Other titles: Difficulty at the Beginning, The Symbol of Bursting, Sprouting, Hoarding, Distress, Organizational Growth Pains, Difficult Beginnings, Growing Pains, Initial Obstacles, Initial Hardship
Judgment
Legge: Difficulty indicates progress and success through firm correctness. Action should not be undertaken lightly, and it is wise to seek help.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Difficulty at the Beginning works supreme success, furthering through perseverance. Nothing should be undertaken. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
Blofeld: Difficulty followed by sublime success! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward; but do not seek some new goal (or destination); it is highly advantageous to consolidate the present position. [The fundamental idea of this hexagram is that of birth and growth amidst difficulty, as with a sprouting seed becoming a young plant and forcing its way through the earth. Our affairs, being still in their early stages, are vulnerable; we must not wander forth, but attend to them until they ripen; then, with proper care, the seed will bring forth a splendid tree. The upper trigram, a pit, suggests a need for caution; but, if we heed these omens, our success is assured.]
Liu: Difficulty in the Beginning : great success. It is of benefit to continue without planning to go someplace. One should find helpers.
Ritsema/Karcher: Sprouting . Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. No availing-of possessing directed going. Harvesting: installing feudatories. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of beginning growth. It emphasizes that collecting potential in preparation for arduous labor is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Hoarding : Prime receipt; beneficial to determine. Do not herewith have someplace to go; beneficial to establish a lord.
Cleary(1): In difficulty, creativity and development are effective if correct. Do not use. There is a place to go. It is beneficial to set up a ruler.
Cleary(2):Creativity is successful. It is beneficial to be correct. Do not make use of going somewhere. It is beneficial to set up lords.
Wu:Distress is primordial, pervasive, prosperous, and persevering. The subject should proceed with caution. It will be advantageous to establish marquisates.
The Image
Legge: The image of clouds and thunder formsDifficulty. The superior man, in accordance with this, adjusts his measures of government as in sorting the threads of the warp and woof.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Clouds and thunder: the image of Difficulty at the Beginning. Thus the superior man brings order out of confusion.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes lightning spewed forth by the clouds -- difficulty prevails! The Superior Man busies himself setting things in order.
Liu: Clouds and thunder symbolize Difficulty at the Beginning. The superior man makes order out of disorder.
Ritsema/Karcher: Clouds, Thunder, Sprouting. A chun tzu uses the canons to coordinate. [Canons: standards, laws; regular, regulate; the Five Classics. The ideogram: warp-threads in a loom.]
Cleary(1): Thunder in the clouds is held back; the superior person orders and arranges.
Cleary(2): Clouds and thunder – Difficulty. Thereby leaders organize.
Wu: Clouds and thunder form hexagram Distress. Thus the jun zi plans and organizes.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Difficultyis experienced as Heaven and Earth begin their intercourse, but correct action succeeds in the face of danger. By the action of thunder and rain, which are the attributes of the lower and upper trigrams, all between Heaven and Earth is filled up. But the conditions of the time are irregular and obscure. Authority should be delegated, but the feeling that rest and peace have been secured should not be indulged in even then.
Legge: The written character for Difficultyis pictorial, and shows a plant struggling with difficulty as it rises above the surface of the earth. This initial difficulty is a metaphor for how struggle is the condition of a state which is emerging from disorder after a revolution. The author saw his social and political world in great disorder and difficult to reform, yet he had faith in himself and the destiny of his House. Let there be prudence and caution, with unswerving adherence to the right. Let the government of the different states be entrusted to good and able men -- then all will be well.
According to the arrangement of the eight trigrams, Heaven and Earth are the parents of the other six, who are their children. The first-born son is the lower trigram of Movement, and the second-born son is the upper trigram of Peril. McClatchie renders here: "The figure of Difficulty represents the hard and the soft beginning to have sexual intercourse, and bringing forth with suffering."
The power to move in the lower trigram is likely to produce great effects; to do this in perilous and difficult circumstances (symbolized by the upper trigram) requires firmness and correctness. Good princes throughout the realm will help to remedy the political and social disorder of the times, but the supreme ruler should not trust his subordinates to the point of relaxing his vigilance.
