The Tao is an empty vessel; it is used, but never filled
The shape changes,
But not the form
– Tao Te Ching
I enjoyed the I Ching reading Harmen Mesker provided for Steve Wasserman. It’s found on YouTube and both people are interesting and fun. The I Ching is a deeply fascinating subject but that doesn’t mean you approach it seriously. “The Sage” is said to be the I Ching. Imagine him, or her, occasionally having a joke with you.
The question was, why is the I Ching now in my life. The answer was the first hexagram, which Harmen addresses with his characteristic emphasis on trigrams. He is well aware there are other methods of working with the I Ching, but this is his working choice.
At one point in Wilhelm’s book, he wonders if trigram ideas were the original I Ching method. This can be misleading, because you might also say the earlier method was with tortoise shells (a Chinese practice). It does however affirm Harmen’s approach. Although not reading the books, which is what this entails, doesn’t mean you only focus on trigrams.
I wondered how I would answer the question using my understanding. Curiously, this arrives at a similar set of answers and observations. But the angle of view is different, using line dynamics in addition to trigrams.
Carl Jung once asked the I Ching to describe itself and the answer he received was hexagram 50 called The Cauldron. His question and that hexagram connects with the situation of Steve.
Everyone understands the I Ching is a book of advice, or wisdom, so that is implicit in his question. That could vary however depending on the person. It might be a doubtful question, which fundamentally changes the situation. You could then receive an answer like Youthful Folly.
I was surprised with hexagram 1 because there are others you might think appropriate. Hexagram 50 for example, or possibly hexagram 48 called The Well. But that is not how the I Ching works, with formulaic understanding. Answers and advice are often unexpected and surprising. I compare I Ching readings with what poet John Keats called negative capability: “being in uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”
If we knew the answer, we wouldn’t need the I Ching. There must then be a fundamental understanding that we don’t know, like the yin unconscious alongside the yang conscious. It’s important to consider all these details in an I Ching reading, as the bigger philosophy, because they are where the question locates. You ask the I Ching why are you now in my life, and the book answers with the full system as it did with Carl Jung.
The other reason why I was surprised with hexagram 1 is because it’s not a common occurrence so there’s a certain thrill with six yang lines. The dragon enters the room. Wilhelm’s book describes a dragon in six stages of manifestation as the yang power of the universe and where the I Ching begins.
Consistent again with Jung’s question and answer – and this is where it becomes divinatory in regard to Steve’s question – the first hexagram delineates I Ching function as a process of six lines, or six stages, beginning then fading at the top. This repeats in hexagram 31, sometimes regarded as the beginning of the second section of the I Ching.
I suspect Steve has wondered about the I Ching for some time, the attraction was not quite strong enough, but now it is. That could be mapped onto six stages, not as a technically precise proposition but as a general principle. In other words he had an early beginning interest, then it faded a little, then it returned. Like the dragon waking, then wondering if he should act, depending on the time.
The time is now for the I Ching in Steve’s life. It will be an important resource for him and the book affirms his interest very strongly. There is no stronger hexagram, albeit strength in the I Ching is not always what you expect. Soft water can be stronger than hard rock. Gentle influence is sometimes more effective than loud assertion. The first hexagram does however emphasise the idea, and this is an important factor for everyone’s early I Ching discovery. There’s always an element of doubt and uncertainty. How does it work, and what does it mean, because it is not a widely known subject.
If there were no moving lines in Steve’s answer, that would be perplexing until you think about it more deeply. What does unmoving yang have to do with I Ching interest? The point about interpretation is it can be very subtle. If a hexagram or an image has seemingly no relevance for a question, deeper meanings arise. It might be the idea you have about a question, which is not actually correct. So you don’t receive an answer as such, but are told to think about it more deeply as a mirroring process. Jung called the I Ching “psychological phenomenology” with good reason.
This is why I prefer prolonged reflection for answers not immediate commentary. You must talk to the person, see them, get a feel for them, either in real life or online. The interpretation for me then takes a long time, usually a few days, as I ponder the details and philosophical meanings. There are always immediate impressions with a hexagram, which can be shared, but it’s not an immediate process.
If it were an unchanging yang for Steve’s question he would have to consider his ideas about divination generally. Is the yang in the system, is the yang in Steve, and what is his understanding about the idea of yang? In addition to obvious commentary, an I Ching reading gives people philosophical tools from the wider system.
