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61
Inner Truth
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35
Progress
One makes porridge so that the weakest can feed themselves. taoscopy.com
Inner Truth61
Inner truth and sincerity lead to harmony and trust. Genuine communication fosters unity. Be truthful with yourself and others to create meaningful connections.
↓ Line 1
At the beginning, one must be sincere and prepared. Hidden motives can lead to unrest.
↓ Line 2
Sincere communication and mutual understanding bring harmony and shared joy.
↓ Line 4
Approaching completion, one may face minor setbacks, but they do not cause harm.
↓ Line 5
True sincerity creates connections and understanding, leading to a harmonious outcome.
↓ Progress35
Progress and clarity emerge. With effort and clarity, advancement is possible. Keep honesty and integrity at the forefront.
Other titles: The Symbol of Central Sincerity, Inward Confidence, Inner Truthfulness, Sincerity, Centering- Conforming, Central Return, Faithfulness in the Center, Sincerity in the Center, Insight, Understanding, The Psyche, "Take the middle road and avoid extremes." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Inner Truth moves even pigs and fish, and leads to good fortune. There will be advantage in crossing the great stream. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Inner Truth. Pigs and fishes. Good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Inward Confidence and Sincerity. Dolphins -- good fortune! It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). Persistence in a right course brings reward.
Liu:Inner Truthfulness. Sea Lions -- good fortune. It is of benefit to cross the great water.
Ritsema/Karcher:Centering Conforming, hog fish significant. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting trial. (Hog fish, T’UN YU: aquatic mammals; porpoise, dolphin; intelligent aquatic animals whose development parallels the human; sign of abundance and good luck.) [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the relation between your inner core and the circumstances of your life. It emphasizes that bringing your central concerns and your life situation into a sincere and reliable accord is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Central Return: the piglet and fish are auspicious; harmonious: beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial to determine.
Cleary (1): Faithfulness in the center is auspicious when it reaches even pigs and fish . It is beneficial to cross great rivers. It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary (2): Sincerity in the center is auspicious when simple-minded ... etc.
Wu:Sincerity moves piglets and fishes. Auspicious. It will be advantageous to cross the big river with perseverance.
The Image
Legge: Wood on a Marsh -- the image of Inner Truth. The superior man deliberates about cases of litigation and delays the infliction of death.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind over lake: the image of Inner Truth. Thus the superior man discusses criminal cases in order to delay executions.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing over a marshy lake. The Superior Man devotes careful thought to his judgments and is tardy in sentencing people to death.
Liu: The wind over the lake symbolizes Inner Truthfulness. The superior man judges criminals and postpones capital punishment.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing wind. Centering Conforming. A chun tzu uses deliberating litigating to delay dying.
Cleary (1): There is wind above a lake, with truthfulness between them. Thus superior people consider judgments and postpone execution.
Cleary (2): There is wind over a lake, with sincerity in the center. True leaders consider judgments and postpone execution.
Wu: There is wind above the marsh: this is Sincerity. Thus, the jun zi deliberates the verdicts and enjoins the death sentence.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Inner Truth shows two magnetic lines occupying the innermost part of the hexagram, with dynamic lines in the centers of the trigrams. We see the attributes of Cheerfulness and Flexible Penetration -- sincerity thus symbolized reaches even to pigs and fishes and will transform the country. We see one riding on the symbol of Wood, which forms an empty boat -- hence it is advantageous to cross the great stream. The virtue of Inner Truth requires firm correctness and shows the proper response of man to heaven.
Legge: Inner Truth denotes the highest quality of man, giving its possessor the power to prevail with spiritual beings, with other men and with lower creatures. There are two magnetic lines in the center and two dynamic lines above and below them. The magnetic lines represent the heart and mind free from all preoccupation, without any consciousness of self. The two dynamic lines immediately above and below them are each in the center of their respective trigram, and denote the solid virtue of one so free from selfishness.
The trigram of Wood above the trigram for a Lake or Marsh suggests a boat crossing the great stream. The pigs and fishes symbolize the rudest and most obstinate of men. Ch'eng-tzu observes: "We have in the sincerity shown in the upper trigram superiors condescending to those below them in accordance with their peculiarities, and we have in that of the lower those below delighted to follow their superiors. The combination of these two things leads to the transformation of the country and state."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: It is a great accomplishment when Inner Truthalters archetypal forces within the psyche. The ego’s devotion to the Work is the means to this end.
The Superior Man carefully differentiates his options and avoids drastic measures. (Can sometimes mean: "Don't act until you are sure of all the facts.")
Anyone who monitors his dreams and other images knows that the unconscious is a continuous wellspring of psychic energy. Jung has observed that we are probably dreaming all of the time -- the only reason we don't usually notice this is because the conscious mind is so powerful that the more subtle manifestations of the psyche are eclipsed. Since consciousness consists of only the upper layers of a deep continuum of awareness it is obvious that we are being continuously "created from within." The ultimate source of our being is not easily accessible, but all of the empirical evidence points to a "Self" which transcends the space-time continuum -- i.e., lives in another "dimension."
The capacity to nullify space and time must somehow inhere in the psyche, or, to put it another way, the psyche does not exist wholly in time and space. It is very probable that only what we call consciousness is contained in space and time, and that the rest of the psyche, the unconscious, exists in a state of relative spacelessness and timelessness. Jung --Letters
This seemingly exotic concept was written by Jung in 1939, yet today the theories of the quantum physicists are approaching the point where awareness itself will be recognized as space-time transcendent.
In the modern Kaluza-Klein theory all the forces of nature, not merely gravity, are treated as manifestations of spacetime structure. What we normally call gravity is a warp in the four spacetime dimensions of our perceptions, while the other forces are reduced to higher-dimensional spacewarps. All the forces of nature are revealed as nothing more than hidden geometry at work ... There is a deep compulsion to believe in the idea that the entire universe, including all the apparently concrete matter that assails our senses, is in reality only a frolic of convoluted nothingness, that in the end the world will turn out to be a sculpture of pure emptiness, a self-organized void. Paul Davies -- Superforce
The physicists now hypothesize an eleven-dimensional universe, and state that the seven "extra" dimensions are somehow "rolled up to a very small size" so that they are not apparent to our senses. If we are going to hypothesize such fantastic realms it is more elegant to hypothesize consciousness itself as emanating from an extra-dimensional source. This is the Pleroma of the Gnostics and Alchemists, the upper and lower worlds of shamanism, or in Jungian parlance: the Objective Psyche or Collective Unconscious.
The familiar spacetime of our conscious experience consists of three linear dimensions, plus time. Time is considered a dimension, but not like the other three -- one can go up, down, forward and backward, to the left or right at will, but one cannot go back to this morning or forward to next Thursday afternoon. The time dimension is a continuous "now" and we experience it and the other three dimensions from the reference point of consciousness -- we are the center from which all dimensions radiate. Consciousness is like time in that it is always "now," and since consciousness emerges from within in a continuous and autonomous flow, we can legitimately hypothesize that we emanate from a power source in another dimension. We are a kind of continuous explosion from within -- a microcosmic version of the "Big Bang" which originated the universe, and which, incidentally, is still exploding-expanding outward into space.
If everything that is recognizable is so only because it has separated itself from the "all and nothingness," leaving its complementary half behind in the unmanifested state, then the earth too must have its complementary half in the unmanifested state, and the force of gravitation it exerts on all the creatures and objects living on it is the striving for reunification between the earth and its unmanifested complementary half which has been left behind in the void as its negative reflection. The earth's gravitational pull thus draws all the earth towards the void which stands beyond time and space, in order to bring about this reunion. If the earth were to yield, all the earth and everything on it would disappear into the center, into the void. But that would be a return to the paradisiacal unity -- to God -- to bliss! Elisabeth Haich -- Initiation
The image of the hexagramInner Truth gives us the idea of an "empty" center -- as good an image as could be devised from the structural components of the trigrams to show the inner source of human consciousness. The pigs and fishes of the Judgment are the archetypal complexes which must be tamed through the process of the Work, and to "cross the great stream" with firm correctness is to accomplish this holy task.
Through all ages men have sought, and some have found; there is a door through which we can pass out on to the higher planes, but that door is within the soul, it is an enlargement of consciousness whereby we perceive these things to which we have hitherto been blind, and from such perception comes the sense of reality which is lacking while we perceive nothing but appearances. Whoso has this wider vision is freed from the limitations of the five physical senses; his memory extends back beyond birth, and his hopes go forward beyond death ... Having all aspects of his own nature harmoniously developed, he is at one with all aspects of the universe, nothing is alien to him, and no form of existence is hostile. The path of life is open before him and he treads it with joy. D. Fortune -- The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows its subject resting in himself. There will be good fortune. If he sought to any other, he would not find rest.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Being prepared brings good fortune. If there are secret designs, it is disquieting.
