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Hexagram Polarities: contrasting complementary hexagrams

qafinaf

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Hi all,

Not sure whether this is already common knowledge, but it seems illuminating.

Reading Hilary's comments about complementary hexagrams got me wondering if the meaning of the hexagrams were as complementary as the structures. So I paired them up and looked for contrast.

Here are some connections that showed:

3/50: 3 is the difficulty of pushing through a container to be born; 50 describes the incubation that happens within the container.
4/49: 4 has to do with being covered with something; 49 has to do with shedding a covering.
5/35: 5 is waiting; 35 is proceeding.
6/36: 6 is arguing your position; 36 is concealing your position.
7/13: 7 is people united under a leader; 13 is people working together.
etc.

It seems that these pairs hold a tension between opposites. By understanding the particular tension, we can better understand each hexagram alone. For example 3 and 50 both deal with womb issues (emerging vs. containing). 4 and 49 deal with veil issues (covering vs. shedding the cover). 5 and 35 deal with readiness. 6 and 36 deal with issues around sharing one's conviction. etc.

Some of the pairs are not so obvious, like 61. Inner Truth / 62. Preponderance of the Small. (Maybe this is inner direction vs. external demands. )

Identifying the issues may itself be the work of interpretation.

But it seems to illuminate meanings which aren't altogether clear at first. For example 17. Following / 18. Work on what has been spoiled. The issue here seems something like 17. Following in the way passed down to us from the ancestors / 18. Neglecting to honor the ancestors (the offerings are rotten).

These stages sound like developmental psychology issues.

Maybe the changing lines play into this too.

Has this already been explored? Any insights?

Peace,

John
 

bradford

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Some of the pairs are not so obvious, like 61. Inner Truth / 62. Preponderance of the Small. (Maybe this is inner direction vs. external demands. ) John

For 61-62 try self-importance vs humility.
The pairs of symmetrical gua like this one are especially important, since each is its own inverse and so they are used in place of the inverse dimension (Qian Gua) in the hexagram sequence. However, it's a good exercise and meditation to find the connection between all pairs of opposites (Pang Tong Gua). It's a valid study and it appears to be a part of the thought process of the original authors. I give each of these dimensions a page in my Volume 2. Not much, but a place to start
 

russell

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Ditto the above; the system of pang tong gua is much more elegant than the qian gua. When interpreting a base and transformed hexagram, I look at the base hexagram and its pang tong gua to see how they are the same, then the transformed hexagram and its pang tong gua (I call the latter the anti-hexagram because it is the reversal of the direction of change) to see how they are different.

—Russell
 

qafinaf

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Very interesting and helpful. Thank you, Bradford. Do you have any clues about 27. Nourishment / 28. Across the Great Pass?

Maybe 27. Providing support / 28. Too heavy to be supported? Or even a situation when it's still nourishing vs. when it becomes oppressive. (The balance between caring for and overwhelming)

Also 9/16 is a curious combination. I thought it had to do with laying the groundwork vs acting spontaneously, but looking at your pairs, I wonder if it has to do with raising small animals vs. handling elephants. (One is much more manageable and predictable.)

And Russell, I'm curious about why you look at similarities in the base hexagram and differences in the transformed.
 
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russell

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They are like two different axes. Looking for similarities between the base hexagram and its pang tong gua is what I would normally expect to do. But the anti-hexagram, being the one formed by changing the non-changing lines, is what the situation is not changing into; it points away from the direction of change. This is how I have gradually come to look at it:

russellcottrell.com/VirtualYarrowStalks/antihexagram.htm

—Russell
 

qafinaf

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I keep thinking about polarities, and I've got a mish mash of thoughts about it. So I hope this is somewhat clear.

It is said that opposite qualities (polarities) emerge together. Yin and Yang, good and bad, etc.

Walter Russell in his cosmology talks about an original "One Still Light" which is Being beyond manifestation. When it takes manifestation, it divides into two lights, which do not have being but seem to be. They are illusory.

Reading about polarities, it turns out that Fritz Perls, the father of Gestalt psychology, was very interested in polarities in our meaning system and he talked about a "Creative void" or "Creative Indifference" which stands in the balance between the two poles.

In light of these two examples, it seems the I Ching might be approached as a guidebook to this system of polarities which have no solidity or substance in themselves, only in the tension they hold with their opposite. (Maybe this is oversimplification and that the meaning-tension is more like a network among all 64 hexagrams.) But its been interesting playing around with polarity awareness!
 
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