Atomic I Ching Hexagrams & Atomic Jungian Archetypes

[petrosianii]

By Eric Bryant, Philosohical Counselor
Gnosis Arts
www.gnosisarts.com

Atomic I Ching Hexgrams - The Calculus of the Nuclear Hexagrams
(Excerpted from: http://ichingonline.blogspot.com/2007/09/atomic-i-ching-hexagrams-atomic-jungian.html)

I had a profound awakening in my evening meditation last night. For some reason, the relationships between what I call Jung's four "atomic" archetypes, what I term the I Ching's four "atomic" hexagrams, and Young's schemas, all made sense.

The psychologist Jeffrey Young is the originator of what is now called Schema Theory. This is a psychoanalytic approach that conceives of several basic schemas that form the sub-personalities of the personal unconscious. Elsewhere I have shown that Young's schemas are really just a reformulation of Carl Jung's concept of the "complex".

For Jung, complexes are clusters of ideas and beliefs that are suffused with emotional content. These complexes are formed by the archetypes of the collective unconscious. They are sub-personalities residing in the individual's personal unconscious that exist as expressions or manifestations of the archetypal forces.

Jung's Four Fundamental Archetypes

Carl Jung believed that there were four fundamental archetypes that shape each individual's unconscious psyche. (For more information on Jungian psychology, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.) These archetypes are:

* The Anima
* The Animus
* The Shadow
* The Self

1. The Anima is the archetype of the female energy. Like the Platonic Forms, archetypes are like eternally existing spiritual entities or forces that makes themselves known through symbols. Thus, the Anima is the symbol of female energy.

2. Conversely, the Animus is the archetype of male energy.

3. The Shadow is the negative complement to the Self. As the Self lies at the core of the collective unconscious, it also lies at the heart of each individual's psyche. It is the creative power of the psyche that constitutes every detail of the individual's personality.

4. The Shadow, therefore, is the "dark side" of the Self, so to speak. It embodies all the instinctual drives and desires of the personality which produce chaos, destruction, and moral danger.

The Self and the Shadow are like the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the psyche.

Jungian Symbols: Interpretive Tools In I Ching Readings

In yesterday's meditation, I realized that these four "atomic" archetypes are symbolized in the Book of Changes as the four "atomic" hexagrams. These four hexagrams make up all the rest of the hexagrams, much in the same way that the fundamental chemical elements of Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium and Beryllium make up all the other elements. The four atomic hexagrams are:

* #1 - The Creative
* #2 - The Receptive
* #63 - After the End
* #64 - Before the End

Explanations Of The Four I Ching Atomic Hexagrams

* I Ching Text Of Hexagram 1 - The Creative. The Creative embodies the Yang, or male, energies. In many I Ching interpretations Yang-energy is characterized by activity, movement, light, sun, consciousness, penis, sperm, growth, birth, achievement, construction, etc. In short, by terms of activity.

* I Ching Text Of Hexagram 2 - The Receptive. The Receptive epitomizes the Yin, or female, energies. Yin energy speaks of passivity, receptivity, waiting, stillness, the womb, the egg, dark, moon, water, the unconscious, repose, rest, destruction, etc. In short, by therms of receptivity.

* I Ching Text Of Hexagrams 63, 64 - After the End & Before the End. Both these hexagrams are composed of equal amounts of yang and yin energies. The only difference is which energy "rules" the hexagram. In #63, Yin energy rules. Hence, #63 speaks of having reached a state of equilibrium, repose, and accomplishment. Its yin-leadership moves it gradually towards #64, where Yang enrgy rules. Hexagram #64 speaks of the idea of cyclic rebirth - a recurring theme in the I Ching. Since it is moving toward creative birth, it is thought to be ruled by Yang energy.

Root I Ching Hexagrams and Jung's Atomic Archetypes

Now, as you can guess, each of these four root hexagrams corresponds to the four atomic archetypes Jung identified. In fact, Jung said that he got the idea of archetypes directly from his Taoist studies. Hexagram #1 corresponds to the Animus - that fount of active, generative detonating energy responsible for the creation. Hexagram #2 corresponds to the Anima, its female counterpart. Hexagram #63 corresponds to the Shadow, that seeting caldron of potential energy out of which chaos and imbalance arises. And #64 corresponds to the Self, for the Self is the procreator of rebirth.

 

[dobro p]

I would have thought that Hex 36 symbolized the shadow.

 

[martin]

The nuclear hexagram of the nuclear hexagram of 63 is the same as the nuclear of the nuclear of 36. In other words, line 3 and 4 are the same.
Nuclear of nuclear, line 3 and 4, I think that is what Petrosianii is talking about when he uses the word 'atom'.
Correct, Petrosianii?

 

[petrosianii]

what i mean by 'atomic' hexagrams

yes, that's correct. 'atomic' refers to 'nuclear of nuclear'.
:bows:

 

[petrosianii]

It's been about 3 yrs since I started this thread - and about 3 yrs since I was last on this site. I came back to revisit this thread after being "crossed up" by something recently. Rereading it, my view of this has evolved. I literally haven't thought much about these ideas in 2 + yrs.

