Face life's challenges with courage; steady your heart amidst chaos, and find peace in stillness.
From
29
Danger
To
52
Keeping Still
Spoiling prematurely
One exhausts one's guests by treating them like gods. taoscopy.com
Danger29
Face repeated challenges with courage and determination. Embrace setbacks as opportunities to build resilience. Stay true to your principles to navigate through difficulties.
↓ Line 2
This line advises focusing on small, manageable goals to navigate through difficult situations safely.
↓ Line 3
This line suggests that when surrounded by danger, it is wise to pause and assess the situation before proceeding.
↓ Line 5
This line suggests maintaining balance and not overreaching in times of danger, which leads to stability and avoids blame.
↓ Line 6
This line warns of being trapped in a situation with no apparent escape, leading to prolonged misfortune. It advises seeking a new perspective or approach.
↓ Keeping Still52
Stay still and composed. Focus inward, find tranquility amidst chaos. Embrace calmness to understand your inner self.
Other titles: The Abysmal, The Symbol of Sinking, Water, The Abyss, Gorge, Repeating Gorge, Repeated Entrapment, Double Pitfall, Multiple Danger, Double Water, The Deep, Dark Forces, The Perilous Pit, "May not be as bad as it sounds, but whatever happens, remain true to yourself." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: The trigram of Danger, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is penetrating. Action in accordance with this will be of high value.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Abysmal repeated. If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, and whatever you do succeeds.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss -- grave danger! All will be well if confidence is maintained and a sharp hold kept upon the mind; activities so conducted will win esteem.
Liu: Water doubled. Danger. Sincerity leads to success (peacefulness) in your heart and mind. You will succeed in your actions. [This hexagram means danger, misfortune, or entanglement in a difficult situation... You should be both careful and patient; do not struggle with all of the difficulties around you.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Repeating Gorge. Possessing conformity. Holding-fast the heart Growing. Movement possesses honor. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a dangerous situation you cannot avoid. It emphasizes that taking the risk without reserve, the action of Gorge, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: venture and fall!]
Shaughnessy: Repeated Entrapment: There is a return; the appended heart; receipt; in motion there will be elevation.
Cleary (1): In mastering pitfalls there is truthfulness; thus the mind develops. There is excellence in practice.
Cleary (2): In multiple danger, if there is sincerity, the mind gets through and action has value.
Wu:Entrapment indicates there is confidence. The heart of the matter is that it is pervasive. Actions taken in its accord will be commendable.
The Image
Legge: The image of water flowing on continuously forms the repeated trigram of Danger. The superior man, in accordance with this, maintains constantly the virtue of his heart and the sincerity of his conduct, and practices the business of instruction.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal. The image of the Abysmal repeated. Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water flowing on and on and abyss upon abyss. [The trigram K'an is usually inauspicious; here it occurs in duplicate as the upper and the lower trigram; thus the implication is that we are beset by grave dangers from which, if we can escape them at all, the utmost skill and confidence will be required to extricate ourselves.] The Superior Man acts in accordance with the immutable virtues and spends much of his time instructing others in the conduct of affairs.
Liu: Water flows unceasingly into the depths symbolizing Water doubled. The superior man constantly preserves his virtue and practices his task of education.
Ritsema/Karcher: Streams reiterating culminating. Repeating Gorge. A chun tzu uses rules actualizing-tao to move. [A chun tzu uses] repeating to teach affairs. [Actualize-tao, TE: realize tao in action; power, virtue; ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): Water travels, double water. Thus do superior people consistently practice virtue and learn how to teach.
Cleary (2): Water comes repeatedly – multiple danger. Developed people practice teaching by constant virtuous action. [This is in perfect accord with the Tiantai Buddhist teaching of knowing how to get through an impasse, the method of making an impasse itself into a way through; this is also the method of skillfully using natural ills.]
Wu: Water comes time and again; this is Entrapment. Thus the jun zi practices virtuous conduct and reviews didactics.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Danger repeated shows us one defile succeeding another. This is the nature of water -- it flows on, without accumulating its volume so as to overflow; it pursues its way through a dangerous defile, without losing its true nature. That the mind is penetrating is indicated by the dynamic line in the center. Advance in accordance with this will be followed by achievement. The dangerous height of heaven cannot be ascended; the difficult places of the earth are mountains, rivers, hills and mounds. Kings and princes arrange, by means of such strengths, to maintain their territories. Great indeed is the use of what is here taught about seasons of peril.
Legge: The trigram of Danger which is doubled to form this hexagram is the symbol of water, and means a pit, a perilous cavity or defile with water flowing through it. The trigrams consist of a dynamic central line between two magnetic lines. Together they symbolize danger -- how it should be encountered, its effects on the mind, and how to escape from it.
Liang Yin says: "Water stops at the proper time, and moves at the proper time. Is not this an emblem of the course of the superior man in dealing with danger?”
The K'ang-hsi editors say that to exercise one's self in meeting difficulty and peril is the way to establish and strengthen the character, and the use of such experience is seen in all measures for self-defense.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Commitment to the Work engenders a keen discernment of threatening situations and the factors which create them. With the ability to recognize the dangerous elements in a situation, success is assured.
The Superior Man maintains his connection with the Self and learns from the trials thus provided.
This is one of the first hexagrams that one learns to recognize by name and number, and it is usually received with trepidation. Like the Death card in Tarot, it is often interpreted as an evil omen, although a deeper understanding reveals opportunity rather than defeat in such images.
There is danger and suffering in the Work, but probably far less of it (in the long run) than in an ordinary unexamined life. Anguish in the service of purpose is ultimately tolerable -- it is the incredible suffering of ignorance that is truly tragic: all that pain and sorrow expended on worldly illusions!
The Confucian commentary provides some valuable insights concerning the defensive use of danger by kings and princes to protect their realms. To master a dangerous challenge before one can progress to a higher level of awareness is a classical theme of initiation: without it, the candidate would be destroyed by forces he wasn't ready to confront. (This is the purpose and meaning behind of the "Guardian of the Threshold" archetype.) Danger is evil or unfortunate only if one is intimidated by it -- correct behavior in accordance with the principles of the Work will always take you to your destination. The Self will seldom, if ever, give you a test that you cannot pass if you fully apply yourself. When it seems otherwise, bear in mind that failure often renders better lessons than success, or the illusion thereof.
A neurosis is by no means merely a negative thing, it is also something positive. Only a soulless rationalism reinforced by a narrow materialistic outlook could possibly have overlooked this fact. In reality the neurosis contains the patient's psyche, or at least an essential part of it; and if, as the rationalist pretends, the neurosis could be plucked from him like a bad tooth, he would have gained nothing but would have lost something very essential to him. That is to say, he would have lost as much as the thinker deprived of his doubt, or the moralist deprived of his temptation, or the brave man deprived of his fear. To lose a neurosis is to find oneself without an object; life loses its point and hence its meaning. This would not be a cure, it would be a regular amputation. Jung -- Civilization in Transition
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject in all the peril of the defile. He will, however, get a little of the deliverance that he seeks.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The abyss is dangerous. One should strive to attain small things only.
Blofeld: Danger lurks within the abyss; only in small matters can he obtain what he desires.
Liu: There is danger in the abyss. One should work for small gains only.
Ritsema/Karcher: Gorge possessing venturing. Seeking, the small acquiring.
Shaughnessy: The trap has depth; in seeking there is a little gain.
Cleary (1): There is danger in a pitfall. One finds a small gain. [Dwelling in the middle of two yins, daily in the company of petty people and not knowing to approach people imbued with Tao, one will ultimately fall and become a fool, just as there is danger in a pitfall.]
Cleary (2): … One seeks a small gain.
Wu: There is danger in Entrapment. It is all right to seek small gains.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He will not yet escape from his environed position. Wilhelm/Baynes: "One should strive to attain small things only." For the middle has not yet been passed. Blofeld: Though he obtain these trifles, he remains within the abyss. [Whatever small successes we may win will not have any effect in lessening the danger that threatens.] Ritsema/ Karcher: Not-yet issuing-forth-from the center indeed. Cleary (2): Not yet gotten out of the middle. Wu: He has not stepped out of the center of danger.
Legge: Line two is dynamic and in the center. Although unable to escape the danger completely, at least he doesn't involve himself more deeply in it like the first line does, and therefore he obtains a measure of relief.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: A person in danger should not try to escape at one stroke. He should first calmly hold his own, then be satisfied with small gains, which will come by creative adaptations.
