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Conflicting opposites.
6. --- yang (top) 5. --- yang 4. --- yang 3. - - yin 2. --- yang 1. - - yin (bottom)
With the top three lines yang we cannot respond, and with the second line yang we do not intuitively feel what to do, so it is not surprising that this hexagram is commonly called “difficulty”. There is activity from the life force and in our outer world. The difficulty we have here is our inability to participate.
The alternate male and female symbols of the first two trigrams, each in their opposing form of first male surrounded by female and then female surrounded by male, shows vacillation with doubt and hesitation; this forms into a firm, perhaps obstinate structure in us shown by the third trigram Sun and a lack of involvement for our inner being in the top trigram Ch’ien.
Experiencing this difficult situation has a learning effect in our personality, our personal self, in dealing with the problems of our manifest reality; here we are very much out in the world and struggling with its inconsistencies.
> Conflict.
> Sureness of being right meets obstacles.
> With care there is progress in the middle
> but it is disastrous at the end.
> It is beneficial to see the great man but not to cross the great water.
Sureness of being right comes to a developed identity who is sure of the rules (the restrictions in reality) that he lives by; this sureness meets obstacles at the boundaries of his restricted reality where the rules no longer apply. We develop by changing, which is to change the rules, so if we are very sure our rules are right this will serve us for a while (the middle) but later on, if we cannot change, this is disastrous to our growth or our ability to move with our environment which itself is changing all the time.
Great is wide; the great man sees widely, without restriction, and to do this will help, but the great water is a wide barrier between us and a changed way of being (the other country over the water) and to jump at change while we have narrow horizons would invite further difficulty.
Alternate water fire
cannot grow together.
Opposing into firmness
is tranquility of solitude.
Conflict resolved by separation.
Internal conflict by distinctions.
Heat frustrates life functions of water,
water, the cleansing of fire.
when nature throws these together
life takes time to recover.
When an entity moves
in opposing directions
they each have need
of a single sphere.
With our life energy moving into an inactive phase, and having the feeling of difficulties we wish to get out of, we may be persuaded to push some activity to make things better; this is not going to be useful when we are in a state where we do not see our way very well.
> If affairs are not pushed forward to conclusion there is gossip but good fortune in the end.
The gossip comes from all those parts in us which think we can get out of difficulty by doing something but do not realize that the difficulty is an unawareness that we cannot help at present. Good fortune comes eventually because this state is itself part of change.
❧
Here we become free of involvement in difficulty by a re-awakening of our intuitive feeling about our circumstances instead of trying to sort it out with our conflicting ideas.
> The conflict is not resolved.
> He returns home.
> His kin, three hundred households,
> are free of blame.
Resolving a conflict of ideas is not the only way of dealing with it, although when we are in conflict it may seem so. We can simply return to our observing centre and cease to project any idea on what we experience. Kin are those who are related, and within our personal self the related parts which were in conflict do not blame each other, instead they change their way entirely (symbolized by the number 3 for change and hundred for the entirety).
❧
Not taking sides in a conflict is sometimes quite difficult. Initially it is a hard course because participants within us wish to join in, but eventually it is rewarding as we understand more widely.
> He nourishes himself on ancient virtues.
> Continuance in the way brings danger
> but eventual good fortune.
> If in service of a king seek no office.
The middle way is the ancient virtue; it attains its ends because conflict is always temporary and fluctuating. If we are ruled by some identification (in service of a king) it is better not to further it now.
❧
Here we are accepting a world active in conflict. As we accept it, we do not fight to resolve it.
> The conflict cannot be resolved.
> He retreats from his position and accepts his circumstances.
> Peacefully continuing in the way brings good fortune.
Here we can see the conflict from outside and so do not take sides. We see that the argument is fruitless.
❧
In this tao our feeling is closed to the “other” so conflict arises; here we recognize this closed feeling and see it as causing the conflict or as an important element in it.
> Widely aware of the battle,
> then good fortune comes.
There can only be conflict when views are narrow—when they are wide they overlap.
❧
The active life energy emerging into this tao becomes conflict due to lack of insight. Here we accept this as the tao, as our way of inner being, but conflict as a way of being resolves nothing and pushes identity further into its identifying isolation. In a wide sense, we lose when in conflict, whether we win or lose the contest.
> If by chance we win a girdle (a token of position in the martial arts)${comma()} it will be taken from us three times before the day is over.
The situation in contest changes all the time and this (the number 3) takes our advantage from us. The gains are superficial and transitory.
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