Progress gently and persistently, knowing that true connection culminates in unity and shared purpose.
From
53
Development
To
45
Gathering Together
One leaves in a state of mind not conducive to the success of one's projects. taoscopy.com
Development53
Steady progress through gradual development.
↓ Line 3
Progress may lead to separation or unfulfilled potential. Be vigilant against threats and protect what is important.
↓ Line 4
Seek stability and a secure position. Progress is steady and without fault.
↓ Line 6
Reaching the highest potential brings honor and recognition. Your achievements are celebrated and bring good fortune.
↓ Gathering Together45
Coming together for a shared purpose; unity and collective effort lead to strength. It's time to rally support and focus on communal goals.
Other titles: Development, The Symbol of Progressive Advance, Gradual Development, Infiltrating, Advancing, Growth, Developing, Gradualness, Dialectical Progression, Step by Step, "The slower the stronger." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Gradual Progressshows the good fortune attending the marriage of a young lady. Firm correctness brings advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Development. The maiden is given in marriage. Good fortune. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Gradual Progress. The marriage of a maiden brings good fortune. Persistence in a righteous course brings reward.
Liu: Gradual Development. The marriage of a girl -- Good Fortune. It benefits to continue.
Ritsema/Karcher:Infiltrating, womanhood converting significant. Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of gradually achieving a goal. It emphasizes that advancing through diffuse but steady penetration is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: infiltrate!]
Shaughnessy:Advancing: For the maiden to return is auspicious; beneficial to determine.
Cleary (2):Gradual Progress in a woman’s marriage is auspicious. It is beneficial to be chaste.
Wu: Gradualness indicates that it is auspicious for a woman to get married and it is advantageous for her to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: A tree on the mountain -- the image of Gradual Progress. The superior man attains and nourishes his extraordinary virtue to improve the manners of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: On the mountain, a tree: the image of Development. Thus the superior man abides in dignity and virtue, in order to improve the mores.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a tree upon a mountain. The Superior Man, abiding in holiness and virtue, inclines the people towards goodness.
Liu: A tree on the mountain symbolizes Gradual Development. The superior man, in maintaining his virtue, improves society's customs.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing wood. Infiltrating. A chun tzu uses residing-in eminent actualizing-tao to improve the vulgar. [Actualize-tao: Ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos ... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): There are trees on the mountain, growing gradually. Thus do superior people abide in sagacity and improve customs.
Cleary (2): …Developed people improve customs by living wisely and virtuously.
Wu: There are trees on the mountain; this is Gradualness. The jun zi chooses to live in the neighborhood known for its high moral standards and exemplary custom.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The ascent of Gradual Progress resembles the fortunate marriage of a young lady. The lines ascend to their proper places, indicating achievement. Because the ascent is made correctly the subject of the hexagram is empowered to rectify his country. He is shown as the dynamic ruler in line five, central and correct. The alternation of Keeping Still and Flexible Penetration ensure that the advance is continuous.
Legge: The written character for Gradual Progress is ordinarily used in the sense of gradually, but there is connected with it also the idea of advance. The whole of it denotes a gradual advance like the soaking in of water. The other two hexagrams that contain the idea of advance are number thirty-five, Advance of Consciousness and number forty-six,Pushing Upward-- each expresses its own nuance of meaning, and here the nuance is the gradual manner in which the advance takes place.
The theme of the hexagram is the advance of men to offices in the state -- how it should take place gradually and by successive steps. Lines 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all in their proper places as dynamic or magnetic, and we ascend them as by regular steps to the top of the hexagram.
The marriage of a young lady illustrates an important event which takes place according to various preliminary steps which must be correctly done in an orderly sequence. So must it be with the advance of a man in the service of the state.
The K'ang-hsi editors say: "A tree springing up on the ground is a tree as it begins to grow. A tree on a hill is high and large. Every tree when it begins to grow shows its branches and twigs gradually becoming long. Every morning and every evening show some difference; and when the tree is high and great, whether it be of an ordinary or extraordinary size, it has taken years to reach its dimensions."
