Earth

[lightofdarkness]

The ROOTS of the category of Earth in the universal IC is in a generic sense of contractive blending, to draw in something or to dissapear into something and be 'whole' - the more positive interpretations are (the negative have earth as total darkness etc - but it transforms into a place to hide and so be protected, nurtured etc):

02 - devoting (uncoditional faith in another/others)
23 - pruning (conditional faith, stop collapse through bolstering support)

08 - unifying (unconditional passive attraction)
20 - admiring (conditional passive attraction)

16 - foreseeing (unconditional planning/enthusing)
35 - progressing (conditional, bring 'something' into the light)

45 - congregating (unconditional expression of faith)
12 - neutralising (conditional expression of faith - through defence)

ALL of these can be interpreted negatively or positively - e.g. 12 is treated by Wilhelm with a negative aire but there is also a cooperative, positive aire in that the actions reflect the neutralising of attacks on one's faith and so the confirmation of that faith - this is against the focus of the Book of Changes where CHANGE is favoured over no change (and so over 'stillness, stagnation' etc)

In the above pairs, the first hexagram is unconditional in its manner, the second is conditional. Thus, since this octet reflects in a microcosm the macrocosm so the 'opposites' dynamics of the macro apply. Thus we have pairs of hexagrams reflecting the unconditional/conditional expressions of the five lines each hexagram shares with the other:

02, 23
08, 20 (e.g. unconditional passive attraction vs conditional)
16, 35
45, 12 (e.g. expression of faith in a general 'exchange' context - 45 is cooperative, 12 is competitive)

As well as the mapping of POTENTIALS/ACTUALS, or more so the seeming 'balanced' as compared to their exaggerated format:

02 - 12 (e.g. passive devotion vs intensly active defence of that devotion etc)
23 - 45 (e.g. simple 'pruning' to bring out the faith vs exaggerated celebration etc)
08 - 35
20 - 16

All have a sense of dealing with issues of devotion/trust in another/others as a 'fundamental' element.

The PAIRS themselves form into quartets of meaning ((02,23),(08,20) Vs
(16,35),(45,12)) and so on. (e.g. more pairs such as 16,35 vs 45,12 -
meaning in meaning in meaning - all due to the method of derivation)

EACH can be XOR-ed with any other to bring out its expressiveness
THROUGH that other, all made by analogy to some other hexagram. All of
thes methods bring out finer details of structure due simply to the
method used to create these structures - recursion of yin/yang that
ensures all is linked together - as such there is no need for
analogies outside of the 'box' since all analogies can be made within
the box - if you know what is going on ;-) (and there is LOTS more
going on here in that EACH pair can form into a sequence of 64 that
serve as analogies/metaphors for describing a 'logic of relationships'
etc etc)

Chris.

main site:
http://www.iimetro.com.au/~lofting/myweb
email:
chrislofting@ozemail.com.au
lofting@iimetro.com.au

 

[megabbobby]

good stuff once again mister..somebody call this guy a book publisher quick!!
i really like the unconditional/conditional grid that youre showing..really brought out 16 and 8 to me---

here's like a super picky thing i was thinking about on this stuff---->

in a way i'm kind of iffy on the word 'conditional' on the yang oriented ones. i know it's technically correct, but..nobody is ever inspired by conditioning. it doesnt have the magnetic pull that describes the interactions.

hex 20 is like theyre digging the attraction--not just doing doggy tricks---
their might be sansaric delusions involved but it can be fun

 

[lightofdarkness]

Hi Mega..

If need be, rather than use the terms "unconditional/conditional" you can use generically equivalent terms of general/all-encompassing vs particular, diffuse vs concentrated, cooperative vs competitive etc etc - all variations on the integrating/differentiating tone that is the 'root' for yin/yang.

The focus on the top line doing this is that the top line represents the EXPRESSION element, it is the last line added, the interface with the environment in the context of the WHOLE hexagram being expressed.

Thus at the beginning, the first distinction made, the first line, so all is either yin XOR yang. Add a line and we move to digrams with FOUR expressions manifesting the differentiation ogf yin/yang out of yin, and yin/yang out of yang. When we get to six lines so the top line of each PAIR of hexagrams reflects the same expressiveness of reflecting yin/yang out of the previous qualities developed as we add lines (or jump a head to add trigrams on trigrams etc - due to the line structure so the same meanings apply be it from adding 6 lines or topping one trigram with another)

Thus the GENERAL 'vibe' of a hexagram is the base line, move 'up' to become increasingly PARTICULAR and so increasingly 'expressive'.

hex 20 is conditional in the form of a PARTICULAR 'standing out, a particular being 'setting an example' and so acting to invigorate others, to elicit a sense of admiration and to follow on from that - so yes there is a sense of 'digging it' -both in the person/thing expressed and the people observing that expression. Not also the 'dark side' where it becomes a person/thing being made an example of - and so motivating others to not try and 'transcend' their position! ;-)

The base line in 20, 23 etc is yin and so sets the generic context associated with integrating etc.

We can read the lines as ( For 20 and an example) moving from general to particular:

I/they/we integrate (in general)
to integrate
to integrate
to integrate
to differentiate
to finally differentiate (in particular)

In analysis we can replace these with syonymous dichotomies:

integrate/differentiate
unconditonal/conditional
non-mediating/mediating
general/particular
cooperative/competitive
diffuse/concentrated
potential/actual
etc

I have used unconditional/conditional since it is generic enough to be reflected in all but also more understandable, less formal, than 'integrate/differentiate' and less 'biased' in feeling than, say, cooperative/competitive.

As such we can play around with the different dichotomies for the last line to reflect the local expression of the hexagram - and you can make up lists of dichotomies to bring out that expressiveness - thus 23 is:

differentiating
competitive
conditional
mediating
actualising
concentrated

All generic associations possible given the top yang line. The GENERIC label 23 shares with 02 is the focus on devotion to another/others so we can read 23 as being:

differentiatingly devoted to another/others
competitively devoted
conditionally devoted
mediatingly devoted
concentratedly/crisply devoted
actualising that devotion
etc
etc

Thus 02 becomes interpretable as:

integratedly devoted
cooperatively devoted
unconditionally devoted
representitively devoted (un-mediating)
diffusely/vaguely devoted
potentially devoted
etc
etc

there are subtle nuances in all of these that can elicit a particular favoured interpretiation for each of us but my focus on the universal IC is to keep it as 'generic' as possible to get across the core, but generic, feelings associated with the expression.

Chris.