MEDITATIONS: I CHING; THE BOOK OF CHANGES, CANTO SEVENTEEN

Connect—Lead—Follow
|OR| Following

Now is the time to adapt to conditions and follow the path of strength. Rise above your own ego and discard any pettiness you feel towards others. Now is definitely not the time to be small-minded. Align yourself with a higher goal and, accordingly, move resolutely forward. This is a perfect time for prayer and meditation. (Bright-Fey 63)

Following is very successful, beneficial if correct, then blameless.

Yang 1: The office has a change. It bodes well to be correct. Communications outside the gate have merit.

Yin 2: Concerned with the small child, you lose the adult.

Yin 3: Concerned with the adult, you lose the small child. In following there is seeking and finding. It is beneficial to remain upright.

Yang 4: When following has gain, it bodes ill even if correct. Have sincerity, use understanding on the path, and there is no fault.

Yang 5: Sincerity in good bodes well.

Yin 6: Bound to him, they follow tied to him; the king thereby receives a boon on West Mountain. (Cleary 93-99)

In the aftermath of obstruction, there is association with others. Done properly, this leads to great possession which can only be maintained by adopting an attitude of humility. It is this humility which allows for the balanced delight in the aforementioned great possession of moral and material goods. And that which is evidently delightful inevitably gains a following—though, just as not all delights are good, neither are all paths nor the leaders whose footsteps are to be followed.

This hexagram is thunder under lake—action, movement, and initiative as the internal, subjective state; meanwhile, pleasure and joy are the external manifestations. Indeed, there are the pleasures of comfort when one decides upon a path. Then, he is not lost and wandering. He has a map and mode to reach a better destination. He gains happiness in the pursuit: there, where it is always found, and never in the attainment.

But some paths lead up and others down. The downhill paths seem less arduous at first, by they are not the roads to strength. Only the uphill battle makes one strong and enduring. That is why adaptability corresponds with following the path of strength. One follows a higher aim and goal, and in so doing, he becomes better able to follow the twists and turns of life. But to take this view, one must have far-reaching and broad vision. He must see the long-term for what it is, the continuous becoming of the present.

That is the key to the meaning of the opening line and first Yang. Things bode well when done correctly, but that suggests that they might not go well if proper conduct and mindset are not adhered to. That begs the question, “what is correct?” The first Yang answers, harkening back to proper association with others. When there is a change in leadership and, as a consequence, direction, correct conduct is movement toward objectivity and universality. These are the communications outside the gate—as opposed to within one’s own house. It does no good to hermit oneself or tribe inside an echo chamber. The only way to know who and how to follow is to hash it out with ones neighbors.

The second Yin describes another dichotomy of paths. There is the Yang below, but the is also the fifth Yang above. They are the child and adult respectively. Give the Yin-Yang pair and mirror position of the Second Yin and fifth Yang, they are proper consorts. The unsteady central Yin of thunder—initiative and movement; the internal impetus to act—can only be brought to fruition through balanced pleasure-taking in accordance with the path of strength. That is to say, when the internal drive to start something new is paired with a balance between work and play, and a balance between individual and group consideration and responsibility, then one makes progress. However, if one’s motivation is invested entirely in the initial excitement that comes with pursuing a path or following a new religion or politics, he may very well peter out halfway.

It is better to take on the attitude of the third Yin, who abandons the childish first Yang for the fourth Yang in its upright state. That fourth Yang represents the beginning of a following. As mentioned, there are two paths—one up and the other down. The uphill path of strength is meeting outside the gate, aiming at the objective through discourse with those different than oneself. The downhill path is one of meeting only inside the house, that is, with personal relations. This downhill path may seem gainful at first, but in the long run, it muddies the waters. Personal relationships obscure objectivity due to familiarity and personal biases. Sincerity becomes difficult, as no one wants to risk the destruction of close relationships, and this leads to a straying from the Way—a divorce from reality in favor of subjectivity.

They fifth Yang has been discussed already. It represents balance and sincerity which accord with the Way. But even this good following can be taken too far. The sixth Yin describes this excess. When a following becomes so complete that the followers’ interests are seen as indistinguishable from those of the leadership, then those who follow are now bound to the fate of said leader or movement. This can accomplish great things, such as the founding of a kingdom in West Mountain, but ultimately destroys the following as a whole. With the death or deviation of the head of the following, the body will follow into degeneration and dissolution.

I Ching; The Book of Changes, with commentaries by Cheng Yi, translated by Thomas Cleary, Shambala Library, 2003.

I Ching: The Book of Changes; An authentic Taoist translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2006.