In conflict, find your courage to plant the seeds of growth and rise to new heights.
From
38
Opposition
To
46
Pushing Upward
Targeting those one had to defend
One admits to having had incestuous intercourse. taoscopy.com
Opposition38
Conflict arises from differences. Seek common ground and understanding to overcome separations and oppositions. Mutual respect paves the way for harmony.
↓ Line 1
Initial opposition can be overcome by patience and self-restraint. Avoid hasty actions.
↓ Line 3
Initial setbacks may occur, but perseverance leads to eventual success.
↓ Line 4
Finding allies in times of opposition can lead to mutual support and success.
↓ Line 6
Misjudgments can lead to unnecessary conflict. Clarity and understanding bring resolution and good fortune.
↓ Pushing Upward46
Steady growth and progress through perseverance and effort. Step-by-step advancement leads to success.
Other titles: Opposition, The Symbol of Strangeness and Disunion, The Estranged, Opposites, Polarizing, Alienation, Distant From, Perversion, Disharmony, Separated, Contradiction, Estrangement, Incongruity
Judgment
Legge: Despite Mutual Alienation there will be success in small matters.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Opposition. in small matters, good fortune.
Blofeld: The Estranged -- good fortune in small matters.
Liu: Opposition. In small things, good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Polarizing, Small Affairs significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of things that are connected but should not join. It emphasizes that putting things in opposition while acknowledging their essential link is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Perversion: Little affairs are auspicious.
Cleary (1): Disharmony. A small matter will turn out all right.
Cleary (2): Opposition, Etc.
Wu: Incongruity indicates auspiciousness for doing small things.
The Image
Legge: The image of fire over a marsh forms Mutual Alienation. The superior man, in accordance with this, accepts the diversities which make up the whole.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Above fire; below the lake: the image of Opposition. Thus amid all fellowship the superior man retains his individuality.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire above and a marshy lake below. The Superior Man achieves difference through unity.
Liu: Fire above the lake symbolizes Opposition. Living with the people, the superior man distinguishes among them.
Ritsema/Karcher: Fire above, marsh below. Polarizing. A chun tzu uses concording and-also dividing. [Cf. Solve et Coagula—Ed.]
Cleary (1): Above is fire, below is a lake, disparate. Thus are superior people the same yet different.
Cleary (2): Above is fire, below is a lake – opposite. Developed people, etc.
Wu: Fire above and marsh below form Incongruity. Thus the Jun zi take separate paths, but arrive at the same goal.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Mutual Alienation we see fire ascending and water descending. We see two sisters living together whose wills move in opposite directions. However, the lower trigram of Cheerfulness is attached to the upper trigram of Clarity, and the magnetic fifth line is responded to by the dynamic second line; these are signs that there can still be good fortune in small matters. Heaven and earth are separate and apart, but the work which they do is the same. Male and female are separate and apart, but with a common will they seek the same object. There is a diversity between the myriad classes of beings, but there is an analogy between their several operations. Great indeed are the phenomena and the results of this condition of disunion and separation.
Legge: Mutual Alienationshows a condition in which disunion and mistrust prevail. The hexagram teaches how this state of affairs may be overcome in small matters and the way prepared for the cure of the whole system. The commentators suggest that the condition symbolized here is a necessary sequel to the regulation of the family in the preceding hexagram.
The K'ang-hsi editors observe that in many hexagrams we have two daughters dwelling together, but that only in this and number forty-nine is attention called to it. The reason is that in these two diagrams the sisters are the second and third daughters, while in the others one of them is the eldest, whose place and superiority are fixed, so that between her and either of the others there can be no division or collision. The lesson in the Confucian commentary is not unity in diversity, but union with diversity.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: In resolving disputes, begin with their least controversial aspects.
The Superior Man respects alternative points of view.
Turn the hexagram of Familyupside-down and you get the hexagram ofMutual Alienation. The opposite of family unity is estrangement, which combined with the idea of polarity, suggests the kind of energetic "pushing away" one feels when two horseshoe magnets are matched to the same poles. Despite this opposition however, every line deals positively with the situation -- there is not one image in the hexagram that doesn't intimate an eventual resolution.
