Other titles: Nourishment, Calculated Inaction, Attending, Biding One's Time, Nourishment Through Inaction, Waiting for Nourishment, Moistened, "Waiting with the assurance that a blessing will come." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Waitingintimates that with sincerity and firmness there will be brilliant success and good fortune. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Waiting. If you are sincere, you have light and success. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
Blofeld: Calculated inaction (or exhibiting the power to wait) and the confidence of others win brilliant success. Righteous persistence brings good fortune. It will be advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). [The significance of this hexagram is that inaction while awaiting the outcome of events will enable us to avoid a danger now threatening. Firmness, clarity of mind and success in winning the confidence of others are now demanded of us; with them, our undertakings will prosper. Moreover, this period of inaction is a good time in which to go on a journey or else for relaxation and enjoyment.]
Liu: Waiting.If you are sincere you will have glory (light) and success. Continuing leads to good fortune. It is of benefit to cross the great water (to travel to remote places).
Ritsema/Karcher: Attending, possessing conformity . Shining Growing, Trial: significant. Harvesting: wading the Great River. (Editor: "Possessing conformity" is translated as: ... "Inner and outer are in accord; confidence of the spirits has been captured...") [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of being compelled to wait for and serve something. It emphasizes that fixing your attention on what is required while waiting carefully for the right moment to act is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: attend!]
Shaughnessy: Moistened: There is a return, radiant receipt; determination is auspicious; beneficial to ford the great river.
Cleary (1): In Waiting there is sincerity and great development. It is good to be correct. It is beneficial to cross a great river.
Cleary (2):Waiting with truthfulness lights up success in correct orientation toward good. It is beneficial to cross a great river.
Wu: Waiting indicates having confidence. It is brilliant and pervasive and auspicious to be persevering. It will be advantageous to cross the big river.
The Image
Legge: The image of clouds ascending over the sky forms Waiting. The superior man, in accordance with this, eats and drinks, feasts and enjoys himself as if there were nothing else to employ him.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Clouds rise up to heaven: the image of Waiting. Thus the superior man eats and drinks, is joyous and of good cheer.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes clouds rising to the zenith -- inactivity! The Superior Man will pass this time in feasting and enjoyment.
Liu: Clouds rise up in the sky; this symbolizes Waiting. The superior man enjoys his food and drink. He remains relaxed and happy.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above clouds with-respect-to heaven. Attending. A chun tzu uses drinking [and] taking-in to repose delighting.
Cleary (1): Clouds rise to heaven, waiting. The superior person makes merry with food and drink.
Wu: The clouds ascend to the sky; this is Waiting. Thus the jun zi enjoys food and peace.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Waiting shows peril in front, but its subject does not allow himself to be involved in the dangerous defile. The success in sincerity and good fortune in firmness are shown by the position of the fifth line which is correctly situated in the central place assigned by Heaven. Crossing the great stream will be followed by meritorious achievement.
Legge: Waiting is composed of the lower trigram of strength and the upper trigram of peril. Strength confronted by peril might be expected to advance boldly and deal with it at once, but the lesson of the hexagram is that it is wiser to wait until success is sure. In the situation at hand, firm correctness is all that is required for eventual victory.
"Crossing the great stream" is a frequent expression in the I Ching which symbolizes the undertaking of hazardous enterprises, or encountering great difficulties. Historically it refers to the Yellow River which the lords of Chou had to cross in their revolution against the Yin Dynasty tyrants. The crossing made by King Wu in 1122 B.C. was one of the greatest deeds in the history of China, and was preceded by a long period of waiting until success could be assured.
Regarding the Image, it is said that the cloud that has risen to the top of the sky has nothing to do but wait until the harmony of heaven and earth require it to discharge its store of rain. The superior man is likewise counseled to enjoy his idle time while waiting for the correct moment to deal with the approaching danger.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Strength in the face of danger here consists of the will to sit tight and do nothing.
The Superior Man carries on as if nothing was the matter, and nourishes himself through inaction.
There are many kinds of courage -- perhaps the greatest of all is the courage to remain unflinchingly in place when all the circumstances seem to cry out for action. It takes far more courage to wait for the dragon to slowly come to you than to rush forth and attack him in his lair. As a strategy, to out-wait your opponent through pure willpower and inner strength can be more effective than a direct attack -- but it can only succeed when you are truly strong. It is as if the real battle takes place on the inner planes, and the first one to act in the world thereby concedes defeat.
A very large part of the Work consists in disciplining oneself to wait -- to take no action until some indefinite time in the future. This is exceedingly difficult to do, and creates incredible stresses within the psyche -- which is exactly why it is necessary. Psychologically, to "cross the great stream" is to subdue all of the autonomous instincts, drives and emotions that are accustomed to responding whenever they are stimulated. As long as waiting creates feelings of stress, you can be sure that the battle has not been won. When you can wait like the superior man -- as if there were nothing else to do, then you can allow yourself to hope that you may be getting somewhere.
To nourish oneself through inaction is to digest and absorb the energy of one's instinctive responses. As in any nourishing assimilation, their strength then becomes your strength. The true adept is one who has digested all of his passion and is thereby empowered to use it for his own purposes. Instead of engaging in civil war, he has united his forces to act in the world.
Tradition says that Moses did not set the Tabernacle up straight away, but delayed for three months, despite the fact that the people wanted to dedicate it at once. In this is repeated a lesson of patience concerning matters of the spirit. For instead of accepting their Teacher's word, which conveyed the will of God, the Israelites sought to impose their own will over what they had made ... This phenomenon is not unknown among those who cannot wait, which is a vital part of esoteric training. Unfortunately, it has to be demonstrated over and over again that the timing of a spiritual event is contingent upon a cosmic schedule, and not the will of the individual. Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah and Exodus
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject waiting on the sand of the mountain stream. He will suffer the small injury of being spoken against, but in the end there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Inactivity upon the river beach -- some slight gossip may arise, but the final result will be good fortune. [Sitting on a river beach watching the water flow past symbolizes watching what is going forward without taking part.]
Liu: Waiting in the sand (seashore, bank of the river) arouses gossip. Good fortune in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher: Attending tending-towards sands. The small possesses words. Completing significant.
Shaughnessy: Moistened in the sand; there are a few words; in the end auspicious.
Cleary (1): Waiting on the sand, there is some criticism, but it turns out well.
Wu: He is waiting on the sand. He may hear little complaints. Eventually, there will be good fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He occupies his place in the center with a generous forbearance. He will bring things to a good issue. Wilhelm/Baynes: One is calm, for the line is central. Although this leads to some gossip, the end brings good fortune. Blofeld: The first sentence indicates a place with water flowing through the middle. Though there be gossip, all will be well in the end. Ritsema/Karcher: Overflowing located in the center indeed. Although the small possesses words, using completing significant indeed. Cleary (2): There is useless excess within. Though there is some criticism, it is to make the end auspicious. Wu: Indicates having forbearance. It will end with good fortune.
Legge: The sand of line two suggests a nearer approach to the defile, but he is still self-restrained and waiting. That he is a dynamic line in a magnetic and central place shows him to be possessed of a large and generous forbearance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The danger approaches with disagreements and unrest. The man remains self-controlled and does not respond to slander.
Wing: What you propose to do will bring difficulties into your life. Furthermore, you could become a victim of gossip. If this occurs, don't try to defend yourself, as it will only lend weight to what is otherwise insubstantial. Success will eventually come.
Editor:"Sand” often symbolizes time -- the innumerable petty details of life, or the inexorable wearing away of hours, minutes, seconds. When combined with the image of a river bank (Legge, Blofeld, Liu), the notion of waiting for time and events to fulfill themselves is further emphasized. Psychologically, to be "spoken against" refers to the impatient urging of the instinctual-emotional part of the psyche which demands immediate gratification of every current desire. Wilhelm renders "being spoken against" as "gossip," which is rumor, speculation or imagination. (Cleary’s Buddhist text calls it “criticism.”) To exercise a “generous forbearance” means to endure and ignore these illusion-obsessed inner voices. Blofeld's note about "watching what is going forward without taking part” is especially insightful: the line often portrays a situation in which one is required by circumstances to be an inactive observer. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram created is number 63, Completion, suggesting that passive contemplation is linked with fulfillment of the Work.
When Siddhartha listened attentively to this river, to this song of a thousand voices; when he did not listen to the sorrow or laughter, when he did not bind his soul to any one particular voice and absorb it in his Self, but heard them all, the whole, the unity; then the great song of a thousand voices consisted of one word: Om -- perfection. Hermann Hesse -- Siddhartha
A. Contemplate the unfolding situation: restrain your impulse to meddle, even if action seems necessary.
B. For the moment, maintain the status quo.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject waiting in the place of blood. But she will get out of the cavern.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Waiting in blood. Get out of the pit.
Blofeld: Inactivity amidst blood -- we shall emerge from the abyss.
Liu: Waiting in blood. Come out from the pit.
Ritsema/Karcher: Attending tending-towards blood. Issuing- forth originates-from the cave.
Shaughnessy: Moistened in the blood; it comes out from the cavity.
Cleary(1): Waiting in blood. Leaving the cave.
Wu: He is waiting in blood. He exits from the cave.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She accommodates herself to the circumstances of the time, and hearkens to its requirements. Wilhelm/Baynes: He is yielding and obeys. Blofeld: To abstain from action amidst deeds of blood is to accord with the principle of allowing things to take their course. Ritsema/Karcher: Yielding uses hearkening indeed. Cleary (2): Means listening receptively. Wu: Waiting in blood calls for obedience.
Legge: Line four has passed from the lower to the upper trigram and entered the scene of danger and strife: "the place of blood." However, she is magnetic and in her correct place, so she withdraws from engagement with the enemy and is thereby enabled to escape from the cavern. Recognition of the circumstances of the time and yielding to its requirements are the lessons here. She acknowledges her inadequacies and takes the prudent step.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man enters the scene of strife and danger in a life and death struggle. He accommodates himself to fate, stands fast, and refrains from aggravating the problem.
Wing: You are waiting in the very center of chaos. Any sort of confrontation with the problems that present themselves will only make things worse. Remove yourself immediately and unobtrusively from the situation.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, this line sometimes implies that during a transitional phase in the dialectical process of individuation one must avoid any influence that might interfere with that process. Each translator uses a different word for what may be interpreted as an image of the unconscious psyche: "cavern," "pit," "abyss," "cave" and "cavity" all describe a hidden, dark, dangerous influence in the situation at hand.
For the ordinary esoteric aspirant the best approach to the evil within us is, after having recognized and faced it, to starve it, working only upon the development of the good and spiritual qualities. By developing the contact of the Spirit the psyche will eventually be so transformed that there is no room for evil within it. Direct work upon evil forces will tend to set up a polarity and occult link with these forces and this is one thing which must be sedulously avoided. Gareth Knight --Qabalistic Symbolism
A. Withdraw from a dangerous position.
B. "Don't touch it with a ten-foot pole!"
C. Wait until the situation clarifies.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject entered into the cavern. But there are three guests coming, without being urged, to help her. If she receives them respectfully, there will be good fortune in the end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One falls into the pit. Three uninvited guests arrive. Honor them, and in the end there will be good fortune.
Blofeld: Entering a pit. Three uninvited guests arrive; to honor them will ultimately bring good fortune.
Liu: Entering the pit, three unexpected guests arrive. Treat them courteously. Good fortune in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher: Entering tending-towards the cave. Possessing not urging's visitors. Three people coming. Respecting them: completing significant.
Shaughnessy: Entering into the cavity; there are unbidden guests, three men, who come; respect them; in the end auspicious.
Cleary (1): Entering a cave. Three people come, guests not in haste: Respect them, and it will turn out well.
Cleary (2): … Three unhurried guests come … etc.
Wu: He enters the cave. There come three uninvited guests. To receive them with respect will be auspicious in the end.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There has been no great failure in what has been done. Wilhelm/Baynes: Although the line is not in its proper place, at least no great mistake is made. Blofeld: Nothing is lost by it. [There is a Chinese proverb which runs: `Being over-courteous excites no blame from others.'] Ritsema/ Karcher: Not-yet the great let-go indeed. Cleary (2): Even though you do not reach rank, still you have not lost much. Wu: Although his position is not tenable, he has not faulted badly.
Legge: The magnetic sixth line has entered deeply into the cavern. Her correlate third line comes with two dynamic companions from the lower trigram to give help. If they are respectfully received, that help will prove effectual.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man falls into great complications. Everything looks black. But unexpected help arrives. If he is sensitive to it and accepts it graciously, there will be a happy turn of events.
Wing: The time is complex. The waiting is over because the difficulties are upon you. There appears to be no way out of the situation. Yet help arrives if you recognize it. To know and graciously accept such unexpected and unfamiliar assistance will turn the entire situation toward the good.
Editor: A cavern, a narrow, dark and restricted place, can refer to ignorance as well as danger. However, things here are not as dark as they may appear and the issue will improve if you are receptive to a solution. Waiting is the subjective experience of the passage of time. If time and consciousness are in some ways synonymous, then "waiting” implies the interval between ignorance and enlightenment.
What is experienced only in terms of a personal impasse can seem quite hopeless until and unless it receives a general human meaningfulness by being recognized as one's individual and perhaps discordant share in, or variation of, a general theme of human striving and seeking. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. The working out of an impasse -- respect the process by allowing it to unfold naturally.
Other titles: Fellowship with Men, The Symbol of Companionship, Lovers, Beloved Friends, Like-minded persons, Concording People, Gathering Men, Sameness with People, Universal Brotherhood, Fellowship, Community, United, Human Association, Union of Men, Integration of Forces, Minor Synthesis, Cliques, Concordance, To Be In Accord With, Confirmation
Judgment
Legge: Union of Forces appears in the remote districts of the country, indicating progress and success. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to maintain the firm correctness of the superior man.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Fellowship with Men in the open. Success. It furthers one to cross the great water. The perseverance of the superior man furthers.
Blofeld:Lovers (friends) in the open -- success! It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). [To make any kind of journey.] The Superior Man will benefit if he does not slacken his righteous persistence.
Liu: Fellowship of men in the open (countryside). Success. It benefits one to cross the great water. It benefits the superior man to continue his task.
Ritsema/Karcher: Concording People , tending-towards the countryside. Growing. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting: chun tzu, Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of sharing a goal with others. It emphasizes that finding ways to cooperate with and harmonize people's efforts is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Gathering men in the wilds; receipt; beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial for the gentleman to determine.
Cleary (1):Sameness with people in the wilderness is developmental. It is beneficial to cross great rivers. It is beneficial for a superior person to be upright.
Cleary (1): … Beneficial for a leader to be correct.
Wu: Fellowship in the open is pervasive, etc. … It will be advantageous to the jun zi who perseveres.
The Image
Legge: The images of heaven and fire form Union of Forces. The superior man, in accordance with this, distinguishes things according to their kinds and classes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven together with fire: the image of Fellowship with Men. Thus the superior man organizes the clans and makes distinctions between things.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes heaven (the sun) and fire representing a pair of lovers. The Superior Man treats everything in a manner proper to his kind. [an analogy (based on the component trigrams) between the sun and fire, which to some extent are of a kind.]
Liu: Fire goes up to heaven, symbolizing Fellowship with Men. The superior man organizes his kinship group (party), and sorts them out.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven associating-with fire. Concording People. A chun tzu uses sorting the clans to mark-off the beings.
Cleary (1): Heaven with fire, sameness with others; superior people distinguish things in terms of categories and groups.
Cleary (2): … Leaders distinguish beings in terms of classes and families.
Wu: Heaven above and fire below form Fellowship. The jun zi distinguishes things by their kinds.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Union of Forces the magnetic line has the central place of influence and responds to her correlate line in the upper trigram of Strength. The hexagram takes its name from the upper trigram of Strength lending its power to the lower trigram of Clarity and Intelligence. This represents the correct course of the superior man. It is only the superior man who can comprehend and affect the minds of all under the sky.
Legge: Union of Forces describes a condition which is the opposite of the preceding hexagram of Divorcement. What was there distress and obstruction is here a union of forces. But it must be based entirely on the good of the whole, without any taint of selfishness.
The dynamic line correctly in the fifth place occupies the most important position, and has for his correlate the magnetic second line, also in her correct place. The one female line is naturally sought after by all the male lines. The editors of the K'ang-hsi edition would make the second line respond to all of the lines of the upper trigram, as being more agreeable to the idea of union.