Above I had said that hexagram 63 was ruled by Yin energy, and hexagram 64 by Yang energy. Consulting my I Ching, I see this was wrong. Both hexagrams have ruling lines at yin points. Thus, an argument could be made that both are ruled by yin energy.

Here is more on the Shadow and Self (from Jung vis a vis Wikipedia):

In Jungian psychology, the shadow or "shadow aspect" is a part of the unconscious mind consisting of repressed weaknesses, shortcomings, and instincts. It is one of the three most recognizable archetypes, the others being the anima and animus and the persona. "Everyone carries a shadow," Jung wrote, "and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is."[1] It may be (in part) one's link to more primitive animal instincts,[2] which are superseded during early childhood by the conscious mind.

According to Jung, the shadow, in being instinctive and irrational, is prone to projection: turning a personal inferiority into a perceived moral deficiency in someone else. Jung writes that if these projections are unrecognized "The projection-making factor (the Shadow archetype) then has a free hand and can realize its object--if it has one--or bring about some other situation characteristic of its power." [3] These projections insulate and cripple individuals by forming an ever thicker fog of illusion between the ego and the real world.

From one perspective, 'the shadow...is roughly equivalent to the whole of the Freudian unconscious'[4]; and Jung himself considered that 'the result of the Freudian method of elucidation is a minute elaboration of man's shadow-side unexampled in any previous age'[5].

Jung also believed that "in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness—or perhaps because of this—the shadow is the seat of creativity."[6]; so that for some, it may be, 'the dark side of his being, his sinister shadow...represents the true spirit of life as against the arid scholar'[7]...

Jung considered as a perennial danger in life that 'the more consciousness gains in clarity, the more monarchic becomes its content...the king constantly needs the renewal that begins with a descent into his own darkness'[14] - his shadow - which the 'dissolution of the persona'[15] sets in motion.

'The shadow personifies everything that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself' and represents 'a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful constriction no one is spared who goes down to the deep well'[16]. If and when 'an individual makes an attempt to see his shadow, he becomes aware of (and often ashamed of) those qualities and impulses he denies in himself but can plainly see in others - such things as egotism, mental laziness, and sloppiness; unreal fantasies, schemes, and plots; carelessness and cowardice; inordinate love of money and possessions -...[a] painful and lengthy work of self-education'[17]...

The impact of such 'confrontation with the shadow produces at first a dead balance, a standstill that hampers moral decisions and makes convictions ineffective...tenebrositas, chaos, melancholia'[23]. Consequently (as Jung knew from personal experience) 'in this time of descent - one, three, seven years, more or less - genuine courage and strength are required'[24], with no certainty of emergence. Nevertheless Jung remained of the opinion that while 'no one should deny the danger of the descent...every descent is followed by an ascent...enantiodromia'[25]; and assimilation of - rather than possession by - the shadow becomes at last a real possibility...

Here the struggle is to retain awareness of the shadow, but not identification with it. 'Non-identification demands considerable moral effort...prevents a descent into that darkness'; but though 'the conscious mind is liable to be submerged at any moment in the unconscious... understanding acts like a life-saver. It integrates the unconscious'[27] - reincorporates the shadow into the personality, producing a stronger, wider consciousness than before.

I still think my initial interpretation of #63 as Shadow is correct (though I can see Hilary's point, and can see them just as easily reversed at times). 63 pictures a state of equilibrium. But there is chaos gnawing at it. Equilibrium by nature is a type of cosmic complacency. That complacency is itself what threatens and eventually overthrows the equilibrium, leading the situation to #64. As Wing writes, "After ... its glorious peak, apathy and irresponsibility appear ... social bonds weaken ... decadence and corruption..." All vices typically associated with the shadow.

Then, in 64, you have "a wise and sage viewpoint present in human affairs." Jung used the Wise Old Man symbol to characterize the Self. And so it is also in the I Ching. In 64 one is "unusually familiar with the elements involved ..." . I.e., the Self has individuated a bit more, integrated a bit more of that shadow revealed in the "time of #63". Of course, this individuation and integration never ends, and 64 tells us this. Likewise, the Self is both always whole and complete, and yet always in the process of becoming such, of integrating more of the other elements of the psyche, such as the shadow, ego, persona, animus, anima. Jung paradoxically claims the Self is both "the center of the psyche and the whole of the psyche." This really makes no sense, when you think about it. And it also makes no sense that 64 is both SELF and BEFORE THE END - as we tend to thing of the Self as a finished, completed whole. It is, and it isn't. It is a whole, and it is also a center of the whole. It is complete, and it is also being completed.

"For God has perfected once for all, those who are being made perfect," says the writer of the Book of Hebrews. Same thing. A paradox. How can something be perfect, which is becoming perfect? How can a particle also be a wave? How can a wave also act like a particle? It is, and it isn't. It does and it doesn't??

