蛊
GUA 18 · GU
DETOXIFYING
Overall Image (大象)
At the base of the mountain is wind
Detoxifying
The noble young one, accordingly,
stirs up the people to fortify character▼
Overall Image (大象)
At the base of the mountain is wind
Detoxifying
The noble young one, accordingly,
stirs up the people to fortify character
The wind is stopped and thrown back on itself. The root encounters a stone with no cracks. This is going nowhere. The wind cannot be captured alive, except with wings to keep it in motion. At the dam the water turns stagnant. Good food left in the bowl will rot. Even our thoughts start to stink when their thinkers stop asking questions. Some think that to fix things is to make them stay put. The young noble lets in a breath of fresh air, while the sage arouses his people to aerate their spirits, even when this calls for whimsy and pranks. Without innovation there is no creation, without fresh air, no combustion. Many nouns abound here, just not enough verbs.
Main Judgment (Detoxifying) (卦辞)
Most fulfilling
Worthwhile to cross the great stream
Before the beginning, three days
After the beginning, three days▼
Main Judgment (Detoxifying) (卦辞)
Most fulfilling
Worthwhile to cross the great stream
Before the beginning, three days
After the beginning, three days
Which side of the bridge do we sit on to ponder? Do we look three days upstream, to the melting snow and old rain? Or three days down, to the sea? The sage might sit on this bridge in the present, but even his shortest time’s span might be seven days wide. He keeps his moments inside of their contexts and thus keeps his world on the run and alive. Breezes don’t come in a box. Things die and grow rotten when pulled out of context. Then how do we fix this? How might we arrest this decay? Fix and arrest are the wrong things to do here. We have too much of containment, enough of things safe from the changes. The liberal idea will become an institution and soon it no longer responds to the needs it was made to serve. Its big job now is defending itself against any change but its growth. The good idea becomes a belief, soon threatened by other perspectives. The decaying civilization cannot permit the experiments with styles of life which are poised to replace it. Habits and dogmas, pathologies and neuroses, circle back on themselves like incestuous clans. The rot spreads. But this has its good points as well: there is much which ought to decay.
Key Words (关键词)
Fixations, toxic ideas, dogma, pathologies, bad medicine, ego, poison, venom, rot,▼
Key Words (关键词)
Fixations, toxic ideas, dogma, pathologies, bad medicine, ego, poison, venom, rot,
Degeneration, deterioration, decay, suffocation, spoilage, corruption, resentment Righting wrongs, antidotes, reparation, restoration, renewal, fresh air; clear the air Revitalization, rejuvenation, redemption, stirring it up; purging, cleansing, curing Poor circulation, constipation, necrosis, atrophy, stuffiness, festering, decadence Stirring up, remedial action, corrective measures, flushing out the system, reform
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
No Family
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Caput Draconis in Air
planet:North Node
element:Air
Tarot
card:Princess of Swords
suit:Swords
Qabalah
note:Assiah of Yetzirah
sphere:Assiah
The Lines
11st • YangCorrecting father’s fixations
To be a young one examining
Is not a mistake
Difficult
But in the end, promising▼
1
1st • YangCorrecting father’s fixations
To be a young one examining
Is not a mistake
Difficult
But in the end, promising
18.1x Correcting father’s fixations:
Intending to inherit the examined
Along with the land and family’s fortune, the legacies and traditions, the father’s fixations will follow the line. The young one enters the work as a son, questioning what it means to inherit, and wondering just how far he might go saying no, thanks to some of this treasure. Does he really need all the loose ends and misdeeds? What should he do with those cognitive and behavioral problems? And what about those horrid ideas regarding religion and politics? How much of his limited time is best spent correcting his past? To stay stuck in this process rots a life too. What is tried over time is not thereby proven true. It will be good for the young one to learn how posterity feels: he can pass this new heirloom along to his own grandchildren. Three generations before the change and three after, he makes a great stream of his lineage.
22nd • YangCorrecting mother’s fixations
Ill-suited to firmness▼
2
2nd • YangCorrecting mother’s fixations
Ill-suited to firmness
18.2x Correcting mother’s fixations:
Find the middle path
Has his mother let him go too far already? Certainly not from his own point of view. If mother had her way he would find a nice wife, and never cross any great streams. Neither will her love, so devoid of any conditions, allow her to see what her feelings can do to this boy. With less of unconditional love he might know more of himself, although accepting yourself as you are is not always the best thing to do. Whether he fails to live out his own life, or forsakes the family life he was born to, blame and guilt could plague him at either extreme. Even a path down the middle has problems if calling for too much compromise. What is a good son to do? The warrior’s mom packs his lunch; the young monster gets mother’s milk. You have to use your best judgment with love. Show her that nature and nurture will both produce in excess.
33rd • YangCorrecting father’s fixations
There will be a little regret
But no great mistakes▼
3
3rd • YangCorrecting father’s fixations
There will be a little regret
But no great mistakes
18.3x Correcting father’s fixations:
Eventually not a mistake
Because I said so! just does not ring true for an answer. Father’s belief in the right somehow seems wrong. Maybe not wrong enough to petition for better ancestors, but enough for a young one to want to sound out the family idols. Not old enough to be a good judge yet, not knowing the questions to ask, he still has an ear for the hollower sounds. He could tap these idols ever so lightly and learn all he needs to know, but when was a simple sufficiency ever the talent of youth? Thus he whacks them with a large stick. The legacy which remains is smaller, but a lot more sturdy. This is like sorting the inheritance early. Posterity has its duties and rights in both of time’s major directions. Footsteps may track separate paths. One generation has no right to bind the next.* Each generation has an instinct and right to assert this.
44th • YangIndulging father’s fixations
To continue meets with disgrace▼
4
4th • YangIndulging father’s fixations
To continue meets with disgrace
18.4x Indulging father’s fixations:
Continuing (is) less than gainful
A lot of entrenched human error will get broad support from the culture around it. Families and groups may tolerate error as though this went with belonging, while the young get lots of advice to continue this trend and are pressed to accept these pathologies as if they were part of the meals. Wait until you are older, you’ll see. Don’t swim against the stream. You’re breaking our hearts. What can one person accomplish? This is not how we raised you. Stay here where you belong and work within the system for change. All of the lemmings are doing it. There will always be places to place and hide blame, or to shelve your honor and hide from yourself. Humankind will never grow up in this way. A bending received in one’s childhood is not an excuse worth a lifetime. Victims form a much larger class than innocents.
55th • YangCorrecting father’s fixations
Use praise▼
5
5th • YangCorrecting father’s fixations
Use praise
18.5x Correcting father using praise:
Recognition for merit
No child should feel obliged to inherit inferior things. The young heir takes a stand on behalf of posterity, wanting to be a good ancestor. This truly concerns the family business, which in the bigger picture is life, evolving on earth, and then the human place within that and the quality of its culture. And so he goes to work now on what has been spoiled in the law of his father, the decrees of his king and the discourse on faith by the family’s priest. Given the scope of this work, the problems we have created, our wars, our pillage, our parasitism, the mess we are making of earth, are things to be outgrown, expressions of immaturity. Correction will be more effective if it is constructive. This will need a wizard, persuasive and tactful, citing the wrongs but building on rights. If the proposal is not rewarding, assume that it will not work.
6Top • YangNot serving sovereign or noble
Of higher worth is one’s service▼
6
Top • YangNot serving sovereign or noble
Of higher worth is one’s service
18.6x Not serving sovereign (or) noble:
The aim (is) a proper standard
High up on the mountain’s pass the wind is unrestrained. Steady winds of change, ever brisk and refreshing, are the commonplace thoughts up here. Let the climber remember, however, that most people spend no time here, so their wildest dreams are still bound by ancient rules and fears. This one follows no father, no king, no priest, but works on his own on what has been spoiled. His sights are set beyond, watching for children to come, and species still uninvented by life. How are king and noble to come to know these freeman scouts’ worth? The men of conscience, the conscientious objectors, the satyagrahi, the ones holding true, are truly above the law and serving higher purposes. They may not come down from the hill bearing tablets, but they might bring a harder redemption and seeds for competing cultures.
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 18 begins on Page 168-176.
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