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hilary

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Revolution without entanglement

Eglise St Jeanne d'Arc, Rouen
I’m repeating myself here, but never mind – it bears repeating. The Yi is wonderfully made, with mind-boggling depth. One of the ways this manifests is in the relationships between changing lines and their zhi gua, the hexagram that follows from the change.

For example, 49.3 changes to Hexagram 17, Following:

changing to​
‘Setting out to bring order: pitfall,
Constancy: danger.
As words of radical change draw near three times,
There is truth and confidence.’

This is Radical Change that needs to Follow, to flow, to arise naturally and bring people with it. So it’s no time to ‘bring order’, to impose discipline and make change happen: what’s needed is conversation, or reflection, revisiting the idea of change again and again, creating trust and unanimity.

‘Setting out to bring order’ is my rather long-winded translation for zheng, 征: ‘journey’ or ‘march’, as in the Long March. Originally, this referred to a military expedition, when the king or his general raised an army and marched out to reestablish order and control. In readings, this tends to represent fixing things: active intervention to sort stuff out and make it work. Naturally, there are good and bad times for this – but isn’t it striking to find a warning against zheng in the middle of a hexagram about revolution?

The same warning comes again in line 6, which changes to 13, People in Harmony:

changing to​
‘Noble one transforms as a leopard,
Small people radically change their faces.
Setting out to bring order: pitfall.
Settling with constancy: good fortune.’

I think the challenge of Hexagram 13 is to create harmony between people who are allied in the same cause, but not from the same clan. They meet out ‘in the wilds’, outside any one people’s territory, and need to cross the great river to get beyond their parochial mindset.

So where Radical Change tends towards People in Harmony, the need is not to impose order, not to dominate, but to accept the kinds of change that different people are capable of. The noble one’s constancy bears fruit, says Hexagram 13; settling with constancy is good, says the line that points there.

I didn’t choose these two lines at random, but because of what I find really breathtaking about the structure of the Yi: that you can often see how the zhi gua for multiple line changes are also a perfect fit. Each time I notice a new example of this, it gives me pause for thought: what else haven’t I noticed? how much more am I missing?

And sure enough, these two lines, the only ones in Hexagram 49 that warn you against military action, change together to reveal Hexagram 25, Without Entanglement.

changing to​

How can you have a revolution without entanglement – without going against the laws of heaven, without unfounded belief or futile action? Through Following, through Harmony among People – and by not setting out to bring order.
 

Trojina

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I have no idea what the picture is of?
 

hilary

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Some arty architectural thing, I think.
 

Trojina

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Some arty architectural thing, I think.
So my expectation that there would be some semblance of a connection between the image and the content then was misplaced.


:lol:

An image of sardines on toast would have done just as well presumably.....if not better since there is nothing like sardines on toast to say 'I'm not taking action to rectify anything, I will take life as it comes'.
 

hilary

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Well, the post was about the elegant architecture of the Yi as a whole. But you're right, sardines on toast would have been ideal.

🐟🐟🐟
 

my_key

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49 does carry a strong essence of emergence, if not alchemy. I see it a bit like after 48 you are not going to be able to put the plug back in the hole and all that needs to go down the plug hole is about to go of it's own volition especially as 'a noble one calculates the heavenly signs and clarifies the seasons'.

Yi advocating that if the heavens rule it is the right time, and it looks like the right time then sure as anything it is the right time. Stand back and watch the show. Any thing else will be just plain interfering and will only slow, or in worse case stop, the process of Radical Change.

49.3 does seem to be the point at which the magic occurs. The moment of the third visit of the words of Radical Change.
First visit at 49.1 when you are just getting to know the words. There is a pitfall here in trying to jump ahead of the game or trying to guess or impose the new mandate it is leading towards. (Setting out to bring order means a pitfall)
Then at 49.2 the new cause becomes clear and comes with a realisation the 'old' needs to be eliminated here and now (43). The danger lies in sticking hard and fast to old perspectives and not eliminating them. (Constancy means danger.)
Then at 49.3, comes the third approach of the word. With this approach, having passed through the other 2 gates, there lies before us now only truth and confidence. There will be a natural attraction towards this new world - just follow this (17).

