When feeling overwhelmed by the weight of challenges, trust that perseverance through transition leads to clarity and a renewed sense of purpose.
From
28
Critical Mass
To
64
Before Completion
Becoming unbearable
One always finds something to criticize when others are not friends. taoscopy.com
Critical Mass28
Embrace resilience during times of overwhelming pressure. Acknowledge the burden, make necessary adjustments, and seek support to prevent collapse. Balance is crucial for enduring success.
↓ Line 3
Overburdening leads to collapse. Caution is needed to avoid disaster.
↓ Line 5
Unexpected developments occur, but they are neutral in outcome. Acceptance is key.
↓ Line 6
Facing overwhelming challenges can lead to misfortune, but maintaining integrity prevents blame.
↓ Before Completion64
Completing a task doesn’t guarantee rest. Remain vigilant, attentive to evolving situations, ready to adapt and act as needed.
Other titles: Preponderance of the Great, The Symbol of Great Passing, Excess, Great Excess, The Passing of Greatness, Great Surpassing, Great Gains, Experience, Greater than Great, Greatness in Excess, Dominance by the Mighty, The Passing of Greatness, Excess of the Great, Law of Karma
Judgment
Legge:Critical Mass depicts a weak beam. Under such conditions it is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. Success is indicated.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Preponderance of the Great. The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. Success.
Blofeld:Excess! The ridgepole sags. It is favorable to have some goal (or destination) in view. Success! [A glance at the hexagram will show that it is too heavy in the middle and too weak at the ends. A number of firm lines is generally auspicious, but there can be too much of a good thing!]
Liu: Great Excess. The ridgepole is crooked. It benefits to go anywhere. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher:Great Exceeding, the ridgepole sagging. Harvesting; possessing directed going. Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of your connection to a ruling principle. It emphasizes that pushing the guiding idea beyond ordinary limits and accepting the results is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Great Surpassing: The ridgepole bows upward; beneficial to have someplace to go; receipt.
Cleary (1): When the great is excessive, the ridgepole bends. It is good to go somewhere; that is developmental. [When the ridgepole snaps, the whole house falls down. In the same way, practitioners of the Tao who promote yang too much, who do not know when enough is enough, who can be great but cannot be small, suffer damage to their spiritual house.]
Cleary (2): When greatness passes, the ridgepole bends. It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, for you will succeed.
Wu:Excess of the Great indicates a beam that warps. It will be advantageous to have undertakings. It will be pervasive.
The Image
Legge: The image of trees beneath a marsh forms Critical Mass. The superior man, in accordance with this, fearlessly stands alone, and stays retired from the world without regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The lake rises above the trees: the image of Preponderance of the Great. Thus the superior man, when he stands alone, is unconcerned, and if he has to renounce the world, he is undaunted.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a forest submerged in a great body of water. The Superior Man, though standing alone, is free from fear; he feels no discontent in withdrawing from the world. [This is suggested by the component trigrams. Water is necessary for the nourishment of the trees, but too much of it can cause serious damage.]
Liu: The lake rising over the trees symbolizes Great Excess. The superior man, when isolated, is undisturbed. If he has to retreat from society, he feels no regret.
Ritsema/Karcher: Marsh submerging wood. Great Exceeding. A chun tzu uses solitary establishing not to fear. (A chun tzu uses) retiring-from the age without melancholy.
Cleary (1): Moisture destroys wood in excess. Thus superior people stand alone without fear, and leave society without distress.
Cleary (2): Moisture destroys wood. Developed people, etc. [Only when sustained by the power to stand alone without fear and avoid society without distress can learning be firmly rooted and development have a proper basis; then it is possible to refine and support the mediocre.]
Wu: Marsh covers over wood; This is Excess of the Great. Thus the jun zi stands alone without fear and withdraws from the world without melancholy.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Excess is weakly supported at either end, with weakness in both the lowest and topmost lines. The dynamic lines are in excess, but two of them are in the central positions. The trigrams of Flexibility and Satisfaction indicate that there will be advantage in moving in any direction whatever -- there will be success. Great indeed is the work to be done during this extraordinary time.
Legge: Extraordinary times require extraordinary skill in their management. The figure shows two magnetic lines at top and bottom, with four dynamic lines between them -- giving the image of a great beam unable to sustain its own weight. Lines two and five are both dynamic and central however, and from this and the attributes of the component trigrams a good auspice is obtained.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A stressful situation is best managed with a comprehensive strategy. (Or: in the chess game of life, one succeeds by planning several moves in advance.)
The Superior Man serves The Work by going his own way, regardless of public opinion.
Wilhelm titles this hexagram Preponderance of the Great. I prefer R.L. Wing's paraphrase of Critical Massas more evocative of the figure's meaning in modern terminology.
In Critical Mass four dynamic lines lurk inside of the hexagram, weakly contained at top and bottom by two magnetic lines. This energetic concentration could explode in an unpredictable release of force, and hence the Judgment tells us to move now (remember: non-action is also action) to avoid unwanted consequences. (Often the outcome is predictable – be prepared to just walk away if and when that is your best move.)
Legge’s translation of the Judgment is:
"...It is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. "
This is a different message than Wilhelm's:
"...It furthers one to have somewhere to go."
Legge’s version implies an almost hysterical flight from danger while Wilhelm's rendition suggests prior intention and planning. The latter interpretation is definitely what is meant here, as confirmed by Cleary’s Buddhist commentary:
When the transformative path is flourishing, contaminations easily arise; it is best to set up guidelines and regulations. When meditation work is advanced, ignorance is about to dissolve; it is best to exercise the mind skillfully.
Coupled with Cleary’s translation of the Image as: “Developed people stand alone without fear, avoid society without distress,” the idea is that one should follow one's best intuition and ignore popular illusions, political correctness or inner fears. (Psychologically: conventional thinking, socially conditioned reflexes, knee-jerk responses, etc.). During a time of Critical Mass, pay close attention to direction from the Self to preserve the Work. This is not the time to follow the crowd. Sometimes this can mean that you are obliged to go it alone – one of the Work’s frequent tests (Cf. line 6):
The Gulf is something that has to be leaped, and leaped alone, stripped of all hindering burdens, in faith ... It is thus one of the crisis points of spiritual progress because of the great temptation to turn back from the unknown to the apparent safety of known things, and to succumb to this temptation is to lose all the fruits of past endeavor. G. Knight -- A Practical Guide to Kabbalistic Symbolism
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the Judgment and Image of this hexagram with those of hexagram number 32, Consistency.
Anthony: We must regain modesty through the effort to rid ourself of strong elements that cause us to press forward. The strong elements may exist in someone else, causing them to assault us with their fear, mistrust or doubt. Strong refers to impetuous movement to resolve what is ambiguous … We can meet the challenge by remaining detached and letting things go through their changes … To be truly rich is to remain modest; to be truly powerful is to remain reticent.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows a beam that is weak. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. Misfortune.
Blofeld: The ridgepole sags -- misfortune!
Liu: The ridgepole bends under pressure; misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The ridgepole buckling. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: The ridgepole sags; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): The ridgepole bends; misfortune.
Cleary (2): The ridgepole bending is foreboding.
Wu: The beam warps. Foreboding.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: No help can be given to the condition thus represented. Wilhelm/Baynes: The misfortune of the sagging and breaking of the ridgepole is due to its finding no support. Blofeld: The misfortune of being without adequate support. Ritsema/Karcher: Not permitted to use possessing bracing indeed. Cleary (2): There is no way to help. Wu: Because no support will help.
Legge: The third line is dynamic in a dynamic place and confident in his own strength. But his correlate line six is magnetic. Alone, he is unequal to the extraordinary strain. Any attempt to sustain the broken beam will have no effect in supporting the roof.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man becomes overconfident in his limited strength. He rushes ahead in opposition to advice from those in a position to help. This leads to the loss of voluntary support. His burdens increase, and he proves unequal to the task.
Wing: You are inclined to force your way forward when, in fact, there are obstacles that cannot be overcome in this way. Even worse, you cannot accept advice from others because it is not what you wish to hear. Misfortune will inevitably follow.
Editor: This is the weak beam referred to in the Judgment. In the metaphor of Wing’s title of Critical Mass, the situation is about to detonate
Owing to neglect the rooftree gives way;
for want of care the house lets in the rain.
Ecclesiastes 10: 18
A. The situation is unstable.
B. You have no support in the matter at hand.
C. Your assumptions have no foundation.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows a decayed willow producing flowers, or an old wife in possession of her young husband. There will be occasion neither for blame nor for praise.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A withered poplar puts forth flowers. An older woman takes a husband. No blame. No praise.
Blofeld: The withered willow tree puts forth blossom -- an old woman takes a vigorous young husband; no blame, no praise! [No blame, in that there is no prohibition against such marriages; no praise, in that they are generally considered far more unsuitable than when the husband is much older than the wife.]
Liu: A withered poplar blossoms. An old woman gains a young husband: No blame, no praise.
Ritsema/Karcher: A withered willow giving-birth-to flowers. A venerable wife acquiring her notable husband. Without fault, without praise.
Shaughnessy: The bitter poplar gives life to flowers: the old wife gets her siring husband; there is no trouble, there is no praise.
Cleary (1): A withered willow produces flowers, and old woman gets a young man for a husband: no blame, no praise.
Wu: A withered willow tree grows a flower. An old woman takes a young husband. There will be neither blame nor praise.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: A decayed willow produces flowers, but how can this secure its long continuance? An old wife and a young husband is also a thing to be ashamed of. Wilhelm/Baynes: How could this last long? It is nevertheless a disgrace. Blofeld: How can such blossom endure for long? From another point of view, both of them should feel ashamed. [The question of blaming or praising such a marriage is in any case of little importance, since it can scarcely be destined to endure for long. The second sentence of the commentary perhaps reveals that, for once, Confucius was inclined to disagree with his beloved mentor, the Book of Change, and to be taken aback by the words "no blame." From the point of view of divination, lines of this sort do not always indicate marriage; this line could mean that we shall do or have done something rather unusual of which the results will be more or less negative.] Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore permitting lasting indeed? Truly permitting the demoniac indeed. Cleary (2): How can they last? (It) can also be embarrassing. Wu: How long can it last? (They) make an awkward couple.
Legge: Line five is dynamic and central and should be able to achieve extraordinary merit. But he has no proper correlate below, and as line two is inclined to line one, so is line five inclined to line six. But here the willow only produces flowers, not shoots -- its decay will soon reappear. An old wife will have no children. If the line is not to be condemned like line three, neither does his action deserve praise. The shoots produced in line two will grow into a new and vigorous tree, but here the flowers will soon decay, and the withered trunk continue the same. For what will a young man marry an old woman? There will be no children; it can only be from some mercenary motive.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Notwithstanding promising potentialities the man gives up his alliances with the people below him and seeks the company only of those of higher rank. An unstable arrangement results. Instead of greater security, there will be less. No renewal occurs after the flower saps the tree's remaining energy.
Wing: In critical or significant times it is exhausting to cling to your ideals and ignore the realities of your environment. These realities are the superstructure that supports your life. If you ignore your foundations in your reach upward, you will become unstable and accomplish nothing at all.
Editor: Notice that the original line says that there will be neither praise nor blame. It is the Confucian commentary, written many hundreds of years later, that attaches the idea of "shame” to this position. Following Confucius, Blofeld's footnote also interprets the results as negative: but this is not really warranted from the line itself. The image is a reasonable portrayal of an inconclusive, fruitless or trivial situation. The condition emblemed is one of marking time: marching in place. Psychologically interpreted, the wife can symbolize an emotional component of the psyche: a desire or feeling; the husband would be a mental component: perhaps discrimination. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram becomes number thirty-two: Consistency, with a corresponding line that confirms the ineffectual condition.
While man is a soul in essence he may, while incarnate in flesh, forget his real origins and indeed live out his whole existence in an animal [like] or vegetable [like] consciousness. Z.B.S. Halevi -- Adam and the Kabbalistic Tree
A. Marking time, treading water -- a harmless but fruitless diversion.
B. A flare-up of an old condition. Something returns, flowers, and dies to no particular purpose.
Line-6
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject with extraordinary boldness wading through a stream, till the water hides the crown of her head. There will be evil, but no ground for blame.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One must go through the water. It goes over one's head. Misfortune. No blame.
Blofeld: While he was fording the river, the water rose above his head -- misfortune, but he was not at fault.
Liu: One walks through the water and it goes over his head. Misfortune, no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Exceeding wading submerges the peak. Pitfall. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Surpassing and fording causes the top of the head to vanish; inauspicious; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Excess reaching the peak of destruction is unfortunate; there is no blame on other people. [At the end of Excess of the Great, being ignorant and acting arbitrarily, not knowing the medical substances or the firing process, doing whatever comes to mind, going astray and not returning, the damage is worse the higher one goes; excess reaches the peak of destruction. One calls misfortune upon oneself – it is no fault of others. This is Excess of the Great in the sense of being weak and entertaining illusions.]
Cleary (2): Going too far, passing away at the peak, there is misfortune, but no blame. [Here are only the virtues of flexibility and uprightness, without the ability to solve difficulties, so misfortune cannot be avoided; but one is really not to blame. In Buddhist terms, this is when correct concentration has no insight, winding up as a fall at the peak.]
Wu: He is drowned while crossing the river. This is foreboding, but blameless.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Evil follows wading with extraordinary boldness through the stream, but the act affords no ground for blame. Wilhelm/Baynes: One should not join blame to the misfortune of going through the water. Blofeld: This presages a misfortune for which we cannot possibly be blamed. Ritsema/ Karcher: Not permitting fault indeed. Cleary (2): The misfortune of going too far cannot be blamed. Wu: The ill fortune of getting drowned should not be a cause for blame.
Legge: The sixth line pursues her daring course with an intent to rectify the extraordinary exigency of the time and benefit all under the sky. She is unequal to the task and sinks beneath it, but her motive justifies the judgment on her conduct.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man pursues his objectives for the public good, regardless of the consequences and danger. Misfortune results. But no blame is attached to his conduct, because there are certain things more important than life itself.
Wing: The goal is worth accomplishing, although the sacrifice to attain it may be confounding in its enormity. No blame is attached to such action, although you should realize the extraordinary reality of what is happening.
Anthony: It is careless to wish to accomplish our task, no matter what happens. Plunging ahead on our own is always dangerous and willful. It is best to retain carefulness, allowing ourself to be guided. Meanwhile, having followed our principles is without blame, even though the result may be dangerous.
Editor: Like anyline in theI Ching, this one is open to more than one interpretation. It can suggest suffering while undertaking a necessary but difficult task, or it can portray one ignorantly “pushing the river” in pursuit of goals one doesn’t really understand. Legge's commentary about being “unequal to the task” is not explicit in the original line -- i.e.: failure is not necessarily a foregone conclusion. Life's lessons are often painful -- that's just the way it is, and you are not to blame for it. Cleary (1)’s mention of “medical substances, etc.,” refers to Taoist alchemical procedures.
If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9: 23-25
A. Plunge in and accept the consequences of your choices: Bite the bullet and do your duty.
B. A painful lesson in the school of hard knocks.
C. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Other titles: Before Completion, The Symbol of What is not yet Past, Not-yet Fording, Not Yet Completed, Tasks yet to be Completed, Not yet, Yet to be, Before the End, Mission yet Unaccomplished, A State of Transition
Judgment
Legge: Unfinished Business suggests successful progress, butif the young fox that has nearly crossed the stream gets his tail wet, there will be no advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Before Completion. Success. But if the little fox, after nearly completing the crossing, gets his tail in the water, there is nothing that would further.
Blofeld: Before Completion -- success! Before the little fox has quite completed its crossing of the ice, its tail gets wet. [This implies that we are to expect a setback in our plans.] No goal (or destination) is favorable now. [Hence this is a time for waiting and for drawing in our horns. That the LAST of the sixty-four hexagrams should be Before Completion rather than After Completion (#63) may seem surprising until it is recalled that there is nothing final about it; the cycle of change continues, passing from hexagram #64 onto the first hexagram, and so on eternally.]
Liu: Before Completion. Success. A young fox almost across wets his tail in the water. Nothing benefits.
Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet Fording, Growing. The small fox, a muddy Ford. Soaking one's tail: without direction: Harvesting. (Without direction: Harvesting, WU YU Li: no plan or direction is advantageous; in order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events.) [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of being on the edge of an important change of situation. It emphasizes that waiting and accumulating energy to begin the upcoming move is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Not Yet Completed: Receipt; the little fox at the point of fording, wets his tail; there is no place beneficial.
Cleary (1): Being as yet unsettled is developmental. A small fox, having nearly crossed the river, gets its tail wet, does not succeed.
Cleary (2): Being unsettled leads to success. A little fox, almost crossing, gets its tail wet. Nothing is gained.
Wu:Mission yet Unaccomplished indicates pervasiveness. A little fox almost makes it crossing the river, but gets its tail wet. Nothing is gained.
The Image
Legge: Fire over water -- the image ofUnfinished Business. The superior man carefully discriminates among the qualities of things, and the different positions they naturally occupy.
Wilhelm: Fire over water: the image of the condition before transition. Thus the superior man is careful in the differentiation of things, so that each finds its place.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire above water. The Superior Man takes care to distinguish between things before arranging them in order.
Liu: Fire above water symbolizes Before Completion. The superior man carefully distinguishes things, and puts them in their appropriate place.
Ritsema/Karcher: Fire located above stream. Not-yet Fording. A chun tzu uses considering to mark-off the beings residing on-all-sides.
Cleary (1): Fire is above water, not yet settled. Thus superior people carefully discern things and keep them in their places.
Cleary (2): Fire over water – unsettled.
Wu: There is fire above water; this is Mission yet Unaccomplished. Thus the jun zi makes careful distinction of things and their proper places of being.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and success are suggested by the magnetic fifth line in the ruler's place. Although he has nearly crossed the stream, the young fox has not yet escaped from the midst of danger and calamity. Getting his tail wet means that the end does not reflect the intent of the beginning. Although the places of the different lines are not those appropriate to them, yet a dynamic and a magnetic line always respond to each other.
Legge:Unfinished Businessis the reverse of Completion: it means that the successful accomplishment of the matter at hand has not yet been realized; the crossing of the great stream is as yet incomplete.
Some have wished that theI Chingmight have concluded with Completion, and the last hexagram have left us with the picture of human affairs all brought to good order. But this would not have been in harmony with the idea of change. Again and again it has been pointed out that we find in the book no idea of a perfect and abiding state. Just as the seasons of the year change and pursue an ever-recurring round, so it is with the phases of society. The reign of order has peaked and declined, and this hexagram calls us to renew the struggle to make things right again. It deals with the conduct necessary to secure this result.
Not one of the lines in the hexagram is in its correct place -- all the dynamic lines are in magnetic places, and the magnetic lines are in dynamic places. At the same time, each of them has a proper correlate, so there is the possibility of some progress.
The symbol of the fox suggests a want of caution on the part of those who try to remedy prevailing disorders. They are unsuccessful and thereby get themselves into trouble. Line two represents this state of mind -- he is dynamic in a magnetic place in the center of the trigram of Peril. He is restless, and attracted by his magnetic correlate in the fifth place, he will be incautious in taking action. The outcome of the issue will be different than what was intended at the beginning.
The trigram of Water is below, and Fire above, showing how the two principles cannot act on each other profitably. This symbolizes the unregulated condition of general affairs now prevailing.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Although many achievements fuel our growth, the ego is only the facilitator, not the doer. To ignore this truth creates negative consequences: don't destroy the Work!
The Superior Man critically examines the situation and re-checks his priorities.
This hexagram represents the time before the climax of a cycle, just as the preceding figure symbolizes the time after the climax (and hence the transition to a new beginning). The Work is by no means "almost over" -- the lines all match as correlates, but every one of them unites "upside-down," so to speak. (Turn the hexagram over, and then they are in perfect correlation.) That the superior man "discriminates among the qualities of things, and the different positions they naturally occupy" means that he knows that the correct positions of the lines (the ones they "naturally occupy") are as in hexagram number sixty-three, not this one.
This "backward correlation of lines" is arguably a fair image of the relationship of thoughts and feelings in the average human psyche. The stresses of life are what eventually break up these mismatched correlates through endless cycles of stimulus and response until they finally all unite correctly in a hypothetical "Completion of the Great Work." That this is an ideal rather than a humanly attainable goal is suggested in this quote from Shao Yung:
The principle of the Way finds its full development in Heaven; the principle of Heaven, in Earth; the principle of Earth, in the myriad things; and that of the myriad things, in man. One who knows how the principles of Heaven, Earth, and all things find their full development in man can give full development to his people.
For all practical purposes, it is wisest to aspire to attainable completions and realize that the Work's "full development" is the Self's, not the ego's responsibility.
To strive for perfection is a high ideal. But I say: "Fulfill something you are able to fulfill rather than run after what you will never achieve." Nobody is perfect. Remember the saying: "None is good but God alone" [Luke 18:19], and nobody can be. It is an illusion. We can modestly strive to fulfill ourselves and to be as complete human beings as possible, and that will give us trouble enough. Jung -- The Tavistock Lectures
The Judgment suggests that before any climax or resolution there may still exist an indeterminate amount of free choice to influence the outcome -- only the specific circumstances can suggest how much or how little. As always, the choices are defined within the structure of the situation. The magnetic ruler in the fifth place implies that a favorable outcome is possible, but only through clear perception and willpower can it come about.
The conditional interpretation (boldface italics added) in both Legge's and Wilhelm's translation of the Judgment is necessary for its text to make sense. Note that Ritsema/Karcher define "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." This is a common oracle response, and sharpens the meaning here. Line one depicts the negative consequences of ignoring the Judgment’s explicit message.