Wiki I Ching

Contemplation 20.4.6 45 Gathering Together

See the world with open eyes and a humble heart, then unite with others to create powerful bonds of shared purpose.

From
20
Contemplation
To
45
Gathering Together

Restoring calm
One demands more attention when others are all talking at the same time.
taoscopy.com

Contemplation 20
Pause and observe the world around you.
Gain clarity by distancing yourself from immediate involvement, allowing for a broader perspective.
Insight comes from seeing both the big picture and the subtle details.


Line 4
Observing the broader situation, one gains insight into the affairs of the state.
This understanding allows one to exert influence effectively, akin to a guest advising a ruler.


Line 6
At the highest level, one contemplates the entirety of their life.
This comprehensive reflection ensures that the superior person remains free from fault.


Gathering Together 45
Coming together for a shared purpose; unity and collective effort lead to strength.
It's time to rally support and focus on communal goals.



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Original Readings

20
Contemplation


Other titles: View, The Symbol of Steady Observation, Looking Down, Observation, Viewing, Looking Up, Observing, Admiration, To Examine, Rulers and Their Subjects, Introspection, Perception, Contemplation of the Work

 

Judgment

Legge: Contemplation shows us a worshipper who has purified himself, but must still present his sacrifice with that dignified sincerity which inspires reverence.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Contemplation . The ablution has been made, but not yet the offering. Full of trust they look up to him.

Blofeld: Lookingdown.[This word often means “contemplation" and I have so translated it when the context so requires.] The ablution has been performed, but not the sacrifice. Sincerity inspires respect. [This is generally understood to mean that the first step has been taken or that one has bound oneself to follow a certain course...but that the main duties are yet to be performed.]

Liu:Observation. The hand-washing ritual is completed, but the sacrifice is still to come. All done and looked upon with sincerity.

Ritsema/Karcher:Viewing: hand-washing and-also not worshipping. Possessing conformity, like a presence. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of something seen from a distance, out of immediate reach. It emphasizes that carefully observing and divining the meaning is the adequate way to handle it...]

Shaughnessy: Looking Up. Washing the hands but not making offering; there is a return with head held high.

Cleary (1): Observing, one has washed the hands but not made the offering; there is sincerity, which is reverent.

Wu:Admiration indicates a worshipper washing his hands in preparation for the offerings, but not participating in it. He shows sincerity and awe.


The Image

Legge: The image of earth and wind moving above it form Contemplation. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, examined the different regions of the kingdom to see the ways of the people, and set forth their instructions.

Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind blows over the earth: the image of Contemplation. Thus the kings of old visited the regions of the world, contemplated the people, and gave them instruction.

Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing across the earth. The ancient rulers visited the different regions to keep watch over their people and carefully instruct them.

Liu: The wind blowing over the earth symbolizes Observation. The ancient kings visited their territories, observed the people, and gave instruction.

Ritsema/Karcher: Wind moving above earth. Viewing. The Earlier Kings used inspecting on-all-sides, viewing the commoners to set-up teaching.

Cleary (1): Wind is over the earth, observing. Thus did the kings of yore set up education after examination of the region and observation of the people.

Cleary (2): Wind travels over the earth – observing.Kings of yore examined the regions and observed the people to set up education. [In Buddhist terms, the ancient Buddhas examined the “regions” of possible experience and observed the people in various states of being, then set up various teachings to accommodate them, just as the wind travels over the earth reaching everywhere.]

Wu: The wind pervades above the earth; this is Admiration. Thus the ancient kings inspected various regions of the country, observed the sentiments of the people, and laid down their instructions.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge:Observation from above -- from the trigram of Flexibility surmounting the trigram of Docility. The ruler is in his correct central position, and thus exhibits his lessons to all below. He has purified himself, but not yet sacrificed. All beneath look to him and are transformed. When we contemplate the spirit-like way of heaven, we see how the four seasons proceed without error. The sages, in accordance with this spirit-like way, laid down their instructions, and all under heaven yield submission to them.

Legge: The Chinese character from which this hexagram is named is used in the sense of both seeing and being seen. The theme is the sovereign and his people -- how he shows himself to them, and how they in turn perceive him. The two dynamic lines at the top belong to the ruler, and the four magnetic lines below represent his subjects. In the Judgment the ruler is portrayed as a worshipper at the commencement of a sacrifice. He is the great Manifester in line five.

The lower trigram symbolizes earth, with the attribute of Docility; the upper trigram symbolizes wind, with the attributes of Flexibility and Penetration. Wind moving above the earth has the widest sweep, and nothing escapes its influence. The personal influence of the ruler effects much, but the ancient kings wished to add to that the power of published instructions which were specially adapted to the character and circumstances of the people.

The spirit-like way of heaven is the invisible order underlying the laws of nature. [Ed. Note: Ritsema/Karcher use the phrase: "Viewing Heaven's spirit tao... The all-wise person uses spirit tao to set-up teaching." Spirit(s), SHEN: independent spiritual powers that confer intensity on heart and mind by acting on the soul, KUEI; gods, daimons. Tao: way or path; ongoing process of being and the course it traces for each specific person or thing; keyword. The ideogram: go and head, leading and the path it creates.]

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Judgment: Contemplate your motivations and discern the purity of your intent. "Put your money where your mouth is.” or "Walk your talk.”

The Superior Man evaluates and rectifies his attitudes.

The "ancient kings” in the Image symbolize the creators of an original state of perfection -- an archetypal model toward which the superior man aspires. This idea is common to all mystical traditions, many of which depict this state in the image of an ideal or prototypical man. Here is a summary of the Gnostic conception:

Not only the body but also the "soul" is a product of the cosmic powers, which shaped the body in the image of the divine Primal (or Archetypal) Man and animated it with their own psychical forces: these are the appetites and passions of natural man, each of which stems from and corresponds to one of the cosmic spheres [i.e., planets] and all of which together make up the astral soul of man, his "psyche."
H. Jonas -- The Gnostic Religion

In the Kabbalah, the template of this archetypal man (named Adam Kadmon) exists in each of the four realms of consciousness corresponding to intuition, intellect, emotion and sensation, and "he" is perceived as androgynous in all of these worlds except the last -- the "sensation” world of our physical spacetime reality.

The Adam of these first three worlds was androgynous. The Adam of the fourth world is the Adam of the expulsion, the Adam of flesh traversing the desert of his exile, and the Adam capable of reproducing himself now that he is no longer androgynous.
C. Ponce -- Kabbalah

Considering that androgyny is one of the symbols used in the Western Mystery Tradition to depict the correct union of male and female forces within the psyche, we quickly recognize that the properly matched male and female correlate lines in theI Ching are a Chinese depiction of the identical concept. Note that the messages of the following three quotations are in complete accord with the goal of the Work as outlined in theI Ching:

Somewhere there is an Adam within each of us in need of restoration, in exile from the Garden. The aim of Kabbalism is the restoration of the divine man in the medium of mortal man. We are the laboratory and we are the workers who work in that space.
C. Ponce --Kabbalah

Within our six-foot body we must strive for the form which existed before the laying down of heaven and earth.
The Secret of the Golden Flower

The destiny of man is to build the Heavenly Jerusalem on Earth. In other words, to civilize a planet. It is the aim of the occultist, in consort with all men of good will, to bring about this heavenly fact into earthly reality. And the only way it will come about is by every man doing the right thing at the right time for twenty-four hours a day.
Gareth Knight -- The Work of a Modern Occult Fraternity

The ancient kings in hexagram number-20 base their laws upon their recognition of diversity among the various forces which make up the kingdom of the psyche. Their divine regulations therefore represent the proper ecology existing between heaven and earth, yin and yang, male and female, Logos and Eros. In this regard, theI Ching's version of the Archetypal Man might be seen as hexagram number-63, Completion, in which the polarity of each of the lines is in perfect correlation. (See the editor's commentary on Hexagram number 11 for further insights into this idea.)

The theme of the hexagram is Contemplationof your situation to see if your attitude meets the archetypal standards of the Work. The worshipper in the Judgment has purified himself for sacrifice but has not yet carried it out. Wilhelm uses the word "ablution” in his translation of the Judgment. An ablution is a ritual cleansing associated with a religious rite:

Ablution: In alchemy ... the adept worker achieves [success] only by purifying his soul of all that commonly agitates it. Washing, then, symbolizes the purification not so much of objective and external evil as of subjective and inner evils ... The principle involved in this alchemic process is that implied in the maxim "Deny thyself."
J. E. Cirlot --Dictionary of Symbols

It is important to note that the sacrifice has yet to be performed: preparation is meaningless until it is acted upon. Psychologically, this refers to intellectual "gnosis" which still needs to be grounded in behavior.

Wisdom is achieved very slowly. This is because intellectual knowledge, easily acquired, must be transformed into `emotional,' or subconscious, knowledge. Once transformed, the imprint is permanent. Behavioral practice is the necessary catalyst of this reaction. Without action, the concept will wither and fade. Theoretical knowledge without practical application is not enough ... Intellectually the answers have always been there, but this need to actualize by experience, to make the subconscious imprint permanent by `emotionalizing' and practicing the concept, is the key.
Brian L. Weiss, MD -- Many Lives, Many Masters

Without changing lines, Contemplation is an oracular invitation for you to consider your situation and especially your motivations in regard to it. One way of doing this is to reduce everything to a brief written statement, including your best conscious conclusions. Then ask for a comment from the oracle -- often it will become apparent that you have been undergoing a kind of examination.

 

SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION

The ancient kings are mentioned in the Images of both this figure and number twenty-one, Discernment, immediately following. What are the differences between Contemplation and Discernment, as depicted in these images? How does the concept of sacrifice relate to this, as mentioned in the Judgment? Compare the Judgment of this hexagram with hexagrams and lines 17:6, 45:2, 46:2, 46:4, 47:2, 47:5 and 63:5 for further insights on this extremely important tenet of the Work.


Line 4

Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows one contemplating the glory of the kingdom. It will be advantageous for her, being such as she is, to seek to be a guest of the king.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Contemplation of the light of the kingdom. It furthers one to exert influence as the guest of a king.

Blofeld: Contemplating the conditions of a realm guides us as to whether we should become the ruler's guests. [In ancient China, many scholars, such as Confucius himself, wandered from kingdom to kingdom and princedom to princedom seeking a ruler wise and virtuous enough to profit by their teachings. It was by observing the splendors or miseries of each realm that they were able to form preliminary judgments and thus decide whether the ruler might be worth approaching or not. The implication is that we must not accept something as good without waiting to discover whether the alleged good qualities are genuine.]

Liu: Observation of the glory of the country. It is beneficial to exert influence as the guest of the leader.

Ritsema/Karcher: Viewing the city's shining. Harvesting: availing-of guesting tending-towards kinghood.

Shaughnessy: Looking up at the state's radiance; beneficial herewith to be entertained to audience by the king.

Cleary (1): Observing the glory of the country, it is beneficial to be a guest of a king.

Wu: He admires the glories of the nation. It will be advantageous to be an honored guest of the king.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: She contemplates the glory of the kingdom. Thence arises the wish to be a guest at court. Wilhelm/Baynes: One is honored as a guest. Blofeld: Those engaged in this way enjoy universal esteem. Ritsema/

Karcher: Honoring guesting indeed. Cleary (2): Esteeming guesthood. Wu: And the king honors his guest.

Legge: Line four, in a properly magnetic place is just below the properly dynamic fifth-line sovereign. She is moved accordingly, and stirred to ambition. The "glory of the kingdom" is the virtue of the sovereign and the noble character of his administration.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Siu: The person who is aware of the factors leading to the glory of the nation should be appointed by the king to an authoritative position. He should be honored rather than used as a tool.

Wing: You can now progress by Contemplating society and determining the best cause, leader, or organization you can join or support. This social awareness and its enactment will further your growth, for you can transcend your position as one of the masses and exert significant influence.

Editor: The first line of this hexagram is ignorant and superficial, and not a proper correlate. Line four correctly turns her eyes upward, sees the magnificence of the Work and accepts her responsibilities as an honor and sacred trust. The difference between lines one and four is the difference between callow ignorance and wisdom. The difference between lines three and four is the difference between ego issues and devotion to the Work.

Whereas in some traditions the object is to become detached from the world, Kabbalah states that while we are in exile we do the work given to Adam that is to till the ground and await the coming of the Messiah. This will occur when we are fit to receive him, and he may arrive at any moment for each of us. So our position is plain. We are where we are needed. No one can fill our place. Each one of us has a particular job in the universe, and we have the capability of fulfilling that destiny. But before we can perform it with the maximum efficiency, we have to know what we are and what is our capacity. For this purpose the Kabbalah is studied.
Z.B.S. Halevi -- Adam and the Kabbalistic Tree

A. Examine the situation at hand and do what needs to be done in accordance with the goals of the Work.

B. One accepts responsibility for the Work as an honor.

C. The Self is the source of your truth -- how may you best serve its purposes now?

Line 6

Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows its subject contemplating his character to see if it be indeed that of a superior man. He will not fall into error.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Contemplation of his life. The superior man is without blame.

Blofeld: Nor will it be an error for the Superior Man to contemplate his own life.

Liu: Observation of the lives of others. No blame for the superior man. [This is a time of discontent.]

Ritsema/Karcher: Viewing one's birth. A chun tzu: without fault.

Shaughnessy: Looking up at his life; for the gentleman there is no trouble.

Cleary (1): Observing the growth, the superior person is blameless.

Cleary (2): … Developed people are impeccable.

Wu: He looks pensively at the life of the people. The jun zi is without blame.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: He cannot even yet let his mind be at rest. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The will is not yet pacified. Blofeld: He contemplates his own life when troubled as to what course to take. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose not-yet evened indeed. Cleary (2): The mind is not yet at peace. Wu: His aspirations have not been all fulfilled.

Legge: There is a slight difference in the sixth line from the fifth which can hardly be expressed in a translation. By making a change in the punctuation, however, the different significance may be brought out. Line six is dynamic, and should be considered out of the work of the hexagram, but he is still possessed by its spirit, and is led to self- examination.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Siu: The sage, who is living outside the routine of the world, contemplates his own character, not as an isolated ego manifestation, but in relation to the laws of life. He judges freedom from blame to be the highest good.

Wing: You are somewhat beyond the situation and able to contemplate your life without egotistical involvement. You will discover, here, that freedom from error and blame are the highest good. Egoless contemplation is the key.

Editor: Psychologically interpreted, the fifth line represents an ego contemplating his multi-faceted psyche; here, the sixth line has risen above that standpoint to contemplate the nature of the whole reality with which it wishes to unite. Line five asks us to look within to see if the motivations of the psyche are in accordance with the goals of the Work; line six asks us to examine our comprehension of the individuation process itself to see if it is correct.

Note that Liu translates this as contemplating “the lives of others” and Wu “the life of the people” – in these versions the object of contemplation is placed outside of the observer’s psyche. When differentiating line 5 from line 6, this interpretation of their slight divergence makes the most sense. Sometimes there is an implication that you may misunderstand something pertaining to the Work.

The Self, being individual and unique, is made manifest in the individuation process of the individual. But the Self is also universal and eternal, and under this aspect it is made manifest in a process we can only call the individuation of mankind. It is a collective process that takes the form of a gradual extension and differentiation of consciousness over the millennia. The drama began in the gray mists of antiquity and continues through the centuries into a remote future.
A. Jaffe -- The Myth of Meaning

A. Are your motives clear? Get the big picture.

B. Differentiate your true relationship to the matter at issue.

45
Gathering Together


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.