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 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject distressed and obliged to return. Even the horses of her chariot also seem to be retreating. But not by a spoiler is she assailed, but by one who seeks her to be his wife. The young lady maintains her firm correctness, and declines a union. After ten years she will be united, and have children.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Difficulties pile up. Horse and wagon part. He is not a robber; he wants to woo when the time comes. The maiden is chaste, she does not pledge herself. Ten years -- then she pledges herself.
Blofeld: He makes no more progress, covers no more distance, than a mounted man trotting to and fro. (His hesitation is due) not to an obstacle but to his wooing a girl who chastely repulses his advances and waits ten years before giving her consent.
Liu: Many difficulties. He goes back and forth on horseback, but he is not a robber. He seeks marriage but the girl does not want an engagement. After ten years she does.
Ritsema/Karcher: Sprouting thus, quitting thus. Riding a horse, arraying thus. In-no-way outlawry, matrimonial allying. Woman and son, Trial: not nursing. Ten years- revolved, thereupon nursing.
Shaughnessy: Hoardingly, earth-moundlike, a team of horses vexatious-like; it is not robbers who confusedly enrich. The [female] child's determination is not to get pregnant; in ten years then she gets pregnant.
Cleary(1): Difficult to advance, hard to make progress. Mounted on a horse, not going forward. It is not a matter of enmity, but marriage. The girl is chaste, not engaged. After ten years she is engaged. [This means not seeking immediate solutions when in difficulty.]
Cleary(2): Stopped, mounted on a horse but standing still. Not enmity, marriage… etc.
Wu: There is hesitation to proceed. The horse carriage falters along. A suitor, not a transgressor, asks for marriage. The young woman chooses to remain chaste and refuses. After 10 years, however, she consents to the betrothal to another man.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her difficulty arises from her place over the dynamic line below her. The union and children after ten years shows things resuming their regular course. Wilhelm/Baynes: She rests upon a rigid line. Pledging herself after ten years means return to the general rule. Blofeld: The difficulties are revealed by this weak line's position just above a firm one. Waiting for ten years to receive the beloved's consent implies awaiting a gradual return to normal conditions. Ritsema/Karcher: Six at second's heaviness. Riding a solid indeed. Ten years-revolved, thereupon nursing. Reversing rules indeed. Cleary(2): Riding on the obdurate. Getting married after ten years means return to normal. Wu: Riding on the strong-minded first nine. A return to normalcy.
Legge: Advance is even more difficult for the second line than for line one. She is magnetic, and pressed by the dynamic line below her. Above, in the fifth line is the ruler with whom union should be properly sought. All these circumstances suggest the idea of a young lady sought in marriage by a strong suitor with whom marriage was unsuitable. She rejects him, and after ten years marries the only suitable match for her. "Things resume their regular course" means that she is now at liberty to seek a union with line five.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Progress is further inhibited. Someone suddenly appears who is mistaken for a robber at first but actually turns out friendly. His offer of help is not to be accepted. Not being from the right quarter, it may entail undesirable obligations. Things will resume their regular course at the proper time.
Wing: Confusion and difficulty mount, and decisions become impossible. To allow yourself to accept help will create a hindering obligation. Therefore it is best to wait until the situation returns to normal before you continue your pursuits.
Editor: Horses are a common symbol for energy or libido ("horsepower"). Women and men respectively represent Eros (emotion) and Logos (intellect). These attributes are consistent throughout the I Ching, and are common in almost all symbol systems. In this line the man is seen as an unsuitable match for the woman, psychologically suggesting an improper union of thoughts and feelings, or the temptation to an emotional rationalization of some sort. The situation is confused and up in the air: psychic energy is in a state of regression, and we are tempted to accept the first solution that comes along. Under such circumstances no progress can be made until things are allowed to settle down. The "ten years" refer to any fulfilled cycle of time.
I use Eros and Logos merely as conceptual aids to describe the fact that woman's consciousness is characterized more by the connective quality of Eros than by the discrimination and cognition associated with Logos. In men, Eros, the function of relationship, is usually less developed than Logos. Jung -- Aion
A. Image of an unsettled situation. Resolution of the problem is not possible now, despite your desire for it. Later on, the situation will resolve itself naturally.
B. At the moment, emotions are too unsettled to be reconciled with reason. Reject an unsuitable idea or concept and wait for a better one.
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: Dispersion, Dissolution, Disintegration, Dispersal, Overcoming Dissension, Scattering,Dispersing, Unintegrated, Reuniting, Evaporation, Reorganization, New Deal, Re-Shuffle, Course Correction, Catharsis
Judgment
Legge: Expansion intimates that there will be progress and success. The king goes to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to be firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Dispersion. Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld:Scattering -- success! The King has approached his temple. [An omen of safety.] It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). [I.e., to go on a long journey.] Persistence in a righteous course brings reward.
Liu: Dispersion. Success. The king approaches the temple. It is of benefit to cross the great water. It benefits to continue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dispersing , Growing. The king imagines possessing a temple. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confronting obstacles, illusions and misunderstandings. It emphasizes that clearing away what is blocking the light is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: disperse what obstructs awareness!]
Shaughnessy: Dispersal: Receipt; the king approaches into the temple; beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial to determine.
Cleary (1): In Dispersal there is development. The king comes to have a shrine. It is beneficial to cross great rivers . It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary (2):Dispersal is successful. The king goes to his ancestral temple. The benefit crosses great rivers. It is beneficial if correct.
Wu: Dispersion indicates pervasiveness. The king does homage to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous to cross the big river, but only with perseverance.
The Image
Legge: The image of wind moving over water forms Expansion. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, presented offerings to God and established the ancestral temple.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind drives over the water: the image of Dispersion. Thus the kings of old sacrificed to the Lord and built temples.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing across the face of the waters. The kings of old built temples in which to sacrifice to the Supreme Lord of Heaven. [A temple is a place of safety from the ills of the world. The symbolism here is that the upper trigram forms a temple in which people are safe from the pit (the lower trigram); its middle line (five) signifies the King. The implication is that we should employ spiritual or moral means to preserve ourselves from the danger threatened by the lower trigram.]
Liu: Wind blowing over water symbolizes Dispersion. The ancient kings offered sacrifices to the Deity, then built temples.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind moves above stream. Dispersing. The Earlier Kings used presenting tending-towards the supreme to establish the temples.
Cleary (1): Wind blows above water, Unintegrated. Thus ancient kings honored god and set up shrines.
Cleary (2): Wind travels over the water, dispersing. Ancient kings honored God and set up shrines.
Wu: The wind moves above water; this is Dispersion. Thus, the ancient kings made offerings to the Supreme Being and consecrated their ancestral temple.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The dynamic line is central in the lower trigram, and the magnetic fourth line is correct in the upper trigram, uniting with the dynamic ruler above her. The king's mind is without any deflection as he goes to his ancestral temple. He rides over water in a vessel of wood, and will cross the great stream with success.
Legge: The hexagram of Expansion denotes a state of dissipation or dispersion. It shows men's minds alienated from correctness and sure to go on to disorder. Here an attempt is made to show how the situation should be remedied.
The lower trigram represents Water, and the upper, Wind. Wind moving over water evaporates it, and suggests the idea of dispersion. Success is intimated because there are dynamic lines occupying the central places in the trigrams. The king's piety moves the spirits by its sincerity -- when the religious spirit rules men's minds, there will be no alienation from what is right and good. Under such conditions even hazardous enterprises may be undertaken.
The second sentence of the Confucian commentary literally begins: "The king is indeed in the middle..." This means that his heart and mind are set on the central truth of what is right and good. The ancestral temple signifies the recognition that sincere religious practices counteracted the tendency to mutual alienation and selfishness among men. The wooden vessel refers to one of the attributes of the upper trigram, which is Wood. It suggests a boat riding on water (the lower trigram), hence: crossing the great water.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Focus on the ideals of the Work and maintain your will. A major synthesis is possible.
The Superior Man subdues his ego to attain his latent potential.
Because of the intimate relationship between this figure and hexagram number 45, Contraction, I have chosen the title of Expansionto best emphasize their polarity.
The "ancient kings and sages" are more mythical than historical, so we can assume that they symbolize archetypal forces ("gods") within the psyche -- of whom the ego is only the current spacetime representative (i.e., servant- facilitator). The Self is the focal point, the center of this multidimensional awareness complex.
In both timeless and spaceless experiences, the mundane world is virtually excluded. Of course, the converse is true of the mundane state of daily routine, in which the oceanic unity with the universe, in ecstasy and Samadhi, is virtually absent. Thus, the mutual exclusiveness of the "normal" and the exalted states, both ecstasy and Samadhi, allows us to postulate that man, the self- referential system, exists on two levels: as "Self" in the mental dimension of exalted states; and as "I" in the objective world, where he is able and willing to change the physical dimension "out there.” R. Fischer -- "A Cartography of the Ecstatic and Meditative States," Science:174, 1971
The symbol of a temple, where one worships one's ancestors may be taken as the perfect gestalt of the Work as it exists outside of spacetime, as well as the karmic repository of all previous incarnations. It represents both the completed Work and the Work in progress. That the family temple was regarded in China as symbolic of an ideal standard of perfection such as this, is implied in the following passage:
Diplomatic negotiations were carried on in the ancestral temple, in the veritable presence, it was believed, of the ancestors; diplomatic banquets were given there, also. Even a proposal of marriage was received by the father of the prospective bride in his ancestral temple, in the presence of the spirits ... (The world of Confucius), we must remember, was one in which there was a nearly complete breakdown of moral standards ... Only in the performance of religious ceremonies could there still be found, consistently, a type of conduct regulated by a socially accepted norm of behavior, in which men's actions were motivated by a pattern of cooperative action, rather than swayed by the greed and passions of the moment. H.G. Creel -- Confucius and the Chinese Way
Psychologically, Expansion depicts a state of inner pressure capable of fruitful resolution if it can be properly guided. The king in the Image (in this case, the ego) sacrifices for a high ideal: the good of the Work. Legge's commentary tells us that the "second sentence of the Confucian commentary literally begins: `The king is indeed in the middle...'" This suggests a combination of his second and third sentences into the paraphrase: "The king steers a middle course when crossing the water to the ancestral temple." This gives the image of a vessel and the proper way to guide it toward a destination. Anyone who has ever steered a boat with a rudder knows that to over-correct on either side is a mark of poor seamanship: the goal is to maintain a dynamic balance in our guidance of the Work. Lines two and five represent proper course-correction because they are both in the middle of their respective trigrams.
Expansionis the inverse of the following hexagram of Restrictive Regulations. What is there confined and hoarded is here dispensed -- but this dispensation must conform with the ultimate good of the Work. Not just any release of tension will do -- it must recombine itself into a new and better organization, as imaged in the fourth line. If this new order is a proper one, the released tension precipitates a catharsis, as imaged in line five.
The form, then, in which our complexes confront us is the form in which the fundamental materials of our human structure come into our here-and-now existence. Like crystals they are always imperfect to some extent and often unrecognizable or grossly disfigured in comparison with the “ideal” shape, the shape that would represent the “pure” incorporation of the crystal scheme. But we have to meet them in this more or less imperfect or distorted form and out of this form we have to transform them into something that may be more akin to the aboriginal “intent” inherent in their archetypal cores. This undertaking, this process, is what Jung calls individuation. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
The Judgment of hexagram number forty-five, Contraction, also mentions the king going to his ancestral temple. A close comparison of this figure with Expansion will reveal much about the dynamics of the Work.