The thirty-eighth hexagram lays even more emphasis than usual on the relationships (polarities) existing between its correlate lines. This suggests that inner connections outrank any superficial estrangement. The Mutual Alienationthen, is not a permanent condition -- it represents more of a challenge than a disaster. All polarity is potential energy to accomplish useful work, and in this hexagram the polarities are more than usually available for this purpose. This doesn't mean that the work here is necessarily easy, just that it offers a major opportunity for growth.
A crisis develops when some pressure or event creates a state of uncomfortable disequilibrium which fails to respond to usual defenses and coping mechanisms. It involves danger with both a considerable risk for worsening and opportunity for growth (with enhancement of insight, mastery, and self-esteem) ... The patient should be educated to understand his situation and helped to see that painful episodes may prove to be part of a constructive process, and are not proof of a dire outcome. R.P. Kluft -- Hypnotherapeutic Crisis Intervention in Multiple Personality
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows that to its subject occasion for repentance will disappear. He has lost his horses, but let him not seek for them -- they will return of themselves. Should he meet with bad men, he will not err in communicating with them.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Remorse disappears. If you lose your horse, do not run after it; it will come back of its own accord. When you see evil people, guard yourself against mistakes.
Blofeld: Regret vanishes! Do not follow the straying horse, for it will return of its own accord. Though he allows evil men to visit him, he remains without error.
Liu: Remorse vanishes. If one loses a horse, one should not look for it; it will return by itself. Even if one sees evil men, no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Repenting extinguished. Losing the horse, no pursuit, originating-from returning. Visualizing hateful people. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Regret is gone; Losing a horse, do not pursue; it will of itself return. Seeing an ugly man; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Regret disappears: When you lose the horse, don’t chase it – it will return on its own. Seeing an evil person, there is no blame.
Cleary (2): Regret vanishes. Having lost the horse, do not chase after it – it will come back by itself. Seeing evil people, there is no blame. [Whenever thoughts of gain and loss become serious, or the idea of good and bad is too defined, then what is the same will be differentiated, and what is different cannot be made the same. Only when we follow firm and upright celestial virtue do gain and loss disappear, good and bad merge. Then even if we are in a time of oppositions, we can be free of regret.]
Wu: There will be no regret. He need not look for a lost horse, as it will come back by itself. If he meets with a disagreeable man, there will be no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He communicates with the bad men to avoid the evil of their condemnation. Wilhelm/Baynes: When you see evil people, avoid mistakes. Blofeld: That is to say, his very purpose in receiving them is to avoid error. [We must expect to encounter unlikable people whom it would be impolitic or dangerous to ignore.] Ritsema/Karcher: Using casting-out fault indeed. Cleary (2): Seeing evil people, one avoids blame. Wu: He meets with a disagreeable man to avoid getting into troubles.
Legge: The first line is dynamic in a dynamic place, but his correlate in line four is also dynamic, so disappointment and repentance are likely to ensue. However, through the good services of line four the first line won't have to repent. His condition may be symbolized by a traveler’s loss of his horses, which return to him of themselves.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man slips into avoidable mistakes during times of opposition. When members of his own fold are estranged, he should not run after them; he should let them come back of their own accord. On the other hand, those who do not belong to this group but force their evil presence into the company must be endured. This silences their slanderous tongues; they will withdraw of their own accord.
Wing: There is an estrangement present between elements that naturally belong together. Do not try to reunify the situation with force. Allow things to return to a state of accord naturally, as they will. Do not worry about it. Things will work themselves out. If something inferior is being forced upon you, a cold shoulder will work wonders.
Editor: Psychologically, to lose one's horses is to lose one's power, or to have emotion "run away with itself." The image suggests a temporary loss which one need not worry about. To "communicate with bad men" means to consciously monitor your negative feelings -- to be aware of resentments, fears, hostility, or whatever the situation has called forth, without acting on them. In other words, maintain your will in the face of unstable impulses. The unusual beneficial correlation between two dynamic lines in one and four recalls a similar configuration in hexagram number fifty-five.
Analytic experience has shown that there seems to be a general law which decides between psychic health and psychopathology. The balance is tipped by the ego's strength, capacity and willingness to unbar the doors and windows to the unconscious and to receive the stranger; that is, to confront and channel the inner world of images and affects while, at the same time, retaining its own grasp upon external reality. E.C. Whitmont --The Symbolic Quest
A. A temporary conflict will soon resolve itself. Endure the inferior elements in the situation without polarizing them to action.
B. For the moment your emotions have run away with you. Confront a harmful or severely limiting attitude or belief.
Line 3
Legge: In the third line, magnetic, we see one whose carriage is dragged back, while the oxen in it are pushed back, and she is herself subjected to the shaving of her head and the cutting off of her nose. There is no good beginning, but there will be a good end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One sees the wagon dragged back, the oxen halted, a man's hair and nose cut off. Not a good beginning, but a good end.
Blofeld: He watched them dragging at his axle and striking his oxen. As for himself, his topknot and nose were sliced off -- not much of a beginning, but there was an end to his troubles. [This is a frighteningly inauspicious line. We must expect severe trouble; the only comfort we can take is the knowledge that it will not be permanent.]
Liu: When the ox stopped, the cart moved back. He sees a man whose hair and nose have been cut off. Misfortune in the beginning, good fortune later.
Ritsema/Karcher: Visualizing the cart pulled-back. One's cattle hampered.
One's person stricken, moreover nose-cut. Without initially possessing completion.
Shaughnessy: Seeing the cart with one horn upturned, its cow dragging, its man branded on the forehead and with his nose cut off; there is no beginning, there is an end.
Cleary (1): One sees the vehicle dragged back, the ox halted; the person’s hair and nose are cut off. There is no beginning, but there is an end.
Cleary (2): Having the vehicle dragged back, the ox halted, the person is punished by heaven. There is no beginning, but there is an end.
Wu: He sees a cart pulled back, its ox led away, and its carter’s forehead tattooed and his nose cut off. He has a bad beginning that ends well.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The carriage is drawn back because of the inappropriateness of the line's position. The good end arises from her meeting with the strong topmost line. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the right one. This happens through meeting one that is firm. Blofeld: The first part of this passage is indicated by the unsuitable position of the line. That, despite this poor beginning, there is an end to his troubles -- or ours -- can be deduced from this line's meeting with a firm one immediately above it. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Meeting a solid indeed. Cleary (2): Out of place. Having firmness. Wu: His place is out of order. He engages in strength.
Legge: Line three is magnetic where it ought to be dynamic. Her correlate line six is dynamic, and the relation between them might be correct if the magnetic three wasn't sandwiched between the dynamic second and fourth lines. Because it is a time of disunion, these two check and repulse her. At the same time, line six inflicts upon three the punishments mentioned. It is thus bad for three at first, but in the end it will go well with her, and this will be due to the strength of the sixth line. What is right and good is destined to triumph over what is wrong and bad. Disorder shall eventually give place to order, and disunion to union.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Things look completely hopeless. The man is opposed and dishonored. But if he clings to what he believes to be right, the ending will be good.
Wing: Difficulties will pile on difficulties and you will be opposed at every turn. Although this is a bad beginning, there is a possibility of a good ending. Cling to what you know is right or align yourself with a strong helper and the matter will end well.
Wilhelm (from Lectures on the I Ching): A complete change is taking place. This, however, is connected with utmost difficulty... This is the time of battles. Often, just after receiving the call, one makes no progress. And even if one succeeds for a short time, obstructions soon develop. One's own person is seen as weak among so many strong persons, and the movement, which is still governed by opposition that must be overcome, has at every step internal as well as external obstructions.
Editor: This is a very difficult line. Carriage: Vehicle, forward motion, ability to advance. Oxen: Castrated bulls used as draft animals: an image of inexorable power or motive force. Hair: Energy, power, (Samson lost his strength when his hair was cut off.) Nose: Subtle discrimination, intuition. The line is an image of (usually undeserved) interference that impedes development. Sometimes it can be a reminder that humiliation and impotence in the service of the Work do not last forever.
The news from France is very bad, and I grieve for the gallant French people who have fallen into this terrible misfortune. We shall defend our island, and, with the British Empire around us, we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted from the brows of men. We are sure that in the end all will be well. Winston Churchill, June 17, 1940
A. It seems all but impossible to succeed now. However, if you keep the faith, the prognosis is for victory.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows its subject solitary amidst the prevailing disunion. But he meets with the good man represented by the first line, and they blend their sincere desires together. The position is one of peril, but there will be no mistake.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Isolated through opposition, one meets a like-minded man with whom one can associate in good faith. Despite the danger, no blame.
Blofeld: After suffering estrangement and loneliness, she met an admirable husband and mutual confidence grew between them -- unpleasantness, but no error! [For those to whom the literal interpretation does not apply, the last six words of the commentary are all that matter.]
Liu: Isolated owing to opposition, he meets a strong man and they associate sincerely. Even though there is danger, no blame.
Shaughnessy: Perverse solitude; meeting the prime fellow and interacting returning; danger; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Disharmony in solitude; meeting good people, associate sincerely, and though it be trying, there will be no fault.
Cleary (2): The solitude of opposition. Meeting good people, associate sincerely, work hard, and there will be no blame.
Wu: He is isolated because of incongruity. He meets with a man of strength. With mutual trust, there will be no error despite difficult situations.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Their common aim is carried into effect. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The will effects its purpose. Blofeld: What is said about mutual confidence and freedom from error indicates the fulfillment of what is willed. Ritsema/Karcher: Adversity, without fault. Mingling conforming, without fault. Purpose moving indeed. Cleary (2): Associate sincerely, and there will be no blame, for the aim will be carried out. Wu: With mutual trust there will be no error, because his wishes prevail.
Legge: Line four has no proper correlate, and might seem to be solitary. But, as we saw on line one, in this hexagram, correlates of the same class help each other. Hence lines four and one meet together and work with good will and success.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man finds a like-minded person among the opposition. They blend their honest desires and achieve a common goal.
Wing: In the midst of opposition and isolation you will find someone with whom you have an inner affinity. A mutual trust can now develop and dangers can be overcome together. This cooperation can lead to significant accomplishments.
Editor: The image is one of an alliance with a kindred spirit during troubled times. Wilhelm and Blofeld render the Confucian commentary in terms of willpower achieving its goal. Psychologically, the image of this line suggests a strong connection between ego and Self during a period of general psychic polarization.
Man's free will arises from the fact that he feels the life in himself as his own, and that God leaves him so to feel in order that conjunction may be effected -- which is not possible unless it be reciprocal, and it becomes reciprocal when man acts from freedom altogether as from himself. Swedenborg -- True Christian Religion
A. Forces in opposition create estrangement and isolation. Association with a strong unifying force creates conditions for resolving the conflict. Despite estrangement and disunion, one has an ally.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows its subject solitary amidst the prevailing disunion. In the subject of the third line, he seems to see a pig bearing on its back a load of mud, or fancies there is a carriage full of ghosts. He first bends his bow against her, and afterwards unbends it, for he discovers that she is not an assailant to injure, but a near relative. Going forward, he shall meet with the genial rain, and there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Isolated through opposition, one sees one's companion as a pig covered with dirt, as a wagon full of devils. First one draws a bow against him, then one lays the bow aside. He is not a robber; he will woo at the right time. As one goes, rain falls; then good fortune comes.
Blofeld: Wandering estranged and lonely, he saw a boar covered with mud and a wagon loaded with demons. First he stretched his bow, but then put it aside. It is not an obstacle but a matter of betrothal which causes delay or hesitation. If rain is encountered during the conduct of affairs, good fortune will ensue. [The first two sentences imply that we shall meet with unpleasant and frightening things; that, at first, we shall think to fend them off, but then decide to let them be. The sentence about betrothal means only that there will be some delay or hesitation for very good reasons. The last sentence may or may not mean exactly what it says. If we decide that it is not to be taken literally, then we must take it to mean that a slight setback on the way is a good omen.]
Liu: Isolated due to opposition, one sees a dirty pig by the roadside, and many devils in a cart. First he draws his bow against him, then he puts it down. He is not a robber, he will propose marriage. If he meets the rainfall, there will be good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Perverse solitude; seeing a pig with mud on its back and one cart carrying ghosts; the first drawn bow is later released into the jar; it is not robbers who in the evening have intercourse; going and meeting rain then it will be auspicious.
Cleary (1): Disharmony results in isolation; see a pig covered with mire, a wagon carrying devils. First you draw the bow, later you put the bow down. It is not an enemy but a partner. Going on, it is fortunate if you encounter rain.
Cleary (2): … Encountering rain, then there is good fortune.
Wu: He is isolated because of incongruity. He sees a pig hoarding mud on its back and a cart loaded with ghosts. At first he draws his bow, but soon after laying it down, he realizes what he sees is not a transgressor, but a suitor. It will be auspicious if he goes ahead and encounters rain.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune of the rain symbolizes the passing away of all doubts. Wilhelm/Baynes: All doubts disappear. Blofeld: The last sentence implies the dispersal of all doubt. [Coupling this commentary with what is said about rain, we may suppose that, if rain (or an unexpected setback) occurs, then we shall no longer have any reason to doubt the successful outcome of our plans.] Ritsema/Karcher: The flock doubt extinguished indeed. Cleary (2): Doubts disappear. Wu: The dissolution of all doubts.
Legge: Line six is a magnetic place, yet this line is dynamic -- what can he do? He looks at the magnetic three, his proper correlate, with the mistrustful eye of disunion. The third line appears no better than a filthy pig, no more real than an impossible carriage-load of ghosts. He bends his bow, then unbends it when he discovers that three is his friend, as did one in four, and five in two. He acts with good luck, comparable to the falling rain which results from the happy union of the yang and yin in nature.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man misjudges his friend unfairly because of misunderstandings. But he realizes his mistake and relieves the tension.
Wing: Misunderstandings and mistrust have caused you to lose all perspective. You see your true friends as enemies and become defensive. You will, however, see your mistakes, and the tensions will be relieved. Just when Contradictions are at their worst they begin to ebb. Good fortune.
Editor: The image is quite clear -- through misperception one initially rejects something valuable which appears to be either repugnant or fantastic. Psychologically, this suggests the idea of projection -- the assignment of our own unconscious material to external phenomena. To "go forward to meet the rain” is to make the proper connection -- to unite with the truth. In the I Ching rain always means the union between heaven and earth, above and below, Self and ego, thought and feeling, etc. The supreme union is a holy marriage, as described in hexagram number eleven. Here it simply refers to making a connection -- getting the message.
These psychic elements lying behind the ego in the individual's unconscious are projected, that is, they are reflected or mirrored externally, in persons and things and situations which therefore acquire for him a significance and power of attraction borrowed from the unknown aspects of his own psyche. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. What you perceive as evil circumstances will in time reveal themselves as fortunate.
B. Disparate elements in the psyche are about to come together. You perceive disunion where none exists.
Other titles: The Symbol of Rising and Advancing, Ascending, Ascension, Rising, Promotion, Advancement, Sprouting from the Earth, Organic Growth
Judgment
Legge:Pushing Upward means successful progress. Have no anxiety about meeting with the great man. An advance to the south is fortunate.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Pushing Upward has supreme success. One must see the great man. Fear not. Departure toward the south brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Ascending. Supreme success! It is essential to see a great man, so as to banish anxiety. Progressing towards the south brings good fortune.
Liu: Ascending. Great Success. One should see a great man. Without fear. An expedition to the south leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Ascending, Spring Growing. Availing-of visualizing Great People. No cares. The South, chastising significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of rising to a higher level. It emphasizes that setting a higher goal and working toward it step by step is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: ascend!]
Shaughnessy:Ascending: Prime receipt; beneficial to see the great man. Do not pity. For the southern campaign, auspicious.
Cleary(1): Rising is greatly developmental; it calls for seeing a great person, so there will be no grief. An expedition south brings good fortune.
Cleary (2):Rising is very successful, etc.
Wu:Ascension indicates great pervasion. It will be useful to see the great man. No anxiety. It will be auspicious to go south.
The Image
Legge: Wood growing in the earth -- the image of Pushing Upward. The superior man accumulates small increments of virtue until it becomes high and great.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Within the earth, wood grows: the image of Pushing Upward. Thus the superior man of devoted character heaps up small things in order to achieve something high and great.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes tress growing upwards from the earth. The Superior Man most willingly accords with virtuous ways; starting from small things, he accumulates a great heap of merit.
Liu: The wood grows in the earth, symbolizing Ascending. The superior man devotes his virtue to building things up from the small to the high and great.
Ritsema/Karcher: Earth center giving-birth-to wood. Ascending. A chun tzu uses yielding to actualize-tao. A chun tzu uses amassing the small to use the high great.
[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): Trees grow on the earth, rising. Thus do superior people follow virtue, accumulating the small to lofty greatness.
Wu: Trees grow from earth; this is Ascension. Thus the Jun zi diligently cultivates his virtues little by little to become tall and large like trees growing.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The magnetic line ascends as opportunity permits. We have Flexibility, Obedience and a dynamic line below with his magnetic correlate above: this means successful progress. See the great man -- his will is accomplished in the south.
Legge: The character for this hexagram means advancing in an upward direction, or ascending. The figure symbolizes the promotion of an able officer to the highest pinnacle of distinction. The action of the dynamic second line is tempered by being in the magnetic central position of the lower trigram. As the representative of Pushing Upward he is forceful, yet modest and the magnetic fifth line ruler welcomes his advance. The officer therefore has the qualities that fit him to ascend as well as a favorable opportunity to do so.
After he has met with the "great man" in line five, advance to the south will be fortunate. Chu Hsi says that this is equivalent to "advancing forwards.” Since the south is the region of brightness and warmth, the progress will be easy and agreeable.
The lower trigram symbolizes Wood, and its weak first line is the root of a tree buried in the earth of the upper trigram. The gradual growth of this root pushes the trunk upward as the circumstances of time permit.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Ascend in accordance with the will of the Self. Turn toward clarity.
The Superior Man grows a little every day.
The image of the 46th hexagram is of a plant growing in the earth, gradually pushing upward toward the sun. That "an advance to the south is fortunate" means that as all plants turn southward toward the sun, their source of nourishment, so should we turn toward the light and clarity of the "great man" or Self within us.
The upward advancement of the Work is an organic process. There is no such thing as "instant enlightenment." The many stories and parables of instant Satori which are common in the Zen Buddhist tradition are actually just dramatic accounts of the final few moments' resolution that come after a lifetime of slow and patient devotion. The Work progresses at the pace of a tree -- what started out as an acorn eventually becomes a forest giant, but it doesn't happen overnight.
Remember ever that Mind in its entirety is ever the Builder. For it is step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, that the attaining is accomplished in the mental, the spiritual, the material applications of an entity in this material world. Edgar Cayce – Book of Changes
This slow growth is an accumulation of countless "gathering togethers" as depicted in the preceding hexagram, of whichPushing Upward is the upside-down image. It is estimated that an adult human being grows from a single cell to about one-hundred billion cells through a process of fifty-billion mitotic divisions. It is interesting to observe that "one-hundred-billion" is the scientific estimate of the number of stars in any given galaxy. If we apply the Hermetic Axiom: "As above, so below" to this relationship of macrocosm to microcosm we get the image of our solar system as a single atom in the "body" of a galactic entity.
That should put the Work into perspective!
Understand that thou art a second little world and that the sun and the moon are within thee, and also the stars. Origen --Homiliae in Leviticum