Other titles: Work On What Has Been Spoiled, The Symbol of Destruction, Decay, Arresting of Decay, Work after Spoiling, Fixing, Rectifying, Corrupting, Branch, Degeneration, Misdeeds "Can refer to heredity and psychological traits.” -- D. F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Successful progress is indicated for those who properly repair what has been spoiled. It is advantageous to cross the great stream. One should consider carefully the events three days before the turning point and the tasks remaining for three days afterward.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Work On What Has Been Spoiled has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days.
Blofeld:Decay augurs sublime success and the advantage of crossing the great river (or sea). [I.e. of going on a journey or of going forward with one's plans.] What has happened once will surely happen again (literally, "three days before the commencement; three days after the commencement"). [It would have been hard to make sense of these words, were it not that the Confucian Commentary on the Text clearly explains them; hence the liberty I have taken with the Text.]
Liu: Work after spoiling. Great success. It is of benefit to cross the great water. Before starting, three days. After starting, three days. [This hexagram implies that, although conditions are bad now, improvement can be expected.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Corrupting, Spring Growing. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Before seedburst three days, after seedburst three days. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of disorder, perversion and putrefaction. It emphasizes that letting things rot away so they become obsolete is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Branch: Prime auspiciousness; receipt. Beneficial to ford the great river; preceding jia by three days, following jia by three days.
Cleary (1): Correcting degeneration is greatly developmental. It is beneficial to cross great rivers. Three days before the start, three days after the start. [The way to correct degeneracy is not in empty tranquility without action; it is necessary to work in the midst of great danger and difficulty, to act in the dragon’s pool and the tiger’s lair. Only then can one restore one’s original being, cultivating it into something indestructible.]
Cleary (2): From degeneration comes great development, etc.
Wu: Misdeeds is great and pervasive. It will be advantageous to cross the big river. It would be advisable to begin an undertaking three days before Jia and examine the ongoing progress three days thereafter.
The Image
Legge: The image of wind below the mountain forms Repair. The superior man, in accordance with this, stimulates the virtue of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind blows low on the mountain: the image of Decay. Thus the superior man stirs up the people and strengthens their spirit.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing at the foot of a mountain. The Superior Man, by stimulating people's hearts, nourishes their virtue.
Liu: Wind blowing around the foot of the mountain symbolizes Work after Spoiling. The superior man encourages people to cultivate virtue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below mountain possessing wind. Corrupting. A chun tzu uses rousing the commoners to nurture actualizing-tao. [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): There is wind in the mountains; degeneration. Thus superior people rouse the people and nurture virtue.
Cleary (2): … Leaders thus arouse the people to nurture virtue.
Wu: There is wind at the foot of the mountain; this is Misdeeds. Thus the jun zi arouses the people and nurtures his own virtue.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The dynamic trigram is above, and the magnetic trigram is below. Pliancy is below, and Stopping above: these suggest troubled conditions verging on ruin. But Repair brings order to all under heaven, and he who advances will encounter the business to be done. The end of confusion is the beginning of order; such is the procedure of heaven.
Legge: Repair means the performance of painful but necessary duties. It shows a situation in which things are going to ruin, as if through poison or venomous worms. In order to justify the auspice of progress and success, the duty of the figure is to rectify this and restore conditions to health. This will require a major effort, such as crossing the great stream, and the careful differentiation of the causes of the problem, as well as the measures taken to fix it. The attribute of the lower trigram is Pliancy, and the upper represents Stoppage or Arrest. Hence, the feeble pliancy of decadence is stopped cold by the immovable mountain. The three days before and after the turning point symbolize the careful attention and differentiation necessary for any rectification to succeed.
On the Image, Ch'eng-tzu says: "When the wind encounters the mountain, it is driven back, and the things about are all scattered in disorder; such is the emblem of the state denoted by Repair." The nourishing of virtue appears especially in line six -- all the other lines belong to the helping of the people.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Repair means to set your house in order. Analyze your choices before the renovation and evaluate their consequences afterward.
