Hexagram Opposites

[anemos]

37 & 40

both about bonds

 

[rosada]

I'm thinking of..

37. Family as being about the unconscious mind and "the woman" referring to the unconscious. "The perseverance of the woman, the unconscious, furthers," that is, the unconscious mind records everything, forgets nothing, and manifests precisely the impression imposed upon it by the conscious mind. Realizing the unconscious manifests perfectly whatever the conscious mind impresses on it, the superior man would be careful in all he says and does.

40. Deliverance then can be read as the conscious mind's way of getting back to normal, maybe after a wild ride of playing out whatever it created earlier?

so 37. could be being normal and 40. as getting back to normal - and maybe having to apologize or forgive or just somehow adjusting the original orders - to create the new normal.

Husband Staggering in after a night of drinking. 40.1:
I know, I'm sorry, I don't want to talk about it. Just let me relax. It'll never happen again.

Wife37.1:
OMG! Look at you! Did you have to stay our all night and out drink every man in the room? We have rules in this house! You should follow them!

Husband 40.2:
I know Dearest! And from now on I'm going to be a straight arrow!

Wife 37.2.:
Okay, just so you know I try to be a good wife to you. I don't go about just following my whims. I've got important things to do right here trying to make a good home for you.

Husband 40.3:
I'm going to be the world's best husband! I'll snub those bums..they might get mad though..

Wife 37.3: When you carry on like this I just can't keep things straight. Everything falls apart. Either you're wanting a family or you're not. I get so confused.

Husband 40.4:
Right, right, I'll get rid of them entirely. YOU are the one I want to be with.

Wife 37.4:
Say I'm your treasure!

Husband 40.5:
I'll never even think about them!

Wife 37.5:
You are my king!

Husband 40.6:
If they so much as show their face at our wall I'll punch 'em!

Wife 37.6:
Wow, I think you mean it. I think we can finally respect and trust you.

 

[rosada]

So...thinking 37 - 40 all the way through:

37. Family: Wife stays in the home.

40. Deliverance: Husband comes and goes and comes back.

 

[anemos]

curious , Rosada, if the female/male roles you assign to those hexes has to do with 37 consisting of the daughters and 40 of the sons . There is an aspect of perseverance in the "family" from all members , like a pack of animals being there for each other, while in 40 there is more "action". perhaps its just my impression but 37 feels more collective while 40 more individualistic.

To be honest haven't understand yet the difference between opposites pair and the other ones. for example what kind of information we get from 37-38 pair and what from 37-40 or 37 and 50. Re the opposites, I try to find a common theme that the hex describe it - the two sides of the same coin. I wonder how others approach this exercise

 

[Trojina]

mmm I have played it like a game but it still seems pretty arbitrary to me. I can't say I follow your ideas here on 37 and 40 Rosada. I can't connect to it as a father going to work don't really understand that idea .



I see 37 as about order and conformity...and working order ie everything is serving it's function in it's proper place. I think the family is a metaphor, of course for a unit made of components that work together

I see 40 as if you have something to do go do it, if you haven't let it drop. Release from any state of tension. Tension arises when you are not sure to do it or not do, whatever it is. How are they complements ? I have no idea.

I guess I might say

37 settled, at home, within a system
40 having a choice of system or even no system




?

 

[rosada]

(Dear anemos, I didn't edit your post - just clicked on the wrong button)- - sorry!)

 

[Trojina]

Oh lol well maybe that's a synchronicity regarding what we are discussing re the complements of 37 and 40 !

37 here has to be the set up of moderators. A working unit with certain functions they can excersize
40 erm the disruption of that system when moderators stray outside their role accidentally


?


Even as I was writing the last post I thought of 49 which 37 and 40 seem to make together. I guess if 40 makes a slip it's easily let go of. In 37 there is no such stepping outside of roles.


Make sense ?

 

[Trojina]

Hah so immediately after my post

37 settled, at home, within a system
40 having a choice of system or even no system

Rosada says

(Dear anemos, I didn't edit your post - just clicked on the wrong button)- - sorry!)

