Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
The Milgram Experiments showed the readiness of the public to submit and conform to a 'total institution' - that of academic science. The imagery of powerful institutions is so pervasive within our society that we will readily suspend our sense of personal responsibility in the belief that the moral responsibility of the institution is 'total' and not to be questioned. To go against such widely-accepted institutions is to risk public condemnation and punitive action. Why risk this when we can take a 'moral holiday' simply by handing the moral responsibility over to an institution that claims to have greater insight?
At a personal level, we develop 'total institutions' within the psyche as we increasingly adopt and nurture unbalanced demands and emotive dynamics. Fourth yang in Hex 17 very often seeks to demonstrate to us that we are not acting from a position of balanced discrimination but rather from a position that lacks directive clarity and thus falls back into the 'total institution' of our habitual response mechanisms.
I feel that what 17,4 is leading to is a critical distinction between any 'assumed but deeply held truths' and truth-in-itself, an often abstract level of truth, free of personal bias or pre-determined assumption.
I feel that what 17,4 is leading to is a critical distinction between any 'assumed but deeply held truths' and truth-in-itself, an often abstract level of truth, free of personal bias or pre-determined assumption. The problem echoes somewhat Plato's Theory of Forms in that we are being asked to distinguish between the truth of everyday reality and truth in its purest, most abstract form. It could be argued that the I Ching is urging us to follow here our highest concept of truth, but it is important to note that all that is required is the humble process of 'following.' In the West we are long accustomed to the process of rationalising and analysing before we commit to a course of action, whereas the I Ching often urges us to simply follow the guidance of our teacher, secure in the knowledge that a deeper and more profound understanding will emerge after we have experienced the living truth.
For me, 17.4 says, it's okay to walk away, to disobey, to find and follow your own way.
In law a great deal of effort is made to reduce EVERYTHING to the level of physical truth (i.e.: the car is red) and then subsequently struggling desperately with the fact that truth within the human psyche contains a great deal of fluidity, and is neither physical nor fixed.
A good example of these different 'levels' is to think of a fast-flowing river; on one level it consists of unending change, of infinitely varied eddies and currents, of still pools and rapids but the essence of all these changes is far simpler and comparatively unchanging - it is simply 'a river.' From the multiplicity of infinite change there evolves the changeless essence - "In order to find one's place in the infinity of being, one must be able both to separate and to unite" - beautiful, stunningly beautiful.
Seems we need a 'fixed' reality and maybe there lays the need for a Truth, to avoid and maybe reduce the uncertainty of not knowing. Like you said, it seems essential for our survival -literally or figuratively. It creates a solid ground to stand - the void is not comfortable[/COLOR]
however , what is not very satisfying to me is the distinction between inferior- mundane mind and the superior Mind. Universals, seem to me, its a 'product' of both minds. Maybe the mundane mind its a manifestation of the Mind of Tao. I don't express my thought well, I do feel that, but what i try to say is are those mind totally different or Just the different faces of the same thing?. What is difficult with the Truth is as long as you reach to a bedrock and feels like to reached to the 'destination' you realize that there is another strata, a level deeper and that goes on and on.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).