Approach leadership with genuine care and openness, nurturing connections to create a harmonious and thriving community.
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19
Approach
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37
The Family
Having innate knowledge
One can tell others what to do despite one's lack of experience. taoscopy.com
Approach19
Openness and approachability bring success. Embrace others with sincerity and attentive leadership. Seize opportunities with confidence while recognizing the temporary nature of influence.
↓ Line 2
Harmonious cooperation with others brings good fortune and progress.
↓ Line 3
Complacency may lead to stagnation. Awareness and reflection can prevent blame.
↓ Line 5
A wise and noble approach is fitting for leadership and brings good fortune.
↓ Line 6
A generous and open-hearted approach leads to good fortune and is without blame.
↓ The Family37
Focus on nurturing harmony in your community or family. Cultivate stability and mutual support by fostering open communication and shared values.
Other titles: The Symbol of Advance and Arrival, Nearing, Overseeing, Condescension, Getting Ahead, Promotion, Conduct, Drawing Near, Becoming Great, The Forest, Advance, Advancing, "Two people advancing together; or a good influence which hasn't been seen or felt for some time, is approaching." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Approach means successful progress through firm correctness. In the eighth month there will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes : Approach has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. When the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune.
Blofeld:Approach.Sublime success! Righteous persistence brings reward. However, when the eighth month is reached, misfortune will befall. [The eighth moon of the lunar calendar corresponds approximately to September.]
Liu: Approach. Great Success. It is of benefit to continue. When the eighth month arrives, then there will be misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Nearing, Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. Culminating tending-towards the eighth moon: possessing a pitfall. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of approaching and being approached. It emphasizes that acting without immediately expecting to attain what you desire is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: The Forest: Prime receipt; beneficial to determine; arriving at the eighth month there is inauspiciousness.
Cleary (1):Overseeing is creative and developmental, beneficial if correct. In the eighth month there is misfortune.
Cleary (2):Overseeing is very successful, beneficial if correct. If you go on until the eighth month, there will be misfortune. [If you ride on the momentum of the time and do not know to turn back, at a certain point deterioration will inevitably set in, after flourishing has reached its climax, and there will surely be misfortune.]
Wu:Condescension is great, pervasive, and persevering, etc. [Condescension as used in several judgments has two meanings: to condescend (or to look down from a higher position) and to press forward with authority.]
Hua-Ching Ni: Advance. It is beneficial to go forward with a positive attitude, but be mindful of the cyclical nature of things.
The Image
Legge: The earth over a marsh -- the image of Approach. The superior man is inexhaustible in his instruction and unflagging in his nourishing support of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The earth above the lake: the image of Approach. Thus the superior man is inexhaustible in his will to teach, and without limits in his tolerance and protection of the people.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes land rising above a marsh. The Superior Man's teaching and his affection for his juniors are inexhaustible. Nothing hinders him in his care for the people. [The lower component trigram suggests the nourishment which the Superior Man gives joyfully to others. The upper trigram symbolizes the great bulk of those who benefit.]
Liu: The earth above the lake symbolizes Approach. The superior man's will for instruction has no limit. He is boundless in his support and protection of the people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing earth. Nearing. A chun tzu uses teaching to ponder without exhausting. [A chun tzu uses] tolerating to protect the commoners without delimiting.
Cleary (1): Above the lake there is earth, overseeing. Superior people use
inexhaustibility of education and thought to embrace and protect the people without bound.
Wu: There is ground above the marsh; this is Condescension. Thus the jun zi realizes that there is no limit to the ideas of education and there is no boundary in the protection of people.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Approach we see the dynamic lines gradually increasing and advancing. The lower trigram is the symbol of Being Pleased, and the upper of Being Compliant. The strong line is in the central position, and is properly responded to. It is the way of heaven to bring progress and success through firm correctness, however the advancing power will decay after no long time.
Legge: Approach suggests the approach of authority -- to inspect, to comfort or to rule. The figure shows two dynamic lines advancing on the four magnetic lines above them. Their action will be powerful and successful, but it must be governed by rectitude and a caution that understands the nature of continuous change.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Two steps forward are followed by one step backward.
The Superior Man remains true to the Work regardless of fluctuations within the psyche.