The Superior Man orders his thoughts and feelings, reforms old attitudes, and strengthens his will. (Psychologically, to "stimulate the virtue of the people" (Legge) is to rectify the components of a complex.)
To imagine any truly objective state of perception we must include all that exists: the entire cosmos. Each differentiation of this, from atom to galaxy, is one slice out of an infinite whole. As a portion of the entirety, we are always linked with our ancestors in an infinite web of relationships which includes our family history, our racial-cultural-historical heritage and Homo sapiens as a species. Though seldom aware of them, it is useful to remember these links. Emanating from an unfathomable complexity, their karmically-charged morphogenetic fields are constantly shaping our lives. It follows that, although we perceive ourselves as separate from our ancestors, the separation is a subjective experience which is true only in a temporally limited sense.
Every line of Repair, except two and six, shows a son dealing with the troubles caused by his father. This reminds us of the biblical curse:
For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Exodus 20: 5
The father archetype has a wide range of meanings: this extends from the Primal Spirit ("God the Father"), to a prior cause or intent in the psyche which has engendered a present condition. Psychologically interpreted, it is this latter reading which usually applies. If a "father" symbolizes the cause, then a "son" is the effect. If the effect is imperfect, then to rectify it is also to rectify the original intent.
To a large extent our lives consist of well-intentioned but misguided choices which create less than perfect consequences. To modify our attitude or behavior so that it corrects errors in our original intent is to "deal with the troubles caused by the father."
For example: In a misconceived expression of affection, a parent allows his child unrestricted access to candy. As a consequence of this choice, the kid's teeth become rotten, and the only logical way to correct the original error is to now curtail his intake of sugar. The fact that this new choice will create stress in the relationship between parent and child is just a consequence of the original choice and has no bearing at all on what is correct in the situation.
In some situations this hexagram may be interpreted as a response to a karmic chain of cause and effect:
To harmonize with the Wisdom Teachings, the scripture should read that the karma of the "father" is visited upon the "child" unto the fourth incarnation, not generation. The mistakes you made in the last four incarnations may be visited upon you in the form of karma flowing out of the heart seed atom in the present incarnation. Thus what you "fathered," or created, in your last incarnation may be the source ("parent") of your karma today. You are a child of that parent today. You have inherited from that parent -- the you of the past, not your physical parents -- all of your characteristics, weaknesses and strengths. Earlyne Chaney -- The Mystery of Death and Dying
The interpretation of any oracle response can only be as profound as our minds are prepared to accept. As moderns we find it difficult to empathize with "ancestor worship," yet properly understood, it can provide useful insights into the Work. In the unconscious realm all time is immediate, not sequential, and the Objective Psyche consists of a non- temporal web of forces shading from personal to universal. This means that if we have a complex engendered in us by our father, for example, we can reasonably assume that he was passing on what he received from his own parents. In this way, the unresolved complexes of the ancestors shape our own personalities: they live in and through us right now, even if they had their birth in forefathers long forgotten. This is a kind of near-immortality: individuals may die, but beliefs, attitudes, complexes live as long as they have receptive vessels to inhabit. (This is probably the engine of karma.) To the extent that an ancestral chain of causality still motivates our choices, we are totally responsible for "setting right what has been spoiled by the father."
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Most people have some level of unfinished business with their parents: psychologists would have little to do if this weren't true. It can be a healing ritual to set up an altar to a deceased parent and meditate there on the stresses that still remain between you. To approach the situation without judgment, to realize (non-logically) that forces pre-existing you provoked the condition as much as your parent did, will elicit much insight. Be especially aware of the presence of the past and the illusion of linear time. (Is it possible somehow to be your own great-grandfather?) Ancestor “worship” of this sort can be profoundly therapeutic.
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows a son dealing with the troubles caused by his father. If he is an able son, the father will escape the blame of having erred. The position is perilous, but there will be good fortune in the end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. If there is a son, no blame rests upon the departed father. Danger. In the end good fortune.
Blofeld: Children exist to rectify the mistakes wrought by their fathers; hence the departed are made free from blame -- trouble ending in good fortune!
Liu: If the mistakes of the father are corrected by the son, no blame. There is danger, but in the end, good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Managing the father's Corrupting. Possessing son-hood. Predecessors without fault. Adversity, completing significant.
Shaughnessy: The stem father's branch; there is a son crafty; there is no trouble; danger; in the end auspicious.
Cleary (1): Correcting the father’s degeneracy; if there is a son, the deceased father is without blame. Danger, but in the end it turns out well.
Cleary (2): Dealing with the degeneration of the father, if there is a child, the late father has no blame. It is dangerous but turns out well.
Wu: He attends to the affairs of his father. He is a capable son. His father will be free from blame. It is a difficult task, but it will be good in the end.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He has entered into the work of his father. Wilhelm/ Baynes: He receives in his thoughts the deceased father. Blofeld: This implies assuming responsibility for their mistakes. Ritsema/Karcher: Intention receiving the predecessors indeed. Cleary (2): Consciously taking up after the late father. Wu: He intends to continue his father’s business.
Legge: Line one is magnetic, with a magnetic correlate in line four -- what can be done here to remedy the state of decay? But the line is the first of the hexagram, and the decay is not yet great. By heeding the cautions of the text, he can succeed. He has entered into the work of his father, and brings it about that his father is looked on as blameless.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, wrongs have arisen which are not yet deeply rooted and can be remedied. But reforms are associated with dangers, which should be understood.
Wing: In order to avoid decay, it is necessary to change a traditional and rigid structure that is affecting your life. You may feel that this is too radical an undertaking. It is true that this kind of change is fraught with danger, but if you are cautious while making the reform you will meet with success and renewed growth.
Editor: This line doesn't lend itself to use of the usual gender symbolism. Wilhelm translates the Confucian commentary in terms of receiving the departed father in one's thoughts; Blofeld renders it as taking responsibility for the father's errors. Ritsema/Karcher render "adversity” as: “Danger, threatening, malevolent demon ... It indicates a spirit or ghost that seeks revenge by inflicting suffering upon the living. Pacifying or exorcizing such a spirit can have a healing effect.” This can refer to any unresolved stresses creating instability in the situation. Psychologically, the idea is that new insights modify old errors. If they are formulated carefully, further error is avoided and one has created a useful new foundation. Sometimes the line can refer to having misinterpreted a previous oracle.
Lord Naoshige said, "An ancestor's good or evil can be determined by the conduct of his descendants." A descendant should act in a way that will manifest the good in his ancestor and not the bad. This is filial piety. Yamamoto Tsunetomo --The Book of the Samurai
A. Rectify a past mistake.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows a son dealing with the troubles caused by his mother. He should not carry his firm correctness to the utmost.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Setting right what has been spoiled by the mother. One must not be too persevering.
Blofeld: Assuming responsibility for the mistakes of our mothers cannot be too serious.
Liu: In correcting the mistakes of the mother, one must not be too persistent.
Ritsema/Karcher: Managing the mother's Corrupting. Not permitting Trial.
Shaughnessy: The stem mother's branch; one may not determine.
Cleary (1): Correcting the degeneracy of the mother, it is improper to be righteous.
Wu: He attends to the affairs of his mother. He should not be insistent.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In dealing with the troubles caused by his mother he holds to the course of the due mean. Wilhelm/Baynes: He finds the middle way. Blofeld: At best a middle course is advisable. Ritsema/Karcher: Acquiring centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): attaining balance. Wu: He proceeds with moderation.
Legge: The fifth line ruler is magnetic, while line two is dynamic. Thus the symbolism takes the form of a son dealing with the prevailing decay induced by his mother. But a son must be very gentle in all his dealings with his mother, and especially so when constrained by a sense of duty to oppose her course.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is gentle in dealing with his mother, even when duty bound to oppose her. When restoring what has been spoiled by weakness, gradualness is required.
Wing: You have become aware of past mistakes that must be rectified. Here you must proceed with great sensitivity, since the changes in your life could hurt those dear to you.
Editor: In psychological symbolism, a female represents emotional or feeling components within the psyche. A "mother" then, would be the source of an emotional attitude which, in the context of this hexagram, needs to be modified or changed. In correcting outmoded or inappropriate feelings one must proceed with care because emotional/instinctual forces cannot be altered as quickly as we can change our minds. (It is a commonplace in psychology that mental insights mean nothing if the emotions involved refuse to conform.) Often the line can refer to the proper way of responding to another's sensitive mood or attitude.
As in childhood development, which recapitulates human historical development in consciousness, the psychic detachment from the mother towards the father is intimately bound up with the growth of individuality. Consciousness strives to become separate from the maternal involvement, and aspires toward the outside world represented by the father. Gareth Knight -- A History of White Magic
A. Rectify an emotional response. Control your feelings, but don't crush them.
B. Be sensitive in the way you handle an emotional situation.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows a son viewing indulgently the troubles caused by his father. If he goes forward, he will find cause to regret it.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Tolerating what has been spoiled by the father. In continuing one sees humiliation.
Blofeld: Tolerating the mistakes of our fathers would occasion us regret in the course of time.
Liu: Continuing to tolerate the mistakes of the father brings humiliation.
Ritsema/Karcher: Enriching the father's Corrupting. Going: visualizing abashment.
Shaughnessy: The bathed father's branch; going to see is distressful.
Cleary (1): Forgiving the degeneration of the father; if one goes on, there will be shame.
Cleary (2): Indulging the degeneration of the father, if you go on you will experience shame.
Wu: He shows compassion in the affairs of his father. If he attends to them, he will make error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: If he advances he will not succeed. Wilhelm/Baynes: He goes, but as yet finds nothing. Blofeld: In that case, we should fail to rectify them. Ritsema/Karcher: Going: not-yet acquiring indeed. Cleary (2): If you go on you will not attain anything. Wu: He will have nothing to gain by attending to them.
Legge: Line four is magnetic in a magnetic place, which intensifies passivity. Hence the caution about going forward.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Indulgence of decay leads to regret.
Wing: The situation has been less than harmonious for quite some time, yet this condition of discord has been tolerated. Under these circumstances things will continue to degenerate.
Editor: Line four doesn't lend itself to the usual gender symbolism. The image is one of passive and permissive tolerance of error. To allow things to continue under these conditions will ensure that they get worse. The line can sometimes refer to a state of complacent ignorance of the true situation. If your assumptions are incorrect in the first place, then your query is by definition inappropriate: re-think the question to discover the error.
Psychic inertia is also evident in our resistance to any form of change in conditioned patterns, no matter how promising or favorable it may be. Any psychoanalyst knows from dealing with "resistance" that every basic psychological change entails a deathlike experience for the ego. New possibilities produce so much anxiety that the most destructive past adaptations seem safer and inspire more confidence. E. C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Passive indulgence in an old weakness leads to failure.
B. You think things are OK, but they're not: rectify a past error.
C. "A stitch in time saves nine."
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows a son dealing with the troubles caused by his father. He obtains the praise of using the fit instrument for his work.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. One meets with praise.
Blofeld: Assuming responsibility for the mistakes of our fathers will win us praise.
Liu: Correcting the mistakes of the father leads to recognition.
Ritsema/Karcher: Managing the father's Corrupting. Availing- of praise.
Shaughnessy: The stem father's branch; use a cart.
Cleary (1): Correcting the degeneracy of the father, using praise.
Cleary (2): Dealing with the degeneration of the father, the action is praised.
Wu: He attends to the affairs of his father. He has reputation at his disposal.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He is responded to by the second line with all of his virtue. Wilhelm/Baynes: He receives him in virtue. Blofeld: Because to take them upon ourselves is a virtue. Ritsema/Karcher: Receiving uses actualizing-tao indeed. [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 (2): Because one takes up after him with virtue. Wu: He succeeds with virtue.