C'est une synchronicites c'est pas ?

 

[anemos]

(Dear anemos, I didn't edit your post - just clicked on the wrong button)- - sorry!)

you are 40 rosada

 

[anemos]

yeah makes senses

the writing games thread its a nice example of 37 vs 40. We need not to conform to "poetry" rules but we "release" what is inside ... and its a relief

... well for the readers may be a torture tho

*shows her hex 40 card and posts poems*

 

[Trojina]

the writing games thread its a nice example of 37 vs 40.

Although I think rather than opposites they are better seen as complements to each other. So, I know you are kidding but we may get lost if we think of them as one versus the other.

The other thought that came to me was in 40 if there is nothing to be done we are advised to return to normal conditions and I wonder if the normal condition are signified by 37. I mean one has to have somewhere to go back to, to relax into once the tension has been released. So

40. release from tension can mean returning home
37 the place to return to when the work tensions are dealt with

Aha ! this must be where Rosada gets the idea of father coming home from work ! I see now.

 

[rosada]

Looking at 37 as being the unconscious mind, the wife at home who takes care of the family, unaware of all the bigger problems in the world.
Looking at 40 as being the conscious mind, the man who must interact with the larger world and protect family, the unconscious from all the possible problems out there.

First looking at 37.1 versus 40.1:
Now the first line of any hexagram represents the energies BEFORE the full meaning of the hexagram kicks in. For example line 1.1.The Creative says pause BEFORE creating anything. Line 6.1 Conflict says BEFORE Conflict "don't perpetuate the affair" and there wont be any conflict. So it is with 37.1 and 40.1 we have lines that say at the start there is no awareness of staying within boundaries, or going out:

40.1 No blame.
Nothing to be delivered from...yet.
37.1 Firm seclusion within the family. Remorse disappears.
The unconscious doesn't know there are any other ways of doing things.

40.2 One kills three foxes in the field and receives a golden arrow. Perseverance brings good fortune.
So here we have the conscious mind going about it's business, doing it's job. This adherence to proper behavior is reflected then in the unconscious who likewise stays on task:
37.2 She does not follow her whims. She must attend within to the food. (and now the exact same line as in 40.2) perseverance brings good fortune.

In line three we see our 40 character starting to get unfocused and his misbehavior is instinctively reflected by the wife at home.

40.3
If a man carries a burden on his back and nonetheless rides in a carriage, he thereby encourages robbers to draw near. Perseverance leads to humiliation.
Sounds like hubby has gone off into the world, he's gotten all puffed up and out of touch with his reality, his wife and family at home.
37.3
When tempers flare up in the family too great severity brings remorse. Good fortune none the less. When women and child dally and laugh, it leads to humiliation.

So the conscious mind, or the head of the household has lost touch with the home team and now the unconscious is just running into also sorts of trouble. Both line 3's warn that perseverance now leads to humiliation.

The forth lines are about recognizing the error and getting back on track:

40.4
Deliver yourself from your great toe.
Then the companion comes,
And him you can trust.

Recognizing you are with the wrong companion.

37.4
She is the treasure of the house.
Great good fortune.

Recognizing the right companion.

The fifth line describes the happy result:
40.5
If only the superior man can deliver himself,
It brings good fortune.
Then he proves to the inferior man that he is in earnest.

37.5
As a king he approaches his family.
Fear not.
Good fortune.

Sounds like the first three lines of 40 are about solving problems by doing something about them - killing the three foxes in the field - and the last lines are about dealing with problems mentally - the superior man delivers himself, as in not getting sucked into the drama. And then 37, he can go home and not bring his problems with him!

40.6
The prince shoots the hawk on the high wall.
He kills it. Everything serves to further.

The man of the house knows he's got to protect his family. No more second guessing, no more doubts. Shoot the intruders.

37.6
His work commands respect.
In the end good fortune comes.

The man of the house knows he's got to protect his family

 

[hilary]

A post of Rosada's from the 11th that seems to have got lost in the shuffle:

Just deleted long wordy post that didn't make any sense...

