Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
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‘Setting out to bring order: pitfall,
Constancy: danger.
As words of radical change draw near three times,
There is truth and confidence.’
‘Noble one transforms as a leopard,
Small people radically change their faces.
Setting out to bring order: pitfall.
Settling with constancy: good fortune.’
So my expectation that there would be some semblance of a connection between the image and the content then was misplaced.Some arty architectural thing, I think.
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.
I see it a bit like after 48 you are not going to be able to put the plug back in the hole
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.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 percievedRevolution without entanglement
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.
Indeed, why spoil good wine. Perish the thought!
'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.'
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.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)
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.
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.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.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).