The self is a paradox, always.

At any rate, this is meaningful to me today. As I am being crossed by a situation in my business, which situation appears to have been brought about by letting my Shadow run the show for too long. As Jung stated, my shadow has been "turning personal inferiority into a perceived moral deficiency in others." This is at the heart of my initial hexagram today - # 46, Pushing Upward. Letting go of the object of my inquiry produces pushing upward advancement, precisely because it amounts to looking bravely at - and thereby incorporating/integrating - these shadow elements. It may mean confronting the egotism, scheming, conniving, that I've been doing, much of which out of an inordinate desire for "profitability" (Profitability really can mean greed, if it is profitability at the cost of virtue)

The change hexagram was also interesting: #18 Repair. Letting go, integrating shadow, overcoming shadow, may take me through a process of repair.

I say "may" because I do have one out: #18 advises me to "consider and reflect on the situation for 3 days before making a decision."

Whew! Moral development.

 

[sooo]

Thanks for coming back to this, Petrosianii. Interesting and easy reading for me, which I can't say for some other related subjects. While some here are not especially fans of Jung, his ideas speak to me.

Your views of 63 and the Shadow are interesting. I can see 63 as a time of possible greed and corruption. I find it's also a time when people and animals are least likable. Approaching a wild animal after their kill, or after they've given birth, is exceedingly dangerous, as they are most apt to attack out of defense. 63 is also a time when dark suspicions arise, and if one is not careful, they can literally infiltrate and take over ones life. It's a time when people and things can get fat and lazy, and succumb to costly vices and obsessions, and unfathomable loneliness, regardless of the crowd they're with.

Since 64 hasn't arrived yet, there's more focus on getting to the other side, with hope, and less focus on who might steal your luggage once you get there.

 

[Tohpol]

Thanks for coming back to this, Petrosianii. Interesting and easy reading for me, which I can't say for some other related subjects. While some here are not especially fans of Jung, his ideas speak to me.

Your views of 63 and the Shadow are interesting. I can see 63 as a time of possible greed and corruption. I find it's also a time when people and animals are least likable. Approaching a wild animal after their kill, or after they've given birth, is exceedingly dangerous, as they are most apt to attack out of defense. 63 is also a time when dark suspicions arise, and if one is not careful, they can literally infiltrate and take over ones life. It's a time when people and things can get fat and lazy, and succumb to costly vices and obsessions, and unfathomable loneliness, regardless of the crowd they're with.

Since 64 hasn't arrived yet, there's more focus on getting to the other side, with hope, and less focus on who might steal your luggage once you get there.

63 has always been a major warning for me in the precisely the terms you talk about. Things are where they should be but your're losing it...or, you are about to lose this creative tension if you let the ego / predator's mind come creeping back and ruin it. Complacency, definitely. Yes, the lion after the kill with a fat stomach can also illustrate ourselves when we believe we have made the crossing but we could lose everything in an instant if we imagine that such work is not a constant process of vigilance.

 

[petrosianii]

@topal No, thank you for taking time to read it. You're welcome.

 

[petrosianii]

@sooo Thank you, also. Your analysis is pretty much right on target with where I'm at. So is topal's. Thank you both. It's going to be a hard road from here, I already see it. A hard path from 46 > 18 > 63 > 64. But it's all good.

 

[petrosianii]

Ok, after a few more months of seeing how this situation would play out, I am now back again to report the sequel, lol!

We've accomplished #18, Letting Go. As I said in the above,

At any rate, this is meaningful to me today. As I am being crossed by a situation in my business, which situation appears to have been brought about by letting my Shadow run the show for too long. As Jung stated, my shadow has been "turning personal inferiority into a perceived moral deficiency in others." This is at the heart of my initial hexagram today - # 46, Pushing Upward. Letting go of the object of my inquiry produces pushing upward advancement, precisely because it amounts to looking bravely at - and thereby incorporating/integrating - these shadow elements. It may mean confronting the egotism, scheming, conniving, that I've been doing, much of which out of an inordinate desire for "profitability" (Profitability really can mean greed, if it is profitability at the cost of virtue)

The change hexagram was also interesting: #18 Repair. Letting go, integrating shadow, overcoming shadow, may take me through a process of repair.

And this had been true. I've taken my company through a difficult process of reinvention - and it is now starting to pay off. A process of re-creation motivated and informed by this "letting go of the Shadow elements that were hindering our progress." And now, I'm pleased to report, we're at #27 - approaching Critical Mass (#28). Things are going much better. First, they improved inwardly; the inner change in me sparked an inner change in the ethos of my firm. This change has in turn spurred a more stable business model; more reliable revenue generation; staff who are clearer in their roles and responsibilities; almost zero strife among staff - and now we are positioned to enter into a season of fruitfulness the likes of which have only really been a dream up to this point.

Never ceases to amaze me how "true" the I Ching is.