Hexagram 18, line 5:
‘Ancestral father’s corruption.
Use praise.’
So how is praise in any way helpful in dealing with corruption?
Hexagram 18 is one of those whose lines seem to have a reasonably clear progression, starting with taking on responsibility for and ‘ownership of’ the inherited corruption, and moving up towards a point where it is no longer your concern. Line 5 is on the cusp of that shift, beginning to deal with what’s wrong through attention to what’s right.
There is simple, practical advice here: sometimes it works best to deal with corruption not by challenging it directly (and hence provoking resistance), but instead by bypassing it to engage with the good. This is the way of hexagram 57 in dealing with corruption: subtly penetrating to the roots.
But as I started reading Natural Grace (Rupert Sheldrake and Matthew Fox), I came across a whole new and deeper level of meaning for this line. Matthew Fox is talking about praise as a response to grace.
“…Praise is very practical. Getting praise back is about getting our breath back, it’s about getting our energy back and it’s about our capacity to let go and to rediscover a capacity for joy and a bigness of soul.
One more point is this: while I like to begin talking about original blessing, original grace and praise, this is not in any way to ignore suffering, evil or struggle. Just the opposite, it is all to prepare the way for dealing with it. Until we can feel graced – a psychological term for that might be high self-esteem – we’re not in a position to deal with our wounds or anyone else’s wounds. We run out of steam very early and we give up the struggle. I think the poet Rilke put it wonderfully when he said, ‘Walk your way of lament on a path of praise.’ I’m saying we can’t deal with the lamentation, the grief of our time… or any other shadow in our collective histories, except on a path of praise.
This is why praise is important not only for itself but in order to get the work with the shadow, the dark work, done as well.”
Hi Hilary,
Hexagram 18 is a good example of a hex in which the tag only implies a meaning. Corruption or poison may be the literal translation, but I think the Wilhelm/Baynes comes closer to the actual meaning with the title of Work On What Has Been Spoiled.
This leaves us to determine what it is that has gone wrong, and in my experience very often what has gone wrong are the relations between people. Thanks.
Agreed, 18 is not only about the corruption but about what can be done to remedy it. Very often, ‘determining what it is that has gone wrong,’ and why, is the major task. The lines hint at this, with their echo of ancient divinations to identify the ancestor responsible for a curse.
Some other hexagrams also have this ‘implied verb’ effect.
12: Stasis and Obstruction, or shifting the obstruction
13: People in Harmony, or creating the harmony between people
48: the Well, or using, building and maintaining the well
51: Shock, or how to respond to shock
… and so on. In a Book of Changes, this probably shouldn’t surprise us. 😉
I like Richard Rutt’s translation for 18: “Mildew”
The gist of line 5 in hexagram 18 is about someone who does not have the power to move mountains, yet does everything he can, and for this there is praise.
If a slight digression is permitted here though, I might say that the I Ching itself in many ways is concerned with the proper handling of both praise and criticism. Both have the ability to throw us off balance, so one must learn the proper decorum in both praise and blame. We should be able to accept both without it interfering with our equilibrium or throwing us off balance. The lines in this hexagram talk often about praise and blame. The superior person is swayed by neither. He/she takes both in stride without being overwhelmed by it or lost in the moment. In reality, one side has as much capability of throwing us off balance as the other. In all cases we must continue with the task at hand without too much emotional indulgence into the causes of praise or blame. In this way, we “work on what has been spoiled within ourselves.”
Gene
Thanks.This post deepens my understanding of subtle penetration as alchemy;or,perhaps the concept of dorje’.I now see the trigrm as an ethereal symbol of the ‘impossible to touch’, callibration of the inner and outer life The connection between the pattern of wood grain and wind.By the time change occurs the subtle penetration’s ineffable utility is gone with the wind.
The ideas of ‘getting our breath back’ and also ‘not combating something directly and instead bypassing it to engage with the good’ reminds me of a technique I use to induce sleep.
In essence stop thinking actively with engagement, and instead focus on establishing a smooth tidal breathing tempo. Invariably sleep comes.
It can be done in bed but works best sitting on the floor (15min), then sitting on your heels, which is also good for indigestion, (15min), and then just standing (10 min).
I noticed that these patterns of thinking and breathing were missing when I wasn’t sleeping well. Stress and illness will impact on the process, but it’s still good for at least one sleep cycle (about 2 hours).
The process can be enhanced by some simple exercises. Make a fist and release. Same for feet, face and pelvic floor.
Also any exercise which brings the knees towards the chest automatically deepens breathing without effort.
In passing, the rope and the bucket is a good image of sleep, the well being the subconscious mind. And 60 regulation is anything with a periodic harmonic tempo.