Added Commentary: Blofeld appends the following footnote to each line in this hexagram: it is easier to read it here as his general commentary. [The additional Chinese commentaries explain that the wild goose is a bird which moves toward the sun. Now, a commonly used Chinese term for the sun is YANG, namely the male principle. So the bird obviously (sic) betokens a maiden seeking a husband. Its movement from river bank to rock, dry land, a tree, a hillock and the mainland (which is said in one commentary to mean peninsula) signifies gradual movement in an unchanging direction. From the point of view of divination, this is the best course for us, even if marriage is not our objective. Regarding marriage: the first line betokens gossip, although the marriage is not unsuitable; the second, a materially successful marriage; the third, an unfortunate marriage; the fourth, marriage to someone exceedingly kind and thoughtful; the fifth, a blissful marriage; the sixth, marriage to a public figure who has some responsibility for good order within the realm and who succeeds in his task.]
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The proper union of forces within the psyche is a matter of slow maturation.
The Superior Man maintains his will and transforms the psyche. "Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other." -- Burke
This is one of the most hierarchical of the hexagrams -- each line represents a clear advance from the position of the preceding line, thus giving an image of Gradual Progress. The vehicle of this progression is the wild goose, which also appears in every line. A goose is a bird -- primarily a creature of the air, or realm of thought; but because it also thrives on either water or land, the goose symbolizes thought which permeates the lower two categories of consciousness -- emotion (water), and sensation (earth).
Another traditional interpretation of the goose motif is that of the universal aspect of the soul. The wild goose is able to move about everywhere, on firm land, in water and in the air. It is the bird of Hermes, who is the leader of souls. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
The progress of the goose is a gradual one, from the shore, or threshold of awareness in line one, to the mountain heights, or realm of the Spirit in line six. The fact that this progress is linked with the idea of marriage in the Judgment is a clear hint that we are dealing here with the idea of the union of opposites within the psyche. (See commentary on hexagram number eleven.) The message is unambiguous: the process of psycho-spiritual growth is one of slow maturation. There are no short-cuts to enlightenment.
Evils and falsities must be removed, to the intent that a new life which is the life of heaven may be implanted. This can in nowise be done hastily; for every evil enrooted with its falsities has connection with all evils and their falsities; and such evils and falsities are innumerable, and their connection is so manifold that it cannot be comprehended ... From this it is plain that the life of hell in man cannot be suddenly destroyed, for if it were suddenly done he would straightway expire; and that the life of heaven cannot be suddenly implanted, for if this were done suddenly he would also expire. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows the geese gradually advanced to the dry plains. It suggests also the idea of a husband who goes on an expedition from which he does not return, and of a wife who is pregnant, but will not nourish her child. There will be evil. The case symbolized might be advantageous in resisting plunderers.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wild goose gradually draws near the plateau. The man goes forth and does not return. The woman carries a child but does not bring it forth. Misfortune. It furthers one to fight off robbers.
Blofeld: The wild goose moves gradually towards the dry land. The husband goes forth and does not return. The wife is pregnant, but the child's birth is delayed -- misfortune! This is an auspicious time for chastising evil-doers.
Liu: The wild goose gradually approaches the highland. The man sets out and does not return. The woman is pregnant, but does not give birth. Misfortune. It is beneficial to protect oneself from robbers. [Fearfulness and disharmony are indicated by this line.]
Ritsema/Karcher: The wild-swan Infiltrating tending-towards the highlands. The husband chastised, not returning. The wife pregnant, not nurturing. Pitfall. Harvesting: resisting outlawry.
Shaughnessy: The wild goose advances to the land; The husband campaigns but does not return, the wife is pregnant but does not give birth; inauspicious; beneficial to have that which robs.
Cleary (1): Geese gradually proceed on a plateau. The husband who goes on an expedition does not return; the wife who gets pregnant does not raise the child. Misfortune. It is beneficial to defend against brigands. [The misfortune comes about because in the use of strength it is important to stop in the proper place and defend against brigands, not act arbitrarily and become a brigand oneself. This is gradual progress in which one is strong but loses control.]
Cleary (2): Geese gradually proceed onto high ground. Etc. It is beneficial to defend against enemies.
