豫
GUA 16 · YU
READINESS
Overall Image (大象)
Thunder comes from the earth with energy
Readiness
The early sovereigns, accordingly,
composed music to celebrate merit
Enthusiastically offering this to the highest divinity*▼
Overall Image (大象)
Thunder comes from the earth with energy
Readiness
The early sovereigns, accordingly,
composed music to celebrate merit
Enthusiastically offering this to the highest divinity*
Earth stirs, awakens, speaks out. The young sprout breaks free, lives out its homage to ancestors, simply, by carrying on. The fetus begins first to learn of its world by kicking the walls of the womb. The feedforward gives feedback meaning. Existence presses forward and outward before it develops ideas, out of balance in forward and outward directions, living, then learning, then learning to learn, and finally learning to live. The humming beings gathered, to set forth their first kings, to conduct their new music. They sang songs of praise and gratitude, inviting their gods and ancestors, their futures and pasts, to be present, carrying on all night and getting carried away.
Main Judgment (Readiness) (卦辞)
Worthwhile to establish delegates and mobilize the reserves▼
Main Judgment (Readiness) (卦辞)
Worthwhile to establish delegates and mobilize the reserves
Masses in general, whether made up of people or stones, can seem very stubborn about getting carried away. But sometimes all this wants is a lead, or something to break down resistance. And then, when they go, they go wholly, with great inertia and power. Displace the right rock at the foot of the slope and the whole hill goes for a run. Just as matter and water are always ready to settle, or move down the hill, life is always ready to get up and go, to rise up and be more than it was. Any excuse for a party might do: life is a proactive force, and will turn procreative every chance it can take. Readiness is half of luck and wants only an opportunity. As an old force, much older than brains, it is sometimes hard to ensure that enthusiasms be always measured and rational. Energy joined with acceptance, movement made welcome, is power. But when a host is so moved it will want a tune and a beat to move to, and so human hosts want conductors and some lofty excuse for their being so inspired. The parts of a self are also a host. They too get elated when all of them go the same way, life affirmed, spirits high, the heart thumping cadence. But who will ask where?
Key Words (关键词)
Enthusiasm, eagerness, exuberance, willingness, zest, the joyful noise, inspiration▼
Key Words (关键词)
Enthusiasm, eagerness, exuberance, willingness, zest, the joyful noise, inspiration
Spontaneity, attunement, rhythms, consonance, synchrony; an optimum readiness Acting in a timely fashion; responsive movement; prepare, provide for, allow for Forwardness, predisposition, inclination, initiative, earnestness, encouragement Confidence, preparedness, contentment, satisfaction; using momentum and inertia Complacent, smug, self-indulgent; enthusiasm as Theos within, needing an outlet
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
Xun-Zhen Family
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Saturn in Fire
planet:Saturn
element:Fire
Tarot
card:Ace of Wands
suit:Wands
Qabalah
note:Kether in Atziluth
sphere:Kether
The Lines
11st • YangProclaiming readiness
Disappointing▼
1
1st • YangProclaiming readiness
Disappointing
16.1x First six proclaims readiness:
The resolve (is) exhausted (in) disappointment
Life invented and held onto enthusiasm once it had proved its utility in setting things in motion. For a feeling to do this much it needed to feel great, even greater than the beings who felt it, and this meant to exaggerate things. But this feeling is finite, and not the object or point of its own exercise, and it is subject to damage. It needs first to grow, to be nurtured and learn as it grows. It needs to be supported somewhere. Crowing about it too soon will let it all go, and all one gets for the effort are frowns, scowls and other attentions of doubtful value. Ready to go is not needy, desperate or anxious to go. To be earnest is not to be manic: such excitement is not contagious. Patience awaits a response, even if only: Let’s not encourage this one. Then begin again there. You don’t get a rhythm with only one beat, or the melody in one note.
22nd • YangResolved in stone
An unending day
Persistence is promising▼
2
2nd • YangResolved in stone
An unending day
Persistence is promising
16.2x (This) day will not end, persistence (is) promising:
Using the balance correctly
What a day this has been - and will be! You know that something special is ready to be engraved in your memory, a story to tell your grandchildren. This could be a personal best, a new standard set, an epiphany, an invention, a moment of perfect beauty, a place or a thing never witnessed before, the stuff of a legend, then myth. And for those who could not be here today, a record engraved in stone, something not to be taken away. The rhythm and tune are just right, the balance is perfection. The path to your goal simply shines. The moment comes, finds you so perfectly ready and passes, leaving you in your glory. Now what? The peak experience lets you go and trails behind you. How ready are you for yesterday? Have you been there now and done that? Let the stone carry the day. Just don’t carry that stone.
33rd • YangWide-eyed readiness is regrettable
The slow will have regrets▼
3
3rd • YangWide-eyed readiness is regrettable
The slow will have regrets
16.3x Wide-eyed readiness will have regrets:
The position is not appropriate
There is nothing wrong with getting inspired when looking up to heroes and idols. Most of the time there will be higher powers and purposes than those we make up ourselves. But when the spirit is thought to be up on the altar and not down deep in the heart, the values may get all turned around. Soon the warrior is led by his sword, the scribe is led by his stylus, and the poor puppeteer gets jerked all around by his dummies. Movement and motive come from within, but idols won’t tell you when. Imagine you want to pursue higher learning and believe that the only way is to get yourself put into school. This way of getting things done looks much to externals and to others for orders. Try showing initiative here. And if you must move yourself by using inanimate objects, then take a long pole and prod yourself from behind.
44th • YangAt the springs of readiness
There is much to have and to gain
Do not hesitate
Companions are gathered as hair by a clasp▼
4
4th • YangAt the springs of readiness
There is much to have and to gain
Do not hesitate
Companions are gathered as hair by a clasp
16.4x (At) the springs of readiness,
(with) much to have (and) to gain:
The aims (are) fully developed
He stands up to rally the cheering host, with a great embrace for all whom he sees, drawing friends together as a comb gathers hair, sweeping them into one direction, and pinning them with and to common hope. When the timing is just right and the crowd is ready to make its music and dance, one little gesture will affirm all of life. All the conductor needs is a tiny little wand, then whole waves of readiness follow. Even down off the dais, and not in the ruler’s place, a responsive timing and sense will rouse a people to movement. Who is at the center of things does not matter, but the circulation does, as the heart is not an organ for hoarding the body’s best blood. Inspiration is breathing. Choice is most real at exactly the place where it has the least weight or inertia and the mind can move things around with simple yesses and noes.
55th • YangPersistent affliction
Chronic but not fatal▼
5
5th • YangPersistent affliction
Chronic but not fatal
16.5x Six fifth’s persistent affliction:
Relying upon firmness
* Chronic but not fatal
The middle is not yet passed
He lies down to welcome a cure. What can he want and be hoping for here? To keep company with the healers? They are such a spirited lot! What is it about our illness and suffering that leads us to spend so much time here? How is this an expression of proactive life? The healer will have many questions. Is it better to feel something than nothing? Do you keep a disease just to rally a struggle for life, knowing that the spirit and will are forces that heal? Are there guilt and penitence here? Investment in cherished wounds? Is this one mistaking a fever for fervor? Does he just need a rest, friends, or some pity? Has this become known, secure and familiar? Isn’t a neutral condition about the best the afflicted can hope for? Why does the victim hang on so when it’s best to forgive and let go? Should one of the shamans drum on his head?
6Top • YangBlind readiness
Achieving while assuming setbacks
Avoids errors▼
6
Top • YangBlind readiness
Achieving while assuming setbacks
Avoids errors
16.6x Blind readiness at the top:
How could this be continued?
The experience is over your head, with so much more power than you, bigger, higher than you could summit alone. You might think something rash and suspect a divine intervention, or think that you have met with the ultimate truth, or at least found the way to the top. You are born again now. Is it still too soon to ask where this new life will go, or has this one already been planned by others? Ecstasy is such a fine place to visit, with medicine or on foot. A sorcerer draws a circle and within this becomes the deity. But when he steps back outside, he is merely enriched by experience. The monk meets his maker at last, but forgets to ask the big questions. He can only flop around on the floor and then faint. Sometimes it is even good science to suspend the disbelief in a moment like this. It is still tragic when someone cannot make it back.
Reference in Original Text & Resources
This content is derived from Bradford Hatcher's THE BOOK OF CHANGES: Yijing, Word By Word.
Original text for Hexagram 16 begins on Page 156-164.
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