观
GUA 20 · GUAN
PERSPECTIVE
Overall Image (大象)
The wind moves over the earth
Perspective
The early sovereigns, accordingly, examined the regions
And comprehended their societies
To establish their doctrines▼
Overall Image (大象)
The wind moves over the earth
Perspective
The early sovereigns, accordingly, examined the regions
And comprehended their societies
To establish their doctrines
The wide-ranging wind blows over the earth, entering every valley and cave, every niche and crack, by adapting to fit its place. The right idea embraces the real, simply, but richly in detail. The founders set aside preconceptions, in order to learn before teaching, observing the local ways and activities from inside out first, getting insight before claiming overview, being sure to sow the right seeds for the soil. The doctrine would vary, adapting to meet the needs of each point of view and the culture. Towers to some are observatories; farther away they are landmarks. The proper view of the tower encompasses both, but at any one given time only one might be usefully true.
Main Judgment (Perspective) (卦辞)
A cleansing but not a sacrifice
Being true is as good as majestic▼
Main Judgment (Perspective) (卦辞)
A cleansing but not a sacrifice
Being true is as good as majestic
Full of hope and trust, the people look up to the tower, watching the one up high on the altar. Full of awe, the sage looks up at the stars, with the fires of heaven gathered in waiting, beholding and being beheld, and being beholden, knowing what must be the sacrifice. The master of ceremonies knows the perceptions and makes them the carriage for delivering meanings, meeting the expectations, yet somehow still getting the message across, giving them what they wanted to see, and yet telling them what had need to be told. Many degrees of comprehension are represented here and the work is with many perspectives. But there is only gain here, not much to sacrifice, except for the stuff that is washed from the eyes and the heart, and the junk that is cleared from the view and the path. Many differing points of view can be added up together. Some say that this is why there is life, and why we all stay so separate. Others of course might say that there should be no why. We see more depth in the world this way, more dimensions to our existence. There is a way to be true that does not rely upon knowing only one truth. It is not lost in some relativity either.
Key Words (关键词)
Observe, view, attend, study, contemplate, consider, examine; the examined life▼
Key Words (关键词)
Observe, view, attend, study, contemplate, consider, examine; the examined life
Investigation, reconnaissance, review, survey, learning, comprehension, compass (Changing) points of view, frames of mind, postulates, hypotheses, outlooks, ken Frames of reference, reframing; universes of discourse; suspending a (dis-)belief Overview, taking inventory, overall view, objectivity(-ification); reading the signs Understanding other perspectives, a point of view of being beheld or objectified
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
Sovereign Gua, 8th Moon (Sept)
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Saturn in Air
planet:Saturn
element:Air
Tarot
card:Ace of Swords
suit:Swords
Qabalah
note:Kether in Yetzirah
sphere:Kether
The Lines
11st • YangChildlike perspective
For little people, no blame
For the noble young one, an embarrassment▼
1
1st • YangChildlike perspective
For little people, no blame
For the noble young one, an embarrassment
20.1x First six’s childlike perspective
(Is) the little one’s path
There is nothing really wrong with having the ears, eyes and mind of a child. Minds grow their best developing slowly. You do have the simplified view, plenty of colors on the surface of things and lots of details at random. You are sure of yourself and your place at the center of things and are ready to question at least. Magic still lives. Of course there is no penetration, no overall concert or harmony, no practical way to apply what you see to your life. You have a deficient span of attention from only a single perspective. Right now is the only time. Your mind alights on the surfaces, on dazzle and glamour and show. You cannot tell the innocent from the naive. Your mind still wants a critical mass of experience and ways to step out of itself. Those who grow up should still want to have all this at hand. Just not as their only option.
22nd • YangA prying perspective
Serves a young woman’s persistence▼
2
2nd • YangA prying perspective
Serves a young woman’s persistence
20.2x (With) prying perspective, the young woman persists:
But still invites condemnation
Contemplating the rites through a crack in the doorway, the young lady watches her husband stepping solemnly up to the altar to begin the autumn rites. Yet all she can manage to think of is how his clothing looks and how she wants him home soon. If this is the limit of her domain and such a narrow, short-sighted perspective is all she requires or wants out of life, one ought not to ask her for more. As long as the effects of this are confined to her life, no great mistake or great anything. A princess will need a much broader range of perspectives. Such limited views keep her stuck in one place, with half truths and partial contexts, as less than a worthy witness. One degree of comprehension is not all that comprehensive. A single perspective is prey to misdirection and gossip. Gathering good intelligence is done outside of oneself.
33rd • YangObserving our own lives in advances and retreats▼
3
3rd • YangObserving our own lives in advances and retreats
20.3x Observing our own lives (in) advances (and) retreats:
Still not neglecting the path
The examined life begins with rough drafts and revisions. Growing up is creation. Who are we really, and what do we want here? With backward looks at the trends in our lives we try to make art out of retrospect. But what sort of stuff are we truly made up of? Disjointed events and their consequences? Are we what we have done and not what we failed to do? Were we never what we never could do? Could we be now what we no longer do? We sort through the trends and tangled up threads, the clues, the moments of valor and doubt, the tests passed and failed, to fashion and test new directions, to wrap up the past in simpler meanings and bring these up into the present, informing our freedoms with what we have learned and explaining even the accidents with newer notions of purpose. Some might dare to look at net progress.
44th • YangObserving a country’s splendors
Worthwhile and useful to be guest to the sovereign▼
4
4th • YangObserving a country’s splendors
Worthwhile and useful to be guest to the sovereign
20.4x Observing a county’s splendors:
(Be) a worthy guest
The best judge hears all of the sides, even extreme points of view. But dispassion and cold objectivity will seldom help him reach truth. Even when all sides are lying, he will get as close as he can to first hand and occupy these points of view, many miles in many shoes, many places in many hats, surveying all he can. The outsiders’ perspectives have limits and so going native will have much to offer. A wide-ranging teacher pauses between the palaces to note how the masses live. Great advantage is offered to royal guests, and to students at the royal academy, while if and how far these wonderful benefits reach beyond the palace walls, only the outsider can know. But even with peasants starving outside, as a guest in the palace, he feasts. It must be this way, to get the undamaged view. The fair witness must come and go freely.
55th • YangObserving our own lives
The noble young one does no harm▼
5
5th • YangObserving our own lives
The noble young one does no harm
20.5x Observing our own lives
(Means) observing humanity
Looking down from his tower, a young noble studies his life, reading the dreaded permanent record, trying to be objective, setting new goals and subjectives. With no magic mirror in which to examine himself, the world will be his witness, and so he can see himself there, in effects of his guidance upon the lives of his people. He has much to unlearn as well, pruning excesses and choosing what to lose. The object of public view is the last one relieved of the need for self-study, the one who rallies the optimists is often the last one to let go of doubts. He must come to know the human behaviors, trying not to see himself at the center. This means studying commoners, farmers, beggars, lawyers and crooks. This is not about what he thinks of himself. Letting this picture get big enough means losing some of his size and importance.
6Top • YangObserving others’ lives
The noble young one does no harm▼
6
Top • YangObserving others’ lives
The noble young one does no harm
20.6x Observing others’ lives:
The objective is still not objective
Alone at the top of the tower, the young noble’s picture grows ever larger. He tries to take it all in, with what the wind has to say, what the stars have to show, and what noble works his hands might do next. The vision must reach through time, to where we have been and where we are going. But this is not a big picture if it is measured in years. This is whole species getting invented and going extinct, mountains rising and getting ground down. Life is all of our lives and all of our relations, a full circle of different perspectives. Finding no great discouragement, but nothing to boast of either, with luck he will never be satisfied. The spirit wants reassessment as the body demands food and breath. Any conclusions? Maybe do as you would be done by, live and let live, pay your rent, count your blessings and leave a better world behind.
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 20 begins on Page 180-188.
Help improve this resource
Spot a typo or have a suggestion? We'd love to hear from you.