The meaning of Approach is derived from the two dynamic lines advancing from below to encounter the magnetic lines above. These two are firm allies, and the action of the superior man in the Image suggests that their ascent is one of benevolent regard for the welfare of their subordinates -- only the third line need change for the hexagram to become number eleven, Harmony. We are reminded of the proper relationship between the ego and the Self -- when they advance together, the magnetic forces in the rest of the psyche are eventually transformed.
This hexagram recognizes the inevitably slow progress of the Work (" Rome wasn't built in a day"), and that advances are always followed by retreats. The point is that if one maintains the will to advance, one can be confident that the Work is advancing, regardless of appearances.
(Confucius) tried his best, but the issue he left to Ming. Ming is often translated as Fate, Destiny or Decree. To Confucius, it meant the Decree of Heaven or Will of Heaven ... Thus to know Ming means to acknowledge the inevitability of the world as it exists, and so to disregard one's external success or failure. If we can act in this way, we can, in a sense, never fail. For if we do our duty that duty through our very act is morally done, regardless of the external success or failure of our action. Fung Yu-Lan -- A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
Without changing lines, the hexagram suggests a progressive advance in the matter at hand. Nature being what it is however, no advance can be sustained indefinitely and an eventual regression can be expected. (This observation is such a truism that we must assume it is more than usually applicable to the current situation.)
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject advancing in company with the subject of the first line. There will be good fortune; advancing will be in every way advantageous.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Joint approach. Good fortune. Everything furthers.
Blofeld: All approach -- good fortune! Nothing is unfavorable. [All approach can be taken to mean that all things desirable are converging upon us.]
Liu: To approach with sincerity brings good fortune. It is beneficial for everything.
Ritsema/Karcher: Conjunction Nearing: significant. Without not Harvesting.
Shaughnessy: Prohibited forest; auspicious; there is nothing not beneficial.
Cleary (2): Sensitive overseeing is good, beneficial all around. [The second yang is also in the momentum of gradually increasing strength, but at this point it is best to keep still and not ride on the momentum to try to advance; then it will be good and beneficial all around.]
Wu: Pressing forward with a companion will be auspicious. Everything will be advantageous.
Hua-Ching Ni: Impartial advance without prejudice continues…
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is because those to whom the advance is made are not yet obedient to the ordinances of heaven. Wilhelm/Baynes: One need not yield to fate. Blofeld: This indicates that there is nevertheless some disobedience. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet yielding-to fate indeed. Cleary (2): This is addressed to those who are not yet in harmony with the universal order. Wu: There are still those who do not obey the ordinances of heaven. [Since prosperity of the yang is considered a good omen and meets the approval of heaven, presence of the four yin in the yang’s path of advance is indicative of disobeying the ordinances of heaven.]
Legge: Line two is dynamic, but in a magnetic place. This is counterbalanced by the central position and the proper correlate in line five.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: People who are not obedient to the ways of heaven are induced to follow the steadfast man in a high position. The future will be advantageous in every way.
Wing: What you propose to do wins sympathy and support from higher forces. So correct are your ideals that you can overcome even inherent difficulties. The future is bright indeed.
Editor: The differences in meaning between lines one and two are extremely slight in English translation. Cleary’s Buddhist commentary on the line suggests the idea of controlling the momentum of an otherwise favorable action. (See also his commentary on the Judgment.) Wu’s note on the Confucian commentary shows line two in immediate contact with four yin lines, interpreted here as recalcitrant forces. On another tack, if we take Ritsema/Karcher's version of "Conjunction Nearing: significant...” literally, we can imagine two possible approaching syntheses (line 1 and line 2), one of which may be more auspicious than the other. Only the context of your query can provide a plausible interpretation of these very different readings.
If Jung's method is used in the analysis, the change initiated by the conflict proceeds under the guidance of the individual's own unconscious. The analyst does not assume that he knows the answer to the problem but sets out with his patient to explore the unconscious and seek the solution. He is necessary to the proceeding because he has a technique for interpreting the obscure unconscious material thrown up in the dreams and fantasies; also, he is needed as a fixed point to which the patient can cling during the transition, when all values are under question and all landmarks may disappear. M. E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. An approaching conjunction of forces (or obvious choices) will nullify an adverse bias in the situation.
B. An alliance for progress furthers the Work.
C. Ego and Self administer the psyche.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one well pleased indeed to advance, but whose action will be in no way advantageous. If she becomes anxious about it however, there will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Comfortable approach. Nothing that would further. If one is induced to grieve over it, one becomes free of blame.
Blofeld: A willing approach, but there is nowhere towards which it would be advantageous to set out. Feeling regret on that account involves no error.
Liu: Cheerful approach does not benefit further. If one fears regret, no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Sweetness Nearing. Without direction: Harvesting. Already grieving-over it: Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Sweet forest; there is no place beneficial; having been saddened by it, there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Presumptuous overseeing is of no benefit. If one is troubled over this, there is no blame.
Cleary (2): … but if you trouble over it, there will be no blame.
Wu: Condescending for flaunting purposes has nothing to gain. If he is concerned of his behavior, he will make no error.
Hua-Ching Ni: Easy advancement. If one abuses one’s position, there will be trouble in the long run. If this tendency is corrected immediately, there will be no blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She shows herself well pleased to advance, but her position is not that appropriate to her. If she become anxious about it her error will not be continued. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. A fault that induces grief no longer exists. Blofeld: The foregoing is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. However, if we grieve for it, we shall not be involved in error for long. [At present, there is no goal or destination towards which it would be profitable to move; however, if we sincerely regret this, it will not be long before we emerge from the rut.] Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Fault not long-living indeed. Cleary (2): Once you trouble over it, blame will not last long. Wu: He is out of place. His error will be temporary.
Legge: Line three is magnetic, neither central nor in her correct position, and therefore her action will not be advantageous. Being at the top of the lower trigram of Pleased Satisfaction, she is well pleased to advance. Anxious reflection will save her from error.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man gains power, influence, and comfort. There is danger of relation and carelessness in dealing with others. But if he becomes apprehensive about his actions, he will not continue in his error and will avoid troubles.
Wing: An easy Promotion is possible now. This might lead to a careless attitude on your part. There is danger in such overconfidence. If you are quick to recognize the need for continuous caution, however, you can avoid mistakes that would otherwise harm you.
Editor: The image depicts a case in which one’s powers are not equal to the challenge. Ritsema/Karcher translate Without direction: Harvesting as: “No plan or direction is advantageous; in order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events.” That is, success demands that you refrain from action or drop the subject of inquiry. Their rendition of: Grieving-over it means: “Sorrow, melancholy; mourn; anxious, careworn; hidden sorrow…heart-sick and anxious.” One can receive this line under conditions of deep grief, wherein (as in any line of the I Ching), extremely subtle insights often transcend an exact paraphrase.
Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Psalms 127: 1
A. Whether simplistic, overconfident, or just naive, your assumptions in the matter at hand are incorrect. Do not act on them.
B. Desire for something to be true doesn't make it true. Correct your viewpoint. If sorrow is involved, accept it as your teacher.
C. Unwarranted overconfidence. Nothing can be done now.
D. There are no free rides -- wake up and serve the Work.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows the advance of wisdom, such as
befits the great ruler. There will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wise approach. This is right for a great prince. Good fortune.
Blofeld: A wise approach suited to a great prince -- good fortune.
Liu: To approach with wisdom is appropriate for a great duke. Good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Knowledge Nearing. A Great Chief's propriety. Significant.
Shaughnessy: Knowing the forest; the great lord's propriety is auspicious.
Cleary (2): Knowing overseeing, appropriate for a great leader, bodes well.
Wu: Condescending with wisdom befits a great king. There will be good fortune.
Hua-Ching Ni: Wise advancement. This is how the great should proceed. G.F.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: What befits the great ruler means pursuing the course of the due mean. Wilhelm/Baynes: This means that he should walk in the middle. Blofeld: This is a way of saying that we must keep to the middle path. Ritsema/Karcher: Moving the center's designating indeed. Cleary (2): What is appropriate for a great leader is balance in action. Wu: He rules from the center.
Legge: Line five is the seat of the ruler. She is magnetic, but because she is central and has the dynamic second line as her proper correlate, she is the symbol of a wise sovereign who employs able counsel to advise her.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The great ruler displays his wisdom in attracting men of ability to direct his affairs and in providing them freedom of action.
Wing: Your position is one of sovereignty. Here you would be wise to allow others to execute you plan for you. If you can choose competent helpers and restrain yourself from interfering in their work, you will achieve the ideal of true authority.
Editor: There is an intimation here of the Self allowing the ego to look after its own welfare, as long as action is in accordance with moderation and restraint. A test situation may be in progress.
From my brother Severus (I learned) to love my kin, and to love truth, and to love justice... And from him I received the idea of a polity in which there is the same law for all, a polity administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed. Marcus Aurelius
A. An image of balance.
B. Wisdom walks in the middle.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows the advance of honesty and generosity. There will be good fortune, and no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Greathearted approach. Good fortune. No blame.
Blofeld: A magnanimous approach -- good fortune, no error.
Liu: Benevolent approach brings good fortune. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Magnanimity Nearing. Significant. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Thick forest; auspicious; there is no trouble.
Cleary (2): Attentive overseeing is good and blameless.
Wu: Condescending with honesty is auspicious, etc.
Hua-Ching Ni: Sincere advancing. Good Fortune. No blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is because her will is focused on the first two lines of the lower trigram. Wilhelm/Baynes: The will is directed inward. Blofeld: This good fortune arises from concealing our will within our hearts. [This would seem to mean that, for the present, we should gladly accord with others and carefully conceal our aims.] Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose located inside indeed. Cleary (2): The good of attentive overseeing is in the will being within. Wu: Because his aspiration is directed inward.
Legge: Line six is at the top of the upper trigram of Docility. Although the first and second lines of the hexagram are not her proper correlates, it is proper for the yin to seek for the yang, and it is emphatically so in this case.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The sage returns from retirement to teach and help others, who greatly benefit from his experience.
Wing: The person in this position will allow others to benefit from the wealth of his experience. Such generosity will bring unaccountable progress to all concerned. This is a true moment of greatness.
Editor: An "advance of honesty" suggests truth: to be "honest" about something is to acknowledge its truth. "Generosity" implies the unselfish acceptance of this truth: perhaps a tolerant concession to a less-than-perfect status quo. Wilhelm renders the Confucian commentary in the imagery of the will being directed inward; Blofeld interprets it as magnanimity coupled with a hidden agenda which is not inconsistent with good will. Ritsema/ Karcher's "Purpose located inside indeed," reinforces this idea. Tolerance or leniency is definitely implied: Wilhelm describes a sage, retired from the world, generously lending his wisdom to the people. Psychologically, the image can suggest that advance in the situation at hand consists of turning inward for support: the developing ego concentrates on connecting with the perfect will of the Self.
Since the mind which persuades and that which is persuaded are one in their basic unity, true persuasion consists in revealing the truth of the oneness of existence. Prince Shotoku
A. A charitable forbearance with an imperfect world makes room for the Work to grow.
B. Ego/Self alignment facilitates profitable interaction with others.
Other titles: Family Life, Clan, Home, Linkage, Dwelling People, The Psyche, "May indicate a situation where the family can and should help." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: For the regulation of The Family, what is most advantageous is that the wife be firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Family . The perseverance of the woman furthers.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dwelling People. Harvesting: woman Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of living and working with others in a common space. It emphasizes that caring for your relation with those who share this space and for the space itself is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: dwell with people!]
Shaughnessy: Family members: Beneficial for the maiden to determine.
Cleary (1): For people in the home it is beneficial that the woman be chaste. [In the human body, the vitality, spirit, soul, psyche, and intent all belong to yin and all take orders from the human mentality … When you refine away the human mind, the mind of tao spontaneously becomes manifest.]
Wu:The Family indicates that it is advantageous for a woman to be persevering. [This is a hexagram with its emphasis on women. Both constituent trigrams are feminine … Hence those who endeavor to be firm and correct will have advantages.]
The Image
Legge: Wind rising out of fire -- the image of The Family. The superior man speaks the truth and is consistent in his behavior.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind comes forth from fire: The image of The Family. Thus the superior man has substance in his words and duration in his way of life.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind rising from fire. The Superior Man's speech is full of substance and he behaves with constancy.
Liu: The wind coming out of the fire symbolizes The Family. The speech of the superior man should have substance, and his conduct be enduring.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind originating-from fire issuing-forth. Dwelling People. A chun tzu uses words to possess beings and-also movement to possess perseverance.
Cleary (1): Wind emerges from fire, members of a family. Thus is there factuality in the speech of superior people, consistency in their deeds.
Cleary (2): … Developed people are factual in speech, consistent in action.
Wu: Wind comes forth from fire; this is The Family. Thus the jun zi speaks with facts and acts with perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Family the wife is in her correct place in the lower trigram, and the husband in his correct place in the upper. That spouses occupy their correct positions shows the correct relationship between heaven and earth. The parents rule the family: let the father indeed be father, and the son son; let the elder brother be indeed elder brother, and the younger brother younger; let the husband indeed be husband, and the wife wife -- then the family will be in its correct state. Bring the family to that state, and all under heaven will be established.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Family simply means "a household," or "the members of a family." The lesson of the hexagram is the regulation of the family, effected by the cooperation of the husband and wife in their several spheres, and only needing it to become universal to secure the good order of the kingdom. The important place accorded to the wife is seen in the short sentence in the Judgment -- that she be firm and correct, and do her part well is essential for the family's proper regulation.
The wife is represented by line two and the husband is her proper correlate in line five. The relationship between heaven and earth is analogous to the relationship between husband and wife.
The second sentence of the Confucian commentary, more closely rendered, would be: "That in the family there is an authoritative ruler is a way of naming father and mother." This means that the assertion of authority in a family should be a correct balance of force and gentleness.
Anthony: The Family symbolizes correct relationships between people – the family unit, the spiritual family (the Sage and the student), and human groups generally. When these most basic relationships are correct, the world is made correct through the force of inner truth, through cultivation of the feminine component of our nature, and through persevering in a virtually menial position (from our ego’s viewpoint) so that our work can come to fruition. All this means to forgo striving and self-assertion, and to allow ourself to be led, while persevering in gentleness and devotion to our path.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: For the correct regulation of the psyche, what is most important is that the ego must be firm and correct.
The Superior Man lives his allegiance to the ideals of the Work.
Applying the Hermetic Axiom: "as above, so below," the relationships within a family are analogous to the relationships within a city-state, or a kingdom, and vice- versa:
Society centuries before the time of Confucius had been organized on the basis of family. In the early days of the Chou dynasty fiefs had been allotted to the feudal lords in a system of planned colonization. These feudal lords, linked to one another and to the royal house by marriage ties, took their families, retainers, peasants, artisans and soldiers to form self-sufficient colonies based on an agricultural economy and governed from well-fortified walled cities. These large family groupings of the nobility were preserved only so long as the relationships of parents to children, brothers to brothers, and masters to servants were effectively controlled. D.H. Smith -- Confucius
If the ideal city is like a family, then the analogy also holds for an individual -- here the comparison goes directly from city to psyche:
Have we any greater evil for a city than what splits it and makes it many instead of one? Or a greater good than what binds it together and makes it one? ... Then is that city best governed which is most like a single human being? Plato -- The Republic
Psychologically interpreted, the hexagram of The Family symbolizes the psyche, and the Confucian commentary tells us that when its inner components all assume their proper roles and functions, then the Work will come into fruition. ("All under heaven will be established.") The identical idea has been stated in Gnostic thought:
Jesus said to them: "When you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter the Kingdom. The Gnostic Gospel According to Thomas
The husband is the analogue of heaven or the Self, and the wife is the analogue of earth or the ego. When the ego assumes its correct role as the magnetic servant of the Work, then inner transformations can take place. I have paraphrased the Judgment in terms of the necessity of the ego to follow the dictates of the Work, but one could alternately phrase it in terms of keeping emotional responses under control. For the wife to be "firm and correct" is to ensure that emotions, drives and appetites are not allowed to make decisions -- they are servants, not masters. This is the essence of the Work, and arguably the most reiterated idea in theI Ching.
The patient should be encouraged to use his mind, through observation and discrimination, to bring clearly into his awareness the irrational aspect of his drives and emotions, and also the possible drawbacks and harmfulness to himself and others of their uncontrolled manifestation … To act on the spur of an impulse, a drive or an intense emotion can very often produce undesirable effects which one afterwards regrets … Therefore, he should learn – by repeated experiment and effort – to “insert” between impulse and action a stage of reflection, of mental consideration of a situation, and of critical analysis of his impulse, trying to realize its origin, its source. R. Assagioli – Psychosynthesis
The thirty-seventh hexagram teaches us that the way to manage the emotions is no different than the proper management of aFamily. No wise parent can teach a child self-discipline by adopting the child's point of view: permissiveness, either with our children or our own primitive drives and passions, is a sure formula for disintegration. The Work demands that the ego hold the line on this issue -- indeed, it is the ego's only legitimate function.
We are dominated by everything with which our [ego] becomes identified. We can dominate and control everything from which we disidentify ourselves. R. Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis