without action, the concept will wither and fade. Theoretical knowledge without practical application is not enough ... Intellectually the answers have always been there, but this need to actualize by experience, to make the subconscious imprint permanent by `emotionalizing' and practicing the concept, is the key. Brian L. Weiss, MD -- Many Lives, Many Masters
Without changing lines, Contemplation is an oracular invitation for you to consider your situation and especially your motivations in regard to it. One way of doing this is to reduce everything to a brief written statement, including your best conscious conclusions. Then ask for a comment from the oracle -- often it will become apparent that you have been undergoing a kind of examination.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
The ancient kings are mentioned in the Images of both this figure and number twenty-one, Discernment, immediately following. What are the differences between Contemplation and Discernment, as depicted in these images? How does the concept of sacrifice relate to this, as mentioned in the Judgment? Compare the Judgment of this hexagram with hexagrams and lines 17:6, 45:2, 46:2, 46:4, 47:2, 47:5 and 63:5 for further insights on this extremely important tenet of the Work.
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows the looking of a child -- not blamable in those of inferior rank, but a matter of regret in superior men.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Boy-like contemplation. For an inferior man, no blame. For a superior man, humiliation.
Blofeld: Looking at things in a childish way is not blameworthy in ordinary people, but in the Superior Man it is a misfortune. [ It might be supposed that the Superior Man is incapable of such conduct; hence this passage must refer to one who is trying to be or who thinks himself a Superior Man.]
Liu: Childish observation. For inferior people, no blame. For superior people, humiliation.
Ritsema/Karcher: Youthful viewing. Small People: without fault. Chun tzu: abashment.
Shaughnessy: The youth looks up; for the little man there is no trouble, for the gentleman distress.
Cleary (1): Ignorant observation is not blamed in inferior people, but is shameful in superior people.
Cleary (2): Naïve observation is blameless in undeveloped people but shameful in developed people. [When undeveloped people are like children, this is not considered bad, but if developed people are like children, there is no way to govern nations and bring peace to earth.]
Wu: His view is like that of a child. There will be no error for a little man, but humiliation for a jun zi.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This indicates the way of the inferior people. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The way of inferior people. Blofeld: For such conduct is suited to people of inferior worth. Ritsema/Karcher: Small People: tao indeed. Cleary (2): The naïve observation represented by the first yin is the way of underdeveloped people. Wu: Because this is the way of a little man.
Legge: Line one is magnetic and in the lowest place, which is also improper for it. This suggests the symbol of a thoughtless child who cannot see far -- one who takes only shallow and superficial views.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man does not comprehend the nature of prevailing forces nor does he perceive them as a connected whole. The superficial view is acceptable for the masses, but the superior man should know better.
Wing: Are you just looking at the surface of the situation and its most superficial effect upon you? This is an inferior, unenlightened form of contemplation. The superior mind will attempt to see the situation as part of a larger whole. This way you can know its actual meaning in your life.
Editor: Legge's original translation of this line says "lad” instead of child. I have altered it to be more in conformance with the magnetic line. No meaning is lost. The line is completely unambiguous in all translations.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: But when I became a man, I put away childish things. I Corinthians 13: 11
A. An image of immature and superficial perception.
B. Grow up and accept your responsibilities.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one looking at the course of her own life, to advance or recede accordingly.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Contemplation of my life decides the choice between advance and retreat.
Blofeld: By contemplating our own lives, we learn to advance or retreat as required by circumstances.
Liu: Observation of the circumstances of our lives determines whether to advance or retreat.
Ritsema/Karcher: Viewing my birth, advancing, withdrawing.
Shaughnessy: Looking up at my life advancing and retreating.
Cleary (1): Observing personal growth, promoting and repelling.
Cleary (2): … advancing and withdrawing.
Wu: He examines his own life to determine whether to advance or retreat.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She will not err in the path to be pursued. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The right way is not lost. Blofeld: This is the way to keep to the right path. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet letting-go tao indeed. Cleary (2): One has not lost the way. Wu: He has not forsaken the principle.
Legge: The magnetic third line at the top of the lower trigram of Receptivity belongs to one of utmost docility. She wishes to act only according to the exigency of the time and circumstances, and will advance or recede accordingly.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man contemplates the effects of his actions in relation to the exigencies of the times rather than indulging in idle speculations. Only in this way is he able to formulate useful guidelines for behavior.
Wing: In order to make the correct decisions in your life, you must gain objective self-knowledge. This is not accomplished by exploring your own dreams, attitudes, and opinions. These are useless in self-examination. Instead, contemplate your effect upon the world around you. There you will find yourself.
