Other titles: Duration, The Symbol of Constancy, The Long Enduring, Constant, Persevering, Standing Fast, Continuity, Constancy in the Midst of Change, Holding Firm, "Get yourself into a fixed routine like the orbiting planets." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Consistency means successful progress without error through firm correctness. Movement in any direction is advantageous.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Duration. Success. No blame. Perseverance furthers. It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
Blofeld: The Long Enduring. Success and freedom from error! Righteous persistence brings reward. It is favorable to have in view some goal or destination.
Liu:Duration. Success. No blame. It benefits to continue. Going anywhere is advantageous.
Ritsema/Karcher:Persevering, Growing. Without fault. Harvesting Trial. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of continuity and endurance. It emphasizes that continuing on and renewing the way you are following is the adequate way to handle the situation. To be in accord with the time, you are told to persevere!]
Shaughnessy: Constancy: Receipt; there is no trouble; beneficial to determine; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1):Constancy is developmental. Impeccable. It is beneficial to be correct. It is beneficial to have a place to go.
Cleary (2):Constancy comes through without fault, beneficial insofar as it is correct. It is beneficial to have a place to go.
Wu: Constancy indicates pervasion. There will be no blame. It also indicates advantage of being persevering and having undertakings.
The Image
Legge: Thunder over wind -- the image of Consistency. The superior man stands firm and does not change his method of operation.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and wind: the image of Duration. Thus the superior man stands firm and does not change his direction.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder accompanied by wind. The Superior Man stands so firmly that he cannot be uprooted.
Liu: Thunder and wind symbolize Duration. The superior man stands firm without changing direction.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, wind, Persevering. A Chun tzu uses establishing, not versatility on-all-sides.
Cleary (1): Thunder and wind are perpetual. Thus does the superior person stand without changing places.
Cleary (2): Thunder and wind are constant; so do developed people stand without changing place.
Wu: A combination of thunder and wind forms Constancy. Thus the jun zi establishes himself by not changing his post.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Consistency means long continuance. The dynamic trigram of Thunder is above, and the magnetic trigram of Wind is below. Docility and Motive Force are in sympathetic communication because their dynamic and magnetic lines all correspond. When the motive power is spent it will begin again -- hence movement in any direction is advantageous. The sun and moon are consistent in their illumination, and the four sequential seasons are consistent in their cycles of growth. The sages are consistent in their work and all under heaven are transformed. When we examine this consistent perseverance the natural tendencies of heaven and earth are revealed.
Legge: The subject of the hexagram is perseverance in what is right, or in continuously acting out the law of one's being. It is seen as a sequel to the previous hexagram,Initiative. As that figure deals with the correct relations
between husband and wife, so this figure treats of the continuous observance of their respective duties. Initiativeconsists of the trigrams symbolizing the youngest son and youngest daughter and shows how the attraction and influence between the sexes is strongest in youth. Consistency on the other hand, consists of the trigrams symbolizing the oldest son and oldest daughter. This couple is more staid. The wife occupies the lower place, and their relationship is characterized by her submission. Given two parties, a magnetic and a dynamic in correlation, if both consistently observe what is correct and natural (i.e., the magnetic submissive and the dynamic firm), then good fortune and progress may be predicted for their course.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The will to maintain the consistency of the Work assures progress in whatever direction it may take.
The Superior Man holds fast to the principles of the Work.
Wilhelm's title for this hexagram is Duration. I feel that the word Consistency best evokes the meaning of the figure. In an existence consisting of continuous change the only things that have duration are the principles upon which change is based. To adhere to these principles is to maintain consistency. Implicit here is a consistent balance of forces. Consistency in the Work means neither consistent action nor inaction, but an appropriate combination of the two principles as required by changing circumstances. The Confucian commentary alludes to this characteristic of the Work when it mentions the sun, moon and changing seasons as examples of forces which maintain their consistency within a context of continuous change.
Just as the moon at night reflects the light of the hidden sun, so in the Work the ego is always magnetic in relation to the dynamic Self. A moon that thought that it was the source of its light would be egregiously deluded, despite superficial appearances to the contrary; so too the ego that thinks that its powers come from anywhere but the Self.