I was trying to see if there could be a connection between the individual lines and there does seem to be but I can't get my head around what the significance is.
Both lines one being at normal - 37 because it doesn't know any different, 40 because it hasn't gone any where yet.
Both lines 2 say perseverance furthers.
Both lines 3 say perseverance brings misfortune.
Line 37.4 says She is the treasure of the house. 40.4 says Get rid of your cling on friends (and go home to your treasure of the house.)
Line 37.5 says The king approaches. (I see you coming home.) 40.5 says The man delivers himself. (I am coming home.)
37.6 says Good fortune comes. 40.6 says Everything serves to further.

 

[hilary]

Another from Rosada:

Once again I think we're doing hexagram 40 right here. In trying to understand the opposites in my earlier posting (#104) i felt i was rambling - I had wandered too far away from the known and was no longer making sense. So perhaps the message of 37 - 40 is stay connected, don't wander off.

and

Anyway, I like the idea of 37 vs. 40 being expressed as
Within the boundaries - Outside the boundaries.
Normal - Return to normal

btw..
Thinking about the idea of family it occurred to me that in astrology the sign Cancer ruled by the Moon is the sign of mother, home and family, while the opposite sign Capricorn ruled by Saturn is the sign of father and career. The moon is known for acting crazy, lunacy. Saturn is known for being the strict taskmaster imposing severe limits. 37.3 talks about it being better to have strict limits rather than lunacy.

There. Glad we didn't lose those!

 

[rosada]

Looking through the archives I came across this thread and realized we never completed the study of the hexagram opposites. So I thought I'd take it up again...

It appears we stopped just as we reached hexagram 38.Opposition / 39.Obstruction.

38. Opposition.
(Because when there is) opposition only small matters (can result in) good fortune
[Therefore] amid all the fellowship the superior man retains his individuality.

So when people have opposite points of view they will only be able to agree on minor points, so it's okay not to try to be too buddy-buddy with people who are heading in another direction.

39. Obstruction.
[Because] the southwest furthers, the northwest does not further.
It furthers one to see the great man.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
{Therefore] the superior man turns his attention to himself and molds his character.

So if 38. seems to be about getting along with those you have little in common with,
39. seems to be about not even trying (southwest is what's safe, northwest is what's wild), just hanging in there to persevere.

Like in 38 you're trying to get along with your older sibling but by 39 finally you just shut down and are thinking, "Dad says we have to get along so I'll just keep still till he moves out and I get the bedroom all to my self!'

38. We agree... 39. to disagree.

 

[hilary]

Well-excavated, Rosada!

Also, what a superb place for us to have stopped.

Throughout the Sequence of hexagrams (my current obsession), hexagrams are usually paired with an inverted version of themselves. Hexagram 4 is hexagram 3 upside-down; 38 is 37 upside-down, etc. Only when this isn't possible, because the hexagram is the same upside-down, do you get hexagrams paired with their opposites/complements instead - ie the hexagram with every line changed. 1 with 2, 27 with 28, etc.

What you don't see in the Sequence is a hexagram standing next to its opposite unless that opposite's also its pair...

...except here. 39's the opposite of 38. That's the only place in the whole book that a hexagram is followed by its opposite without being paired with it.

Unimpressed voice: 'Well, I suppose it was bound to happen somewhere.'
Excitable Yeek: 'Maybe, but was it bound to happen just at the hexagram called Opposition?'

More from Excitable Yeek: the Tuanzhuan for Hexagram 38 notes how lines 2 and 5 correspond even in the midst of Opposition, and concludes,
"Heaven and earth are contraries, but have united functions; man and woman are contraries, but share their intentions; the ten thousand entities include contraries, but have the same kinds of functions. Occasions of kui are hugely useful."
(Richard Rutt's translation)
Doesn't that sound almost like a commentary on how complementary hexagrams work together?

As for the opposition of 38-39... I agree it's about what you do with someone or something you just can't get on with, but differ (aptly enough!) on what you do in each hexagram.

