i ching, etc readings as part of icarus planning

7-16-06 Germantown gathering I Ching reading:

question (after much debate) "What are we becoming"

46.  Shêng / Pushing Upward

		above K'UN  THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH
		below SUN  THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD

The lower trigram, Sun, represents wood, and the upper, K'un, means the 
earth. Linked with this is the idea that wood in the earth grows upward. In 
contrast to the meaning of Chin, PROGRESS (35), this pushing upward is 
associated with effort, just as a plant needs energy for pushing upward 
through the earth. That is why this hexagram, although it is connected with 
success, is associated with effort of the will. In PROGRESS the emphasis is on 
expansion; PUSHING UPWARD indicates rather a vertical ascent-direct rise 
from obscurity and lowliness to power and influence.

	THE JUDGMENT

	PUSHING UPWARD has supreme success.
	One must see the great man.
	Fear not.
	Departure toward the south
	Brings good fortune.

The pushing upward of the good elements encounters no obstruction and is 
therefore accompanied by great success. The pushing upward is made 
possible not by violence but by modesty and adaptability. Since the individual 
is borne along by the propitiousness of the time, he advances.  He must go to 
see authoritative people. He need not be afraid to do this, because success is 
assured. But he must set to work, for activity (this is the meaning of "the 
south") brings good fortune.

	THE IMAGE

	Within the earth, wood grows:
	The image of PUSHING UPWARD.
	Thus the superior man of devoted character
	Heaps up small things
	In order to achieve something high and great.

Adapting itself to obstacles and bending around them, wood in the earth 
grows upward without haste and without rest. Thus too the superior man is 
devoted in character and never pauses in his progress.

Nine in the second place means:
	If one is sincere,
	It furthers one to bring even a small offering.
	No blame.

Here a strong man is presupposed. It is true that he does not fit in with his 
environment, inasmuch as he is too brusque and pays too little attention to 
form. But as he is upright in character, he meets with response, and his lack 
of outward form does no harm. Here uprightness is the outcome of sound 
qualities of character, whereas in the corresponding line of the preceding 
hexagram it is the result of innate humility.

	Nine in the third place means:
	One pushes upward into an empty city.
	
All obstructions that generally block progress fall away here. Things proceed 
with remarkable ease. Unhesitatingly one follows this road, in order to profit 
by one's success. Seen from without, everything seems to be in the best of 
order. However, no promise of good fortune is added.  It is a question how 
long such unobstructed success can last. But it is wise not to yield to such 
misgivings, because they only inhibit one's power. Instead, the point is to profit by the propitiousness of time.

CHANGING TO:

2. K'un / The Receptive

		above  K'UN  THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH
		below  K'UN  THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH

   
This hexagram is made up of broken lines only. The broken lines represents 
the dark, yielding, receptive primal power of yin. The attribute of the 
hexagram is devotion; its image is the earth.  It is the perfect complement of 
THE CREATIVE--the complement, not the opposite, for the Receptive does 
not combat the Creative but completes it . It represents nature in contrast to 
spirit, earth in contrast to heaven, space as against time, the female-maternal 
as against the male-paternal. However, as applied to human affairs, the 
principle of this complementary relationship is found not only in the relation 
between man and woman, but also in that between prince and minister and 
between father and son. Indeed, even in the individual this duality appears 
in the coexistence of the spiritual world and the world of the senses.
  But strictly speaking there is no real dualism here, because there is a clearly 
defined hierarchic relationship between the two principles. In itself of course 
the Receptive is just as important as the Creative, but the attribute of 
devotion defines the place occupied by this primal power in relation to the 
Creative. For the Receptive must be activated and led by the Creative; then it 
is productive of good. Only when it abandons this position and tries to stand 
as an equal side by side with the Creative, does it become evil.  The result 
then is opposition to and struggle against the Creative, which is productive of 
evil to both.

	THE JUDGMENT

	THE RECEPTIVE brings about sublime success,
	Furthering through the perseverance of a mare.
	If the superior man undertakes something and tries to lead,
	He goes astray;
	But if he follows, he finds guidance.
	It is favorable to find friends in the west and south,
	To forego friends in the east and north.
	Quiet perseverance brings good fortune.

The four fundamental aspects of the Creative--"sublime success, furthering 
through perseverance"--are also attributed to the Receptive.  Here, however, 
the perseverance is more closely defined: it is that of a mare. The Receptive 
connotes spatial reality in contrast to the spiritual potentiality of the Creative. 
The potential becomes real and the spiritual becomes spatial through a 
specifically qualifying definition. Thus the qualification, "of a mare," is here 
added to the idea of perseverance. The horse belongs to earth just as the 
dragon belongs to heaven. Its tireless roaming over the plains is taken as a 
symbol of the vast expanse of the earth. This is the symbol chosen because 
the mare combines the strength and swiftness of the horse with the 
gentleness and devotion of the cow.
  Only because nature in its myriad forms corresponds with the myriad 
impulses of the Creative can it make these impulses real. Nature's richness 
lies in its power to nourish all living things; its greatness lies in its power to 
give then beauty and splendor. Thus it prospers all that lives. IT is the 
Creative that begets things, but they are brought to birth by the Receptive. 
Applied to human affairs, therefore, what the hexagram indicated is action in 
conformity with the situation. The person in questions not in an 
independent position, but is acting as an assistant. This means that he must 
achieve something. It is not his task to try to lead--that would only make him 
lose the way-but to let himself be led. If he knows how to meet fate with an 
attitude of acceptance, he is sure to find the right guidance. The superior man 
lets himself be guided; he does not go ahead blindly, but learns from the 
situation what is demanded of him and then follows this intimation from 
fate.
  Since there is something to be accomplished, we need friends and helpers in 
the hour of toil and effort, once the ideas to be realized are firmly set. The 
time of toil and effort is indicated by the west and south, for west and south 
symbolize the place where the Receptive works for the Creative, as nature 
does in summer and autumn. If in that situation one does not mobilize all 
one's powers, the work to be accomplished will not be done. Hence to find 
friends there means to find guidance. But in addition to the time of toil and 
effort, there is also a time of planning, and for this we need this solitude. The 
east symbolized the place where a man receives orders from his master, and 
the north the place where he reports on what he has done. At that time he 
must be alone and objective. In this sacred hour he must do without 
companions. So that the purity of the moment may not be spoiled by fictional 
hates and favoritism.

	THE IMAGE

	The earth's condition is receptive devotion.
	Thus the superior man who has breadth of character
	Carries the outer world.

Just as there is only one heaven, so too there is only one earth. In the 
hexagram of heaven the doubling of the trigram implies duration in time, 
but in the hexagram of earth the doubling connotes the solidity and extension 
in space by virtue of which the earth is able to carry and preserve all things 
that live and move upon it. The earth in its devotion carries all things, good 
and evil,, without exception. In the same way the superior man gives to his 
character breadth, purity, and sustaining power, so that he is able both to 
support and to bear with people and things.