Motives and standards of choice are not invented by the ego but are structured by the actualization of archetypal predispositions through personally acquired value standards. E. C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Note that all of the lines in the hexagram are generally unfavorable except two and five, and that when they both change places the hexagram becomes number thirty-one, Initiative. There is a profound lesson here which is best appreciated by meditating on the associations implied. The fact that each hexagram is the inverse of the other should not be forgotten.
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows its subject deeply desirous of long continuance. Even with firm correctness there will be evil; there will be no advantage in any way.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Seeking duration too hastily brings misfortune persistently. Nothing that would further.
Blofeld: To ensure his continuance, he digs a hole for himself. This sort of determination brings misfortune, for he is unable to go anywhere.
Liu: One seeks duration too insistently; to continue this brings misfortune. Nothing is of benefit.
Ritsema/Karcher: Diving Persevering, Trial: pitfall. Without direction: Harvesting.
Shaughnessy: Distant constancy; determination is inauspicious; there is no place beneficial.
Cleary (1): Deep constancy; fidelity brings misfortune. No benefit.
Cleary (2): In deep constancy, fidelity brings misfortune; there is no gain.
Wu: He seeks a lasting relationship from afar. Even though he is earnest, it will be foreboding and there is nothing to be gained.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The evil attached to the deep desire for long continuance arises from the deep seeking of it at the commencement of things. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The misfortune arises from wanting too much immediately at the outset. Blofeld: Misfortune caused by trying to achieve enduring results at the very beginning. Ritsema/Karcher: Beginning seeking depth indeed. Cleary (2): The misfortune … is from seeking depth to start with. Wu: Because he starts by seeking an intimate relationship.
Legge: Line one has a proper correlate in four, but between them are two dynamic lines, and it is itself magnetic. These conditions prevent her from receiving much help from line four. She should be quiet and not be anxious for action. The emphasis of what is said derives from her being the first line of the figure, at "the commencement of things."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset the man wants to endure. Whatever endures must be gradually matured. There is no advantage in precipitous action.
Wing: Do not attempt to wholly and quickly embrace a method or system that is new to you. Life-styles cannot be changed overnight. There are no shortcuts to reform. Such things are cultivated and matured in order to bring about the desired results.
Editor: The image depicts compulsive persistence in trying to force an issue or in seeking a premature synthesis. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number thirty-four, Great Power,implying that perhaps you are too impatient for results. The Work demands change, and often we long for some measure of stability which is inappropriate to the process taking place. Ritsema/Karcher translate “Without direction: Harvesting” as: "No plan or direction is advantageous; in order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events." The second clause suggests that circumstances will improve if you just don't meddle with them.
A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability. Abraham Lincoln
A. Don't push the river. You are trying too hard to succeed. Curb your impatience and allow the Work to go at its own pace. Let things develop naturally.
B. A premature synthesis. You are jumping to conclusions. The principles of the Work are your guide to action, not the superficial changes in your milieu.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows all occasion for repentance disappearing.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Remorse disappears.
Blofeld: Regret vanishes.
Liu: Remorse vanishes. [A stable situation is now possible.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Repenting extinguished.
Shaughnessy: Regret is gone.
Cleary (1): Regret disappears.
Wu: Regret disappears.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He can abide long in the due mean. Wilhelm/Baynes: It is permanently central. Blofeld: The line implies ability to remain upon the middle path. [I.e. To avoid extremes and cleave to the golden mean. This is suggested by the position of the line which is central to the lower trigram.] Ritsema/Karcher: Ability lasting, centering indeed. [The ideogram: field divided in two equal parts. Image of hexagram 61.]Cleary (2): One can remain balanced. Wu: (He) can remain in the central position for a long time.
Legge: Line two is dynamic, but in the place of a magnetic line. However, because of his central position he holds fast to the due mean.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man endures by keeping his force of character within the bounds of available power.
