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THE PARALLEL NUCLEAR PROGRESSION - PART THREE
In Parts 1 and 2 of this post the process of determining and applying the parallel nuclear progression was illustrated, mainly by the use of worked examples. The parallel nuclear progression provides an underlying reading, the meaning of which can enhance and clarify our initial, manifest, reading. In Part 3 it is intended to place this process within a wider metaphysical context, in order to provide the reader with a clearer understanding of how the parallel nuclear progression actually functions.
The parallel nuclear progression functions within the context of the Convergence of Meaning. The 'convergence of meaning' is equivalent to essence. In our everyday relationships we are often aware of how a certain mannerism or expression will encapsulate a person’s entire personality; its specific, individual meaning is hard to specify because of its transcendent quality, it captures the meaning of the entire person. In Taoist texts reference is often made to the distinction between 'Life' and 'Essence' where Life is held to represent the relative values that constitute our daily existence, experienced through the mundane mind. Careful evaluation and penetration of these experiences leads to the growing awareness of Essence, perceived through the mind of Tao (enlightenment). At this level we begin to become aware of the intrinsic underlying unity of meaning within many of our diverse experiences. This growing awareness of the essentially converging unity of all experience leads ultimately to the innate realisation of the non-relative, changeless nature of the Absolute; in other words, the unchanging Absolute manifests as, and is sustained by, infinite change. The final essence of infinite change is singularity, the Law of God is One.
Within the I Ching this process of progression from relative meaning towards absolute unified meaning is represented by the increasingly convergent meanings of the hexagram levels as we move from the initial reading (the manifest level) through the nuclear and archetypal levels. At the manifest level (the initial reading) we receive guidance which can be interpreted as addressing the immediate, relative factors of the situation. At the nuclear level we should try to interpret the I Ching's guidance as emanating from an underlying, more convergent and less relative level of meaning. This means a level of meaning that, from a single root source, manifests in a multiplicity of relative forms, similar to the way that a deep-rooted psychological condition such as low self-esteem can manifest externally in seemingly oppositional formations such as implicit inhibition and explicit aggression. The core ‘root’ meaning or condition manifests in a variety of diverse and often oppositional, apparently unrelated, formations. These diverse formations share a common source or root and these roots, in turn, themselves share a common core level . As we move through these different levels of meaning (the manifest, nuclear and archetypal) the meanings that we derive are defined by fewer and fewer dimensions of meaning. Thus the convergence of meaning is an innate psychological structure of increasing unification towards a non-relative singularity or absolute.
It is important not to think of the Convergence of Meaning as a forced combination of divergent meanings. Rather, it is an underlying level of meaning from which diversity and variation emerge and branch-out as part of a natural process, just as the multiple leaves of a tree emerge ultimately from a singular core - the trunk. This, I would suggest, is the meaning of ‘The Tree of Life.‘ The multiple, relative phenomena of a given situation will invariably originate in a deeper ‘source’ level, the meaning of which will also encompass its various external aspects. In order to ‘understand’ a situation, it is necessary to ‘stand under’ the situation.
It is important to understand that the parallel nuclear and archetypal readings are not to be viewed as simply additional readings to any given question. Rather, they should be seen as representing the underlying principle of any given situation. Any underlying principle is the convergent core of a multiplicity of external expressions, it is the convergent essence of their individual meanings expressed, not in individual relative values (samsara) but in a sense that is tending towards universal transcendent reality - essence. In time, the individual line-texts at the nuclear and archetypal levels become less and less important in comparison with the ‘overview’ or ‘essence’ of the nuclear or archetypal hexagram. Initially, however, examine the line text of each moving line at the nuclear and archetypal levels, but in time you will come to rely more and more upon the abstract ‘essence’ of the hexagram, rather than its concrete literalism. This applies especially at the archetypal level.
At the archetypal level the total convergence of meaning is encapsulated within four hexagrams: Ch'ien (1), K'un (2), Chi Chi (63) and Wei Chi (64). The four archetypal hexagrams are best understood as being the nuclears of the nuclear hexagrams. They are the four primary principles of meaning in which the meaning of each of the Manifest and Nuclear hexagrams originates; they envelop space and time. Any principle serves as a fundamental truth that encapsulates and manifests a number of diverse and specific instances. Whilst its manifest instances are generally quantifiable, the principle which they serve is usually abstract - the essence of their collective meanings. The ultimate underlying principle is entirely abstract, entirely essence, of infinite potential but containing no relative formations (Sunyata)
The best way to understand the role of the archetypes is from a view of the overall process. If you view the 64 hexagrams (and their moving-line combinations) as representing the many combinations of 'relative' meanings that we experience through life, the core meaningful content of all and any of these can be represented within the 16 nuclear hexagrams. This is a level of meaning approximately mid-way between the diverse multiplicity of the relative, and the integrated singularity of the Absolute. The nuclear hexagrams have the capacity to carry a semi-convergent level of meaning, but they still carry a degree of relativity. Similarly, if we examine the core nuclears of the sixteen nuclear hexagrams we derive the four archetypes, each of which carries a very high level of converged meaning. In other words, the four archetypes carry the core root meanings of the sixteen nuclear hexagrams which, in turn, carry the core root meanings of the sixty-four hexagrams. The four archetypes are the four fundamental dimensions of meaning. Beyond these lies the singular core of the Absolute - the Law of God is One - absolute and non-relative, and hence transcendent and indefinable. Some readers will feel an instinctive resistance to the concept of having meaning defined by fewer and fewer dimensions but it is important to understand that we are dealing with a process of transformation, from relative multiplicity to absolute singularity - Essence. Relative forms appear to be concrete, permanent and substantive. They appear to be unending in their variety and complexity and they constitute what the mundane mind regards as ‘reality.’ As we begin to sense the dependent origination of all forms we eventually come to experience them as increasingly convergent patterns and ultimately as extrapolations of fundamental opposites. Opposites are the basis of relativity, they are mutually dependent and hence void of independent ‘suchness’ but the essential meaning that they create is transcendent and ultimately non-relative. In Taoist terms this is expressed as the convergence of opposites. “The transcendent function is not something one does oneself; it comes rather from experiencing the conflict of opposites.”
(Letters, vol. 1, p. 269) - Carl Jung
The Book of Changes opens with two of the Archetypes, Ch'ien (1), and K'un (2). It finishes with the other two Archetypes, Chi Chi (63), and Wei Chi (64). Between the opening and closing Archetypes lie the remaining hexagrams, representing every possible combination of meaning generated by the I Ching. The symbolic positioning of the archetypal hexagrams at the opening and closing of the Book of Changes indicates that certain of the ancient Chinese were aware that the four Archetypes encompass the essence of every possible meaning held within the I Ching, that they are, in effect, the four dimensions of meaning. The hexagrams Ch’ien 1, and K’un 2, are the fundamental polarities of meaning, from which all other meanings are derived. If we combine these polarities to one extreme we obtain Hex 63 Chi Chi, After Completion (Man). If we combine them to the other extreme we obtain Hex 64, Wei Chi, Before Completion (Woman). Hence the four dimensions of meaning comprise of the two fundamental polarities, and the two extremities of their combinations. Because Ch’ien 1, and K’un 2, are the fundamental polarities of meaning they have no deeper meanings than themselves, hence they have no overt variation in form at the archetypal, nuclear and manifest levels.
Before proceeding to conclude this overview, I feel it would be appropriate to provide another example of the added clarity that can be obtained from applying the Parallel Nuclear Progression to a reading.
The context of my question to the I Ching was one of health difficulties. My early readings, taken over a period of several months, were all consistent with an eventual good recovery following a sustained period of waiting. Initially, I readily accepted this process but over time I began to impatiently question, doubt and rebel against it, leading to the following question:
Q: Should I now accept that I will not be making the recovery that I hope and wish for but will remain in my present condition indefinitely?
61,5 - 41 (27,6 - 24) ((2 - 2))
The Manifest Reading: 61,5 - 4
The Wilhelm/Baynes received line-text for 5th yang in Hexagram 61, Inner Truth, reads: He possesses truth, which links together. No blame.
The line-text appears to confirm the supposition embedded within the question i.e.: Yes, it is true, you will not make the recovery you hope and wish for...
Let us now examine the reading at the level of the nuclear progression: (27,6 - 24). The line text for top yang in Hexagram 27, reads: The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
This line text confirms top yang’s position of authority and responsibility as the de facto ruler within the hexagram. As ‘the source of nourishment’ it is the line to which all the yin lines look for guidance on nourishment, on thoughts and attitudes. Such a position of pivotal responsibility carries the necessity of maintaining an astute awareness of the danger within its position, it must be constantly prepared to examine its own perspective and interpretation. This is further consolidated by the Line-Resultant for 27,6 which is Hexagram 24, Fu, Return which, in most cases, indicates a need for a return to a correct perspective. This nuclear progression could be described as answering the question in the following way: ‘Your position here as the provider of nourishment, of thoughts and perspectives, is one of the utmost importance. Be aware of the danger that this responsibility entails, be prepared to re-examine your outlook and, if necessary, return to a more correct direction and perspective.’
This interpretation of the Nuclear Progression is at odds with that of the initial, Manifest Progression. The two progressions do not appear to run in parallel, with a converging concurrence of meaning. The Manifest Progression, 61,5 - 41, appears to concur entirely with the suppositions embedded within the question, the Nuclear Progression (27,6-24) appears to challenge the attitude of the question and issues a warning, and a suggestion that I re-examine my perspective.
The Wilhelm/Baynes commentary for 5th yang in Hex. 61 describes a ruler “...who holds all elements together by the power of his personality. Only when the strength of his character is so ample that he can influence all who are subject to him, is he as he needs to be.” This commentary endorses the importance of a fully integrated and stable personality. It is linked, in this sense, with the line-resultant, Hex. 41, Sun, Decrease, which provides a graphic warning and representation of the utmost restraint (upper trigram, Ken) being applied to a tendency towards disintegration and instability (lower trigram, Tui). In other words, after receiving many readings which consistently affirmed an eventual recovery I should ‘hold all the elements together’ and not allow doubt and impatience to erode or undermine my direction. If we look at Wang Bi’s text for 5th yang in Hex. 61, Inner Trust, we receive “If this one maintains trust secure as a tether, there should be no blame.” This is urging me to maintain trust in my direction, as provided by my previous readings, my sense of Inner Trust. It describes my situation perfectly and concurs fully with the sense of the Nuclear Progression. Hexagram 61, Inner Trust is named ‘Inner’ Trust as opposed to simply Trust because it refers to a deeper, more fundamental, level of trust that has probably been developed over a sustained period of time. One is urged to be wary of the fanciful distractions that will arise if one abandons the practice of No Mind, represented by the nuclear hexagram 27, Corners of the Mouth, and instead one is directed to maintain or recapture one’s inner, deeper, conviction.
In Parts 1 and 2 of this post the process of determining and applying the parallel nuclear progression was illustrated, mainly by the use of worked examples. The parallel nuclear progression provides an underlying reading, the meaning of which can enhance and clarify our initial, manifest, reading. In Part 3 it is intended to place this process within a wider metaphysical context, in order to provide the reader with a clearer understanding of how the parallel nuclear progression actually functions.
The parallel nuclear progression functions within the context of the Convergence of Meaning. The 'convergence of meaning' is equivalent to essence. In our everyday relationships we are often aware of how a certain mannerism or expression will encapsulate a person’s entire personality; its specific, individual meaning is hard to specify because of its transcendent quality, it captures the meaning of the entire person. In Taoist texts reference is often made to the distinction between 'Life' and 'Essence' where Life is held to represent the relative values that constitute our daily existence, experienced through the mundane mind. Careful evaluation and penetration of these experiences leads to the growing awareness of Essence, perceived through the mind of Tao (enlightenment). At this level we begin to become aware of the intrinsic underlying unity of meaning within many of our diverse experiences. This growing awareness of the essentially converging unity of all experience leads ultimately to the innate realisation of the non-relative, changeless nature of the Absolute; in other words, the unchanging Absolute manifests as, and is sustained by, infinite change. The final essence of infinite change is singularity, the Law of God is One.
Within the I Ching this process of progression from relative meaning towards absolute unified meaning is represented by the increasingly convergent meanings of the hexagram levels as we move from the initial reading (the manifest level) through the nuclear and archetypal levels. At the manifest level (the initial reading) we receive guidance which can be interpreted as addressing the immediate, relative factors of the situation. At the nuclear level we should try to interpret the I Ching's guidance as emanating from an underlying, more convergent and less relative level of meaning. This means a level of meaning that, from a single root source, manifests in a multiplicity of relative forms, similar to the way that a deep-rooted psychological condition such as low self-esteem can manifest externally in seemingly oppositional formations such as implicit inhibition and explicit aggression. The core ‘root’ meaning or condition manifests in a variety of diverse and often oppositional, apparently unrelated, formations. These diverse formations share a common source or root and these roots, in turn, themselves share a common core level . As we move through these different levels of meaning (the manifest, nuclear and archetypal) the meanings that we derive are defined by fewer and fewer dimensions of meaning. Thus the convergence of meaning is an innate psychological structure of increasing unification towards a non-relative singularity or absolute.
It is important not to think of the Convergence of Meaning as a forced combination of divergent meanings. Rather, it is an underlying level of meaning from which diversity and variation emerge and branch-out as part of a natural process, just as the multiple leaves of a tree emerge ultimately from a singular core - the trunk. This, I would suggest, is the meaning of ‘The Tree of Life.‘ The multiple, relative phenomena of a given situation will invariably originate in a deeper ‘source’ level, the meaning of which will also encompass its various external aspects. In order to ‘understand’ a situation, it is necessary to ‘stand under’ the situation.
It is important to understand that the parallel nuclear and archetypal readings are not to be viewed as simply additional readings to any given question. Rather, they should be seen as representing the underlying principle of any given situation. Any underlying principle is the convergent core of a multiplicity of external expressions, it is the convergent essence of their individual meanings expressed, not in individual relative values (samsara) but in a sense that is tending towards universal transcendent reality - essence. In time, the individual line-texts at the nuclear and archetypal levels become less and less important in comparison with the ‘overview’ or ‘essence’ of the nuclear or archetypal hexagram. Initially, however, examine the line text of each moving line at the nuclear and archetypal levels, but in time you will come to rely more and more upon the abstract ‘essence’ of the hexagram, rather than its concrete literalism. This applies especially at the archetypal level.
At the archetypal level the total convergence of meaning is encapsulated within four hexagrams: Ch'ien (1), K'un (2), Chi Chi (63) and Wei Chi (64). The four archetypal hexagrams are best understood as being the nuclears of the nuclear hexagrams. They are the four primary principles of meaning in which the meaning of each of the Manifest and Nuclear hexagrams originates; they envelop space and time. Any principle serves as a fundamental truth that encapsulates and manifests a number of diverse and specific instances. Whilst its manifest instances are generally quantifiable, the principle which they serve is usually abstract - the essence of their collective meanings. The ultimate underlying principle is entirely abstract, entirely essence, of infinite potential but containing no relative formations (Sunyata)
The best way to understand the role of the archetypes is from a view of the overall process. If you view the 64 hexagrams (and their moving-line combinations) as representing the many combinations of 'relative' meanings that we experience through life, the core meaningful content of all and any of these can be represented within the 16 nuclear hexagrams. This is a level of meaning approximately mid-way between the diverse multiplicity of the relative, and the integrated singularity of the Absolute. The nuclear hexagrams have the capacity to carry a semi-convergent level of meaning, but they still carry a degree of relativity. Similarly, if we examine the core nuclears of the sixteen nuclear hexagrams we derive the four archetypes, each of which carries a very high level of converged meaning. In other words, the four archetypes carry the core root meanings of the sixteen nuclear hexagrams which, in turn, carry the core root meanings of the sixty-four hexagrams. The four archetypes are the four fundamental dimensions of meaning. Beyond these lies the singular core of the Absolute - the Law of God is One - absolute and non-relative, and hence transcendent and indefinable. Some readers will feel an instinctive resistance to the concept of having meaning defined by fewer and fewer dimensions but it is important to understand that we are dealing with a process of transformation, from relative multiplicity to absolute singularity - Essence. Relative forms appear to be concrete, permanent and substantive. They appear to be unending in their variety and complexity and they constitute what the mundane mind regards as ‘reality.’ As we begin to sense the dependent origination of all forms we eventually come to experience them as increasingly convergent patterns and ultimately as extrapolations of fundamental opposites. Opposites are the basis of relativity, they are mutually dependent and hence void of independent ‘suchness’ but the essential meaning that they create is transcendent and ultimately non-relative. In Taoist terms this is expressed as the convergence of opposites. “The transcendent function is not something one does oneself; it comes rather from experiencing the conflict of opposites.”
(Letters, vol. 1, p. 269) - Carl Jung
The Book of Changes opens with two of the Archetypes, Ch'ien (1), and K'un (2). It finishes with the other two Archetypes, Chi Chi (63), and Wei Chi (64). Between the opening and closing Archetypes lie the remaining hexagrams, representing every possible combination of meaning generated by the I Ching. The symbolic positioning of the archetypal hexagrams at the opening and closing of the Book of Changes indicates that certain of the ancient Chinese were aware that the four Archetypes encompass the essence of every possible meaning held within the I Ching, that they are, in effect, the four dimensions of meaning. The hexagrams Ch’ien 1, and K’un 2, are the fundamental polarities of meaning, from which all other meanings are derived. If we combine these polarities to one extreme we obtain Hex 63 Chi Chi, After Completion (Man). If we combine them to the other extreme we obtain Hex 64, Wei Chi, Before Completion (Woman). Hence the four dimensions of meaning comprise of the two fundamental polarities, and the two extremities of their combinations. Because Ch’ien 1, and K’un 2, are the fundamental polarities of meaning they have no deeper meanings than themselves, hence they have no overt variation in form at the archetypal, nuclear and manifest levels.
Before proceeding to conclude this overview, I feel it would be appropriate to provide another example of the added clarity that can be obtained from applying the Parallel Nuclear Progression to a reading.
The context of my question to the I Ching was one of health difficulties. My early readings, taken over a period of several months, were all consistent with an eventual good recovery following a sustained period of waiting. Initially, I readily accepted this process but over time I began to impatiently question, doubt and rebel against it, leading to the following question:
Q: Should I now accept that I will not be making the recovery that I hope and wish for but will remain in my present condition indefinitely?
61,5 - 41 (27,6 - 24) ((2 - 2))
The Manifest Reading: 61,5 - 4
The Wilhelm/Baynes received line-text for 5th yang in Hexagram 61, Inner Truth, reads: He possesses truth, which links together. No blame.
The line-text appears to confirm the supposition embedded within the question i.e.: Yes, it is true, you will not make the recovery you hope and wish for...
Let us now examine the reading at the level of the nuclear progression: (27,6 - 24). The line text for top yang in Hexagram 27, reads: The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
This line text confirms top yang’s position of authority and responsibility as the de facto ruler within the hexagram. As ‘the source of nourishment’ it is the line to which all the yin lines look for guidance on nourishment, on thoughts and attitudes. Such a position of pivotal responsibility carries the necessity of maintaining an astute awareness of the danger within its position, it must be constantly prepared to examine its own perspective and interpretation. This is further consolidated by the Line-Resultant for 27,6 which is Hexagram 24, Fu, Return which, in most cases, indicates a need for a return to a correct perspective. This nuclear progression could be described as answering the question in the following way: ‘Your position here as the provider of nourishment, of thoughts and perspectives, is one of the utmost importance. Be aware of the danger that this responsibility entails, be prepared to re-examine your outlook and, if necessary, return to a more correct direction and perspective.’
This interpretation of the Nuclear Progression is at odds with that of the initial, Manifest Progression. The two progressions do not appear to run in parallel, with a converging concurrence of meaning. The Manifest Progression, 61,5 - 41, appears to concur entirely with the suppositions embedded within the question, the Nuclear Progression (27,6-24) appears to challenge the attitude of the question and issues a warning, and a suggestion that I re-examine my perspective.
The Wilhelm/Baynes commentary for 5th yang in Hex. 61 describes a ruler “...who holds all elements together by the power of his personality. Only when the strength of his character is so ample that he can influence all who are subject to him, is he as he needs to be.” This commentary endorses the importance of a fully integrated and stable personality. It is linked, in this sense, with the line-resultant, Hex. 41, Sun, Decrease, which provides a graphic warning and representation of the utmost restraint (upper trigram, Ken) being applied to a tendency towards disintegration and instability (lower trigram, Tui). In other words, after receiving many readings which consistently affirmed an eventual recovery I should ‘hold all the elements together’ and not allow doubt and impatience to erode or undermine my direction. If we look at Wang Bi’s text for 5th yang in Hex. 61, Inner Trust, we receive “If this one maintains trust secure as a tether, there should be no blame.” This is urging me to maintain trust in my direction, as provided by my previous readings, my sense of Inner Trust. It describes my situation perfectly and concurs fully with the sense of the Nuclear Progression. Hexagram 61, Inner Trust is named ‘Inner’ Trust as opposed to simply Trust because it refers to a deeper, more fundamental, level of trust that has probably been developed over a sustained period of time. One is urged to be wary of the fanciful distractions that will arise if one abandons the practice of No Mind, represented by the nuclear hexagram 27, Corners of the Mouth, and instead one is directed to maintain or recapture one’s inner, deeper, conviction.