Wing: The danger is great and cannot be surmounted with one single action. Small, consistent efforts to stay afloat in a sea of difficulties are all that are possible at this time.
Editor: The image portrays a tight spot -- calm awareness of the realities of the situation enables one to prevail without panic. Go with the flow until an exit presents itself. In psychological terms, it is possible that inner forces are being stressed for integration -- the ego can only destroy the Work by giving them an outlet.
Knowledge of good is sharpened by experience of evil in those incapable of any sure knowledge of evil unless they have experienced it. Plotinus -- The Enneads
A. Don't fight dark forces -- adapt to your situation until you can escape.
B. A dangerous though stable position -- remain calm and don't rock the boat.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows its subject, whether she comes or goes, descends or ascends, confronted by a defile. All is peril to her and unrest. Her endeavors will lead her into the cavern of the pit. There should be no action in such a case.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. In danger like this, pause at first and wait, otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss. Do not act in this way.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss rears up and the danger is acute. He falls into a cranny and there is nothing he can do to help himself.
Liu: Water flows on and on. One is in the pit of the abyss. Danger. Do not act.
Ritsema/Karcher: Coming's Gorge, the Gorge. Venturing moreover reclining. Entering tending-towards the Gorge, the recess. No availing-of.
Shaughnessy: Bringing it so entrappedly, both steep and deep; entering the trap pit; do not use it.
Cleary (1): Coming and going, pitfall upon pitfall, dangerous and obstructed, going into a hole: Don’t act this way.
Wu: There is danger in coming and there is danger in going. The subject is in danger and is stopped from exiting. He enters into the depths of a pit and nothing useful will come out of it.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She will never in such circumstances achieve any success. Wilhelm/Baynes: Here any effort ends up as impossible. Blofeld: This presages our ultimate failure to accomplish anything at all. Ritsema/ Karcher: Completing without achieving indeed. Cleary (2): In the end there is no accomplishment. Wu: In the end nothing will be accomplished.
Legge: Line three is magnetic and occupies the place of a dynamic line. She is in an evil case. She goes and comes, moves up and down, backwards and forwards, making no advance. This can be of no use in extracting her from the danger.
Anthony: Every step leads to danger. Our attitude has brought out elements in others which further expose us to difficulty. We should take refuge in neutrality and disengagement until a way out shows itself.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man becomes entangled in danger at every turn. He should refrain from action, which only worsens the situation, and wait until the solution reveals itself.
Wing: You are surrounded by danger and you do not understand it. Any action will only make matters worse. Maintain your principles and wait for the solution to reveal itself.
Editor: Here is an image of raw panic -- the fear of a trapped animal: a bird in a house mindlessly battering itself against a plate-glass window. Hysteria is a grossly futile and incompetent response to stress: a demeaning lack of self- control. Get a grip on yourself!
Disquietude is always vanity, because it serves no good. Yes, even if the whole world were thrown into confusion and all things in it, disquietude on that account would be vanity. Saint John of the Cross
A. Stop right now! Calm down and wait it out.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows the water of the defile not yet full, so that it might flow away; but order will soon be brought about. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The abyss is not filled to overflowing. It is filled only to the rim. No blame.
Blofeld: The abyss is not filled to the brim; the flowing water maintains its level -- no error!
Liu: The water does not overflow its bounds. The waves are calm. No blame. [People will achieve their goals smoothly and without endangering themselves.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Gorge not overfilled. Merely already evened. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: The trap is not filled, but the sandbar has been flattened; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): The pit is not full, it has only reached level; there is no blame.
Cleary (2): The pit is not filled, only leveled. No blame.
Wu: Entrapment is not full. It is level and uneventful. There will be no blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The virtue indicated by the central situation is not yet sufficiently great. Wilhelm/Baynes: The central line is not yet great. Blofeld: This is because the line, being central to the upper trigram, indicates a level that is not too high. [The danger threatening whoever receives a moving line for the fifth place is relatively less serious than for many of the others whose enquiries are answered by this unfortunate hexagram.]Ritsema/Karcher: Centering, not-yet great indeed. Cleary (2): The center is not yet great. Wu: The center has not manifested its greatness.
Legge: Line five is dynamic in its proper place as ruler, and on the verge of deliverance from danger. The waters of the abyss will soon disappear and the ground be made level and smooth.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is almost extricated, but remains in danger because of excessive ambition. He does not learn from the water's example of rising only to the lowest point of the rim to flow out of a ravine. He should not attempt great and apparently unattainable things but should only try to escape danger by following the path of least resistance.
Wing: Only struggle as much as necessary to extricate yourself from your problems. Overly ambitious persons who attempt more than they should may create further difficulties. It is indicated here that the danger will pass of its own accord.
Editor: This depicts the crest of the flood, or just before the crest. Psychologically, the water is contained, and the unconscious forces do not overwhelm the psyche. Legge's Confucian commentary ("The virtue indicated by the central situation is not yet sufficiently great") is not convincing in the context of what is imaged. Blofeld's rendition suggests a more credible interpretation: the rising waters are not great enough to overflow their banks. This gives an image of the strong fifth line ruler as centered and able to cope with the danger surrounding him. In other words, the cup is full, but not over-full. The situation is dangerous, but not overwhelming. The dark forces have reached their maximum power -- now they can only wane.
Who pent up the sea behind closed doors when it leaped tumultuous out of the womb... when I marked the bounds it was not to cross and made it fast with a bolted gate? Come thus far, I said, and no farther: here your proud waves shall break. Job 38: 8-11
A. Danger peaks and stabilizes. Though perilous, the situation is contained.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject bound with cords of three strands or two strands, and placed in the thicket of thorns. But in three years she does not learn the course for her to pursue. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bound with cords and ropes, shut in between thorn-hedged prison walls: for three years one does not find the way. Misfortune.
Blofeld: Bound with black ropes and imprisoned amidst thorns, for three years he fails to obtain what he seeks. [This situation is far from cheerful, but not as hopeless as the situation of those who receive moving lines in the second and third places.]
Liu: Tied with thick ropes, one is put in prison among thorn bushes. One cannot find the way for three years. Misfortune. [If you receive this line, avoid all entanglements, both physical and mental. Be cautious, or you will be detained.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Tying availing-of stranded ropes. Dismissing tending-towards dense jujube-trees. Three year's-time, not acquiring. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: The attachment uses braids and cords: place him in the clumped thorn bushes, for three years not getting him; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Bound with rope, put in a briar patch, for three years one cannot find the way out; misfortune.
Cleary (2): … Helpless for three years – misfortune.
Wu: He is tied with black ropes and surrounded by thorny vines. He cannot set himself free for three years. Foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She misses her proper course -- there will be evil for three years. Wilhelm/Baynes: This misfortune continues for three years. Blofeld: The line indicates that we lose our way and suffer misfortune for three years. Ritsema/Karcher: Pitfall: three year's-time indeed. Cleary (2): The top yin loses the way, unfortunate for three years. Wu: The sixth yin violates the proper way of doing things and the violation results in the misfortune for three years.
Legge: The case of line six is hopeless. When danger has reached its peak, there she is -- yielding, without a proper correlate. The thicket of thorns is a metaphor for a prison.
Anthony: Misfortune comes because we press on, taking matters into our hands. This line warns of the failure we may expect in maintaining this attitude and notes the obstinacy that has brought us to this impasse. The remedy is to return to the path of perseverance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is hopelessly enmeshed in his own faults after missing the proper course. No chances of escape are apparent.
Wing: None of your solutions or efforts have been appropriate. The way out of danger is blocked. There will come a long time of disorder. All you may do is wait.
Editor: On the face of it, there is little ambiguity in this line -- it depicts one who is severely confined because of not knowing the proper course to pursue. If we closely examine the psychological symbols of this restriction however, we see deeper into the possible reasons for it. Chetwynd, in his Dictionary of Symbols identifies cords or ropes with links to the inner psyche -- the umbilical cord being the connection to the Mother, or source of our physical-emotional being. He also points out that thorns are a common symbol of the dark side of the Mother principle. To be bound with cords and imprisoned by thorns then, is to be trapped in a "womb" of primitive emotional darkness, or suffocated by some entity which does not want to evolve into conscious awareness.
The rest of the souls are also longing after the upper world and they all follow, but not being strong enough they are carried round below the surface, plunging, treading on one another, each striving to be first; and there is confusion and perspiration and the extremity of effort; and many of them are lamed or have their wings broken through the ill-driving of the charioteers; and all of them after a fruitless toil, not having attained to the mysteries of true being, go away, and feed upon opinion. Plato -- Phaedrus
A. You have lost your way and are imprisoned by illusions.
B. Your limiting beliefs prevent you from furthering the Work.
Other titles: Mountain, Keeping Still, The Symbol of Checking and Stopping, Desisting, Stilling, Stillness, Stoppage, Bound, Reposing, Resting, Meditation, Non-action, Stopping, Arresting Movement, "Refers to meditation and yoga." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: When his repose is like the back, and he loses all consciousness of self; when he walks in his courtyard and does not see the people, there will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Keeping Still. Keeping his back still so that he no longer feels his body. He goes into his courtyard and does not see his people. No blame.
Blofeld: Keeping the back so still as to seem virtually bodiless, or walking in the courtyard without noticing the people there involves no error!
Liu: Stillness. Keeping the back still -- one feels that the body no longer exists. Even when one walks in the courtyard, one sees no people. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Bound: one's back. Not catching one's individuality. Moving one's chambers. Not visualizing one's people. Without fault. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confronting a boundary or obstacle. It emphasizes that stopping and acknowledging the limit, the action of Bound, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to stop!]
Shaughnessy: Stilling his back , but not stilling his body: Walking into his courtyard, but not seeing his person; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1):Stopping at the back, one does not have a body; walking in the garden, one does not see a person. No fault.
Cleary (2):Stilling the back, one does not find the body, etc.
Wu:Stoppage indicates that, resting on his back, he does not find his body and walking in his courtyard, he does not see any person. Faultless.
The Image
Legge: The image of one mountain atop another formsKeeping Still. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not allow his thoughts to go beyond the duties of his immediate circumstances.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Mountains standing close together: the image of Keeping Still.. Thus the superior man does not permit his thoughts to go beyond his situation.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes two mountains conjoined. The Superior Man takes thought in order to avoid having to move from his position.
Liu: Mountain next to mountain symbolizes stillness. The superior man's thoughts do not go beyond his position.
Ritsema/Karcher: Joined mountains. Bound. A chun tzu uses pondering not to issue-forth-from one's situation.
Cleary (1):Joining mountains. Thus do superior people think without leaving their place.
Cleary (2):The mountains are still. Thus the thoughts of developed people are not out of place.
Wu: One mountain overlapping another makes Stoppage. Thus the jun zi does not contemplate things beyond his position. [Confucius said: “If you do not hold an office, do not give counsels on its administration.” What he meant is: not to volunteer counsels freely. On the other hand, if you are requested, then give the best you can.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Keeping Stillmeans stopping: One rests when it is time to rest, and acts when it is time to act. When action and rest occur at the proper times, one's behavior is enlightened. Keeping his back still, he rests in his proper place. The upper and lower lines of the hexagram all mirror each other, but are without any interaction: Hence it is said that he has no consciousness of [ego]. He does not see the persons in his courtyard, and there will be no error.
Legge: Two trigrams symbolizing Mountain make up the hexagram ofKeeping Still. Mountains rise up grandly from the surface of the earth, their huge masses resting on it in quiet and solemn majesty. They are barriers to the onward progress of the traveler. The attributes of this hexagram are both resting and arresting. It denotes the characteristic of resting in what is right in principle, right on the widest possible scale -- in the absolute conception of the mind and in every possible position in which a man can be placed. As in hexagram number thirty-one, Initiative, the symbolism is taken from the different parts of the human body.
According to the K'ang-hsi editors, the second sentence in the Image should be translated: "The superior man, in consequence with this, thinks anxiously how he shall not go beyond the duties of his position."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:"Wipe out imagination: check desire: extinguish appetite: keep the ruling faculty in its own power.” -- Marcus Aurelius
The Superior Man eliminates all distraction and concentrates on the matter at hand.
A large portion of the Work consists of nothing more than the will to keep still. Anyone who has ever tried it can attest that Keeping Still, or doing “nothing,” is probably the most difficult thing that a human can be asked to do. We are an ever-flowing fountain of restless desire -- the senses are mindlessly programmed to encounter their objects, and when we prevent them from doing this, a great commotion occurs in the psyche. We are so accustomed to feeling our desires, drives, instincts and appetites as integral to our awareness, that we are seldom conscious of the fact that they are actually autonomous forces -- as separate from the ego, or choice-making complex, as we are from other people, creatures or objects in the physical world. Try controlling an ingrained habit, such as smoking, and observe how difficult it is to impose your will upon it. Who controls whom?
The power of sight does not come from the eye, the power to hear does not come from the ear, nor the power to feel from the nerves; but it is the spirit of man that sees through the eye, and hears with the ear, and feels by means of the nerves. Wisdom and reason and thought are not contained in the brain, but they belong to the invisible and universal spirit which feels through the heart and thinks by means of the brain. All these powers are contained in the invisible universe, and become manifest through material organs, and the material organs are their representatives, and modify their mode of manifestation according to their material construction, because a perfect manifestation of power can only take place in a perfectly constructed organ, and if the organ is faulty, the manifestation will be imperfect, but not the original power defective. Paracelsus -- De Viribus Membrorum
The ego has only one legitimate function -- to make choices: it is the switchboard in the psyche which directs where the energy of the instinctual powers shall go. If these autonomous forces are stronger than the will of the ego, they soon learn to get their way as often as possible. The main difference between an inferior and a superior man is that the latter has learned to control and direct his energies for a higher purpose. One of the best ways to acquire this ability is to learn the lessons inherent within Keeping Still.
Psychoanalysis has demonstrated that the power of these images and complexes lies chiefly in the fact that we are unconscious of them, that we do not recognize them as such. When they are unmasked, understood, and resolved into their elements, they often cease to obsess us; in any case we are then much better able to defend ourselves against them. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
The lines of the upper and lower trigrams are mirror images of each other, yet not one of them has a proper correlate: they don't connect with each other. This suggests the separation of the senses from their objects. For example, eyeballs are sensory-receptors designed for the perception of light and form -- close your eyes, and they are prevented from contacting the phenomena they were created to perceive. That the psychic entities attached to this desire to perceive phenomena might resist restriction is a foregone conclusion, but the ego has control over the eyelids -- or should have. “Not seeing the people in one's own courtyard” means that one ignores one's autonomous impulses.
Regulation of the psyche’s autonomous manifestations in accordance with the will of the Self is for the purpose of gaining a controlling influence over one’s karma. As stated herein many times, you, as ego, are nothing more than a tool created by the Self for the direction of its own destiny.
Both karma theory and quantum mechanics refuse to accept that observers can exist independent of the systems they observe. Spiritual science goes so far as to take the observer’s own internal universe and its states as its experimental field. For it is within that field that karma is produced and stored …The “matter” from which we and our obstructions are created includes both the dense physical material from which our bodies are built and the thoughts, attitudes and emotions that make up our minds. Tantric practice is karmic engineering within this field of name and form, orchestration of substance and action into result. First you direct new causes against previous effects to nullify adverse influences on your awareness, then you unleash yet further actions to negate the influence of the nullifying actions. Robert Svoboda –Aghora III, The Law of Karma
How any ego could tackle such responsibilities with any hope of progress is impossible to imagine without the direction of the Self. Keeping Still certainly has its own karmic consequences, but when the “not choosing” implied in this hexagram is done in accordance with the Self’s will and intent, the results slowly lead to ever higher levels of awareness – eventually into realms beyond the physical. That is what the Work is all about: any other choice is to lock ourselves into a continuous round of birth and death in physical manifestation.
The Kabbalists teach that everything we do stirs up a corresponding energy in other realms of reality. Actions, words, or thoughts set up reverberations in the universe. The universe unfolds from moment to moment as a function of all the variables leading up to that moment. When we remain cognizant of this mystical system, we are careful about what we do, say, or even think, for we know that everything is interdependent; we know that a seemingly insignificant gesture could have weighty consequences. Rabbi David Cooper – God is a Verb
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Notice that every line of this hexagram except the last deals with an inherent challenge involved in the discipline required to keep still. Compare the lines in Keeping Still with similar lines in hexagram 31, Initiative.