The lower trigram represents thunder, the upper represents rain clouds. The hexagram therefore places us in the atmosphere of a thunderstorm -- a metaphor for the situation of a political state in difficulty. When the thunder has pealed, and the clouds have discharged their burden of rain, the atmosphere is cleared and there is a feeling of relief.
Anthony: This hexagram means that we have not yet found the correct path.
It also means confusion: too many possibilities. Nothing is clear. This lack of clarity is the “hindrance” referred to in the first line of the hexagram. In the second line, the remedies that come forth are inappropriate. In the first stages of dealing with a problem, we are tempted to grasp at solutions, whereas we should wait until the proper actions become clear.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Under the conditions of Difficulty it is best to mark time while seeking assistance.
The superior man uses careful analysis to separate order from confusion.
Wilhelm’s title for this hexagram is Difficulty at the Beginning. I prefer Difficulty, because it is a situation encountered at any phase of the Work, not just the beginning.
Difficulty is experienced because confusion and multiplicity prevail during the initial phase of any creative activity -- thoughts and feelings proliferate and threaten to overwhelm the mind with infinite complexity. The only way to proceed under such circumstances is to carefully sort out the components of the situation and arrange them in categories and in order of importance. To "sort the threads of the warp and woof" is to weave a tangled mess into a tapestry.
The Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams gives us an image of what takes place under the hexagram of Difficulty:
When there were Heaven and Earth, then afterwards all things were produced. What fills up the space between Heaven and Earth are those individual things. Hence the Dynamic and Magnetic are followed by Difficulty. Difficulty means filling up.
"Filling up," is rendered as "fullness" in some translations. This is the exact meaning of the gnostic term: "Pleroma," or "Fullness" which Jung correlates with the Collective Unconscious or Objective Psyche. These are interior dimensions from which emanate the archetypal energies which we experience as instinctual drives and emotional complexes. This is the "hyperspace" from which the Self, via the oracle, responds to our queries and directs the Work.
Thus we see that the third hexagram, following the creation of the cosmic pair of opposites in the first two figures, represents a dialectical progression. Lao Tse, who wrote the Tao Te Ching some six-hundred years after the I Ching was committed to writing, describes this unfolding process:
Out of Tao, One is born;
Out of One, Two;
Out of Two, Three;
Out of Three, the created universe.
The created universe carries the yin at its back
and the yang in front;
Through the union of their pervading principles
it reaches harmony.
The identical idea is found in many traditions, giving it the status of an archetype within human consciousness. It is not necessary to be familiar with the technical terminology of Kabbalah to recognize that the same idea is being discussed in the following passage:
In Chokmah and Binah we have the archetypal Positive and Negative; the primordial Maleness and Femaleness, established while "countenance beheld not countenance" and manifestation was incipient ... It is between these two polarizing aspects of manifestation -- the Supernal Father and the Supernal Mother -- that the web of life is woven; souls going back and forth between them like a weaver's shuttle. In our individual lives, in our physiological rhythms, and in the history of the rise and fall of nations, we observe the same rhythmic periodicity. D. Fortune --The Mystical Qabalah
This idea has been stated very simply:
All things are a single form which has divided and multiplied in time and space. W.B. Yeats -- A Vision
Is not the sky a father and the earth a mother, and are not all living things with feet or wings or roots their children? -- Black Elk
And also with poetic complexity:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God's spirit hovered over the water ... God said, "Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth within the vault of heaven." And so it was ... God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply upon the earth. Genesis
There are some profound ideas in these images about the structure of human consciousness and the contents of the unconscious psyche. The basic idea is that of Emanation -- the creation of physical reality from a supreme principle in ordered hierarchies of increasing complexity. This concept is essential for a full understanding of the Work.
