Faltering increasingly
One staggers when one's supports become brittle. taoscopy.com
Deliverance40
Release from tension and obstacles. Break free, adapt, and embrace change. Find relief in newfound clarity.
↓ Line 2
Success comes from eliminating negative influences. Persistence in this effort is rewarded.
↓ Line 3
Carrying unnecessary burdens while seeking progress invites trouble. It is wise to let go of what is not needed.
↓ Line 5
Self-liberation leads to the ability to help others. Personal growth is beneficial for the community.
↓ Influence 31
Mutual attraction fosters influence and inspiration. Connect deeply to inspire change and strengthen bonds.
Original Readings
40 Deliverance
Other titles: Deliverance, The Symbol of Loosening, Release, Eliminating Obstacles, Taking-apart, Untangled, Solution, Dissolution, Relief, Unloose, Release of Tension
Judgment
Legge:Liberation finds advantage in the southwest. When the operation is completed, a return to stability brings good fortune. If operations are incomplete, it is best to finish them quickly.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Deliverance. The southwest furthers. If there is no longer anything (Sic) where one has to go, return brings good fortune. If there is still something (Sic) where one has to go, hastening brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Release. The west and south are favorable. Those with nothing to gain from going forward will find good fortune by turning back; those who do have much to gain from going forward must hasten to be sure of doing well. [This is not a time to stay where we are. If we have no good reason to advance, it is best to retreat.]
Liu: Liberation. The southwest benefits. If there is nothing for one where one has to go, then returning brings good fortune. If there is something in a place where one can go, then going quickly leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Taking-apart. Harvesting: Western South. Without a place to go: one's coming return significant. Possessing directed going: Daybreak significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of reflection and release from tension. It emphasizes that analyzing and understanding things in order to be delivered from compulsion is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Untangled: Beneficial to the southwest; there is nowhere to go; his coming in return is auspicious; there is someplace to go to spend the night; auspicious.
Cleary (1): For liberation, the southwest is beneficial. When going nowhere, the return brings good fortune; when going somewhere, promptness brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): For solution, the southwest is beneficial. Going nowhere, coming back is fortunate, etc.
Wu: Relief indicates advantage in the southwest. If he undertakes to do something without a cause, it will be auspicious for him to return to his former station. If he undertakes to do something with a cause, it will be auspicious for him to do it early.
The Image
Legge: Liberation shows a thunderstorm clearing the atmosphere. The superior man, in accordance with this, forgives errors and deals gently with crimes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and rain set in: the image of Deliverance. Thus the superior man pardons mistakes and forgives misdeeds.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder and rain bringing release. The Superior Man tends to forgive wrongs and deals leniently with crimes. [The component trigrams suggest that a certain amount of forceful action is required.]
Liu: Thunder and rain come, symbolizing Liberation. The superior man forgives errors and pardons criminals.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, rain, arousing. Taking-apart. A chun tzu uses forgiving excess to pardon offenses.
Cleary (1): Thunder and rain act, dissolving. Thus do superior people forgive faults and pardon crimes.
Cleary (2): Thunder and rain – solution. Etc.
Wu: There come thunder and rain; this is Relief. Thus the jun zi pardons inadvertent transgressors and extenuates (Sic) criminal offenders.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Liberation shows the trigram of Movement above the trigram of Danger -- through movement there is an escape from peril. An early movement to the southwest wins the allegiance of the masses and returns the state to normalcy and equilibrium. When heaven and earth are freed from the grasp of winter, we have thunder and rain. When these come, the buds of the fruit-producing vegetation begin to open. Great indeed are the phenomena in the time ofLiberation.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Liberation is the symbol of unloosing -- untying a knot or unraveling a complication. This hexagram denotes a condition in which the obstruction and difficulty of the preceding figure have been removed. The lesson is how this new and better state of the kingdom should be dealt with. If no tasks remain to be completed, the sooner things resume their normal course the better. If further operations are necessary, let them be accomplished without delay. The K'ang-hsi editors say that moving to the south and west is the same as returning to normality.
Thunder and rain clear the atmosphere, and a feeling of oppression is relieved. The images of springtime in the Confucian commentary refer to the gentle policy of a conquering ruler who forgives the opposition of those who cease to offer resistance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Do what obviously needs to be done and return to stability as soon as possible.
The Superior Man forgives, forgets, and bears no grudges. (i.e., Stability is more important than fixing blame or haggling over who is right.)
If the thirty-ninth hexagram of Impasse is turned upside down it becomes the fortieth hexagram of Liberation or Deliverance. The two figures represent opposite situations: if Impasse creates tension, then Liberation releases it. The upper trigram of Movement ascends to escape from the lower trigram of Danger, giving us an unambiguous image of freedom and relief.
Apart from all personification, the whole of space in which life finds itself has a malevolently spiritual character, and the "demons" themselves are as much spatial realms as they are persons. To overcome them is the same thing as to pass through them, and in breaking through their boundaries this passage at the same time breaks their power and achieves the liberation from the magic of their sphere. H. Jonas --The Gnostic Religion
Legge's commentary in the preceding hexagram explains that the "southwest" is the direction of "earth," the fertile lowland where life is natural and uncontrived. Confucius tells us here that an early move in this direction will win the "allegiance of the masses." Psychologically interpreted, this refers to the inner kingdom of the psyche, where “the masses” are the drives, emotions and archetypal complexes which make up our being. The symbolism suggests a conscious freeing up of inner tension.
These forces, therefore, must not be left to run wild, but should be disposed of in harmless ways or, better still, used for constructive purposes: creative activities of various kinds; the rebuilding of our personality, contributing to our Psychosynthesis. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject catch, in hunting, three foxes, and obtain the yellow (golden) arrows. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One kills three foxes in the field and receives a yellow arrow. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Blofeld: With one yellow arrow, he killed three foxes in the field. [Three birds with one stone.] Righteous persistence will bring good fortune.
Liu: One catches three foxes in the field and gains a yellow (golden) arrow. To continue brings good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The fields, catching three foxes. Acquiring a yellow arrow. Trial: significant.
Shaughnessy: In the fields bagging three foxes, and getting a yellow arrowhead; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Catching three foxes on a hunt, having golden arrows, correctness brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): Catching the third fox on a hunt, finding a yellow arrow, etc.
Wu: The hunter bags three foxes and finds a yellow arrow. It will be auspicious with perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune is because he holds the due mean.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The good fortune is due to its attaining the middle way. Blofeld: The good fortune of being able to steer a middle course. Ritsema/ Karcher: Acquiring centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): Attaining the way of balance. Wu: Because he takes a middle road.
Legge: The second line is dynamic, but the place is magnetic, so his strength is tempered. As the correlate of the ruler in line five, he is an officer striving to bring about deliverance and pacify the subdued kingdom. He is compared to a hunter who disposes of inferior men, represented by the three foxes. He receives the yellow arrows, the instruments of war or hunting, whose color is correct and whose form is straight. The K'ang-hsi editors say that while straight-forwardness, symbolized by the arrows, is the first duty of an officer, if he doesn't temper that quality by pursuing the due mean, symbolized by their yellow color, and instead proceeds by main force to remove what is evil, he will provoke indignation and rebellion.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man proceeds at a proper pace and with moderation to remove the designing individuals, who influence the ruler through flattery and obstruct public progress.
Wing: The situation may be in the hands of inferior individuals who use unworthy methods to influence those in authority. You must now be particularly straightforward and virtuous while discrediting their efforts. Good fortune.
Editor: Arrow: The arrow has associations similar to the sword – the discriminating function. To shoot an arrow into the heart of the matter is to pierce its essence, to comprehend it completely. Yellow: Color of the mean, of the sun – suggests wisdom which comes from clarity: balanced perception. Fox: Common Asian symbol for evil, especially its wily or tricky aspects. Three: Symbol of dialectical synthesis or completion, as is the concept of the mean. The line images a situation in which careful discrimination perceives the elements of a problem.
Therefore, the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bharata, stand and fight. Bhagavad-Gita
A. Balanced insight into the situation differentiates and eliminates harmful elements.
B. Bull’s-eye! – your suspicions are confirmed.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows a porter with his burden, yet riding in a carriage. He will only tempt robbers to attack him. However firm and correct he may try to be, there will be cause for regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If a man carries a burden on his back and nonetheless rides in a carriage, he thereby encourages robbers to draw near. Perseverance leads to humiliation.
Blofeld: Traveling with both luggage-bearers and a carriage, he attracted the attention of robbers. To persist would bring misfortune. [This could mean that someone bearing luggage on his back rides in a carriage. In any case, the Chinese additional commentaries explain that the passage refers to those who usurp privileges to which they are not entitled by rank or merit.]
Liu: A man carries goods on his back and rides in a carriage – thus invites robbers to come. To continue brings humiliation.
Shaughnessy: Carrying on the back and riding in a cart brings robbers to arrive; determination is distressful.
Cleary (1): Riding bearing a burden causes enemies to arrive. Even being righteous one is humiliated.
Cleary (2): Carrying and riding brings on enemies. It is right to be humiliated.
Wu: A man bearing a load rides in a carriage. What he swaggers is conducive to robbery. Even though he does nothing wrong, he will be humiliated.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: For a porter with his burden to be riding in a carriage is a thing to be ashamed of. It is he himself that tempts the robbers to come. On whom besides can we lay the blame? Wilhelm/Baynes: He should really be ashamed of himself. When I myself thus attract robbers, on whom shall I lay the blame? Blofeld: Moreover, his using both of them was shameful. If I were to act thus and bring robbers down on me, who but myself would be to blame? Ritsema/Karcher: Truly permitting the demoniac indeed. Originating-from my involving arms. Furthermore whose fault indeed. Cleary (2): Carrying and riding are both disgraceful. One brings attack by oneself – who else is to blame? Wu: It is a shame for a bearer to ride in a carriage. He exposes himself to robbery. Who else is to be blamed?
The Master said:The makers of the I Ching may be said to have known the philosophy of robbery. The I Ching says, "He is a burden-bearer, and yet rides in a carriage, thereby exciting robbers to attack him." Burden- bearing is the business of an inferior man. A carriage is the vehicle of a gentleman. When an inferior man rides in the vehicle of a gentleman, robbers will think of taking it from him. When one is insolent to those above him, and oppressive to those below, robbers will wish to attack him. Careless laying up of things excites to robbery, as a woman's adorning of herself excites to lust. What the I Ching says about the burden-bearer's riding in a carriage, and exciting robbers to attack him shows how robbery is called out.
Legge: The third line is magnetic where it should be dynamic. In the top place of the lower trigram it suggests the idea of a porter riding in a carriage. People will say: "How did he get there? The things cannot be his own." Therefore robbers will attack and plunder him since he can't protect himself or accomplish anything good.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man has obtained material goods and comfort and seeks a life of ease which does not suit his nature. Like a woman's self-adornment which excites to lust, this way of life merely invites robbers and leads to humiliation.
Wing: You have been able to assume a somewhat powerful position, which you do not know how to control. You pretend to be something that you are not. This invites envy. If you continue in this way you will suffer humiliation at the hands of others who would usurp your position.
Editor: Receiving this line can be a reprimand for an unworthy attitude. It shows one who aspires beyond his station, or who incorrectly seeks an easy solution to his problems. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number thirty-two,Consistency, the corresponding line of which begins: "Shows one who does not constantly maintain his virtue..." The idea is that a desire to move ahead quickly tempts one into an improper response to the situation at hand. Sometimes the context of the question can suggest that the "vehicle" (carriage) is the oracle itself -- you want it to answer a question you can figure out for yourself. The porter's burden is an obvious responsibility or duty. The robbers are anything that would harm the Work.
The acceptance of the need to relate to a power or powers beyond our personal control and rational comprehension does not necessitate, indeed does not even permit, abandonment of our personal responsibility but rather requires of us that in the domain of the personal life assigned to us our own responsibility must be exerted to the limits. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Get your head out of the clouds and assume your responsibilities.
B. Did you expect a spiritual helicopter to take you to the top of the mountain?
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows the superior man (the ruler) executing his function of removing whatever is injurious to the idea of liberation, in which case there will be good fortune, and confidence in him will be shown even by the inferior men.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If only the superior man can deliver himself, it brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Only the Superior Man brings release. Good fortune! It is up to lesser men to put their trust in him. [This could also mean "He has confidence in lesser men."]
Liu: Only the superior man can liberate himself from entanglement. Good fortune. Thus the inferior man trusts him.
Ritsema/Karcher: A chun tzu holding-fast possesses Taking- apart. Significant. Possessing conformity, tending-towards Small People.
Shaughnessy: The gentleman only is untangled; auspicious; there is a return among the little men.
Cleary (1): In this the superior person has liberation, which is fortunate; there is earnestness in regard to the inferior person.
Cleary (2): The developed person has a solution, which is fortunate. There is sincerity toward a petty person.
Wu: The jun zi is relieved of what has implicated him. This is auspicious. It would be a lesson to the little men.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: When he removes the barriers to liberation the inferior men will of themselves retire. Wilhelm/Baynes: The superior man delivers himself, because inferior men then retreat. Blofeld: But when the Superior Man offers them release, they take to their heels. [Perhaps this means the true release involves release from selfishness -- a lesson which men of little merit have no desire to learn!] Ritsema/Karcher: Small People withdrawing indeed. Cleary (2): The developed person has a solution. The petty person withdraws. Wu: The jun zi is relieved and the little men will resign.
Legge: Line five is magnetic in a dynamic place, but the place is that of the ruler, whose duty is to promote liberation by removing all barriers to harmony within the kingdom -- especially all the inferior men symbolized by the divided lines. He can do this with the help of his dynamic correlate in the second line. Then even the inferior men will change their ways, and conform to his will. "The inferior men retire" means that believing in the sincerity of the ruler's determination to remove all evil men, they either retire of themselves or strive to conform to his wishes.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man drives away inferior people through an inner resolve and makes a complete mental and spiritual break. They recognize his earnestness, withdraw of their own accord, and even extend begrudging approval.
Wing: In order to eliminate an inferior habit or situation you must first make an inner resolve to overcome it. Only you can save yourself. Once you are liberated, inferior elements will retreat into the background and you will win the respect you deserve. Good fortune.
Editor: The context of the line does not lend itself to the usual gender symbolism used in this book. Wilhelm renders this in a conditional sense: "If only the superior man can deliver himself..." Blofeld and Liu say that "only the superior man" can liberate himself. There is the implication that your "superiority" may be in question. You are challenged to take appropriate action to liberate yourself from your fetters. This will be in accordance with the ruler's central place and an active balancing of forces as imaged in the relationship with the second line correlate.
For when the body gets out of equilibrium, we look to which side it inclines in becoming unbalanced, and then oppose it with its contrary until it returns to equilibrium. When it is in equilibrium, we remove that counterbalance and revert to that which keeps the body in equilibrium. We act in a similar manner with regard to moral habits. Maimonides
A. Identify and eliminate the problem or limiting belief. Clear the psyche of inhibitions.
B. If you stop indulging your weaknesses they will eventually leave you alone.
Legge: Upon fulfillment of the conditions implied in Initiative, there will be free course and success. Advantage depends upon firm correctness, as in marrying a young lady. Good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Influence. Success. Perseverance furthers. To take a maiden to wife brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Attraction. Success! Righteous persistence brings reward. Taking a wife will result in good fortune.
Liu: Attraction. Success. To continue is of benefit. To marry a girl is good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Conjoining, Growing. Harvesting Trial. Grasping womanhood significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the influence that separated parts of an intrinsic whole have on each other. It emphasizes that bringing these parts into contact is the adequate way to handle the situation...]
Shaughnessy: Feelings : Receipt; beneficial to determine; to take to wife a woman is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Sensitivity is developmental. It is beneficial to be correct. Marriage brings good fortune.
Cleary (2):Sensing gets through, beneficial if correct. Marriage is auspicious.
Wu:Affection indicates pervasion and advantage to be persevering. There will be good fortune to marry a young woman.
The Image
Legge: The image of a marsh over a mountain forms Initiative. The superior man frees his mind of preoccupation so that he is open to the influence of others. [Lit: "Thus the superior man receives people by virtue of emptiness."]
Wilhelm/Baynes: A lake on the mountain: the image of Influence. Thus the superior man encourages people to approach him by his willingness to receive them.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a lake situated upon a mountain. In dealing with men, the Superior Man shows himself to be entirely void of selfishness.
Liu: The lake on top of the mountain symbolizes Attraction. With a humble manner the superior man receives people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing marsh. Conjoining. A chun tzu uses emptiness to acquiesce people.
Cleary (1): There is a lake on a mountain. Thus does the superior person accept people with openness.
Cleary (2): There is a lake atop a mountain – Sensing. Developed people accept others with openness.
Wu: There is a marsh in the mountain; this is Affection. Thus the jun zi receives people with humility.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Initiative is here used in the sense of mutually influencing. The magnetic trigram is above and the dynamic trigram is below -- their two influences move, respond and unite with each other. The male is placed below the female -- his repression is her satisfaction and brings fulfillment. Advantage depends upon firm correctness, as in the marrying of a young lady. Heaven and earth stimulate each other and all things attain birth. The sages stimulate the minds of men and harmony is born. If we examine the pattern of these influences, the nature of heaven and earth is revealed.
Legge: The lines of the hexagram all deal with moving or influencing to movement, and the figure is an essay on the different ways of creating an influence, and the results engendered thereby. The lower trigram of the youngest son supports the upper trigram of the youngest daughter in happy union. This is correct because the lower trigram (here yang) should always take the initiative. No influence is so powerful and constant as that between husband and wife, and where they are both young, it is especially active. Therefore, mutual influence, correct in itself, and for correct ends is sure to be effective.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Initiative succeeds only when it originates from the Self.
The Superior Man clears his mind and remains receptive to the will of the Self.
Wilhelm's translation of the name of this hexagram is Influence, but I have chosen Initiative to emphasize the idea of the proper source of the influence implied in the symbolism. Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines initiative as follows:
Initiative 1 : an introductory step or movement: an act designed to originate or set on foot, as a process or train of events. Often used in the phrase: on one's own initiative, as in: "Don't blame me, he acted on his own initiative."
The Judgment states that the situation can be furthered only by the firm correctness associated with the proper contracting of a marriage. We already know that the symbolism of marriage refers to a union of opposites within the psyche. To understand what is meant by the proper contracting of a marriage, we need only look at hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety (The Marrying Maiden), to see the improper way to do it -- that is, when the woman takes the initiative.
Far from being a sexist idea, the symbolism reveals a profound archetypal truth. The polarity of forces in the psyche shows the ego as magnetic to the dynamic Self. That is, the conscious ego-complex in any psyche, male or female, is feminine, or magnetic in relation to the Self, which is masculine, or dynamic. In the I Ching the Self is symbolized by heaven, and the ego is symbolized by earth. This primordial relationship between the two qualities is found in many symbol systems. Here's the Kabbalistic version:
This clearly indicates the function of polarity that prevails between the planes of form and the planes of force; the planes of form being the female aspect, polarized and made fertile by the influencesof the planes of force. D. Fortune -- The Mystical Qabalah
The Hermetic tradition describes it this way:
There is this dual aspect in the mind of every person. The "I" [Self] represents the Masculine Principle of Mental Gender -- the "Me" [ego] represents the Female Principle. The Kybalion
In the contracting of a marriage between heaven and earth (uniting the polarities within the divided psyche), the ego must learn, usually through great suffering, that its correct role is a magnetic one in relation to that of the Self. The Work cannot progress until this lesson has been learned and accepted completely. As long as the ego insists on taking dynamic initiative “as usual" in the illusory world of appearances, the results can only be the kind of objective world we inhabit -- one of chaos and strife. The lesson of this hexagram then, is the realization that the only correct source of power lies with the Self, and that the ego must yield to that source as a bride to her bridegroom. (Unfortunately, the contemporary relationship between the sexes has become so confused that this metaphor is seldom effective in conveying the profound truth it represents.)
The Self (the Causal Body of Theosophy) dwells beyond the restrictions of spacetime and is pre-eminently suited for directing the Work, since it can "see ahead” so to speak, and it knows the effects of all of the available choices. The ego, on the other hand, dwells in spacetime and is able to take action: by its choices it makes or breaks the Work. The ideal reciprocity between ego and Self is a simple and logical division of labor -- the Self can see ahead but cannot take direct action, and the ego can take direct action but cannot see ahead. For the ego to act without direction from the Self is to grope blindly in the dark -- and the Work clearly cannot progress under such circumstances. The superior man therefore, "clears his mind and remains receptive to the will of the Self.” Obviously, it takes time to learn how to do this properly; in its initial stages, that's what the Work is all about.
The majority of people are more or less the slaves of heredity, environment, etc., and manifest very little freedom. They are swayed by the opinions, customs and thoughts of the outside world, and also by their emotions, feelings, moods, etc. They manifest no Mastery, worthy of the name. The Kybalion
The second and third sentences in the Confucian commentary elicit the sexual symbolism in this hexagram quite clearly: "The [female] trigram is above and the [male] trigram is below -- their two influences move, respond and unite with each other. The male is placed below the female -- his repression is her satisfaction and brings fulfillment.” Blofeld comments on this in a footnote:
I doubt if this should be regarded as shedding light upon the ancient Chinese concept of the most acceptable position for intercourse; it is more likely to mean that the girl is able to depend upon the man as a plant depends upon the earth for its nourishment.
Symbolism works on many levels, and Blofeld's aborted insight does apply to some of them. It is an established fact that the sentences in question accurately describe tantric sexual techniques practiced in the Orient for millennia. To understand the principles of the Work we must be able to see the "obvious" as symbolic of an abstraction -- and vice- versa. Sexual polarity is a very tricky and volatile symbol because we are predisposed to confine it to its most literal meaning. The hardest part of symbolic interpretation is to know where in the continuum a specific symbol belongs in any given situation.
Without changing lines this hexagram suggests that you examine your impulses and motivations to act and see if they are truly in accordance with the goals of the Work. The figure can sometimes take on the meaning of importuning: "to press or urge with frequent or unreasonable requests or troublesome persistence.” In other words, you might be importuning the oracle for answers which it is of no mind to give you. It is also significant to note that every line has a more or less negative connotation. These are all very strong warnings to the ego to control its compulsive need to take the Initiative, to influence the situation. Calm down -- reality is not what it appears to be. Please allow the Self to direct the Work.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the concepts in this hexagram with hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety; number fifty-three, Gradual Progress; and number eleven, Harmony. How do they all deal with the symbol of marriage as an aspect of the Work? Compare the first three lines with hexagram number 52,Keeping Still.
Initiativeis the first hexagram of Part II of the I Ching. Why do you suppose the book was divided into two unequal sections? Why did the division appear between the thirtieth and thirty-first hexagrams? (An even division would be between the thirty-second and thirty-third.)
The (I Ching) was originally divided into two books. (Appendix VI) considers the first of these as dealing with the world of nature, and the second as dealing with that of man. Fung Yu-Lan -- A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
What insights does the alchemical concept of the Unus Mundus bring to bear on these questions?