Welcome opportunity with open arms, unite your strength with others, and watch how shared purpose turns aspirations into reality.
From
19
Approach
To
45
Gathering Together
Being accommodating
One responds tactfully when others are in good faith. 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 1
The beginning of a new cycle. Cooperation and perseverance lead to success.
↓ Line 2
Harmonious cooperation with others brings good fortune and progress.
↓ Line 4
A complete and sincere approach leads to success without blame.
↓ Line 5
A wise and noble approach is fitting for leadership and brings good fortune.
↓ Gathering Together45
Coming together for a shared purpose; unity and collective effort lead to strength. It's time to rally support and focus on communal goals.
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 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows its subject advancing in company with the subject of the second line. Through his firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Blofeld: All approach -- righteous persistence will bring good fortune! [All approach can be taken to mean that all things desirable are converging upon us.]
Liu: Approach with sincerity. To continue brings good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Prohibited forest; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Sensitive overseeing leads to good results when correct.
Wu: Pressing forward with a companion will be auspicious.
Hua-Ching Ni: Advance impartially. One should start in this manner and continue in this direction. Good Fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His will is set on doing what is right. Wilhelm/Baynes: His will is to act correctly. Blofeld: This is because what is willed is carried out in righteous ways. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose moving, correcting indeed. Cleary (2): Because the intention and the action are correct. Wu: Because his aspiration is correct.
Legge: Line one is dynamic in his proper place. The danger is that he may be more strong than prudent -- hence the caution requiring firm correctness.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man advances with his associates to a higher position. He must remain more prudent than strong in doing right and not be carried away by the popular will.
Wing: Begin your endeavors in the company of those who share your enthusiasm. This will give you the kind of strong support necessary to achieve your aims. At the same time you should be certain that you are pursuing worthwhile goals. Continuing in your principles brings good fortune.
Editor: The texts of the first two lines are almost identical. As the only two yang forces in the hexagram they support and reinforce each other in their advance on the yin lines. The image suggests an ego-Self accord in the work of pacifying disparate forces within the psyche. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram becomes number seven, Discipline, which reinforces the idea of a disciplined dynamic advance. In the context of certain questions, the Confucian commentary here sometimes seems more accessible than the original line.
If you want to go your original way, it is the way you make for yourself, which is never prescribed, which you do not know in advance, and which simply comes into being of itself when you put one foot in front of the other. If you always do the next thing that needs to be done, you will go most safely and sure-footedly along the path prescribed by your unconscious. Jung -- Letters
A. Mutual advancement. Ego and Self are in accord. Advance the Work.
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 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows one advancing in the highest mode.
There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Complete approach. No blame.
Blofeld: A perfect approach -- no error!
Liu: Complete approach brings no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Culmination Nearing. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Arriving at the forest; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Consummate overseeing is blameless. [Being weak yet preserving rectitude, refining oneself and mastering the mind, thereby awaiting the newborn positive energy, is called consummate overseeing. Watching over the quintessential, when the great medicine appears one naturally does not make the mistake of missing it.]
Cleary (2): Consummate overseeing is impeccable. [In Buddhist terms, this represents using correct concentration corresponding to correct insight.]
Wu: Condescending at the right place is without blame.
Hua-Ching Ni: Correct advancement. No fault.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is due to the various appropriateness of the position. Wilhelm/Baynes: For the place is the appropriate one. Blofeld: This is indicated by the suitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): In the right place. Wu: His position is proper.
Legge: Line four, though magnetic, is in her proper place and has for her correlate the dynamic first line. Hence her advance is in the highest style.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man advances to a high place because of the appropriateness of his ideas and behavior and the open-mindedness of a person of high rank who draws men of competence into service.
Wing: Your Promotion is well executed. Regardless of any difficulties you may encounter in assuming your new position, your behavior is so appropriate that you can continue successfully on your way.
Editor: The image suggests that the conscious attitude is in accordance with the aims and goals of the Work. Depending on the context of your query, some kind of fruition is indicated: something is concluding as fated or willed.
But, O my friend, if this be true, there is great reason to hope that, going whither I go, when I have come to the end of my journey, I shall attain that which has been the pursuit of my life. And therefore I go on my way rejoicing, and not I only, but every other man who believes that his mind has been made ready and that he is in a manner purified. Plato -- Phaedo
A. The Work is progressing as it should. It's all coming together now.
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
Other titles: Gathering Together, Massing, The Symbol of Gathering into One, Assembling, Congregation, Gathering, Unity, Accord, Making Whole, Focusing, Marshalling One's Forces, Clustering, Finished
Judgment
Legge: When forces are gathering, the King goes to his ancestral temple. For successful progress, maintain firm correctness and see the great man. A large sacrifice brings good fortune -- proceed toward your destination.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Gathering Together . Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to see the great man. This brings success. Perseverance furthers. To bring great offerings creates good fortune. It furthers one to undertake something.
Blofeld: Gathering Together -- success! The King approaches the temple. It is advisable to see a great man, which will ensure success. Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Great sacrifices are offered -- good fortune! [These were religious sacrifices, but they may be taken to mean that the time has come for us to make important sacrifices of another sort.] It is favorable to have in view a goal (or destination).
Liu:Gathering. Success. The king attends the temple. It is of benefit to see the great man; this leads to success. Continuance benefits. Offering a great sacrifice leads to good fortune. It benefits one to go somewhere.
Ritsema/Karcher:Clustering, Growing. The king imagines possessing a temple. Harvesting: visualizing Great People. Growing. Harvesting Trial. Availing-of the great: sacrificial-victims significant. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of collecting and assembling. It emphasizes that bringing people and things together through a common feeling or goal is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Finished: The king enters into the temple; beneficial to see the great man; receipt; beneficial to determine. Using the great animal offering is auspicious; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1): Gathering is developmental. The king comes to have a shrine. It is beneficial to see a great person; this is developmental. It is beneficial to be correct. It is good to make a great sacrifice. It is beneficial to go somewhere.
Cleary (2):Gathering is successful. The king goes to his shrine. It is beneficial to see a great person; this leads to success, etc.
Wu: Congregation indicates that the king comes to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous to see the great man. There will be pervasion, if persevering. It will be auspicious to use big sacrificial animals in the offerings. It will be good to have undertakings.
The Image
Legge: A marsh above the earth -- the image of Contraction. The superior man, in accordance with this, assembles his weapons in readiness for unseen contingencies.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Over the earth, the lake: the image of Gathering Together. Thus the superior man renews his weapons in order to meet the unforeseen.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a marshy lake rising above the earth. The Superior Man gathers together his weapons in order to provide against the unforeseen. [This is a time when foresight is required of us, too.]
Liu: The lake on the earth symbolizes Gathering. The superior man keeps his weapons prepared to meet the unexpected.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh with-respect-to earth. Clustering. A chun tzu uses eliminating arms to implement. A chun tzu uses warning, not precautions.
Cleary (1): Moisture rises onto the earth, gathering. Thus do superior people prepare weapons to guard against the unexpected. [When practitioners of the Tao get to where the five elements are assembled and have been returned to the source, when everything acquired is obedient to their will, if they do not know how to prevent danger and take perils into consideration, eventually what has been gathered will again disperse, and they will not be able to avoid the trouble of losing what has been gained… “Weapons” means the tools of wisdom, the work of silent operation of spiritual awareness. When the primordial has been congealed, it is not subject to injury by acquired conditioning, but it is still necessary to dissolve the influence of personal history before nature and life can be stabilized. If there is any remaining contamination, eventually conditioning will reassert itself and the primordial will again become fragmented. Therefore the work of guarding is indispensable.]
Wu: The marsh is above the earth; this is Congregation . Thus the jun zi causes the nation to be armed in preparation for contingencies.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Contraction shows massing for union through Cheerfulness and Obedience. The dynamic line is responded to in his ruling central place, hence the idea of union. With the utmost piety the king presents his offerings to the spirits in his ancestral temple. Union with the great man is effected through correctness. The law of heaven demands a sacrifice. Contemplation of the way forces are gathered shows us the way of heaven, earth and all of nature.
Legge:Contractionmeans collecting together, or things so collected. The hexagram deals with the union between the ruler and his ministers -- between high and low in the kingdom. This state is to be preserved through the influence of religion and the great man, who is a kind of philosopher king who meets the spirits of his ancestors in the temple. Whatever he does will succeed because he is correct and right, and his great sacrifices are in harmony with the times.
The two trigrams represent Docility and Cheerfulness. The dynamic fifth line has his proper magnetic correlate in line two -- which gives the idea of union. Ch'eng-tzu says that the ordinances of heaven are simply the natural and practical outcome of heavenly principle.
A marsh above the earth must be kept in by dykes -- so the Contraction must be preserved by precautionary measures, the chief of which is to be prepared to resist attack from without, and to quell internal rebellion.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Forces are assembling for integration -- focus inward, sacrifice your autonomy and allow the Self to guide the Work.
The Superior Man pulls himself together to face the unknown and preserve the Work. “Forewarned is forearmed.”
Psychologically, Contraction depicts a time when inner components of the psyche assemble for recombination into a new pattern. It is significant that this is the time when “the king goes to his ancestral temple.” That is, the governing intelligence turns toward the template or ideal image of the Work as it exists in its consummate state. (See commentary on hexagram number fifty-nine, Expansion, for further discussion of the symbolism of the ancestral temple.) If the gathering forces integrate in conformity with this archetype, the Work is thereby advanced.
He, therefore, who perceives himself to associate with God, will have himself the similitude of Him. And if he passes from himself as an image to the archetype, he will then have the end of his progression. Plotinus
In addition to being a gestalt of future perfection, the temple is the home of the ancestors: a karmic repository of all that has gone into the Work via the will and intent of former historical ego-personalities. This archetype of "the ancestors" is described by the Lakota shaman, Black Elk, in his Great Vision. Note that the "grandfathers and grandmothers" are present when the people are "walking in a sacred manner" -- i.e., conforming to the ideal archetypal pattern of the Work:
But I was not the last; for when I looked behind me there were ghosts of people like a trailing fog as far as I could see -- grandfathers of grandfathers and grandmothers of grandmothers without number. And over these a great Voice -- the Voice that was the South -- lived, and I could feel it silent. And as we went the Voice behind me said: "Behold a good nation walking in a sacred manner in a good land!"
The Ancestral Temple then, symbolizes the Work in progress as it exists outside of temporal awareness. At death the karmic complexes of the psyche, released from their spacetime ego-body, assume new configurations in hyperspace in accordance with the accomplishments of the just completed lifetime. Ideally, the ancestors and their heirs (choices and their consequences) within the Ancestral Temple undergo purification: this is what Individuation (the Work) is all about.
At the end of the dying process consciousness divides into the consciousness of one's parents and one’s children, and then it moves through these modalities, and then divides again. It's moving forward into the future through the people who come after you, and backward into the past through your ancestors. Terence McKenna --The Archaic Revival
In the multidimensional realms "beyond" our material world, time does not exist. In some way unimaginable to us, past, present and future are consolidated into an eternal Here and Now. Thus our choices in spacetime can have consequences in hyperspace which are inconceivable to us in the current situation. So if the Self (as manifested in the oracle) often seems to be tyrannically unreasonable, it is arguably because of the ego's dimensional myopia.
The Spirit ... may know the most violent love and hatred possible, for it can see the remote consequences of the most trivial acts of the living, provided those consequences are part of its future life. In trying to prevent them it may become one of those frustrators dreaded by certain spirit mediums. It cannot, however, without ... assistance ... affect life in any way except to delay its own rebirth. With that assistance it can so shape circumstances as to make possible the rebirth of a unique nature. W. B. Yeats --A Vision
Such conceptions of cause and effect seem irrational to ordinary awareness, yet quantum physicists hypothesize future events which affect the present as well as the past. The idea is not a new one:
Indeed, the hero of Hebrew myth is not only profoundly influenced by the deeds, words and thoughts of his forebears, and aware of his own profound influence on the fate of his descendants; he is equally influenced by the behavior of his descendants and influences that of his ancestors. Thus King Jeroboam set up a golden calf in Dan, and this sinful act sapped the strength of Abraham when he pursued his enemies into the same district a thousand years previously. Graves and Patai --Hebrew Myths
Should the ego's choices and their consequences not conform to the Self's intent, a rather cancerous growth is implied in which dynamic and magnetic forces are improperly consolidated -- in I Chingterms, dynamic and magnetic are mismatched. Through this "infidelity" of correlates the Work is thus adulterated and falls short of the archetypal ideal.
That the greatest effects come from the smallest causes has become patently clear not only in physics but in the field of psychological research as well. How often in the critical moments of life everything hangs on what appears to be a mere nothing! Jung -- The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales
Contraction is a compression inward toward a center. Psychologically, this can be regarded as an integration of complexes. Once the implosion completes itself, it is implied that the growth cycle reverses itself to expand away from the center. (Cf., hexagram number fifty-nine, Expansion, in which the ancestral temple is also mentioned.) The following hexagram, Pushing Upward,is the inverse of this one, and depicts a similar upward expansion of energy.
The archetypal themes displayed here are those of Solve et coagula, Implosion-Explosion, Contraction-Expansion, Black Hole-White Hole, Day and Night of Brahma, etc.