Wing: Apply just enough consistent force to effect the situation. Too much energy, or too little, will create chaos. Avoid extremes in your actions.
Editor: Line two is the dynamic correlate of the magnetic fifth line, and thus becomes the ruler of the hexagram. The meanings of both lines are derived from this switch of positions. (Ordinarily the fifth place is the seat of the ruler.) If both lines change, the hexagram becomes number thirty-one, Initiative, with which the figure is intimately connected, as Legge's notes point out. This suggests that consistency in the World of the Senses (domain of the ego) allows the initiative to originate from the World of Thought (the domain of the Self – the Causal Plane of Theosophy); which is to say that the ego's consistent perseverance is essential for the transformation of the psyche. The attitude which is often necessary to accomplish this is symbolized in the IX of Wands in the Tarot:
This card symbolizes those qualities that cause one to defend principles which may not be fully understood. And whether or not he understands what he is doing in its every aspect, he will do it as best he is able. F.D. Graves -- The Windows of Tarot
A. Your position is correct. Stand fast and preserve the Work.
B. Emanation from inner planes is facilitated by the ego’s skill in managing the Work.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows a field where there is no game.
Wilhelm/Baynes: No game in the field.
Blofeld: No game in the field.
Liu: No birds in the field. For a long time one is out of place. How can one get birds. [If you receive this line, you should not expect success, even with heightened efforts. Rather, be wary of losing your present position.]
Ritsema/Karcher: The fields without wildfowl.
Shaughnessy: In the fields there is no game.
Cleary(1): Fields, no game.
Wu: He hunts, but his bag is empty.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Going for long to what is not his proper place, how can he get game? Wilhelm/Baynes: When one is forever absent from one's place, how can one find game? Blofeld: How can one who remains long out of place hope to gain his quarry? [ A reference to the unsuitable position of this line. An example of what is implied is furnished by people whose talents and interests incline them towards a profession quite different from the one in which they are employed; with the best will in the world, they cannot do justice to themselves.]Ritsema/Karcher: No lasting whatever: one's situation. Quietly acquiring the wildfowl indeed. Cleary(2): This is not the place for persistence. How can one catch game? Wu: He has not been in the right place for a long period of time. How can he have bagged any game?
Legge: Line four is dynamic in a magnetic place, thus suggesting the symbolism.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Perseverance alone does not assure success. No amount of stalking will lead to game in a field that has none.
Wing: Be certain your goals are realistic. If you try to achieve things that are unlikely, no matter how vigorously, you will still accomplish absolutely nothing. Perhaps you should re-evaluate your desires.
Editor: There is sometimes an implication in this line that if you would just sit still maybe the game would come to you.
The dead came back from Jerusalem, where they did not find what they were seeking. Jung -- VII Sermones ad Mortuos
A. You can't find what you seek where it doesn't exist.
B. Your present course of action is fruitless, or your speculation is incorrect.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows its subject continuously maintaining the virtue indicated by it. In a wife this will be fortunate; in a husband, evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Giving duration to one's character through perseverance. This is good fortune for a woman, misfortune for a man.
Blofeld: Making a virtue of marital constancy is a type of persistence which brings good fortune to women, but is harmful to men. [Here "constancy" is used in the limited sense of devotion to husband or wife and willingness to submit absolutely to his or her judgment.]
Liu: Firmly instilling duration in one's character is good fortune for a woman, but not for a man.
Ritsema/Karcher: Persevering one's actualizing-tao: Trial. Wife people: significant. The husband, the son: pitfall. [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.]
Shaughnessy: Making constant his virtue; determination is auspicious for the wife, inauspicious for the husband.
Cleary(1): Constancy in virtue; this righteousness is good for a woman, bad for a man.
Cleary (2): The fidelity of constancy in virtue bodes well for a woman, bodes ill for a man.
Wu: The subject perseveres in principle. This is auspicious for a woman, but ominous for a man.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Such firm correctness in a wife will be fortunate -- it is hers to the end of life to follow with an unchanged mind. The husband must decide what is right, and lay down the rule accordingly -- for him to follow like a wife is evil. Wilhelm/Baynes: Perseverance brings good fortune for a woman, because she follows one man all her life. A man must hold to his duty; if he follows the woman, the results are bad. Blofeld: A woman follows one lord for the whole of her life, but men have to hold to their public duties. For them to subordinate themselves to women would bring shame upon them. Ritsema/ Karcher: Adhering-to the-one and-also completing indeed. Adhering-to the wife: pitfall indeed. Cleary (2): What bodes well in fidelity for a woman is consistency from start to finish. For a man doing his duty, to follow a woman bodes ill. Wu: She perseveres in playing her devoted role to the very end. Ominous for a man, because he should judge each issue on its merit and not follow the role of a woman.
Legge: The magnetic fifth line responds to the dynamic second, and may be supposed to represent a wife conscious of her weakness, and docilely submissive, which is correct. A husband, however, and a man generally, has to assert himself, and lay down the rule of what is right. From line five it appears that what is right will vary in different cases. The lesson of the hexagram is perseverance in what is right in each particular case.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is faithful to tradition and submits meekly. These are desirable virtues for a wife but not for a man of affairs. He should be flexible and assertive, according to the demands of duty and the tenor of the times.
Wing: When you are seeking earthly things, apply earthly methods. When your goals are lofty and ambitious, your methods must be inventive and daring. Learn to apply the appropriate kind of effort to achieve the effect you desire.
Editor: What appears to be outrageous sexism is seen to be a profound truth when interpreted symbolically. The wife is emotion, the husband reason, and the line examines the crucial division of labor between them. Reason must be flexible or it becomes petrified into dogma; emotion must remain firm and not give in to impulse or it becomes uncontrolled passion. The circumstances of each situation dictate their proper response. In the flux and flow of life, mindless adherence to "precedent" is the strategy of shysters and dogmatists.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction. Kahlil Gibran -- The Prophet
A. Control your emotions and allow reason to make the choices. Reason should at all times be flexible and allow itself to be guided by the requirements of the time. Emotion, on the other hand, must always maintain a firm adherence to the principles of moderation and restraint.
Other titles: After Completion, The Symbol of What is Already Past, Already Fording, Already Completed, Settled, Mission Accomplished, Tasks Completed, After the End, A state of Climax
Judgment
Legge:Completion intimates progress and success in small matters. There is advantage in firm correctness. There had been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: After Completion. Success in small matters. Perseverance furthers. At the beginning good fortune, at the end disorder.
Blofeld:After Completion -- success in small matters! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Good fortune at the start; disorder in the end. [Perhaps persistence may help to lessen the disorder that threatens to come upon us after some initial success.]
Liu: Completion. Success in the small. It benefits to continue. Good fortune at first; disorder in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher:Already Fording. Growing: the small. Harvesting Trial. Initially significant. Completing: disarraying. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of an important move from one position to another. It emphasizes that actively proceeding with the crossing is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Already Completed: Receipt; slightly beneficial to determine; initially auspicious, in the end disordered.
Cleary (1):Settlement is developmental, but it is minimized. It is beneficial to be correct. The beginning is auspicious, the end confused.
Cleary (2): Settlement is successful, even in small matters … etc.
Wu: Mission Accomplished indicates a small degree of pervasiveness and the advantage of being persevering. It is characterized by goodness in the beginning, but tumult in the end.
The Image
Legge: The image of water above fire formsCompletion. The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of the evil that may come, and guards against it in advance.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water over fire: the image of the condition in After Completion. Thus the superior man takes thought of misfortune and arms himself against it in advance.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water above fire. The Superior Man deals with trouble by careful thought and by taking advance precautions.
Liu: Water above fire symbolizes Completion. The superior man ponders danger and takes precautions against it.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stream located above fire. Already Fording. A chun tzu uses pondering distress and-also providing-for defending-against it.
Cleary (1): Water is above fire,Settled.Thus superior peopleconsider problems and prevent them.
Wu: There is water above fire; this is Mission Accomplished. Thus the jun zi conceives ways to prevent disaster.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and success in small matters, with advantage in firm correctness. The dynamic and magnetic lines are correctly arranged, each in its proper place. There has been good fortune in the beginning because the magnetic second line is in the center. In the end there is a cessation of effort, and disorder arises. The course that led to rule and order is now exhausted.
Legge: The two written Chinese characters translated here as Completion represent two ideas -- the symbol of being past or completed, and the symbol of crossing a stream -- with a secondary meaning of helping and completing. When combined, the two characters express the idea of successful accomplishment. The hexagram denotes the kingdom finally at rest -- the vessel of state has been brought safely across the great and dangerous stream, the distresses of the realm have been relieved and its disorders rectified. Small things need to be completed: the new government must be consolidated and its ruler must, without noise or clamor, go on to perfect what has been wrought with firm correctness and without forgetting the inherent instability of all human affairs. That every line of the hexagram is in its correct place, and has its proper correlate emphasizes the intimation of progress and success.
The K'ang-hsi editors compare this hexagram and the next with number eleven, Harmony, and number twelve, Divorcement, observing that the goodness of Harmony is concentrated, as here, in the second line. Disorder after completion is inevitable. All things move on with a constant process of change. Disorder succeeds to order, and again order to disorder.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: All's well that ends well, but the new cycle demands as much willpower as the last. Make no drastic choices during a transition.
The Superior Man anticipates conflict and is prepared for it in advance.
The sixty-third hexagram is the reference hexagram which depicts the correlation of properly matched dynamic and magnetic lines. On the basis of this figure, all of the other hexagrams (except the first and second, which are their "parents"), are compared. Yet, despite the fact that every line is in its proper place, not one of them has an easy auspice, and both the Judgment and Image are subdued and cautionary. The general idea is that as long as we draw breath in this spacetime dimension, our lives and Work are incomplete. Cycles complete themselves, certainly, but Completion in that sense is the "completion" of the full moon, which as soon as it reaches maximum brilliance immediately begins to wane.
Among those engaged in psycho-spiritual work, there is a great deal of energy focused on "enlightenment," and the natural desire of each aspirant to attain that state of consciousness as soon as possible. Many there are who wander from one conception of the Work to another in the hope that this particular discipline, or that particular Guru will provide the transcendent answer that the last one didn't.
This is a very deceptive illusion, because the chances that any given individual will attain perfect enlightenment in any given lifetime are probably miniscule to the point of insignificance. (How many truly enlightened beings have you ever met in your life?)
But the first signs of this symbolism are far from indicating that unity has been attained. Just as alchemy has a great many procedures, ranging from the "work of one day" to the "the errant quest" lasting for decades, so the tensions between the psychic pair of opposites ease off only gradually; and, like the alchemical end- product, which always betrays its essential duality, the united personality will never quite lose the painful sense of innate discord. Complete redemption from the sufferings of this world is and must remain an illusion ... The goal is important only as an idea; the essential thing is the opus which leads to the goal: that is the goal of a lifetime. In its attainment "left and right" are united, and conscious and unconscious work in harmony. Jung-- Psychology of the Transference
The Work is a slow, organic process of transforming unconscious forces, which demands almost superhuman levels of discipline to accomplish. One can make a great deal of progress in one lifetime, but the Work can not be said to be complete until physical death “completes” it -- at that point, assuming the ego has acquired enough strength of will, perhaps one can facilitate a "permanent" synthesis of the forces one has spent a lifetime in training. Death is the doorway back to our Source, and if we enter that doorway consciously and correctly we can consolidate a great deal of power which will serve us well in the next cycle, in whatever dimension that cycle may take place.
It is even doubtful whether a man can arrive at the summit of all perfection as long as he lives in an imperfect physical form, because the imperfections of the form hamper the spirit, and only a spirit that has outgrown the necessity to live in a physical form may be said to have arrived at that high degree of perfection at which a perfect knowledge of self, and consequently a perfect knowledge of the universe is obtained. F. Hartmann --Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies