Wiki I Ching

Clouded Perception 36.5 → 63 After Completion

From
36
Clouded Perception
To
63
After Completion

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Clouded Perception 36
Stay resilient amidst adversity.
When in challenging circumstances, maintain inner clarity and integrity while concealing your light from those who may not understand or appreciate it.
Patience and perseverance are key.

↓
Line 5
Even in difficult times, maintaining integrity and perseverance will lead to eventual recognition and success.

↓
After Completion 63
Completion; things fall into place, but remain cautious.
Stability achieved, yet vigilance needed to sustain harmony.



Original Readings

36
Clouded Perception


Other titles: Darkening of the Light, The Symbol of the Appearance of Clear Intelligence Wounded, Injury, Wounding of the Bright, Brightness Hiding, Calling Pheasant, The Darkened Light, Concealment of Illumination, Injury of Illumination, Light Obliterated, Intelligence Unappreciated, Censorship, Hiding One's Light, The Dark Night of the Soul, Ignorance "Not necessarily as bad as it sounds, may just mean being restricted or restricting yourself." -- D.F. Hook

 

Judgment

Legge: Under the conditions of Clouded Perceptionbe aware of the difficulty of your position and maintain firm correctness.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Darkening of the Light. In adversity it furthers one to be persevering.

Blofeld:Darkening of the Light. Righteous persistence in the face of difficulty brings reward.

Liu:Darkening of the Light. It benefits one to carry on through hard times.

Ritsema/Karcher: Brightness Hiding, Harvesting: drudgery, Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of intelligence hidden or harmed. It emphasizes that deliberately concealing your light by entering what is beneath you is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: hide your brightness!]

Shaughnessy: Calling pheasant: Beneficial to determine about difficulty.

Cleary (1): In concealment of illumination, it is beneficial to be upright in difficulty.

Cleary (2): When illumination is damaged, it is beneficial to be upright in difficulty.

Wu:Light Obliterated indicates that it is advantageous to be persevering in time of danger.


The Image

Legge: The sun enters the earth -- the image ofClouded Perception.The superior man manages his subordinates and shows his intelligence by keeping it hidden.

Wilhelm/Baynes: The light has sunk into the earth: the image of Darkening of the Light. Thus does the superior man live with the great mass: He veils his light, yet still shines.

Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes light hidden within the earth. In governing the people, the Superior Man, though taking care to conceal his light, nevertheless shines.

Liu: The sun sinking under the earth symbolizes the Darkening of the Light. In approaching the people the superior man veils his brightness, yet still has glory.

Ritsema/Karcher: Brightness entering earth center. Brightness Hiding. A chun tzu uses supervising the crowds to avail-of darkening and-also Brightening.

Cleary (1): Light enters into the earth, illumination is concealed.Thus do Superior people deal with the masses, acting unobtrusively while in fact illuminated. [When practitioners of the Tao are among the masses, if they use their illumination too much, they will startle the ignorant and amaze the worldly, easily bringing on abuse and slander.]

Cleary (2): Illumination goes underground, in concealment of illumination. In dealing with the masses, true leaders act unobtrusively while in fact being illuminated. [What sages learn is to become daily more illumined unbeknownst to others.]

Wu: The light enters the earth; this is Light Obliterated. Thus the jun zi uses the spirit of dimness in place of brightness to administer affairs of the populace. [By “dimming” his internal strength, he would make people feel that he is one of them.]

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: The image of Brightness entering into the midst of the earth suggests clarity that has been wounded or obscured. The lower trigram shows Clarity, the upper Docility. King Wen had both of these qualities, yet he was involved in great difficulties. The individual concerned should obscure his brightness. Thus was Count Chi able to correctly maintain his mind and intent amidst the difficulties of his situation.

Legge: This hexagram shows an able officer going forth in the service of his country, notwithstanding the occupancy of the throne by a weak and unsympathetic ruler. Hence the name Clouded Perception or Intelligence Wounded -- that is, injured and oppressed. The lesson of the figure is to show how such an officer will conduct himself and maintain his purpose.

King Wen was not of the line of Shang. Though opposed and persecuted by its sovereign, he could pursue his own course, till his line came in the end to supersede the other. It could not be so with the Count of Chi, who was a member of the House of Shang. He could do nothing that would help on its downfall.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Judgment: Recognize a difficult situation and use your willpower to cope with its restrictions.

The Superior Man manages the situation by subduing his need to speculate, meddle, or call attention to himself. (Alternate: When in the presence of arrogance, the wise man plays the fool.)

The thirty-fifth hexagram shows the trigram of Clarity progressing over the earth -- an image of advancing awareness. The thirty-sixth hexagram is the inverse of this -- it shows the trigram of Clarity swallowed up by the earth. If the image of Advance of Consciousness symbolizes noon, when the sun is at the midheaven, then Clouded Perception symbolizes midnight, when the sun is at the Imum Coeli, or undersky. It is a time of maximum darkness, maximum ignorance; a time when the dark forces of the unconscious are at their strongest. We are reminded of the Dark Night of the Soul, an inescapable and inevitable phase of the Work:

When, at length, they have practiced themselves for some time in the journey of virtue, persevering in meditation and prayer, wherein, with the suavity and relish they have found, they have become detached from worldly things, and acquired some spiritual strength in God, so as to be able to curb the creature appetites and in some small degree suffer for God some slight load and dryness, without turning back at the crucial moment; when, to their thinking, they are proceeding in these spiritual exercises to their entire satisfaction and delight; and when the Sun of Divine favors seems to them to shine most radiantly upon them, God darkens all this light, and shuts the door and fountain of the sweet spiritual water, which they were wont to drink in God as often and as long as they chose ... and thus, he leaves them in darkness so profound that they know not whither to direct the sense of the imagination and speculations of the mind.
St. John of the Cross

The Dark Night of the Soul is the universal experience of everyone who follows the way beyond the tried and true paths of the spiritual dilettante. It is an archetypal filter for determining the survival of the fittest in psychic evolution. For those who have entered this phase of the Work, it is good to remember that no one is given a test that they can't pass if they sincerely want to.

The situation in line five of this hexagram means little to one who is unacquainted with Chinese history. In its essence, the story of Count Chi concerns a superior man who was imprisoned by an evil emperor. The only way that he could survive this dark time was to feign insanity. Thus the message in the Image counsels us to show our intelligence by concealing it. There is a wide range of applications for this rule, and perhaps Lao Tse gives us the best paraphrase of the idea in his famous aphorism: He who knows does not speak; He who speaks does not know.

In terms of the Work this can mean that one must firmly understand that there are some things which cannot be shared with just anyone. Inner work is very fragile until it has had time to crystallize, and to expose its truths to the harsh light of unsophisticated intellect is to risk severe damage to the process of individuation.

One must not tell people of things they cannot grasp. There are mysteries that cannot be shared with everybody ... Some things can be told to no one and a secret told to a wrong person is destructive and even irresponsible.
M.L. Von Franz -- The Feminine in Fairytales

This hexagram can symbolize many situations, but sometimes it is a suggestion that you are ignorant or "in the dark" about the true state of affairs now prevailing.


Line 5

Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows how the Count of Chi fulfilled the condition indicated by clouded perception. It will be advantageous to be firm and correct.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Darkening of the light as with Prince Chi. Perseverance furthers.

Blofeld: Prince Chi suffered injury, but his persistence along a righteous course was rewarded.

Liu: The darkened light of Prince Chi. Continuance benefits.

Ritsema/Karcher: The winnowing son's Brightness Hiding. Harvesting Trial.

Shaughnessy: Jizi's calling pheasant; beneficial to determine.

Cleary (1): Concealment of illumination in a basket is beneficial if correct.

Cleary (2): The concealment of illumination on the part of a just scion of an evil ruling house is beneficial and upright.

Wu: The way the Viscount of Qi handled the situation of Light Obliterated is advantageous only through perseverance.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: His brightness could not be quite extinguished. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The perseverance of Prince Chi shows that the light cannot be extinguished. Blofeld: His was a light which can never be extinguished. Ritsema/Karcher: Brightness not permitted to pause indeed. Cleary (2): His understanding cannot be suppressed. [This represents being outwardly flexible while inwardly strong, remaining balanced in the middle, appearing to be ignorant while actually being illuminated.] Wu: The perseverance of the Viscount of Qi made it impossible to obliterate the light.

Legge: Line five should be the place of the ruler, but in this hexagram line six takes that position. The officer here, in the center of the upper trigram, just below the sovereign, is modeled on the Count of Chi, an historical personage.


NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Siu: The man recalls the manner in which Prince Chi preserved his convictions by feigning insanity when trapped in the court of the tyrant Chou Hsin. In coping with danger during times of darkness, he exhibits an invincibility of spirit, coupled with unusual caution.

Wing: You are in an obvious and important role in this situation, yet you are not in accord with it. You are not in a position to struggle against elements that run contrary to your principles. Conceal your ideals and acquiesce outwardly to the powers that be. You will ultimately be rewarded.

Editor: Count Chi "hid his light" by feigning insanity to deceive the tyrant holding him captive. Basically, the idea is that you are "imprisoned" by the situation at hand and powerless to do anything but adapt to it. If you don't surrender your integrity you can persevere through a dark and difficult time. As so often in fifth lines, the image is an echo of the ideas in the Judgment and/or Image of the hexagram as a whole. This particular predicament reminds us of the Biblical story of David:

David ... became very frightened of Achish the king of Gath. When their eyes were on him he played the madman and, when they held him, feigned lunacy. He would drum on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, "You can see this man is mad. Why bring him to me? Have I not enough madmen without your bringing me this one to weary me with his antics?"
I Samuel 21: 13--15:

A. In the presence of arrogance, the wise man plays the fool. (Now is the time to hide your light.)

B. The Dark Night of the Soul.

C. Clarity in the matter at hand is concealed for now.

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