Editor: Illusions of "free-will” to the contrary, it is probably accurate to say that most life experience is not within our control. If this is true, then our only meaningful choice is to determine how the Tao is flowing and then to put ourselves in harmony with it. Ritsema/Karcher's Confucian commentary reminds us of this: “Not-yet letting-go tao indeed.” The oracle is asking you to make a decision based on your own insight. You may regard it as a test.
Self-reflection or--what comes to the same thing--the urge to individuation gathers together what is scattered and multifarious, and exalts it to the original form of the One, the Primordial Man. In this way our existence as separate beings, our former ego nature, is abolished, the circle of consciousness is widened, and because the paradoxes have been made conscious the sources of conflict are dried up. Jung -- Transformation Symbolism in the Mass
A. Examine your options in the matter at hand. What will be the consequences of the choice you contemplate in terms of the goals of the Work?
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows its subject contemplating his character to see if it be indeed that of a superior man. He will not fall into error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Contemplation of his life. The superior man is without blame.
Blofeld: Nor will it be an error for the Superior Man to contemplate his own life.
Liu: Observation of the lives of others. No blame for the superior man. [This is a time of discontent.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Viewing one's birth. A chun tzu: without fault.
Shaughnessy: Looking up at his life; for the gentleman there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Observing the growth, the superior person is blameless.
Cleary (2): … Developed people are impeccable.
Wu: He looks pensively at the life of the people. The jun zi is without blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He cannot even yet let his mind be at rest. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The will is not yet pacified. Blofeld: He contemplates his own life when troubled as to what course to take. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose not-yet evened indeed. Cleary (2): The mind is not yet at peace. Wu: His aspirations have not been all fulfilled.
Legge: There is a slight difference in the sixth line from the fifth which can hardly be expressed in a translation. By making a change in the punctuation, however, the different significance may be brought out. Line six is dynamic, and should be considered out of the work of the hexagram, but he is still possessed by its spirit, and is led to self- examination.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The sage, who is living outside the routine of the world, contemplates his own character, not as an isolated ego manifestation, but in relation to the laws of life. He judges freedom from blame to be the highest good.
Wing: You are somewhat beyond the situation and able to contemplate your life without egotistical involvement. You will discover, here, that freedom from error and blame are the highest good. Egoless contemplation is the key.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, the fifth line represents an ego contemplating his multi-faceted psyche; here, the sixth line has risen above that standpoint to contemplate the nature of the whole reality with which it wishes to unite. Line five asks us to look within to see if the motivations of the psyche are in accordance with the goals of the Work; line six asks us to examine our comprehension of the individuation process itself to see if it is correct.
Note that Liu translates this as contemplating “the lives of others” and Wu “the life of the people” – in these versions the object of contemplation is placed outside of the observer’s psyche. When differentiating line 5 from line 6, this interpretation of their slight divergence makes the most sense. Sometimes there is an implication that you may misunderstand something pertaining to the Work.
The Self, being individual and unique, is made manifest in the individuation process of the individual. But the Self is also universal and eternal, and under this aspect it is made manifest in a process we can only call the individuation of mankind. It is a collective process that takes the form of a gradual extension and differentiation of consciousness over the millennia. The drama began in the gray mists of antiquity and continues through the centuries into a remote future. A. Jaffe -- The Myth of Meaning
A. Are your motives clear? Get the big picture.
B. Differentiate your true relationship to the matter at issue.
63 After Completion
Other titles: After Completion, The Symbol of What is Already Past, Already Fording, Already Completed, Settled, Mission Accomplished, Tasks Completed, After the End, A state of Climax
Judgment
Legge:Completion intimates progress and success in small matters. There is advantage in firm correctness. There had been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: After Completion. Success in small matters. Perseverance furthers. At the beginning good fortune, at the end disorder.
Blofeld:After Completion -- success in small matters! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Good fortune at the start; disorder in the end. [Perhaps persistence may help to lessen the disorder that threatens to come upon us after some initial success.]
Liu: Completion. Success in the small. It benefits to continue. Good fortune at first; disorder in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher:Already Fording. Growing: the small. Harvesting Trial. Initially significant. Completing: disarraying. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of an important move from one position to another. It emphasizes that actively proceeding with the crossing is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Already Completed: Receipt; slightly beneficial to determine; initially auspicious, in the end disordered.
Cleary (1):Settlement is developmental, but it is minimized. It is beneficial to be correct. The beginning is auspicious, the end confused.
Cleary (2): Settlement is successful, even in small matters … etc.
Wu: Mission Accomplished indicates a small degree of pervasiveness and the advantage of being persevering. It is characterized by goodness in the beginning, but tumult in the end.
