There's only so much one can do, but not leaving a mess feels like a good idea. My bookcase holds all manner of stuff and such, but the books need to be donated or sold. This morning I found the I Ching, a purported fav of Carl Jung.
It gave: Hsien - #31 - Influence (wooing)
Image borrowed from THIS site
(Text copied from Wilhelm/Baynes, Princeton Univ Press, 1950 & 1967)
The Sequence
After there are heaven and earth, there are the individual things.
After individual things have come into being there are the two sexes.
After there are male and female, there is the relationship between husband and wife.
After the relationship between husband and wife exists, there is the relationship between father and son.
After the relationship between father and son exists, there is the relationship between prince and servitor.
After the relationship between prince and servitor exists, there is the difference between superior and inferior.
After the difference between superior and inferior exists, the rules of propriety and right can operate.
Miscellaneous Notes
INFLUENCE fulfills itself quickly.
THE JUDGEMENT
INFLUENCE. Success.
Perseverance furthers
To take a maiden to wife brings good fortune.
Commentary on the Decision
INFLUENCE means stimulation. The weak is above, the strong below. The forces of the two stimulate and respond to each other, so they unite.
Keeping Still and joyousness. The masculine subordinates itself to the feminine. Hence it is said: "Success. Perseverance furthers. To take a maiden to wife brings good fortune."
Heaven and earth stimulate each other and all things take shape and come into being. The holy man stimulates the hearts of men, and the world attains peace and rest. If we contemplate the out-going stimulating influences, we can know the nature of heaven and earth and all beings.
Hsien differs from the character kan, "to stimulate," in that the heart is not a constituent part of it, as it is of the latter. Hence it represents an influence that is unconscious and involuntary, not one that is conscious and willed. It is a matter of objective relationships of a general kind, not those of a subjective, individual character.
The "weak above" is the trigram Tui, the youngest daughter; its attribute is joyousness, its image is the lake. The "strong below" is Kên, the youngest son; its attribute is keeping still, its image is the mountain.
The explanation of the Judgement is based on the organization of the hexagram (the weak element above, the strong below), the attributes, and the symbols (the youngest son, the youngest daughter).
THE IMAGE
A lake on a mountain:
The image of INFLUENCE.
Thus the superior man encourages people to approach him
By his readiness to receive them.*
The mountain lake gives of its moisture to the mountain; the mountain collects clouds, which feed the lake. Thus their forces have a reciprocal influence. The relation of the two images shows how this influence comes about: it is only when a mountain is empty at its summit, that is, deepened into a hollow, that a lake can form. Thus the superior man receives people by virtue of emptiness. The superior man is compared to the mountain, the people to the lake. The relation is formed through the initiative of the mountain, the superior man.
*Literally, "Thus the superior man receives people by virtue of emptiness."
No comments:
Post a Comment