The upper trigram is that of Heaven, the lower is of Fire, whose tendency is to mount upwards. This image suggests the fire ascending, blazing to the sky and uniting with it. All these ideas are in harmony with the notion of union, but it must be free of all factionalism, and this is indicated by its being in the remote districts of the country, where people are unsophisticated and free from the corrupting effects of urban intrigue. Although a union from such motives can cope with the greatest difficulties, yet a word of caution is added.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Connections are being made. If you are able to maintain your will, it is advisable to push for a synthesis .
The Superior Man differentiates and prioritizes; he sorts and evaluates his options.
This is another image of union -- not the supreme union of hexagram number eleven, Harmony, but a subordinate union of forces within the psyche which builds toward an eventual grand alliance. The component trigrams show the union of Strength and Clarity, suggesting that a certain level of mental comprehension is involved. To receive the hexagram without changing lines is often a confirmation of your particular thought -- saying, in effect: "You've made the connection."
Comprehension (synthesis) involves making distinctions (analysis) -- a paradoxical process in which one must divide before one can (re)unite. (This is the solve et coagula of alchemy.) Thus we see the superior man in the Image creating categories to bring about union -- this is discrimination directed toward reclassification or rectification. For example, a heterogeneous mixture of vegetable and flower seeds is made meaningful when one sorts them into their separate categories. The disparate elements then become coherently "united" -- in I Chingterms, each line obtains its proper correlate as in Hexagram number 63.
(Dialectic) alternates between synthesis and analysis until it has gone through the entire domain of the intelligible and has arrived at the principle. Stopping there, for it is only there that it can stop, no longer busying itself with a multitude of objects since it has arrived at unity, it contemplates. Plotinus -- The Enneads
The Chinese name of this hexagram includes the word Jen, which is apparently a difficult concept, since many philosophers have spent a good deal of energy in trying to define it:
Jen has been variously translated as benevolence, perfect virtue, goodness, human-heartedness, love, altruism, etc. None of these expresses all the meanings of the term. It means a particular virtue, benevolence, and also the general virtue, the basis of all goodness. ...Neo-Confucianists interpreted it as impartiality, the character of production and reproduction, consciousness, seeds that generate, the will to grow, one who forms one body with Heaven and Earth, or "the character of love and the principle of mind." In modern times, it has even been equated with ether and electricity... Wing-Tsit Chan -- A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
Chu Hsi defines Jen as the "character of the mind" (psyche) and "the principle of love" (union). Interpreted in this way we are enabled to apprehend the essence of the word "love," which is union -- becoming one with its object. I have chosen the title of Union of Forces to emphasize intra-psychic dynamics which are not immediately obvious in Wilhelm's title of Fellowship with Men. For example in dealing with questions pertaining to the Work, the concept of "ego states" or "subpersonalities" is often relevant to the symbolism of this hexagram:
The human self has been described here as composed of different ego states separated by boundaries. It has been likened to the structure of political principalities. From clinical observation we find that ego states can cooperate for mutual well-being, like allied nations against a common enemy. An ego state may become split, like East and West Germany, or fracture into many segments, like the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ego states may become cognitively dissonant and hostile to each other, like Syria and Israel. In fact, the behavior of ego states within an individual is not unlike that between individuals, and between those groups of individuals called countries. Why should the behavior of human "stuff" not be substantially similar at all levels of its organizations? ...The evidence of self division into ego states is significant, and an equally tenable hypothesis might be that the states and boundaries of political entities have been imposed by men on each other because these represent an externalization of the internal divisions in their own selves. J.G. Watkins -- The Therapeutic Self
This hexagram's "shadow side" reveals circumstances preventing the union of entities or forces, more than those conditions promoting fruitful affiliation. Note that only the first and fifth lines of the figure depict a positive synthesis; the first one is minor, and in the case of line 5, union is attained only after much struggle. Line 2 reveals a clique or faction situation opposed to the general welfare, and lines 3 and 4 are images of recalcitrant forces unable to either join or attack the alliance. The sixth line depicts a partial union (probably the most common outcome in general experience), which the Confucian commentary nevertheless minimizes. Out of six lines then, only two describe anything like complete fellowship. I have received this hexagram without changing lines when the context of the question revealed an “incestuous,” clique-type situation, so not all "fellowship" or Union of Forcesis necessarily an ideal configuration.