Wu: The wild goose flies in gradually to rest on high ground. The husband joins active military duty, but does not return; the wife is pregnant, but miscarries. Foreboding. Yet it is advantageous to defend against the intruders. [The third nine is overly strong…he wants to go alone and may have gotten lost or been captured.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The husband separates himself from his comrades. The wife has failed in her proper course. By resisting thieves men would preserve one another. Wilhelm/Baynes: He leaves the group of his companions. She has lost the right way. Devotion and mutual protection. Blofeld: The husband's failure to return symbolizes separation from our normal companions. Delayed childbirth symbolizes our going astray. The final sentence indicates willingness to take precautions for mutual protection. Ritsema/Karcher: Radiance flocking demons indeed. [Demon(iac), CH'OU: possessed by a malignant genius; ugly, physically or morally deformed: vile, disgraceful, shameful; drunken. The ideogram: fermenting liquor and soul...] Letting-go her tao indeed. Yielding mutualizes protection indeed. Cleary (2): Leaving the group is disgraceful. The wife…loses the way. Harmoniously protecting one another. Wu: He separates from his comrades. She does not take the proper course. Because people would unite to protect one another.
Legge: Line three is dynamic, has passed the central place to the top of the lower trigram, and has no proper correlate in line six. He is likely to be violent and unsuccessful in his movements. He is like a husband who deserts his wife, or a wife who neglects her child. But in the case supposed, his strength in the end would be useful. "Separation from his comrades” means he finds no correlate. The wife fails in her proper course because the line is dynamic instead of magnetic, and has in addition passed the central position of balance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man goes too far and plunges into struggles beyond what is required by the natural laws of development. He loses his way. His life and family are jeopardized. He will regain his advantage if he does not provoke conflicts but uses his strength more in guarding his own position in line with his available resources and capabilities.
Wing: If you provoke a conflict or make a bold and forceful advance, you will place yourself and those close to you in danger. This is a foolish risk indeed. You would be much wiser to allow things to develop naturally and, instead, secure what you have.
Editor: This is an image of an aborted synthesis: we see Gradual Progress halted and dissipated in fruitless stagnation. Goose: Sensation and emotion under the influence of thought. Dry Plains: Infertile prospects: an area of futile speculation or endeavor. Wilhelm's rendering of "plateau" emphasizes a horizontal rather than vertical orientation -- reinforcing the image of no increase, no progress. Husband and wife: Union of thought and feeling, intellect and emotion. Child: The product, the ongoing evolution of thought and feeling within the psyche. Plunderers: Divisive, disruptive elements which bring about the separation of what is united. This estrangement brings a halt to the progress of the Work. Ritsema/ Karcher’s “Radiance flocking demons indeed” can represent inner complexes, phobias, compulsions, etc. The best course is to re-organize and defend yourself against further loss. Siu’s paraphrase says it best.
Thus [the patient] is still in an undesirably passive condition where everything is rather uncertain and questionable; neither he nor I know the journey's end. Often it is not much more than a groping about in Egyptian darkness. In this condition we must not expect any very startling results -- the uncertainty is too great for that. Besides which there is always the risk that what we have woven by day the night will unravel. The danger is that nothing is achieved, that nothing remains fixed. Jung -- The Practice of Psychotherapy
A. Image of a stalemate caused by unbalanced forces of some sort – perhaps a severely limiting belief. Withdraw support from this indulgence!
B. Arid speculation abandons its foundation in basic reality. You waste your energy on illusions – -- nothing will come of it.
C. Logos departs, Eros aborts -- defend the Work.
D. You’re blowing energy on a fruitless endeavor.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows the geese gradually advanced to the trees. They may light on the flat branches. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wild goose gradually draws near the tree. Perhaps it will find a flat branch. No blame.
Blofeld: The wild goose moves gradually towards a tree and may find a suitable branch on which to perch -- no error!
Liu: The wild goose gradually approaches the tree, seeking a safe branch. No blame. [This is a time of contentment in your personal life, without fear or sadness.]
Ritsema/Karcher: The wild-swan Infiltrating tending-towards the trees. Maybe acquiring one's rafter. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: The wild goose advances to the tree: perhaps getting what the robbers rejected; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Geese gradually proceed in the trees, and may reach a level roost. No fault.
Wu: The wild goose flies in gradually to rest in the wood. It may find a flat branch. No error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is docility in the line going on to flexible penetration.
Wilhelm/Baynes: It is devoted and gentle. Blofeld: Its finding a suitable branch augurs willing acceptance and gentleness. Ritsema/Karcher: Yielding using Ground indeed. Cleary (2): Following docilely. Wu: It may find a flat branch if the approach is favorable.
Legge: The web-footed goose is not suited for taking hold on the branches, but on flat branches it can rest. Line four is the first line in the upper trigram of Humility, and it is concluded that she will not fall into error. Ch'eng-tzu says that humility and right-doing will find rest and peace in all places and circumstances.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man attains a safe position through docility and pliancy.
Wing: You must remain flexible now. It may be necessary to sidestep difficulties, yield to obstacles, or retreat from danger. These, of course, are only temporary measures. The important thing is to maintain your safety now so that you can develop the conditions for later successes.
Editor: The image suggests a temporary compromise.
But between the starting point in the lowlands of our ordinary consciousness and the shining peak of Self- realization there are intermediate phases, plateaus at various altitudes on which a man may rest or even make his abode, if his lack of strength precludes or his will does not choose a further ascent. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
A. Adapt to circumstances.
B. A temporary position provides support through a transition.
C. "Any port in a storm."
D. "On hold."
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows the geese gradually advanced to the large heights beyond. Their feathers can be used as ornaments. There will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wild goose gradually draws near the cloud heights. Its feathers can be used for the sacred dance. Good fortune.
Blofeld: The wild goose moves gradually towards the mainland. Its feathers can be used for ritual purposes -- good fortune!
Liu: The wild goose gradually approaches the cloudy heights. Its feathers can be used in ritual decoration. Good fortune. [You will carry out a significant undertaking with someone’s help.]
Ritsema/Karcher: The wild-swan Infiltrating tending-towards the highlands. Its feathers permit availing-of activating fundamentals. Significant.
Shaughnessy: The wild goose advances to the land: its feathers can be used to be emblems; auspicious.
Cleary (1): Geese gradually proceed to level ground; their feathers can be used for ceremonies. Good fortune.
Wu: The wild goose flies gradually into the clouds. Its feathers may be used for decorum. Auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The object and character of the subject of the line cannot be disturbed. Wilhelm/Baynes: He is not to be disconcerted. Blofeld: The sentence about the feathers indicates that now disorder cannot prevail. [The traditional Chinese conception of good government, good order within the family and so on, allots an important role to ritual because of its efficacy in making people inclined to regard their duties with solemnity and because it helps to make everything seem orderly.]Ritsema/Karcher: Not permitting disarray indeed. Cleary (2): They cannot be put in disarray. Wu: Don’t mess it up.
Legge: The subject of line six has reached the top of the hexagram. There is no more advance for him, and he has no correlate. He will work for the state and verify the auspice derived from the ornamental plumes of the geese.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man reaches the pinnacle, completes his work, and leaves inspiration for the world to follow.
Wing: As you achieve the greatest heights in your upward climb, you become an example for others. You are emulated by those who admire you, and this in itself is the greatest praise. There is good fortune for all concerned.
Editor: Most translations emphasize that the use of the feathers is for ritual or sacred purposes. A feather used in religious ritual suggests spiritual thoughts, concepts, truths, aspirations, ideals, etc. "The large heights beyond" would be the realm of ultimate realities and eternal truths to which one aspires. Since one of the central ideas of the hexagram is the contracting of a marriage, this line suggests the consummation of that marriage, and the religious references indicate that it is a hieros gamos, or holy marriage. If we combine Legge's image of ornaments with the idea of religious rites, the Chinese concept of the proper attitude for sacrifice emerges:
In religious sacrifice ... the important thing is one’s attitude, especially sincerity, in the performance. These sacrifices are "ornaments" or refined manifestations of an inner attitude. D.H. Smith --Confucius
A. The image suggests a spiritual synthesis. Energy has been transformed -- the dialectical progression has been successful.
B. The line can suggest the idea of a sacrifice which one makes on behalf of the Work.
Other titles: Gathering Together, Massing, The Symbol of Gathering into One, Assembling, Congregation, Gathering, Unity, Accord, Making Whole, Focusing, Marshalling One's Forces, Clustering, Finished
Judgment
Legge: When forces are gathering, the King goes to his ancestral temple. For successful progress, maintain firm correctness and see the great man. A large sacrifice brings good fortune -- proceed toward your destination.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Gathering Together . Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to see the great man. This brings success. Perseverance furthers. To bring great offerings creates good fortune. It furthers one to undertake something.
Blofeld: Gathering Together -- success! The King approaches the temple. It is advisable to see a great man, which will ensure success. Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Great sacrifices are offered -- good fortune! [These were religious sacrifices, but they may be taken to mean that the time has come for us to make important sacrifices of another sort.] It is favorable to have in view a goal (or destination).
Liu:Gathering. Success. The king attends the temple. It is of benefit to see the great man; this leads to success. Continuance benefits. Offering a great sacrifice leads to good fortune. It benefits one to go somewhere.
Ritsema/Karcher:Clustering, Growing. The king imagines possessing a temple. Harvesting: visualizing Great People. Growing. Harvesting Trial. Availing-of the great: sacrificial-victims significant. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of collecting and assembling. It emphasizes that bringing people and things together through a common feeling or goal is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Finished: The king enters into the temple; beneficial to see the great man; receipt; beneficial to determine. Using the great animal offering is auspicious; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1): Gathering is developmental. The king comes to have a shrine. It is beneficial to see a great person; this is developmental. It is beneficial to be correct. It is good to make a great sacrifice. It is beneficial to go somewhere.
Cleary (2):Gathering is successful. The king goes to his shrine. It is beneficial to see a great person; this leads to success, etc.
Wu: Congregation indicates that the king comes to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous to see the great man. There will be pervasion, if persevering. It will be auspicious to use big sacrificial animals in the offerings. It will be good to have undertakings.
The Image
Legge: A marsh above the earth -- the image of Contraction. The superior man, in accordance with this, assembles his weapons in readiness for unseen contingencies.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Over the earth, the lake: the image of Gathering Together. Thus the superior man renews his weapons in order to meet the unforeseen.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a marshy lake rising above the earth. The Superior Man gathers together his weapons in order to provide against the unforeseen. [This is a time when foresight is required of us, too.]
Liu: The lake on the earth symbolizes Gathering. The superior man keeps his weapons prepared to meet the unexpected.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh with-respect-to earth. Clustering. A chun tzu uses eliminating arms to implement. A chun tzu uses warning, not precautions.
Cleary (1): Moisture rises onto the earth, gathering. Thus do superior people prepare weapons to guard against the unexpected. [When practitioners of the Tao get to where the five elements are assembled and have been returned to the source, when everything acquired is obedient to their will, if they do not know how to prevent danger and take perils into consideration, eventually what has been gathered will again disperse, and they will not be able to avoid the trouble of losing what has been gained… “Weapons” means the tools of wisdom, the work of silent operation of spiritual awareness. When the primordial has been congealed, it is not subject to injury by acquired conditioning, but it is still necessary to dissolve the influence of personal history before nature and life can be stabilized. If there is any remaining contamination, eventually conditioning will reassert itself and the primordial will again become fragmented. Therefore the work of guarding is indispensable.]
Wu: The marsh is above the earth; this is Congregation . Thus the jun zi causes the nation to be armed in preparation for contingencies.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Contraction shows massing for union through Cheerfulness and Obedience. The dynamic line is responded to in his ruling central place, hence the idea of union. With the utmost piety the king presents his offerings to the spirits in his ancestral temple. Union with the great man is effected through correctness. The law of heaven demands a sacrifice. Contemplation of the way forces are gathered shows us the way of heaven, earth and all of nature.
Legge:Contractionmeans collecting together, or things so collected. The hexagram deals with the union between the ruler and his ministers -- between high and low in the kingdom. This state is to be preserved through the influence of religion and the great man, who is a kind of philosopher king who meets the spirits of his ancestors in the temple. Whatever he does will succeed because he is correct and right, and his great sacrifices are in harmony with the times.
The two trigrams represent Docility and Cheerfulness. The dynamic fifth line has his proper magnetic correlate in line two -- which gives the idea of union. Ch'eng-tzu says that the ordinances of heaven are simply the natural and practical outcome of heavenly principle.
A marsh above the earth must be kept in by dykes -- so the Contraction must be preserved by precautionary measures, the chief of which is to be prepared to resist attack from without, and to quell internal rebellion.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Forces are assembling for integration -- focus inward, sacrifice your autonomy and allow the Self to guide the Work.
The Superior Man pulls himself together to face the unknown and preserve the Work. “Forewarned is forearmed.”
Psychologically, Contraction depicts a time when inner components of the psyche assemble for recombination into a new pattern. It is significant that this is the time when “the king goes to his ancestral temple.” That is, the governing intelligence turns toward the template or ideal image of the Work as it exists in its consummate state. (See commentary on hexagram number fifty-nine, Expansion, for further discussion of the symbolism of the ancestral temple.) If the gathering forces integrate in conformity with this archetype, the Work is thereby advanced.
He, therefore, who perceives himself to associate with God, will have himself the similitude of Him. And if he passes from himself as an image to the archetype, he will then have the end of his progression. Plotinus
In addition to being a gestalt of future perfection, the temple is the home of the ancestors: a karmic repository of all that has gone into the Work via the will and intent of former historical ego-personalities. This archetype of "the ancestors" is described by the Lakota shaman, Black Elk, in his Great Vision. Note that the "grandfathers and grandmothers" are present when the people are "walking in a sacred manner" -- i.e., conforming to the ideal archetypal pattern of the Work:
But I was not the last; for when I looked behind me there were ghosts of people like a trailing fog as far as I could see -- grandfathers of grandfathers and grandmothers of grandmothers without number. And over these a great Voice -- the Voice that was the South -- lived, and I could feel it silent. And as we went the Voice behind me said: "Behold a good nation walking in a sacred manner in a good land!"
The Ancestral Temple then, symbolizes the Work in progress as it exists outside of temporal awareness. At death the karmic complexes of the psyche, released from their spacetime ego-body, assume new configurations in hyperspace in accordance with the accomplishments of the just completed lifetime. Ideally, the ancestors and their heirs (choices and their consequences) within the Ancestral Temple undergo purification: this is what Individuation (the Work) is all about.
At the end of the dying process consciousness divides into the consciousness of one's parents and one’s children, and then it moves through these modalities, and then divides again. It's moving forward into the future through the people who come after you, and backward into the past through your ancestors. Terence McKenna --The Archaic Revival
In the multidimensional realms "beyond" our material world, time does not exist. In some way unimaginable to us, past, present and future are consolidated into an eternal Here and Now. Thus our choices in spacetime can have consequences in hyperspace which are inconceivable to us in the current situation. So if the Self (as manifested in the oracle) often seems to be tyrannically unreasonable, it is arguably because of the ego's dimensional myopia.
The Spirit ... may know the most violent love and hatred possible, for it can see the remote consequences of the most trivial acts of the living, provided those consequences are part of its future life. In trying to prevent them it may become one of those frustrators dreaded by certain spirit mediums. It cannot, however, without ... assistance ... affect life in any way except to delay its own rebirth. With that assistance it can so shape circumstances as to make possible the rebirth of a unique nature. W. B. Yeats --A Vision
Such conceptions of cause and effect seem irrational to ordinary awareness, yet quantum physicists hypothesize future events which affect the present as well as the past. The idea is not a new one:
Indeed, the hero of Hebrew myth is not only profoundly influenced by the deeds, words and thoughts of his forebears, and aware of his own profound influence on the fate of his descendants; he is equally influenced by the behavior of his descendants and influences that of his ancestors. Thus King Jeroboam set up a golden calf in Dan, and this sinful act sapped the strength of Abraham when he pursued his enemies into the same district a thousand years previously. Graves and Patai --Hebrew Myths
Should the ego's choices and their consequences not conform to the Self's intent, a rather cancerous growth is implied in which dynamic and magnetic forces are improperly consolidated -- in I Chingterms, dynamic and magnetic are mismatched. Through this "infidelity" of correlates the Work is thus adulterated and falls short of the archetypal ideal.
That the greatest effects come from the smallest causes has become patently clear not only in physics but in the field of psychological research as well. How often in the critical moments of life everything hangs on what appears to be a mere nothing! Jung -- The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales
Contraction is a compression inward toward a center. Psychologically, this can be regarded as an integration of complexes. Once the implosion completes itself, it is implied that the growth cycle reverses itself to expand away from the center. (Cf., hexagram number fifty-nine, Expansion, in which the ancestral temple is also mentioned.) The following hexagram, Pushing Upward,is the inverse of this one, and depicts a similar upward expansion of energy.
The archetypal themes displayed here are those of Solve et coagula, Implosion-Explosion, Contraction-Expansion, Black Hole-White Hole, Day and Night of Brahma, etc.