Legge: The magnetic fifth line is the seat of the ruler, but its proper correlate is the dynamic second line -- the strong minister to whom the work of the hexagram is delegated.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: With the assistance of able helpers, the man reverses the process of decay of former times. He is praised for it.
Wing: You are in a position to assume the responsibility for a long-needed reform. Do it. Those around you will be supportive of your efforts and you will be honored with praise and recognition.
Editor: Line five does not lend itself to the usual gender symbolism. The dynamic second line deals with feelings (the mother), and the magnetic fifth line deals with thoughts or conscious attitudes (the father). The Confucian commentary describes these correlate lines as uniting to attain symmetry. Ritsema/Karcher translate this as facilitating the unfolding of essence (tao). This suggests an overall rectification of thoughts and feelings to attain balance. The other translations emphasize that one obtains recognition and praise for this, suggesting a major accomplishment in the development of the Work.
Inasmuch as ordering activity and emotional receptivity are felt as belonging to the masculine and feminine principles respectively, the first life contacts with father and mother set the basic patterns for the development of our assertiveness and our feeling. When there are problems in these areas they must be confronted and consciously re-examined in terms of these original encounters before a further development can become possible. E. C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Put some thought into your feelings, or: bring compassion into your thinking.
B. Rectify your thoughts and feelings: revise a limiting belief.
Autres titres : Communion avec les Hommes, Le Symbole de la Compagnie, Amoureux, Amis Bien-aimés, Personnes de même esprit, Personnes Concordantes, Rassemblement d'Hommes, Similitude avec les Gens, Fraternité Universelle, Communion, Communauté, Unis, Association Humaine, Union des Hommes, Intégration des Forces, Synthèse Mineure, Cliques, Concordance, Être en Accord Avec, Confirmation
Jugement
Legge : Union des Forces apparaît dans les régions éloignées du pays, indiquant progrès et succès. Il sera avantageux de traverser le grand fleuve. Il sera avantageux de maintenir la fermeté correcte de l'homme supérieur.
Wilhelm/Baynes :Communion avec les Hommes en plein air. Succès. Il est favorable de traverser la grande eau. La persévérance de l'homme supérieur est bénéfique.
Blofeld :Amoureux (amis) en plein air -- succès ! Il est avantageux de traverser le grand fleuve (ou la mer). [Pour entreprendre tout type de voyage.] L'Homme Supérieur bénéficiera s'il ne relâche pas sa persistance juste.
Liu : Communion des hommes en plein air (campagne). Succès. Il est bénéfique de traverser la grande eau. Il est bénéfique pour l'homme supérieur de continuer sa tâche.
Ritsema/Karcher : Personnes Concordantes, tendant vers la campagne. Croissance. Récolte : traverser le Grand Fleuve. Récolte : chun tzu, Épreuve. [Ce hexagramme décrit votre situation en termes de partage d'un objectif avec d'autres. Il souligne que trouver des moyens de coopérer et d'harmoniser les efforts des gens est la manière adéquate de le gérer...]
Shaughnessy : Rassemblement d'hommes dans les contrées sauvages ; réception ; bénéfique de traverser le grand fleuve ; bénéfique pour le gentleman de déterminer.
Cleary (1) :Similitude avec les gens dans la nature est développementale. Il est bénéfique de traverser de grands fleuves. Il est bénéfique pour une personne supérieure d'être droite.
Cleary (1) : … Bénéfique pour un leader d'être correct.
Wu : Communion en plein air est omniprésente, etc. … Il sera avantageux pour le jun zi qui persévère.
L'Image
Legge : Les images du ciel et du feu forment Union des Forces. L'homme supérieur, conformément à cela, distingue les choses selon leurs genres et classes.
Wilhelm/Baynes : Le ciel avec le feu : l'image de Communion avec les Hommes. Ainsi l'homme supérieur organise les clans et fait des distinctions entre les choses.
Blofeld : Ce hexagramme symbolise le ciel (le soleil) et le feu représentant une paire d'amoureux. L'Homme Supérieur traite tout de manière appropriée à son genre. [une analogie (basée sur les trigrammes composants) entre le soleil et le feu, qui dans une certaine mesure sont de même nature.]
Liu : Le feu monte au ciel, symbolisant Communion avec les Hommes. L'homme supérieur organise son groupe de parenté (parti), et les trie.
Ritsema/Karcher : Le ciel s'associant avec le feu. Personnes Concordantes. Un chun tzu utilise le tri des clans pour marquer les êtres.
Cleary (1) : Le ciel avec le feu, similitude avec les autres ; les personnes supérieures distinguent les choses en termes de catégories et de groupes.
Cleary (2) : … Les leaders distinguent les êtres en termes de classes et de familles.
Wu : Le ciel au-dessus et le feu en dessous forment Communion. Le jun zi distingue les choses par leurs genres.
COMMENTAIRE
Confucius/Legge : Dans Union des Forces la ligne magnétique a la place centrale d'influence et répond à sa ligne corrélative dans le trigramme supérieur de la Force. Le hexagramme tire son nom du trigramme supérieur de la Force prêtant son pouvoir au trigramme inférieur de Clarté et d'Intelligence. Cela représente le cours correct de l'homme supérieur. Seul l'homme supérieur peut comprendre et affecter les esprits de tous sous le ciel.
Legge : Union des Forces décrit une condition qui est l'opposé du hexagramme précédent de Divorce. Ce qui était là détresse et obstruction est ici une union de forces. Mais elle doit être entièrement basée sur le bien de l'ensemble, sans aucune teinte d'égoïsme.
La ligne dynamique correctement à la cinquième place occupe la position la plus importante, et a pour corrélative la ligne magnétique seconde, également à sa place correcte. La seule ligne féminine est naturellement recherchée par toutes les lignes masculines. Les éditeurs de l'édition K'ang-hsi feraient répondre la seconde ligne à toutes les lignes du trigramme supérieur, comme étant plus conforme à l'idée d'union.
Le trigramme supérieur est celui du Ciel, l'inférieur est du Feu, dont la tendance est de monter vers le haut. Cette image suggère le feu montant, flamboyant vers le ciel et s'unissant à lui. Toutes ces idées sont en harmonie avec la notion d'union, mais elle doit être exempte de tout factionnalisme, et cela est indiqué par sa présence dans les régions éloignées du pays, où les gens sont simples et libres des effets corrupteurs des intrigues urbaines. Bien qu'une union de tels motifs puisse faire face aux plus grandes difficultés, un mot de prudence est ajouté.
NOTES ET PARAPHRASES
Jugement : Des connexions sont en train de se faire. Si vous êtes capable de maintenir votre volonté, il est conseillé de pousser pour une synthèse.
L'Homme Supérieur différencie et priorise ; il trie et évalue ses options.
C'est une autre image de l'union -- pas l'union suprême du hexagramme numéro onze, Harmonie, mais une union subordonnée de forces au sein de la psyché qui construit vers une éventuelle grande alliance. Les trigrammes composants montrent l'union de la Force et de la Clarté, suggérant qu'un certain niveau de compréhension mentale est impliqué. Recevoir le hexagramme sans lignes changeantes est souvent une confirmation de votre pensée particulière -- disant, en effet : "Vous avez fait la connexion."
La compréhension (synthèse) implique de faire des distinctions (analyse) -- un processus paradoxal dans lequel on doit diviser avant de pouvoir (ré)unir. (C'est le solve et coagula de l'alchimie.) Ainsi, nous voyons l'homme supérieur dans l'Image créer des catégories pour aboutir à l'union -- c'est la discrimination dirigée vers la reclassification ou la rectification. Par exemple, un mélange hétérogène de graines de légumes et de fleurs devient significatif lorsqu'on les trie en leurs catégories séparées. Les éléments disparates deviennent alors "unis" de manière cohérente -- en termes de I Ching, chaque ligne obtient son corrélatif approprié comme dans le Hexagramme numéro 63.
(Dialectique) alterne entre synthèse et analyse jusqu'à ce qu'elle ait parcouru tout le domaine de l'intelligible et soit arrivée au principe. S'arrêtant là, car c'est seulement là qu'elle peut s'arrêter, ne s'occupant plus d'une multitude d'objets puisqu'elle est arrivée à l'unité, elle contemple. Plotin -- Les Ennéades
Le nom chinois de ce hexagramme inclut le mot Jen, qui est apparemment un concept difficile, car de nombreux philosophes ont dépensé beaucoup d'énergie à essayer de le définir :
Jen a été traduit de diverses manières comme bienveillance, vertu parfaite, bonté, humanité, amour, altruisme, etc. Aucun de ces termes n'exprime toutes les significations du terme. Il signifie une vertu particulière, la bienveillance, et aussi la vertu générale, la base de toute bonté. ...Les néo-confucianistes l'ont interprété comme l'impartialité, le caractère de la production et de la reproduction, la conscience, les graines qui génèrent, la volonté de croître, celui qui forme un corps avec le Ciel et la Terre, ou "le caractère de l'amour et le principe de l'esprit." À l'époque moderne, il a même été assimilé à l'éther et à l'électricité... Wing-Tsit Chan -- A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
Chu Hsi définit Jen comme le "caractère de l'esprit" (psyché) et "le principe de l'amour" (union). Interprété de cette manière, nous sommes en mesure d'appréhender l'essence du mot "amour," qui est l'union -- devenir un avec son objet. J'ai choisi le titre de Union des Forces pour souligner les dynamiques intra-psychiques qui ne sont pas immédiatement évidentes dans le titre de Wilhelm de Communion avec les Hommes. Par exemple, en traitant des questions relatives au Travail, le concept d'"états du moi" ou de "sous-personnalités" est souvent pertinent pour le symbolisme de ce hexagramme :
Le moi humain a été décrit ici comme composé de différents états du moi séparés par des frontières. Il a été comparé à la structure des principautés politiques. D'après l'observation clinique, nous constatons que les états du moi peuvent coopérer pour le bien-être mutuel, comme des nations alliées contre un ennemi commun. Un état du moi peut se diviser, comme l'Allemagne de l'Est et de l'Ouest, ou se fracturer en de nombreux segments, comme l'Empire austro-hongrois. Les états du moi peuvent devenir cognitivement dissonants et hostiles les uns envers les autres, comme la Syrie et Israël. En fait, le comportement des états du moi au sein d'un individu n'est pas différent de celui entre individus, et entre ces groupes d'individus appelés pays. Pourquoi le comportement de la "matière" humaine ne serait-il pas substantiellement similaire à tous les niveaux de ses organisations ? ...Les preuves de la division du moi en états du moi sont significatives, et une hypothèse tout aussi tenable pourrait être que les états et les frontières des entités politiques ont été imposés par les hommes les uns aux autres parce qu'ils représentent une externalisation des divisions internes dans leurs propres moi. J.G. Watkins -- The Therapeutic Self
Le "côté obscur" de ce hexagramme révèle des circonstances empêchant l'union d'entités ou de forces, plus que celles favorisant une affiliation fructueuse. Notez que seules les première et cinquième lignes de la figure décrivent une synthèse positive ; la première est mineure, et dans le cas de la ligne 5, l'union est atteinte seulement après beaucoup de lutte. La ligne 2 révèle une situation de clique ou de faction opposée au bien-être général, et les lignes 3 et 4 sont des images de forces récalcitrantes incapables de rejoindre ou d'attaquer l'alliance. La sixième ligne dépeint une union partielle (probablement le résultat le plus courant dans l'expérience générale), que le commentaire confucéen minimise néanmoins. Sur six lignes, seules deux décrivent quelque chose comme une communion complète. J'ai reçu ce hexagramme sans lignes changeantes lorsque le contexte de la question révélait une situation de type "incestueuse," de clique, donc toute "communion" ou Union des Forces n'est pas nécessairement une configuration idéale.