The involution of man was his descent from the sphere of the spirit, developing bodies of a mental, emotional and then physical nature until he manifested upon this planet. His evolution is to civilize this planet and to develop mastery of the physical, emotional and mental planes and relink himself in unity with God once more, thus completing the cycle. He came from God as an inexperienced Spark of Divine Fire and returns to Him, with all the experience of manifestation, as a Lord of Humanity. Gareth Knight -- The Work of a Modern Occult Fraternity
In many systems of thought, the proliferation of forces is seen in sexual terms -- the cosmic parents produce entities in male and female pairs (gnostic syzygies), which in turn produce offspring. Hence, Confucius says: "Difficulty is experienced as Heaven and Earth begin their intercourse." That this has an explicit sexual connotation is confirmed by McClatchie: "The figure of Difficulty represents the hard and the soft beginning to have sexual intercourse, and bringing forth with suffering." Thus we see that the correct and incorrect correlation ("intercourse") of dynamic (male) and magnetic (female) lines in anyI Ching hexagram symbolizes the favorable (life-enhancing) or unfavorable (life-negating) combinations of thought and feeling within the psyche.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
The sexual intercourse of Heaven and Earth is also described in hexagram number eleven,Harmony. In terms of these sexual metaphors, what does the term "adultery" imply in regard to the Work? See hexagram number forty-four, Temptation, for further insight on this theme.
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows the difficulty its subject has in advancing. It will be advantageous for him to abide correct and firm. Advantageous also to be made a feudal ruler.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Hesitation and hindrance. It furthers one to remain persevering. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
Blofeld: Uncertainty prevails. It is best to make no move, but to build up determination and to consolidate the position.
Liu: Considering and considering. It is of benefit to continue in the right way. One should find helpers.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stone pillar. Harvesting: residing in Trial. Harvesting: installing feudatories.
Shaughnessy: To and fro; beneficial to determine about a dwelling; beneficial to establish a lord.
Cleary(1): Not going anywhere, it is beneficial to abide in correctness. It is beneficial to set up a ruler. [It is beneficial to set up the ruler and nurture the original energy.]
Cleary(2): Staying around, it is beneficial to remain correct. It is beneficial to set up lords. [In Buddhist terms, to “stay around” means to be immediately aware of any mental movement and not roll along, following thoughts. This is what is called “coming back before going far.”]
Wu: There is a formidable obstruction to advance. It will be advantageous, however, to remain persevering … etc. [If the subject can remain firm and correct, he will overcome.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Although there is difficulty in advancing, the mind of the subject of the line is set on doing what is correct. While noble, he humbles himself to the mean, and grandly gains the people. Wilhelm/Baynes: The aim of the work is nonetheless to carry out what is right. When an eminent man subordinates himself to his inferiors, he wins the hearts of all people. Blofeld: Despite prevailing uncertainty, the way of righteousness must be pursued with firm correctness. Men in high places, by co-operating with those under their care, will thereby win the support of the people. Ritsema/Karcher: Although a stone pillar, purpose moving correctly indeed. Using valuing the mean below. The great acquiring the commoners indeed. Cleary(2): Though they stay around, the action of their wills is correct. Because they value the lowly, they win many people. Wu: Although he is under constraint, he has set his goal correctly. Like a noble man serving the common people, he will receive their support.
Legge: The first line is energetic and strong, and his place in the trigram of Movement disposes him to action. But above him is the trigram of Peril, and the lowest line of that, to whom he must look for response and cooperation, is magnetic. Hence arise the ideas of difficulty in advancing, the necessity of caution, and the advantage of being clothed with authority. He is noble, firm and correct, but his place is below the divided lines, symbols of the weak and lowly.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man takes stock of the obstacles. He does not force his advance. He perseveres on the right course and acquires the appropriate assistants. He continuously rechecks his bearings, as the confusion is gradually resolved.
Wing: It seems that you have come across a confusing obstacle at the very beginning of your path. The best way to attract the helpers you will need is to maintain a devoted and humble attitude. Do not attempt to boldly push ahead unaided. However, do keep your goal in sight.
Editor: The symbolism suggests the following intrapsychic correlations:
Advance: The advance of consciousness, comprehension, etc. Feudal Ruler: The ego as master of its thoughts and feelings. "Humbles himself to the mean": ("Mean" here means "lowly.") The ego remains firm and correct, maintains his will, but doesn't take on airs -- he nurtures his humility. The people: Thoughts, feelings, opinions, attitudes, emotions, appetites, etc.
The optimal stance that the ego can strive for--without necessarily hoping that it can ever be accomplished fully -- could be described as a continual awareness of the conflicting polarities likely to appear in ever- new forms as old ones are resolved: of waiting and seeing, of living things out, weighing various aspects and bringing them into balance, ever ready to work with the materials at hand. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. There are intimidating obstructions to progress. Remain persevering while seeking assistance. If you subordinate yourself to your situation you’ll gain insight into its nature. Take no major action.
B. A difficult path demands impeccable will and full acceptance of responsibility.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one following the deer without the guidance of the forester, and only finding himself in the midst of the forest. The superior man, acquainted with the secret risks, thinks it better to give up the chase. If he went forward, he would regret it.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Whoever hunts deer without the forester only loses his way in the forest. The superior man understands the signs of the time and prefers to desist. To go on brings humiliation.
Blofeld: Pursuing a deer without a guide, the hunter finds himself lost in the forest. The Superior Man perceives that he must stay where he is, as going forward would lead to trouble.
Liu: He hunts deer with a forester. He gets lost in the forest. The superior man, knowing this, prefers to give up the hunt. To go on would bring regret.
Ritsema/Karcher: Approaching stag, lacking precaution. Namely, entering tending-towards the forest center. A chun tzu almost not thus stowing-away. Going abashed.
Shaughnessy: Approaching the deer without ornamentation, it is only to enter into the forest. For the gentleman it is just about as good as dispensing with it; to go is distressful.
Cleary(1): Chasing deer without a guide, just going into the forest. The superior person, knowing the dangers, had better give up; to go would bring regret.
Cleary(2): Chasing deer without preparation only goes into the bush. Leaders see that it is better to give up, for to go would bring regret. [ If you have no accurate knowledge yourself and do not have enlightened teachers or associates, and practice blindly, then you will fall into a pit.]
Wu: Hunting in the forest without the guidance of a ranger will result in roaming aimlessly with a chance of getting lost. The jun zi senses the risk. It is better to quit than to proceed and regret.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: One pursues the deer without the guidance of the forester in his eagerness to follow the game. The superior man gives up the chase, knowing that if he go forward he would be reduced to extremity. Wilhelm/Baynes: He desires the game, but to go on brings humiliation. It leads to failure. Blofeld: His lack of caution in hunting the deer resulted from his being too set on capturing it. The Superior Man always desists when to advance would bring disaster. Ritsema/Karcher: Approaching stag, without precaution. Using adhering-to wildfowl indeed. A chun tzu stowing it: Going abashment exhausted indeed. Cleary(2): Chasing deer without preparation is following the beasts. To go would bring regret and lead nowhere. Wu: Hunting without a guide is like chasing around the game. To proceed will end in an awkward situation.
Legge: The third line is magnetic, not central, and in the place of a dynamic line. These things are all generally unfavorable, but the outcome of the whole hexagram being good, the superior man sees the immediate danger and avoids it.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man wanders aimlessly without adequate guidance, like a hunter without a forester. The superior man knows when going forward will cause regret. He gives up the senseless chase and avoids eventual disgrace.
Wing: You can sense the difficulties that lie ahead on your path. If you nevertheless plunge into the forest of obstacles without an experienced guide, you will surely lose your way. Such egotism and vanity brings unrelenting humiliation. A wiser man will alter his goals here.
Editor: Forest symbolism is usually associated with the feminine principle and the unconscious psyche. A deer, being a denizen of the forest, could symbolize an undifferentiated, unassimilated, autonomous force within the situation at hand. As the object of the quest, it represents the answer to a question, a solution to your problem, etc. To complete the metaphor, the forester would be your intuition or inner guide: the Self. The message is that you have no insight into the prevailing situation and should stop trying to force a solution. Cease your fruitless speculation and wait for the way to become clear.
It is only when the human being really knows what he is doing that he can be called self-conscious and responsible. The person who is guided by his ego alone is not self-conscious in this sense, for he is limited in his self-knowledge to the conscious realm only, and beyond this terrain yields himself blindly to the obscure urges and devious impulses of the unconscious. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. “Lost in the woods,” you don't yet grasp your situation. Never act on what you don’t understand.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject with the horses of her chariot obliged to retreat, and weeping tears of blood in streams.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Horse and wagon part. Bloody tears flow.
Blofeld: He hesitates like a man trotting to and fro or like one shedding blood and tears.
Liu: He goes back and forth on horseback. He sheds tears with blood! [Arrogance leads to misfortune, perhaps extreme misfortune.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Riding a horse, arraying thus. Weeping blood, coursing thus.
Shaughnessy: A team of horses vexatious-like, dipping blood streamingly.
Cleary(1): Mounted on a horse, not going forward, weeping tears of blood.
Wu: The horse carriage falters along. Tears roll down from the rider’s eyes.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She weeps tears of blood in streams -- how can the state thus emblemed continue long? Wilhelm/Baynes: How could one tarry long in this! Blofeld: How could a flow of blood and tears endure for long? [In other words, our present troubles will pass away in time.] Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore permitting long-living indeed? Cleary (2): Weeping tears of blood – what can last? Wu: Only despair remains.
Legge: The sixth line is magnetic, as is her third line correlate. She is at the extremity of Peril -- the game is up. What can remain for her in such a case but terror and abject weeping?
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man fails to overcome the initial difficulties and despair.
Wing: You have lost your perspective. You can no longer see your initial difficulties realistically, nor can you find your way out. This is disgraceful and will cause you much regret. It is best to begin again.
Anthony: Desire and fear prevail. The child in us rules. Despairing, we give up our path. “One should not persist in this.”
Editor: Lines two, four and six all show horses in retreat: strong images of psychological turmoil and confusion; two and four have proper correlates however, so they present the possibility of at least some kind of reconciliation. Here, the correlate is line three, who is depicted as being "lost in the woods.” At its most neutral, the image is one of severe disunion. Wilhelm and Blofeld state that the situation is not a lasting one, so all need not be lost if you seek a totally new and perhaps currently unrecognized connection.
In our ordinary life we are limited and bound in a thousand ways -- the prey of illusions and phantasms, the slaves of unrecognized complexes, tossed hither and thither by external influences, blinded and hypnotized by deceiving appearances. No wonder then that man, in such a state, is often discontented, insecure and changeable in his moods, thoughts and actions. Feeling intuitively that he is "one," and yet finding that he is "divided unto himself," he is bewildered and fails to understand either himself or others. No wonder that he, not knowing or understanding himself, has no self- control and is continually involved in his own mistakes and weaknesses; that so many lives are failures, or are at least limited and saddened by diseases of mind and body, or tormented by doubt, discouragement and despair. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
A. Severe disunion prevails, but need not be permanent if you seek a totally new connection.
Other titles: Development, The Symbol of Progressive Advance, Gradual Development, Infiltrating, Advancing, Growth, Developing, Gradualness, Dialectical Progression, Step by Step, "The slower the stronger." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Gradual Progressshows the good fortune attending the marriage of a young lady. Firm correctness brings advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Development. The maiden is given in marriage. Good fortune. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Gradual Progress. The marriage of a maiden brings good fortune. Persistence in a righteous course brings reward.
Liu: Gradual Development. The marriage of a girl -- Good Fortune. It benefits to continue.
Ritsema/Karcher:Infiltrating, womanhood converting significant. Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of gradually achieving a goal. It emphasizes that advancing through diffuse but steady penetration is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: infiltrate!]
Shaughnessy:Advancing: For the maiden to return is auspicious; beneficial to determine.
Cleary (2):Gradual Progress in a woman’s marriage is auspicious. It is beneficial to be chaste.
Wu: Gradualness indicates that it is auspicious for a woman to get married and it is advantageous for her to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: A tree on the mountain -- the image of Gradual Progress. The superior man attains and nourishes his extraordinary virtue to improve the manners of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: On the mountain, a tree: the image of Development. Thus the superior man abides in dignity and virtue, in order to improve the mores.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a tree upon a mountain. The Superior Man, abiding in holiness and virtue, inclines the people towards goodness.
Liu: A tree on the mountain symbolizes Gradual Development. The superior man, in maintaining his virtue, improves society's customs.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing wood. Infiltrating. A chun tzu uses residing-in eminent actualizing-tao to improve the vulgar. [Actualize-tao: 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): There are trees on the mountain, growing gradually. Thus do superior people abide in sagacity and improve customs.
Cleary (2): …Developed people improve customs by living wisely and virtuously.
Wu: There are trees on the mountain; this is Gradualness. The jun zi chooses to live in the neighborhood known for its high moral standards and exemplary custom.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The ascent of Gradual Progress resembles the fortunate marriage of a young lady. The lines ascend to their proper places, indicating achievement. Because the ascent is made correctly the subject of the hexagram is empowered to rectify his country. He is shown as the dynamic ruler in line five, central and correct. The alternation of Keeping Still and Flexible Penetration ensure that the advance is continuous.
Legge: The written character for Gradual Progress is ordinarily used in the sense of gradually, but there is connected with it also the idea of advance. The whole of it denotes a gradual advance like the soaking in of water. The other two hexagrams that contain the idea of advance are number thirty-five, Advance of Consciousness and number forty-six,Pushing Upward-- each expresses its own nuance of meaning, and here the nuance is the gradual manner in which the advance takes place.
The theme of the hexagram is the advance of men to offices in the state -- how it should take place gradually and by successive steps. Lines 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all in their proper places as dynamic or magnetic, and we ascend them as by regular steps to the top of the hexagram.
The marriage of a young lady illustrates an important event which takes place according to various preliminary steps which must be correctly done in an orderly sequence. So must it be with the advance of a man in the service of the state.
The K'ang-hsi editors say: "A tree springing up on the ground is a tree as it begins to grow. A tree on a hill is high and large. Every tree when it begins to grow shows its branches and twigs gradually becoming long. Every morning and every evening show some difference; and when the tree is high and great, whether it be of an ordinary or extraordinary size, it has taken years to reach its dimensions."
Added Commentary: Blofeld appends the following footnote to each line in this hexagram: it is easier to read it here as his general commentary. [The additional Chinese commentaries explain that the wild goose is a bird which moves toward the sun. Now, a commonly used Chinese term for the sun is YANG, namely the male principle. So the bird obviously (sic) betokens a maiden seeking a husband. Its movement from river bank to rock, dry land, a tree, a hillock and the mainland (which is said in one commentary to mean peninsula) signifies gradual movement in an unchanging direction. From the point of view of divination, this is the best course for us, even if marriage is not our objective. Regarding marriage: the first line betokens gossip, although the marriage is not unsuitable; the second, a materially successful marriage; the third, an unfortunate marriage; the fourth, marriage to someone exceedingly kind and thoughtful; the fifth, a blissful marriage; the sixth, marriage to a public figure who has some responsibility for good order within the realm and who succeeds in his task.]
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The proper union of forces within the psyche is a matter of slow maturation.
The Superior Man maintains his will and transforms the psyche. "Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other." -- Burke
This is one of the most hierarchical of the hexagrams -- each line represents a clear advance from the position of the preceding line, thus giving an image of Gradual Progress. The vehicle of this progression is the wild goose, which also appears in every line. A goose is a bird -- primarily a creature of the air, or realm of thought; but because it also thrives on either water or land, the goose symbolizes thought which permeates the lower two categories of consciousness -- emotion (water), and sensation (earth).
Another traditional interpretation of the goose motif is that of the universal aspect of the soul. The wild goose is able to move about everywhere, on firm land, in water and in the air. It is the bird of Hermes, who is the leader of souls. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
The progress of the goose is a gradual one, from the shore, or threshold of awareness in line one, to the mountain heights, or realm of the Spirit in line six. The fact that this progress is linked with the idea of marriage in the Judgment is a clear hint that we are dealing here with the idea of the union of opposites within the psyche. (See commentary on hexagram number eleven.) The message is unambiguous: the process of psycho-spiritual growth is one of slow maturation. There are no short-cuts to enlightenment.
Evils and falsities must be removed, to the intent that a new life which is the life of heaven may be implanted. This can in nowise be done hastily; for every evil enrooted with its falsities has connection with all evils and their falsities; and such evils and falsities are innumerable, and their connection is so manifold that it cannot be comprehended ... From this it is plain that the life of hell in man cannot be suddenly destroyed, for if it were suddenly done he would straightway expire; and that the life of heaven cannot be suddenly implanted, for if this were done suddenly he would also expire. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia