Hi there:

When 45.2 changes, it becomes Exhausting (47).
Why is that? It seems from all the commentaries I've read that it is an effortless gathering together.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks,
Rosalie

Hi Rosalie-
One of the problems people have with the whole Hexagrams is in oversimplifying the meanings of the translated titles. What is being gathered here? Water over the Earth, but it's not flowing water. It's a reservoir. It needs maintenance, or banks. This gathering together is of our own resources, becoming secure. Gathering ourselves together, collecting our wits. Security is in fact one of the main themes of the lines (see all the references to finding emotional stability).
The exhaustion is in the effortlessness itself, in wanting or having things the easy way. The joy is in the working for rewards, not in the wishing for them. And that's how we fortify ourselves.

I don't know that I'd read it as effortless, per se. Natural gathering is closer, I think.

A lake unfed dries up (47). A lake uncontrolled causes floods. In human affairs, a king gathers honest and dishonest, ambitious and lazy helpers. Inwardly, we gather helpful and harmful elements. Misfortune comes through mismanagement, inattention and carelessness.

Another image this hexagram makes me think of is an ecosystem, like a pond or lake. It is not only water and earth. It is everything that the two supports: plants, insects, fish, reptiles, foul and mammals. Gathering basic elements attracts all other life forms. Not all elements support each other, however. Developing a healthy ecosystem is establishing a lake that works, that supports life like the earth does. When this doesn't happen, the life of the lake dries up, as in 47. A happy lake is a lake that's working together.

The idea of being drawn - seemed effortless, rather than exhausting.
Bruce - I like the metaphor or ecosystems. I've been thinking about what you said a few months ago about relating to nature. Actually, isn't that what the trigrams are???

I don't have my books with me now - but in rereading Bradford's commentary (which I have on my flash drive) - I read it as - one is feeling full and therefore can be drawn to making sacrifices, rather than trying to obtain something - in that, I suppose, one can overdo it, deplete oneself and get exhausted.

Bradford - is that how you meant it?

The combination, 45.2 - 47, came up in a reading I was did for a friend who's child had received a scolarship to attend a very wealthy private school. The mother who had been the P.T.A. president and very active in the child's former classroom wondered what her role would be at this new school.

45.2
Letting oneself be drawn
Brings good fortune and remains blameless.
If one is sincere,
It furthers one to bring even a small gift.

Wilhelm: When inner relationships exist, no great preparations and formalities are necessary.

This suggested that since her child was a student at the school, there was an "inner relationship" even though the family was not wealthy and that her willingness to participate and share her expertise would be an appropriate "small gift".

As it turned out there was a position she was ideally suited for and she happily allowed herself to be "drawn in" to volunteering. The teachers and the children loved her ideas and she completed what was required without a hitch.

47.
Oppression. Success. Perseverance.
The great man brings about good fortune.
No blame.
When one has something to say,
it is not believed.

The whole time my friend was involved with the P.T.A. she made no friends with the other mothers. Even though the program she ran was very successful, none of the other parents ever expressed any interest. Her suggestions for continuing the program were not implimented.

The image of Exhaustion.
Thus the superior man stakes his life
On following his will.

Although my friend was disappointed her efforts went unrecognized by the other parents, she reminded herself she was doing the job for the kids and in that arena she had been completely successful.

Continued thoughts...
It seems line 45.2 is saying that where there is an inner connection one is successful, as with my friend and her work with the teachers and the children, and 47 warns that where the inner connection with others is lacking, as in her having nothing in common really with the other mothers, one will have to be extremely dedicated to soldier on alone . So this seems to be a good example of how the second hexagram can inform us about the meaning of the change line in the first exagram, that is 45.2 meaning good fortune where there is an inner connectedness but 47 warning Exhaustion where this is lacking.

Thanks Rosada.
It is exhausting when there is no inner connection and when one then becomes the lone ranger!

Rosalie

Rosalie, yes, that is what trigrams are about. And, yes, I prefer to see hexagram meanings in nature's ways before seeing them within human context. It helps me to attain an objective view of the picture rather than seeing "me" in the center of it.