Through being bolstered by 'truth and confidence' means that at 49.4 the emergence and alchemical change of the new mandate is assured. Hence the relating confirmation given through Already Fulfilled (63).
At 49.5 the 'Tiger Onesy' is revealed in all it's glory. It's been there all the time. Hidden underneath and shrouded by the overcoat of 'previous grounds for sorrow'. Here the sorrows have now been dissolved. To boot, what has been dissolved is out weighed by what has emerged ...... Yippeee!!! Abundance (55) flows.

At 49.6 the alchemy is complete. No where to go, go nothing to do! Just stay where you are making and reinforcing the new connections. If you are still seeking anything in the outer world then seek out harmonising (13) with what is falling effortlessly into your lap. Become the new model, the latest version, the brand spanking, sparkly, gorgeous beautiful you.

And sure enough, these two lines, the only ones in Hexagram 49 that warn you against military action, change together to reveal Hexagram 25, Without Entanglement.

How can you have a revolution without entanglement – without going against the laws of heaven, without unfounded belief or futile action? Through Following, through Harmony among People – and by not setting out to bring order.​

Another way to look at 49.3 and 49.6 together is from the perspective of them residing and being guardians at the threshold of our inner and outer worlds. They are the pinnacle positions of both our worlds and do convey important messages, especially when both change in tandem. When our inner world is guided towards trusting the flow of life and our outer world aligns harmoniously with what is within, i.e. does not seek to introduce external calamity or drama, then we are able to be at peace with the new way of things. Furthermore, we can ride the waves of our new situation without sinking (Hence 25 : Settling with constancy: good fortune). Inner world and outer world align as we have loosed the mask and freed ourselves from having to fight in an old war anymore (25).
 
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hilary

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I see it a bit like after 48 you are not going to be able to put the plug back in the hole
:)

'The Way of the Well does not allow things not to Change Radically.'

- always makes me think of 'You do not pour new wine into old wineskins.'
 

Mustafa

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How can you have a revolution without entanglement – without going against the laws of heaven, without unfounded belief or futile action? Through Following, through Harmony among People – and by not setting out to bring order.
You put a question mark. Wise people do not ask but The God. The God Allah like Buddhists say The Buddha allows for other Buddhas. Buddhas can, to reply your question.

I ask God to be correct
 

Mustafa

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Revolution without entanglement

Eglise St Jeanne d'Arc, Rouen'Arc, Rouen
I’m repeating myself here, but never mind – it bears repeating. The Yi is wonderfully made, with mind-boggling depth. One of the ways this manifests is in the relationships between changing lines and their zhi gua, the hexagram that follows from the change.

For example, 49.3 changes to Hexagram 17, Following:

changing to​


This is Radical Change that needs to Follow, to flow, to arise naturally and bring people with it. So it’s no time to ‘bring order’, to impose discipline and make change happen: what’s needed is conversation, or reflection, revisiting the idea of change again and again, creating trust and unanimity.

‘Setting out to bring order’ is my rather long-winded translation for zheng, 征: ‘journey’ or ‘march’, as in the Long March. Originally, this referred to a military expedition, when the king or his general raised an army and marched out to reestablish order and control. In readings, this tends to represent fixing things: active intervention to sort stuff out and make it work. Naturally, there are good and bad times for this – but isn’t it striking to find a warning against zheng in the middle of a hexagram about revolution?

The same warning comes again in line 6, which changes to 13, People in Harmony:

changing to​


I think the challenge of Hexagram 13 is to create harmony between people who are allied in the same cause, but not from the same clan. They meet out ‘in the wilds’, outside any one people’s territory, and need to cross the great river to get beyond their parochial mindset.

So where Radical Change tends towards People in Harmony, the need is not to impose order, not to dominate, but to accept the kinds of change that different people are capable of. The noble one’s constancy bears fruit, says Hexagram 13; settling with constancy is good, says the line that points there.

I didn’t choose these two lines at random, but because of what I find really breathtaking about the structure of the Yi: that you can often see how the zhi gua for multiple line changes are also a perfect fit. Each time I notice a new example of this, it gives me pause for thought: what else haven’t I noticed? how much more am I missing?

And sure enough, these two lines, the only ones in Hexagram 49 that warn you against military action, change together to reveal Hexagram 25, Without Entanglement.

changing to​

How can you have a revolution without entanglement – without going against the laws of heaven, without unfounded belief or futile action? Through Following, through Harmony among People – and by not setting out to bring order.
Hi Hilary, this is skilledly percieved

Do you have much more such comparings?
 

Trojina

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There's many many Blog posts from Hilary stretching back for years. They are linked to under the 'Blog' tab

 

hilary

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There's a series of posts specifically on these two-line changes:
 

my_key

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:)

'The Way of the Well does not allow things not to Change Radically.'

- always makes me think of 'You do not pour new wine into old wineskins.'
Indeed, why spoil good wine. Perish the thought!

I am currently reading the book Divine Beauty (The Invisible Embrace) by John O'Donohue. In a section entitled 'The Thought of Beauty and the Beauty of Thought' these particular words fell from the page into my lap. I have added the hexagram line references in the quote in what seemed like appropriate places.

There is nothing in the world that has the cutting edge of a new thought (49.1), It is fascinating to watch the clearance it can make and the new life it can bring (49.2). Often, without knowing it we are waiting for a new idea to come and cut us free (49.3) from our entanglement. When the idea is true and the space is ready for it, the idea overtakes everything. With grace-like swiftness, it descends and claims recognition (49.4); it cannot be returned or reversed. It becomes more forceful than any single action could be (49.5). Indeed, it becomes the mother of a whole sequence of new feeling, thinking and action (49.6)
What struck me most was the closeness of his words around beauty and how beauty can be insinuated in Radical Change when viewed from a certain perspective; one based in following and harmony.

"Often, without knowing it we are waiting for a new idea to come and cut us free from our entanglement." which then overtakes things with "grace-like swiftness". Echoing the beauty to be found in heaven sent gifts that you allude to in your final sentences.

without going against the laws of heaven, without unfounded belief or futile action? Through Following, through Harmony among People – and by not setting out to bring order.

A perspective that is embracing the beauty of transition rather than fighting lost causes. Radical Change calls in it's lines for acts embracing awakening and acceptance of surrender. Perhaps in Radical Change there lies a Divine Beauty.

Embracing the 'Way of Radical Change' is to follow with passionate faith a vague, undetermined path towards a new beauty that will produce, when left to its own devices, a harmonious new world view for us all.
 
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hilary

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That's lovely. I do like John O'Donohue.

There's more to not pouring new wine into old wineskins than not spoiling the wine. New wine is still fermenting, giving off CO2; old wineskins are stiff and unable to stretch and expand to accommodate it. They'd split, and then you'd have no wineskins and no wine.

One of the meanings of 革 (ge, name of Hexagram 49) is actually leather, hide.
 

my_key

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That's lovely. I do like John O'Donohue.

There's more to not pouring new wine into old wineskins than not spoiling the wine. New wine is still fermenting, giving off CO2; old wineskins are stiff and unable to stretch and expand to accommodate it. They'd split, and then you'd have no wineskins and no wine.

One of the meanings of 革 (ge, name of Hexagram 49) is actually leather, hide.
Yes me to. I've only recently discovered him. Such a soft poetic presence in his words that when aligned with his diverse areas of knowledge bring such clarity.
I had not seen the wineskin connection with respect to the aliveness of the wine. Thanks.
 

rosada

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Looking at the sequence I think it's worth noting that before 49. Revolution we have 47. Confined and 48. The Well suggesting that the new ideas do not come from aligning with or following anything in the outer world but from going deep within and bringing something to the surface. This would explain the strong sense of confidence in Revolution - you are not needing any outside confirmation here, you know what you know because you can feel it in your bones. You don't need to set out to bring order or convince anyone else, you just know.
 
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