Blofeld: The officer in charge of hunting and fishing [The whole of this phrase translates a single Chinese word. The additional commentaries in my possession differ widely in their interpretation of this character (which has several other meanings) and of the passage as a whole. None of them gives what seems to me a satisfactory explanation and I must confess myself unable to interpret the meaning.] -- good fortune! The presence of others would give rise to anxiety. [In the light of the commentary on the line which follows, this could also be taken to mean: "Any other way than the way we are following would make us lose our peace of mind."]
Liu: Ponder carefully. Good fortune. Other thoughts lead to anxiety.
Ritsema/Karcher: Precaution significant. Possessing this, not a swallow. (Swallow, YEN: house swallow, martin, swift, retired from official life; easy, peaceful, private; give a feast; relation between elder and younger brother.)
Shaughnessy: Self-satisfied auspiciousness ; there are others not tranquil.
Cleary (1): Forethought leads to a good outcome. If there is something else, one is not at rest.
Cleary (2): Preparedness leads to a good outcome, etc.
Wu: Being devoted to a single cause is auspicious. Vacillation would lead to uneasiness.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: No change has yet come over his purpose. Wilhelm/Baynes: The will has not yet changed. Blofeld: The good fortune presaged by this line implies that our purpose remains unaltered. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose not-yet transformed indeed. Cleary (2): The mind is not changed. Wu: There has been no change in purpose.
Legge: Ordinarily, we would expect line one to turn to line four as its correlate. However, the K'ang-hsi editors contend that with the exception of lines three and six, the concept of correlation should be discarded from the study of this hexagram. Here sincerity is focused on inner truth, and this is the source of its power. "No change has come over his purpose" means that sincerity, perfect in and of itself, continues undisturbed by outside influences.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man relies on his inner stability and preparedness, which are the basis of a correct attitude toward the world. If he seeks secret ties, however, his peace of mind and inmost sincerity will be jeopardized.
Wing: Concentrate now upon your inner virtue. Rely upon your principles and those things you know to be true about your nature. Good fortune will come with this attitude. If you look outside of yourself for help, you may succumb to chaos and all subsequent action will be uncentered and improper.
Editor: There is some serious disagreement about the proper translation of this line. Wilhelm speaks of "being prepared;" Liu renders it as an injunction to "ponder carefully." Blofeld's version is a complete non-sequitur, and we can't help but wonder about the meaning of the "swallow" in Ritsema/Karcher's version. Nevertheless, all of the Confucian commentaries are closely analogous, so we can use it as our point of reference. The image is one of an inner centeredness which seems threatened. The proper response is an egoless receptivity to experience which has its secure foundation in Self-reliance. One comes from one's center, ignoring peripheral inner turmoil and its reflection in outer temptation, and thereby flows with Tao.
It was even then only after the Heyoka ceremony, in which I performed my dog vision, that I had the power to practice as a medicine man, curing sick people; and many I cured with the power that came through me. Of course it was not I who cured. It was the power from the outer world, and the visions and ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish. Black Elk
A. An image of self-containment -- everything you need is within you. Be true to your Self.
B. Self-reliance implies receptivity to intuition.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject like the crane crying out in her hidden retirement, and her young ones responding to her. It is as if it were said: "I have a cup of good spirits," and the response were, "I will partake of it with you."
Wilhelm/Baynes: A crane calling in the shade. Its young answers it. I have a good goblet. I will share it with you.
Blofeld: A crane sings in the shade; its young ones follow suit. [This symbolizes a longing in which others share.] I have a fine goblet and will share it with you. [We should allow others to benefit from something or some circumstance which is valuable to us.]
Liu: A crane calls in the shade; its young ones respond. I have a good goblet (wine, virtue) to share with you.
Ritsema/Karcher: Calling crane located-in yin. One's son-hood harmonizing it. I possess a loved wine-cup. Myself associating, simply spilling it.
Shaughnessy: A calling crane in the shade, its young harmonizes with it: We have a good chalice, I will down it with you.
Cleary (1): A calling crane is in the shade, its fledgling joins it; I have a good cup, which I will quaff with you.
Wu: A crane cries in the shade and her young chime in. “I have fine wine. I would like to share it with you.”
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her young ones respond to her from the common wish of the inmost heart. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is the affection of the inmost heart. Blofeld: `Its young ones follow suit' indicates heartfelt desire. Ritsema/Karcher: Centering the heart desiring indeed. Cleary (2): The fledgling joining in is the heart’s desire. Wu: The harmony comes from within.
The Master said: "The superior man occupies his apartment and sends forth his words. If they be good, they will be responded to at a distance of more than a thousand miles -- how much more will they be so in the nearer circle! If his words be evil, they will awaken opposition at a distance of more than a thousand miles – how much more will they do so in the inner circle! Words issue from one's person, and proceed to affect the people. Actions proceed from what is near, and their effects are seen at a distance. Words and action are the spring and hinge of the superior man. The movement of that hinge and spring determines glory or disgrace. His words and actions move Heaven and Earth -- may he be careless in regard to them?"
Legge: The young ones of the crane are represented by line one. The symbolism suggests two men brought together by their sympathy in virtue. The subject of the line is the effect of sincerity. As one bond of loving regard unites the mother bird and her young, so answers the heart of man to man.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man voices his feelings and defends his deeds by clear explanations, which exert a far-reaching chain reaction.
Wing: Here insight and influence are in their finest hour. The deeds you do, the words you speak, resonate in the hearts and minds of others near and far. You may expect a fortunate and beneficial response from your environment.
Editor: We see here a hidden mother bird calling to her young to share a cup of spirits. (Wilhelm, Blofeld and Liu all translate "hidden retirement" as "shade.") The image is of a mother who cannot be seen -- i.e., a hidden source. Psychologically interpreted, this suggests the inner Self, and the shade suggests the darkness of the unconscious from which the Self calls to us. The young birds who respond to the call are the complexes of the psyche, including, of course, the conscious ego-complex. Despite conscious negative associations of alcohol with intoxication, "spirits" are a common dream symbol for the action of the spirit on consciousness. (Aqua Vitae, literally: "water of life," means alcohol or hard liquor.) The overall image then is one of the Self and its complexes united by their common "spirit."
As concerning the most sovereign form of soul in us we must conceive that heaven has given it to each man as a guiding genius -- that part which we say dwells in the summit of our body and lifts us from earth toward our celestial affinity, like a plant whose roots are not in earth, but in the heavens. And this is most true, for it is to the heavens, whence the soul first came to birth, that the divine part attaches the head or root of us and keeps the whole body upright. Plato -- The Timaeus
A. An image of affinity and connectedness which may be hidden or not readily apparent.
B. Self and satellites united in accord: Nourishment which comes from within.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject like the moon nearly full, and like a horse pulling a chariot whose fellow disappears. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The moon nearly at the full. The team horse goes astray. No blame.
Blofeld: A team of horses strays just before the full moon -- no error!
Liu: The moon will be full. He loses a team of horses. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: The moon almost facing. The horse team extinguished. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: The moon is past full; the horse will necessarily be lost; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): The moon approaches fullness. The pair of horses is gone. No fault.
Cleary (2): The moon is almost full. When the horse’s mate disappears, there is no fault.
Wu: The moon is almost full. One horse of a pair is lost. No blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She breaks with her former companions, and mounts upwards. Wilhelm/Baynes: It separates from its kind and turns upward. Blofeld: The straying of the horses signifies rising above those of our own kind. Ritsema/Karcher: Cutting-off the above, sorting indeed. Cleary (2): The horse’s mate disappearing means breaking with peers to go higher. Wu: He forsakes the company of his own kind for the sake of service to the one above.
Legge: Line four is magnetic and in her correct place. She has discarded her correlate first line and hastens on to the confidence of the ruler in line five, who is symbolized as the nearly full moon. The symbol of the horse whose fellow has disappeared has reference to the discarding of the first line.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The team horse is the six in the third place. But the fact that there is similarity in kind has no determining effect. The line is correct in its place and has a receiving relationship to the ruler of the hexagram, the nine in the fifth place, whom it serves as minister.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is humble and respectful in receiving enlightenment from superior quarters. He is like the team horse which follows the straight course without having to look at its mate.
Wing: Turn your attention to a superior person or a noble ideal and attempt to gain insight into this power. In responding to a larger goal, you may leave others behind. This is not a mistake.