I think 38 says, 'Look how my sister always borrows my shoes and leaves them covered in mud. She can't see any problem with this, which just proves there is something very wrong with her, because this is not something decent people do.'
(And possibly considers shooting her to rid the world of an incipient psychopath, but hopefully puts the bow down...)

39 says, 'It's my duty to teach my sister the importance of polishing my shoes before returning them. First I will complain to her. Then I will buy her shoe-polish for her birthday. And for Christmas. Then I will complain to her again. And again, and again. I'll keep plugging away for as long as it takes, even though so far the only effect of my campaign is that she's started leaving spiders in my shoes as well.'
(Maybe eventually 39 will learn to stop going northeast, and instead ask Mum to buy her a locking shoe-cupboard.)

In other words, 38 sees difference/opposition (and sees differently); 39 gets stuck in and struggles with it.

 

[sooo]

Funny, I've never considered pairs as necessarily being opposites, actually more of a sequence or progression.

I like the creativity in Rosada's thought process, and I can see how it sometimes works that way but I don't yet see it as an inevitability. To me the message of 38 is to retain your own identity, your own personality, basically yourself. There's no need to try and convince another or others who think quite the opposite. I see no agreement nor any need for agreement on a given matter or with a certain group or person or principle, though there may be agreement on certain things. For example, the two party political system are opposed in certain principles and values, as they should be, but they hopefully agree on fundamental ideas or beliefs.

I don't see 39 as an opposite of 38 but rather something which happens as a result of 38, and vice verse. In neither is there agreement. 39 gives cause to self reflect on ones position, attitude, belief or action, because it is blocked from doing something their way. In 38 one does it their own way even if others are opposed to it, if it accords with ones own true individuality. Still, going to war over it is heading to the northeast, so the southwest is what furthers, and one remains true to themselves. Likewise, the southwest also furthers during obstruction, but rather than sticking to ones guns, one reconsiders their position. They form a great match but they're not complete opposites. (or is that the point being made in the first place?)

 

[hilary]

Sorry, Rosada, I have created a muddle of excitable Yeekery and derailed your thread.

Sooo, by 'opposites' on this thread we only mean 'the hexagram that results if you change all 6 lines'. A boring structural fact about hexagrams is that each has an opposite. What this might actually add up to in terms of those hexagrams' meanings is a whole other kettle of fish. 38.1.2.3.4.5.6 changes to 39. All the other hexagrams have at least one line in common with 38, but 39 is different at every line. Make of this what you will!

A pair of hexagrams is odd-numbered followed by even-numbered. 1 with 2, 3 with 4, etc. You're right that most pairs aren't also opposites; only a few are: 1-2, 11-12, 17-18, 27-28, 29-30, 53-54, 61-62, 63-64.

 

[Trojina]

My pure impression of 38/39 is Janus like. 38 heads one way and 39 another. If they were bang in the middle of the sequence this impression would make more sense.

...except here. 39's the opposite of 38. That's the only place in the whole book that a hexagram is followed by its opposite without being paired with it.

Not paired with it because backs turned they each stride in a different direction. 38 strides towards 1 and 39 strides to 64. As I say this would sound more plausible if they were bang in middle of sequence. How far in to the sequence are they exactly and does that mean anything.

Oh but hang on but they are exactly bang in the middle of the opposites/complements. This means for divination purposes, the two sides 38>1 and 39>64 are on different but mirrored business. I'd think this was the point of magnetic repulsion. They don't integrate they begin their own orbits 38>1 39>64. Two orbits not touching within the larger er orbit. I need a spirograph to show it

 

[Tim K]

When I began to look at the opposite pairs I had a thought about starting this type of thread and even that someone must have done this already, but I couldn't find it until yesterday, wow!

About 38/39:
38 AC (alt. current), interplay, cooperation, sine-wave, taking turns

39 tension between two static points/levels, voltage (DC), standoff, disagreement, finishing-off of activity, watching, changing inside

 

[svenrus]

A complete overwiev of the Opposite hexagrams:



Big picture

The colored lines I've made for You to easier compare: 1 versus 2 - 9 v. 16 - 5 v. 35 to example