The Image
Legge: The image of water above fire formsCompletion. The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of the evil that may come, and guards against it in advance.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water over fire: the image of the condition in After Completion. Thus the superior man takes thought of misfortune and arms himself against it in advance.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water above fire. The Superior Man deals with trouble by careful thought and by taking advance precautions.
Liu: Water above fire symbolizes Completion. The superior man ponders danger and takes precautions against it.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stream located above fire. Already Fording. A chun tzu uses pondering distress and-also providing-for defending-against it.
Cleary (1): Water is above fire,Settled.Thus superior peopleconsider problems and prevent them.
Wu: There is water above fire; this is Mission Accomplished. Thus the jun zi conceives ways to prevent disaster.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and success in small matters, with advantage in firm correctness. The dynamic and magnetic lines are correctly arranged, each in its proper place. There has been good fortune in the beginning because the magnetic second line is in the center. In the end there is a cessation of effort, and disorder arises. The course that led to rule and order is now exhausted.
Legge: The two written Chinese characters translated here as Completion represent two ideas -- the symbol of being past or completed, and the symbol of crossing a stream -- with a secondary meaning of helping and completing. When combined, the two characters express the idea of successful accomplishment. The hexagram denotes the kingdom finally at rest -- the vessel of state has been brought safely across the great and dangerous stream, the distresses of the realm have been relieved and its disorders rectified. Small things need to be completed: the new government must be consolidated and its ruler must, without noise or clamor, go on to perfect what has been wrought with firm correctness and without forgetting the inherent instability of all human affairs. That every line of the hexagram is in its correct place, and has its proper correlate emphasizes the intimation of progress and success.
The K'ang-hsi editors compare this hexagram and the next with number eleven, Harmony, and number twelve, Divorcement, observing that the goodness of Harmony is concentrated, as here, in the second line. Disorder after completion is inevitable. All things move on with a constant process of change. Disorder succeeds to order, and again order to disorder.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: All's well that ends well, but the new cycle demands as much willpower as the last. Make no drastic choices during a transition.
The Superior Man anticipates conflict and is prepared for it in advance.
The sixty-third hexagram is the reference hexagram which depicts the correlation of properly matched dynamic and magnetic lines. On the basis of this figure, all of the other hexagrams (except the first and second, which are their "parents"), are compared. Yet, despite the fact that every line is in its proper place, not one of them has an easy auspice, and both the Judgment and Image are subdued and cautionary. The general idea is that as long as we draw breath in this spacetime dimension, our lives and Work are incomplete. Cycles complete themselves, certainly, but Completion in that sense is the "completion" of the full moon, which as soon as it reaches maximum brilliance immediately begins to wane.
Among those engaged in psycho-spiritual work, there is a great deal of energy focused on "enlightenment," and the natural desire of each aspirant to attain that state of consciousness as soon as possible. Many there are who wander from one conception of the Work to another in the hope that this particular discipline, or that particular Guru will provide the transcendent answer that the last one didn't.
This is a very deceptive illusion, because the chances that any given individual will attain perfect enlightenment in any given lifetime are probably miniscule to the point of insignificance. (How many truly enlightened beings have you ever met in your life?)
But the first signs of this symbolism are far from indicating that unity has been attained. Just as alchemy has a great many procedures, ranging from the "work of one day" to the "the errant quest" lasting for decades, so the tensions between the psychic pair of opposites ease off only gradually; and, like the alchemical end- product, which always betrays its essential duality, the united personality will never quite lose the painful sense of innate discord. Complete redemption from the sufferings of this world is and must remain an illusion ... The goal is important only as an idea; the essential thing is the opus which leads to the goal: that is the goal of a lifetime. In its attainment "left and right" are united, and conscious and unconscious work in harmony. Jung-- Psychology of the Transference
The Work is a slow, organic process of transforming unconscious forces, which demands almost superhuman levels of discipline to accomplish. One can make a great deal of progress in one lifetime, but the Work can not be said to be complete until physical death “completes” it -- at that point, assuming the ego has acquired enough strength of will, perhaps one can facilitate a "permanent" synthesis of the forces one has spent a lifetime in training. Death is the doorway back to our Source, and if we enter that doorway consciously and correctly we can consolidate a great deal of power which will serve us well in the next cycle, in whatever dimension that cycle may take place.
It is even doubtful whether a man can arrive at the summit of all perfection as long as he lives in an imperfect physical form, because the imperfections of the form hamper the spirit, and only a spirit that has outgrown the necessity to live in a physical form may be said to have arrived at that high degree of perfection at which a perfect knowledge of self, and consequently a perfect knowledge of the universe is obtained. F. Hartmann --Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies