Connections shape our journey; through unity, find the source that nourishes all growth.
From
13
Fellowship
To
48
The Well
Regretting unnecessary efforts
One has seen how much effort others have put into this before turning the subject over to those who are better equipped to deal with it. taoscopy.com
Fellowship13
Unity through shared purpose and community effort.
↓ Line 1
At the beginning, one should seek fellowship with those who are near and accessible. This brings no blame.
↓ Line 2
Restricting fellowship to one's own group can lead to misunderstandings and humiliation.
↓ Line 4
One is in a strong position but should refrain from aggressive actions. This restraint leads to good fortune.
↓ Line 6
Fellowship with those who are different or distant can be achieved without regret, leading to harmony.
↓ The Well48
Seek renewal and sustenance from shared resources and deep wells of knowledge. Nurture the source to ensure lasting abundance.
Other titles: Fellowship with Men, The Symbol of Companionship, Lovers, Beloved Friends, Like-minded persons, Concording People, Gathering Men, Sameness with People, Universal Brotherhood, Fellowship, Community, United, Human Association, Union of Men, Integration of Forces, Minor Synthesis, Cliques, Concordance, To Be In Accord With, Confirmation
Judgment
Legge: Union of Forces appears in the remote districts of the country, indicating progress and success. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to maintain the firm correctness of the superior man.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Fellowship with Men in the open. Success. It furthers one to cross the great water. The perseverance of the superior man furthers.
Blofeld:Lovers (friends) in the open -- success! It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). [To make any kind of journey.] The Superior Man will benefit if he does not slacken his righteous persistence.
Liu: Fellowship of men in the open (countryside). Success. It benefits one to cross the great water. It benefits the superior man to continue his task.
Ritsema/Karcher: Concording People , tending-towards the countryside. Growing. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting: chun tzu, Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of sharing a goal with others. It emphasizes that finding ways to cooperate with and harmonize people's efforts is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Gathering men in the wilds; receipt; beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial for the gentleman to determine.
Cleary (1):Sameness with people in the wilderness is developmental. It is beneficial to cross great rivers. It is beneficial for a superior person to be upright.
Cleary (1): … Beneficial for a leader to be correct.
Wu: Fellowship in the open is pervasive, etc. … It will be advantageous to the jun zi who perseveres.
The Image
Legge: The images of heaven and fire form Union of Forces. The superior man, in accordance with this, distinguishes things according to their kinds and classes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven together with fire: the image of Fellowship with Men. Thus the superior man organizes the clans and makes distinctions between things.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes heaven (the sun) and fire representing a pair of lovers. The Superior Man treats everything in a manner proper to his kind. [an analogy (based on the component trigrams) between the sun and fire, which to some extent are of a kind.]
Liu: Fire goes up to heaven, symbolizing Fellowship with Men. The superior man organizes his kinship group (party), and sorts them out.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven associating-with fire. Concording People. A chun tzu uses sorting the clans to mark-off the beings.
Cleary (1): Heaven with fire, sameness with others; superior people distinguish things in terms of categories and groups.
Cleary (2): … Leaders distinguish beings in terms of classes and families.
Wu: Heaven above and fire below form Fellowship. The jun zi distinguishes things by their kinds.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Union of Forces the magnetic line has the central place of influence and responds to her correlate line in the upper trigram of Strength. The hexagram takes its name from the upper trigram of Strength lending its power to the lower trigram of Clarity and Intelligence. This represents the correct course of the superior man. It is only the superior man who can comprehend and affect the minds of all under the sky.
Legge: Union of Forces describes a condition which is the opposite of the preceding hexagram of Divorcement. What was there distress and obstruction is here a union of forces. But it must be based entirely on the good of the whole, without any taint of selfishness.
The dynamic line correctly in the fifth place occupies the most important position, and has for his correlate the magnetic second line, also in her correct place. The one female line is naturally sought after by all the male lines. The editors of the K'ang-hsi edition would make the second line respond to all of the lines of the upper trigram, as being more agreeable to the idea of union.
The upper trigram is that of Heaven, the lower is of Fire, whose tendency is to mount upwards. This image suggests the fire ascending, blazing to the sky and uniting with it. All these ideas are in harmony with the notion of union, but it must be free of all factionalism, and this is indicated by its being in the remote districts of the country, where people are unsophisticated and free from the corrupting effects of urban intrigue. Although a union from such motives can cope with the greatest difficulties, yet a word of caution is added.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Connections are being made. If you are able to maintain your will, it is advisable to push for a synthesis .
The Superior Man differentiates and prioritizes; he sorts and evaluates his options.
This is another image of union -- not the supreme union of hexagram number eleven, Harmony, but a subordinate union of forces within the psyche which builds toward an eventual grand alliance. The component trigrams show the union of Strength and Clarity, suggesting that a certain level of mental comprehension is involved. To receive the hexagram without changing lines is often a confirmation of your particular thought -- saying, in effect: "You've made the connection."
Comprehension (synthesis) involves making distinctions (analysis) -- a paradoxical process in which one must divide before one can (re)unite. (This is the solve et coagula of alchemy.) Thus we see the superior man in the Image creating categories to bring about union -- this is discrimination directed toward reclassification or rectification. For example, a heterogeneous mixture of vegetable and flower seeds is made meaningful when one sorts them into their separate categories. The disparate elements then become coherently "united" -- in I Chingterms, each line obtains its proper correlate as in Hexagram number 63.
(Dialectic) alternates between synthesis and analysis until it has gone through the entire domain of the intelligible and has arrived at the principle. Stopping there, for it is only there that it can stop, no longer busying itself with a multitude of objects since it has arrived at unity, it contemplates. Plotinus -- The Enneads
The Chinese name of this hexagram includes the word Jen, which is apparently a difficult concept, since many philosophers have spent a good deal of energy in trying to define it:
Jen has been variously translated as benevolence, perfect virtue, goodness, human-heartedness, love, altruism, etc. None of these expresses all the meanings of the term. It means a particular virtue, benevolence, and also the general virtue, the basis of all goodness. ...Neo-Confucianists interpreted it as impartiality, the character of production and reproduction, consciousness, seeds that generate, the will to grow, one who forms one body with Heaven and Earth, or "the character of love and the principle of mind." In modern times, it has even been equated with ether and electricity... Wing-Tsit Chan -- A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
Chu Hsi defines Jen as the "character of the mind" (psyche) and "the principle of love" (union). Interpreted in this way we are enabled to apprehend the essence of the word "love," which is union -- becoming one with its object. I have chosen the title of Union of Forces to emphasize intra-psychic dynamics which are not immediately obvious in Wilhelm's title of Fellowship with Men. For example in dealing with questions pertaining to the Work, the concept of "ego states" or "subpersonalities" is often relevant to the symbolism of this hexagram:
The human self has been described here as composed of different ego states separated by boundaries. It has been likened to the structure of political principalities. From clinical observation we find that ego states can cooperate for mutual well-being, like allied nations against a common enemy. An ego state may become split, like East and West Germany, or fracture into many segments, like the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ego states may become cognitively dissonant and hostile to each other, like Syria and Israel. In fact, the behavior of ego states within an individual is not unlike that between individuals, and between those groups of individuals called countries. Why should the behavior of human "stuff" not be substantially similar at all levels of its organizations? ...The evidence of self division into ego states is significant, and an equally tenable hypothesis might be that the states and boundaries of political entities have been imposed by men on each other because these represent an externalization of the internal divisions in their own selves. J.G. Watkins -- The Therapeutic Self
This hexagram's "shadow side" reveals circumstances preventing the union of entities or forces, more than those conditions promoting fruitful affiliation. Note that only the first and fifth lines of the figure depict a positive synthesis; the first one is minor, and in the case of line 5, union is attained only after much struggle. Line 2 reveals a clique or faction situation opposed to the general welfare, and lines 3 and 4 are images of recalcitrant forces unable to either join or attack the alliance. The sixth line depicts a partial union (probably the most common outcome in general experience), which the Confucian commentary nevertheless minimizes. Out of six lines then, only two describe anything like complete fellowship. I have received this hexagram without changing lines when the context of the question revealed an “incestuous,” clique-type situation, so not all "fellowship" or Union of Forcesis necessarily an ideal configuration.
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows the representative of the Union of
Forces just issuing from his gate. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fellowship with men at the gate. No blame.
Blofeld: The beloved is at the gate -- no harm!
Liu: Fellowship of men outside the gate. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Concording People tending-towards the gate.
Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Gathering men at the gate; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Sameness with people at the gate is blameless.
Wu: Men of fellowship are at the gate. There will be no blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Who will blame him? Wilhelm/Baynes: Going out of the gate for fellowship with men -- who would find anything to blame in this? Blofeld: The Superior Man treats everything in a manner proper to his kind. [Meeting the beloved so publicly cannot give rise to scandal. This implies that there is no need for secrecy.]Ritsema/Karcher: Issuing-forth-from the gate Concording People. Furthermore whose fault indeed? Cleary (2): And if you are the same as people outside the gate, who can blame you? Wu: Men of fellowship are going outdoors. Who would blame them?
Legge: Line one shows the first attempts at union. It is dynamic, but in the lowest place, and has no proper correlate above. There is however, no selfishness in his intent. He has all the world before him with which to unite. Selfish thoughts concerning union have no place in him.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, attempts are made at open friendship.
Wing: The times are such that a group of people all shares the same needs. They can come together openly with the same goals in mind. This is the beginning of a fellowship. Until the interests of the individuals become divergent all will go well.
Editor: Forces begin to assemble for a potential alliance: nothing hinders this. Psychologically, the image can suggest the beginning of a new cycle or dialectical process within the psyche.
In the beginning stages people can commit the most horrible sins of unconsciousness and stupidity without having to pay much for it. Nature does not take its revenge. But when the work progresses over the years, even a slight deviation, a hint of the wrong word, or fleeting wrong thought, can have the worst psychosomatic consequences. It is as though it became ever more subtle, moving on the razor's edge. Any faux pas is an abysmal catastrophe, while previously one could tramp kilometers off the path without one's own unconscious giving one a slap or taking its revenge in some way. M.L. Von Franz -- Alchemical Active Imagination
A. In the beginning there is nothing to stop you.
B. Accord, union, success at the outset.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows the representative of the Union of Forces in relation with her kindred. There will be occasion for regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fellowship with men in the clan. Humiliation.
Blofeld: His beloved (betrothed) is of the same clan as himself -- trouble!
Liu: Fellowship of men in the kinship group (party). Humiliation.
Ritsema/Karcher: Concording People tending-towards ancestry.
Abashment.
Shaughnessy: Gathering men at the ancestral temple; distress.
Cleary (1): Sameness with people in the clan is regrettable.
Wu: Fellowship becomes kinship. There will be humiliation.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Relationship with one's kindred is the path to regret. Wilhelm/Baynes: The way to humiliation. Blofeld: Choosing a beloved from a man's own clan is a sure way to unhappiness. [This Chinese belief was so strongly held that, until recently, even unrelated people of the same surname could not marry.]Ritsema/Karcher: Abashment tao indeed. Cleary (2): The road to regret. Wu: This is a way to humiliation.
Legge: Lines two and five are proper correlates, a fact which in this instance suggests the idea of a partial and limited union. This is blameworthy because union with only one's kindred implies narrowness of mind.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Because of special privileges and factions, only a limited fellowship is realized. Regrets and problems result.
Wing: There is a tendency toward elitism and exclusivity. This creates limitations for everyone in society. Such a situation of egotism and selfish interests will bring regret.
Editor: The image is one of incestuous exclusivity. The formation of factions, special interest groups and cliques can only cause harm to the larger psyche or to society because it excludes the vital give and take necessary for evolution and eventual synthesis. Sometimes the line can suggest the idea of being caught in a closed loop or vicious circle -- energy is trapped by limiting beliefs, thus preventing growth into new realms of being.
When a soul remains for long in this withdrawal and estrangement from the whole, with never a glance towards the intelligible, it becomes a thing fragmented, isolated, and weak. Activity lacks concentration. Attention is tied to particulars. Severed from the whole, the soul clings to the part; to this one sole thing, buffeted about by a whole world of things, has it turned and given itself. Adrift now from the whole, it manages even this particular thing with difficulty... Plotinus -- The Enneads
A. A self-serving alliance portends failure.
B. A recalcitrant complex refuses to integrate.
C. Dogmatic, hidebound perception prevents growth.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows its subject mounted on the city wall; but he does not proceed to make the attack he contemplates. There will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He climbs up on his wall; he cannot attack. Good fortune.
Blofeld: He climbs his battlemented wall, for he is unable to attack -- good fortune! [At first sight this case looks rather like that indicated by the third line, but here cowardice and concealment are replaced by courage modified by common sense and a desire to do his duty as best he can.]
Liu: They climb on the wall. They are unable to attack. Good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Riding astride its wall; you will not succeed in attacking it; auspicious.
Cleary (2): He mounts the wall but does not succeed in the attack. This is lucky.
Wu: He ascends to the top of his fortress, and is convinced that the offensive will fail. This will be auspicious. [He ascends to a good vantage point to survey his surroundings and realizes his blunder. He is quick to correct himself. Reasoning wins over force.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He is mounted on the city wall, but he yields to the right and doesn't make the attack he contemplated. He recognizes the strait he is in, and will return to the rule of law. Wilhelm/Baynes: The situation means that he can do nothing. His good fortune consists in the fact that he gets into trouble and therefore returns to lawful ways. Blofeld: Being unable to worst the enemy, he settles down on a fortified wall. His good fortune consists in being able to retain his sense of what is right even when encountering difficulty. Ritsema/Karcher: Righteously nothing controlling indeed. One's significance. By-consequence confining and-also reversing by-consequence indeed. Cleary (2): The luck is that he will return to order when he reaches the impasse. Wu: Morally he cannot succeed . He realizes his predicament and reverses his course.
Legge: Line four is dynamic, but in a magnetic place, which weakens his position. He would like to make an attempt on line two, but is afraid to do so. Stress should be laid on the idea of "yielding to the right."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man mounts his city wall, but is afraid to embark on aggression. The antagonists consider the difficulties and yield to right and law. Reconciliation is imminent.
Wing: Your obsession with the attainment of your personal goals will ultimately cut you off from others. The more you pursue your dream, the farther you drift from your Community. In time, your loneliness will bring you to your senses. Good fortune.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, a city can symbolize a focus of energy (perhaps a belief-complex), within which its components live in "fellowship." The city walls represent the boundaries defining this belief system. Seen from the outside, the wall is the separation between one condition and another; seen from the inside it provides both definition and sanctuary for its inhabitants. (Regarded this way, the differences between lines three and four can be seen as the differences between the repression and sublimation of a complex.) At any rate, this line depicts a favorable impasse or restraint of power in the situation at hand.
Even though we are not responsible for the way we are and feel, we have to take responsibility for the way we act. Therefore we have to learn to discipline ourselves. And discipline rests on the ability to act in a manner that is contrary to our feelings when necessary. This is an eminently human prerogative as well as a necessity. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. An impasse prevents an unfortunate action.
B. Awareness of an impasse is the first condition necessary for its resolution.
C. Straddling the fence and able to see both sides of the issue, one is prevented from joining either faction.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows the representative of the Union of Forces in the suburbs. There will be no occasion for repentance.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fellowship with men in the meadow. No remorse.
Blofeld: Her beloved is in a distant frontier region -- no regret! [In Chinese history, it often happened that a man was drafted and sent far away to a frontier region from which he could not be expected to return for many years. In this case, his beloved (betrothed or wife) has enough wisdom to give up repining, since the case is a hopeless one. The implication is that we should not repine.]
Liu: Fellowship of men in the open countryside. No remorse.
Ritsema/Karcher: Concording people tending-towards the suburbs. Without repenting.
Shaughnessy: Gathering men in the pasture; there is no regret.
Cleary (1): Being the same as people in the countryside, there is no regret.
Cleary (2): Sameness with people in the countryside involves no regret.
Wu: Men of fellowship gather outside of the city. There will be no regret.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His object has not yet been attained. Wilhelm/Baynes: The will is not yet satisfied. Blofeld: This is not what is desired. Ritsema/
Karcher: Purpose not-yet acquired indeed. Cleary (2): The aspiration has not yet been attained. Wu: Their aspirations have not prevailed.
Legge: The union reaches to all within the suburbs, but it is not yet universal. The ideal of the hexagram is found in the Judgment in which the union of forces occurs in the open country. In line six the union is only in the suburbs which surround the city, yet are not quite out in the "open country." This indicates only a partial success, but there is still no cause for repentance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man achieves fellowship, but only with those nearby. Simply because mankind has not yet attained universal brotherhood, however, is no ground for remorse.
Wing: The unity and fellowship that are possible in this position are not significant in terms of universal needs. However, joining with others, even in a small way, is not a mistake.
Editor: The union of forces is adequate to meet the current situation, but it seems to be a compromise at best. Though the circumstances are said to evoke no remorse, the Confucian commentary leaves no doubt about his assessment of this position. The Work still has a long way to go to be complete, but since that seldom happens this side of hyperspace, any increment of integration has to be better than no progress at all. Blofeld's translation and note seem too specific to facilitate these wider meanings.
Thus, human ego development is basically conditioned by, and continues to unfold between, the divisive Yang pole of separateness and the connecting Yin pole of union. Between these polarities of separation and encounter -- loss of oneness and the re-establishment of oneness through meeting -- the sense of identity continues to grow throughout the life of the individual. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. A minor synthesis.
B. Psychic integration is adequate for the present, but further work is required.
Other titles: Welling, Potentialities Fulfilled, The Source, The Deep Psyche, "A resurrection or transformation. Generations coming and going and the continuance of life and development." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Although a town site may be altered, The Well remains the same. Its water level neither disappears nor receives any great increase, and the people can draw from it freely. Misfortune ensues if the rope breaks or the bucket is broken before it reaches the water.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Well. The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed. It neither decreases nor increases. They come and go and draw from the well. If one gets down almost to the water and the rope does not go all the way, or the jug breaks, it brings misfortune.
Blofeld: A Well. A city may be moved, but not a well. [The building of a city depends upon ourselves; but wells cannot be moved to places where nature supplies no water. The implication is that our activities are limited by natural conditions.] A well suffers from no decrease and no increase; but often, when the people come to draw water there, the rope is too short or the pitcher gets broken before reaching the water -- misfortune! [What we desire is there for the taking, but we may not succeed in getting it.]
Liu: The Well. The city might be moved; but not the well. It neither overflows nor runs dry. People come and go, drawing from the well. The rope nearly reaches the water, but not quite; the jug breaks -- misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The Well: amending the capital, not amending the Well. Without losing, without acquiring. Going, coming: Welling, Welling. Muddy culmination: truly not-yet the well- rope Well. Ruining one's pitcher: Pitfall. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the life water coming from the depths that everyone may draw on. It emphasizes that maintaining access to this central source is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to go to the well!]
Shaughnessy: The Well: Changing the city but not changing the well; there is no loss, there is no gain. Going and coming so orderly; when the drying up arrives one also has not yet drawn from the well; burdening its formed earthenware jug; inauspicious.
Cleary (1):The Well: Changing the village, not changing the well; no loss, no gain. Those who come and go use the well as a well. If the rope does not reach all the way into the well, of if the bucket breaks, that is unfortunate.
Cleary (2): … People come and go, but the well remains a well. Lowering the bucket to the water, if you overturn the bucket before drawing it up from the well, this is unlucky.
Wu:The Well indicates that the planning of a district may be changed, but the location of the well may not. The water level of a well will neither increase nor decrease from use. There are wells here and there. When one is drawing water from a well, if he tangles the rope and damages the bucket just before it clears the well, it will be foreboding.
The Image
Legge: The image of water over wood forms The Well. The superior man comforts the people and stimulates their mutual cooperation.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water over wood: the image of The Well. Thus the superior man encourages the people at their work and exhorts them to help one another.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water over wood. The Superior Man encourages the people with advice and assistance.
Liu: Water on wood symbolizes The Well. The superior man inspires people to work diligently, and advises them to help each other.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above wood possessing stream. The Well. A chun tzu uses toiling commoners to encourage mutualizing.
Cleary (1): There is water above wood – A Well. Thus do superior people comfort the people and encourage reciprocity.
Wu: There is water above wood; this is The Well. Thus, the jun zi encourages people to work for the good of the public and to help one another for a better life.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Wood penetrates the water and raises it, giving the image ofThe Wellwhich gives nourishment yet is not exhausted. The dynamic central lines in the second and fifth places indicate that the town site may change, but the well does not. If the rope does not reach the water the well does not serve its purpose. A broken bucket brings about evil.
Legge: The upper trigram represents Water, and the lower symbolizes Wood, giving the image of a wooden bucket in the water of a well. What is said on this hexagram might be styled: "Lessons to be learned from a well for the proper government of a country." A well is to its users what a government is to its subjects, and if rulers would only apply the ancient precepts of government to the present circumstances, they and their people would benefit greatly.
In the Judgment we see the well remaining substantially the same through many changes of society -- a dependable source of refreshment to its users. As the fashion of the well remains changeless, so do the principles of human nature and good government. The value of the well depends upon the water being drawn up and used -- and so must the principles of good government be implemented.
Anthony: This hexagram usually indicates that we have a hidden doubt or fear. We may secretly disbelieve our path.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Amid the changes of life the only constant is the psyche itself -- to be alive is to draw upon its energy. The ego’s challenge lies in the correct comprehension of its images.
The Superior Man promotes the harmonious interplay of his thoughts and feelings. (Works on the integration of his complexes.)
A well is a universal symbol of a source of inner truth, and is often associated with a place that is sacred to the gods:
There he built an altar and invoked the name of Yahweh. There he pitched his tent, and there Isaac's servants sank a well. Genesis 26: 25
From the first well, which is of animal nature and deep, the father drinks, together with his children and cattle; from the second, which is yet deeper and on the very margin of nature, there drink only the children of men, namely those whose reason has awakened and whom we call philosophers; from the third, the deepest of all drink the sons of the All-Highest, whom we call gods and true theologians. Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa
Psychologically interpreted, a well symbolizes the continuously flowing unconscious psyche, the fountain of all awareness. In this hexagram each line represents a level within the well -- by extension suggesting a hierarchy of value in the unconscious. It is important to remember that not all of our inner images, intuitions or impulses come from the Self. Note that lines one through four all show the water of the well not being utilized for one reason or another -- only in lines three, five and six is it actually available for use.
In some sensitive individuals there is an awakening of para-psychological perceptions. They have visions, which they believe to be of exalted beings; they may hear voices, or begin to write automatically, accepting the messages at their face value and obeying them unreservedly. The quality of such messages is very varied. Sometimes they contain fine teachings, but they should always be examined with much discrimination and sound judgment, and without being influenced by their uncommon origin or by any claim by their alleged transmitter. No validity should be attributed to messages containing definite orders and commanding blind obedience, and to those tending to exalt the personality of the recipient. Roberto Assagioli --Psychosynthesis
The ego's point of view in relation to The Well is from the outside looking in – the insights emerge from beneath the surface of awareness and can be held in the light of consciousness only if one’s comprehension is able to contain them. If "the bucket breaks," our understanding is unequal to our observation and the insights are lost. (One might plausibly find the image for a cancer cure within one's psyche, but without a conscious frame of reference to acknowledge it, it would be unrecognized and lost.) Those who closely monitor their dreams know that there is an endless outpouring of strange images within the psyche which might be of inestimable value if only we knew what they referred to.
Wilhelm emphasizes the idea of "nourishing the people," which psychologically means that the role of the ego is to facilitate the cooperation of intra-psychic forces.
The solution lies, rather, along the lines of a harmonious integration of all drives into the total personality, first through the proper subordination and coordination, and then through the transformation and sublimation of the excessive or unused quota of energy. Roberto Assagioli --Psychosynthesis