MEDITATIONS: I CHING; THE BOOK OF CHANGES, CANTO TWENTY-ONE

Bite—Remove—Erase
|or| Biting Through

Look for the opportunity to correct small evils that come your way. Be on alert for larger evils and notify the proper authorities when they appear. Conduct yourself with undeterred resolution of thought and firmness of action. (Bright-Fey 71)

Biting through is successful; it is beneficial to use imprisonment.

Yang 1: Wearing stocks stopping the feet, there is no fault.

Yin 2: Biting through skin, destroying the nose, there is no fault.

Yin 3: Biting dried meat, running into poison, there is a little shame, but no blame.

Yang 4: Biting bony dried meat, finding a metal arrow, it is beneficial to be steadfast in difficulty, for this bodes well.

Yin 5: Biting dried meat, finding yellow gold, if one is steadfast and wary, there will be no fault.

Yang 6: Wearing a cangue destroying the ears bodes ill. (Cleary 116-122)

Fire—the intellect, ego, attention, and awareness—burns above thunder—initiation of activity and movement. It is the thundering impetus to achieve which calls fiery consciousness to adventure. This is the internal state fostered by a simultaneous state of deprivation while observing the wishful potential of a rising star. This is the forging of strength through hardship, and whether viewed at the level of the individual or societal, requires a kind of biting-through.

Remember, the depths of degeneration are not far behind. The leadership is yet feminine in its disposition, that is to say, those who hold power within the cultural institutions are themselves decadent and eager to indulge the populace. Only a few of them possess the wisdom to watch for the worthy upcomers and to delegate to them responsibility. Mostly, the common people are yet weak and resentful; and mostly the leadership is corrupt and vicious.

What, then?

It is a time for the gritting of teeth, for the biting-through resistance—the crushing of evil between unyielding standards. That is why it is beneficial to use imprisonment. This can be understood literally, but it is more useful to abstract and consider the concept more generally. Imprisonment is punishment, and punishment is a means of removing and reducing undesirable aspects of self or society. It is also, seemingly paradoxically, the first step on the road to a freer life and a more liberal culture.

FETTERED HEART, FREE SPIRIT—When one firmly fetters one’s heart and keeps it prisoner, one can allow one's spirit many liberties. (Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, aphorism 87)

Stocks are such fetters, they bind the feet, preventing movement, which is necessary when the only contemporary direction is downward. In such circumstances, shackles are saviours. They are the structure by which self-destruction and the debauchery of others is prevented, which is necessary if there is to be any progress forward. It is several times easier to destroy than it is to build, after all. If incremental improvements are to be made, one inching step at a time along the Way, the walkers must not take multiple strides backwards with each correct effort.

That was the first Yang, pain as teacher and the firm application of punishment at the outset to correct for deficiency. The second Yin is yielding and is in a balanced position. It represents the fair application of punishments on those who accept them. This may sound strange, but those mired in chaos often act out criminally or otherwise in a desperate attempt to discover where the boundaries lie. They are like children. They seek order in their lives, and their punishment—if fair and proportional—will produce a sense of katharsis, relief at the discovery of morality and justice. That is why the punishment penetrates the surface layer of the skin and destroy an entire sense organ: the person fairly punished is transformed and is no longer possessed by his instincts—he is not led by the nose anymore.

There will, however, be excesses. Dried meat is tough, just as it will be difficult to rid oneself or ones culture of moral evils. As one person or one people attempts to bite-through, they may even swallow some of the poison they hope to purge. This is the risk of tyranny and the unfair punishment of the innocent. It is not good, but the I Ching suggests that the shame is small and the blame is none. Why might this be? Perhaps the Aristotelian mean lies much closer to excessive order than it does to absolute chaos and degeneration. If that is the case, then better to risk a bit of excess and the swallowing of a mouthful of poison than to starve to death, paralyzed by fear of damage.

The forth Yang initiates the aim of the conscious efforts. Here, the actual enforcement of laws and the administration of punishments is made manifest. This will be difficult and painful. It is not pleasant to bite-through bony meat. Even if one avoided the poison of excessive punishment, he will encounter sharp and hard bones poking into him gums. However, if one is resolute despite the difficulties and backlash, he may find a metal arrow—an object of stronger substance than the bones, one both capable of flying and penetrating far. It may be hard, but sticking to one’s principles is akin to finding and shooting this arrow. If it is true, it will fly straight and bite-through the target far away.

Biting-through the fifth Yin occupying the position of leadership, though it shall be tough, is the only way to uncover the potential gold. That gold is a competent leader, one who does not over-indulge and who also is capable of taking the responsibility on his own without the constant need for delegation and advising. At the personal level, biting-through the fifth Yin to reveal the gold is the sacrifice of the former self so that the more moral self might shine through. However, this is tricky at either level of analysis. Discernment is necessary so that one knows which aspects of the self or which leaders out to be removed. But if one is wary, vigilant, and diligent in his observing, he will be able to tell lead from gold, and there will be no fault in his deliberate conscious action.

But there is such a thing as going too far. Fires of ambition, light, and ego-consciousness, while necessary for rejuvenation, are also the source of Luciferian tyranny. Use of the cangue—a heavy wooden collar—is a metaphor for excessive punishments for petty crimes. This destroys the ears, meaning that the punished is no longer capable of listening. This sixth Yang has gone too far. It has achieved its opposition and foster rebellion—just as one cooking food in a fire can burn it beyond nutritional value. Fire—consciousness—and the use of punishments should always be employed with care and caution.

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.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. 1886. translated by Helen Zimmerman. Enhanced Media, 2017.