Editor: According to Wilhelm, line three, the drum beating, sobbing and singing inferior man, is here symbolized as the “team horse” who is abandoned – not line one (Legge). This transfer of “horse-power” is psychic energy which forsakes its former pursuits to seek illumination or en-light-enment. The message is the abandonment of futile ways to focus on Inner Truth:Leave the cycles of weeping and singing to those who are still enamored of them. The Waxing moon is an increasing brightness which, because it is associated with the ruler, symbolizes a source of wisdom. The proper ego/Self relationship is implied.
And what is purification but the separation of the soul from the body, as I was saying before; the habit of the soul gathering and collecting herself into herself from all sides out of the body; the dwelling in her own place alone, as in another life, so also in this, as far as she can -- the release of the soul from the chains of the body? Plato -- Phaedo
A. You are getting the idea. Abandon illusion and ascend toward truth -- the only freedom lies within.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows its subject perfectly sincere, and linking others to him in closest union. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He possesses truth, which links together. No blame.
Blofeld: He seems to be pulled forward by his confidence in what he is doing -- no error!
Liu: His truthfulness is steadfast. No blame. [Good fortune in everything.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Possessing conformity, binding thus. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: There is a return linkedly; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): With faithfulness that is firm, there is no fault.
Cleary (2): With sincerity that is firm, there is no fault.
Wu: Sincerity can unite people as if connecting them with strings. No blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The place of the line is the correct and appropriate one. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The place is correct and appropriate. Blofeld: This is indicated by the correct position of this ruling line. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation correcting appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): The position is correct. Wu: It comes from the proper position.
Legge: Line five is dynamic and in the central place of the ruler. He is the sage on the throne whose sincerity goes forth to bind all in union with himself.
Wilhelm/ Baynes: This describes the ruler who holds all elements together by the power of his personality. Only when the strength of his character is so ample that he can influence all who are subject to him, is he as he needs to be. The power of suggestion must emanate from the ruler. Without this central force, all external unity is only deception and breaks down at the decisive moment.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The perfect sincerity of the sage on the throne binds all in union with himself.
Wing: This is the position of a true ruler. Such a person holds to virtuous goals and principles and emanates, to those all around him, the overwhelming force of his character. Others cling to him, and there is no blame in this.
Editor: The line and its commentaries present a highly accurate image of the individuation process in its concentrated essence. The goal of the Work is to unite all of the disparate aspects of the psyche into a harmonious whole. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number forty-one, Compensating Sacrifice, the corresponding line of which images a profound and beneficial increase: “Someone does indeed increase him. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it. Supreme good fortune” (Wilhelm). Psychologically interpreted, this is the seat of the Self in the hexagram of Inner Truth.
Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17: 21
A. Inner Truth links powers together within the psyche.
Other titles: Progress, Prospering, The Symbol of Forwardness, To Advance, Advancement, Making Headway, Getting the Idea, “Comes the Dawn”
Judgment
Legge: In Advance of Consciousness we see a prince who secures the tranquility of the people presented on that account with numerous horses by the king, and three times in a day received at interviews.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Progress . The powerful prince is honored with horses in large numbers. In a single day he is granted audience three times.
Blofeld: Progress. The richly endowed prince receives royal favors in the form of numerous steeds and is granted audience three times in a single day. [This passage indicates great merit richly rewarded.]
Liu: The Marquis K'ang (rich, powerful, healthy) is bestowed with many horses by the king, who receives him three times in a single day.
Ritsema/Karcher: Prospering , the calm feudatory avails-of bestowing horses to multiply the multitudes. Day-time sun three-times reflected. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of thriving in the full light of the sun. It emphasizes that contributing to this increase by helping things to flourish is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: The Lord of Kang is herewith awarded horses in luxuriant number, during daylight thrice connecting.
Cleary (1):Advancing, a securely established lord presents many horses, and grants audience three times a day.
Cleary (2): Advancing , a securely established lord is presented with, etc.
Wu: Advancement indicates that the prince who has secured peace and prosperity of the state is conferred with many fine horses. The king grants him an audience three times in one day.
The Image
Legge: The image of the earth and that of the bright sun coming forth above it form Advance of Consciousness. The superior man, in accordance with this, gives himself to make more brilliant his bright virtue.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The sun rises over the earth: the image of Progress. Thus the superior man himself brightens his bright virtue.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire blazing from the earth. The Superior Man reflects in his person the glory of heaven's virtue.
Liu: The sun rising above the earth is the symbol of Progress. Thus the superior man brightens his character.
Ritsema/Karcher: Brightness issuing-forth above earth. Prospering. A chun tzu uses originating enlightening to brighten actualizing-tao. [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): Light emerges over the earth, advancing. Thus do superior people by themselves illumine the quality of enlightenment.
Cleary (2): Light emerges over the ground, advancing. Developed people illumine the quality of enlightenment by themselves.
Wu: Brightness rises above the earth; this is Advancement. Thus the jun zi keeps his bright virtue shining.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Advance of Consciousnesswe have the bright sun appearing above the earth; the symbol of Docile Submission cleaving to that of the Great Brightness; and the magnetic line advanced and moving above: all these things give us the idea of a prince who secures the tranquility of the people.
Legge: The subject of the Judgment is a feudal prince whose services to his country have made him acceptable to his king. The King's favor has been shown to him by gifts and personal attentions. The symbolism of the lines indicates the situations encountered by the prince. The written character for this hexagram means "to advance," a quality it shares with hexagrams number forty-six, Pushing Upward, and number fifty-three, Gradual Progress. In the present case the sun ascending from the earth to the meridian readily suggests the idea of advancing.
Hu Ping-wen (Yuan dynasty) says: "Of the strong things there is none so strong as Heaven, and hence the superior man patterns himself on its strength. Of bright things there is none so bright as the sun, and he patterns himself on its brightness."
Anthony: This hexagram concerns self-development which yields progress in our external life situation. If we are not making progress, we should review our attitude. Some widely accepted ideas may be decadent from the viewpoint of the Sage, hence obstruct progress. [Anthony’s “Sage” is conceptually identical to the “Self. -- Ed.]
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: When the autonomous manifestations of our inner drives are channeled, their energy becomes the ego's own. (Psychologically interpreted: Ego and Self are in accord.)
The Superior Man focuses his awareness on perfecting the Work. (Sometimes this can take the meaning of: "Wise up!")
The trigram of Clarity in progression over that of Docility gives the formula for an Advance of Consciousness. The submission of the ego to the restrictions of the Work, and the consequent tranquil subjugation of one's restless drives, appetites and impulses, eventually results in a focused flow of energy from within. (After years of effort, this is sometimes felt physically as a radiating sensation emanating from the chest, or heart region.) To receive this figure without changing lines does not necessarily mean that one has reached this phase of the Work, but it suggests progress in that direction. The traditional name for this hexagram is, in fact: Progress.
The king presenting horses to the prince in reward for pacifying the kingdom is analogous to the Self rewarding the ego for controlling the autonomous forces within the psyche. This is a quintessentially shamanic discipline: the "horses" symbolize tamed drives and emotions. Such circumstances indicate an Advance of Consciousness or progression toward the goal of "en-light-enment" or psychic integration, symbolized by the sun traversing the earth.
That state of life dynamism in which consciousness realizes itself as a split and separated personality that yearns and strives toward union with its unknown and unknowable partner, the Self, Jung has called the individuation process. It is a conscious striving for becoming what one "is" or rather "is meant to be." E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
The last sentence of the above quotation is exactly analogous to the Ritsema/Karcher translation of the Image of this hexagram, wherein the superior man (chun tzu) "uses originating enlightening to brighten actualizing-tao."
"Actualizing-tao" is the "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."
Psychologically interpreted then, this hexagram addresses various themes encountered during the progress of the individuation process, which is nothing if not an Advance of Consciousness.
The key phrase in Legge's Judgment is "tranquility of the people." It is relatively easy to sublimate one's drives, yet still feel resentful about it -- indeed, that is the form that the process normally takes at the beginning of the Work. Our inner forces are like children or animals who must learn to accept the restrictions of discipline. Once they have accepted it and have ceased to resent it (i.e. once they have become "tranquil"), they are ready to be useful to the Self's intentions.
For example: an untrained dog will instinctively chase and kill sheep if it gets the chance to do so; on the other hand, a properly trained dog will herd and control a flock of sheep even in its master's absence. Anyone who has observed a trained sheep dog in action knows what amazing feats they accomplish with great joy in the performance. They are "tranquil" in their role, and will even protect the sheep from untrained dogs that would kill them. When our instincts have learned how to tranquilly accept discipline they are ready to assist us in the higher levels of the Work. Until that time, the Work consists largely of "dog training." The analogy is apt, because just as an untrained dog is never as happy in its willfulness as a well-trained dog is in its purposefulness, so undisciplined permissiveness cannot compare with the joys of controlled power and focused intent.