Six yang lines are statistically unusual and conceptually strong so the I Ching is saying: what is your conception or experience of yang? For the I Ching yang means spirit, order, creativity, male, and light against darkness. He’s developing a YouTube channel and wondering what that means in terms of his life and how other people perceive his videos. He’s probably thinking there’s a lot of nonsense at YouTube, and I’m trying to create something interesting but in a fun format.
There is thus a yang context as the starting point for interpretation. Within which there are two moving lines, the second and the sixth, which is where we can examine the subject more deeply. The second line changing to yin suddenly becomes receptive to the yang line in the fifth place. The fifth line is usually the ruling line, like a king in a kingdom, subordinate only to the sixth line of the Sage. He has the manifest power but not the entire wisdom for his kingdom, himself, or his subjects below.
Being receptive to the fifth line equates with listening to the I Ching. The fifth doesn’t have the ultimate wisdom of the sixth but no one can question him from below. It’s strong again, as yang, illuminating the darkness of yin. The upper trigram is other and the lower is trigram is self, so in this situation the I Ching is now entering Steve’s life. In the developmental process of six lines, the second is now becoming yin at this particular moment. He’s wondered about the I Ching before, but didn’t do anything about it, which meant he couldn’t receive the information from the fifth line king.
It’s the centre line of the lower trigram which is the inner principle of self in relation to (in this case) the organising principle of a higher function. Steve is now receptive. That answers his question very directly – why now – but there is always more to consider with the I Ching when every detail connects with the wider system.
It’s a yang hexagram, with two lines becoming yin, which implies the Taoist philosophy not confined (paradoxically) to this or any other hexagram. This is not always an interpretive beginning but is, in this case, because of the quality of the first hexagram: dragon enters the room.
The upper line is also changing to yin which again means being receptive to wisdom. The yang dragon of the sixth must beware of arrogance. There is a progression from first to sixth we construe as development and advance in terms of a project, goal, or accumulating wisdom. The sixth line is the Sage, retired from society because he doesn’t need it anymore; but as a Bodhisattva principle he must return energy down to those less wise or experienced below. It’s not a command, and you are free to choose otherwise, but with negative consequences.
There are yin and yang demarcations in the I Ching, just as there is a positive and negative in an electric circuit. But it’s not that simple and what appears to be obvious success at one level might be a bad move above. This is the area of ethics, conscience, and what Confucius called ren which is basically kindness and benevolence. The acknowledgement of levels or layers applies in the hexagrams as three groups of two lines: heaven above, earth below, and humanity in the middle.
The sixth line dragon is ultimate, except not quite, representing the idea that even the I Ching is not infallible or always needed. There are some questions it’s best not to ask. I know this from experience, in relation to serious concerns where you need stillness and quiet yin more than interactive questioning yang. You might need a few days, a week or more, before you can approach the I Ching because the time isn’t right for it.
The Heaven hexagram is thus instructional for Steve in regard to his recent I Ching interest and how to understand the relationship between human being and book. Like Harmen, I am wary of jumping into the details of a changed hexagram derived from moving lines. What usually happens is there is a great depth in the first hexagram which must be explored.
The meaning of a second hexagram is also debatable. It’s commonly understood as an outcome, which can overshadow the first making the variables into something certain. An outcome can be a resolution, or possibly a warning, depending on the tone of the question. There isn’t a correct answer to this and what happens with I Ching use is to some extent you define the system as you find suitable. Your unconscious works with whatever framework you decide upon.
The two changing lines for Steve are for his consideration in regard to his lower self in relation to higher wisdom seen with yang becoming receptive yin. There are readings where a potential second hexagram, derived from changing lines, becomes useful. But I don’t think this is one of them. There’s a danger you think in terms of fortune telling and this is what will happen, contrary to I Ching philosophy.
Remaining with the first hexagram of Heaven, the two Heaven trigrams are changing into Fire and Lake respectively with three considerations. First, this connects my commentary with Harmen’s trigram interpretation and how the two are similar. Second, the trigrams repeat my line analysis. Finally, this part of the reading is a good summary of the advice with simple imagery for Steve to remember and apply.
The meaning of Fire is clarity like shining a light into darkness. The I Ching provides clarity. This occurs in the lower trigram of self in relation to the upper trigram of other which in this case concerns the I Ching. The upper trigram is Lake, which is a receptive principle because of the upper yin line. Steve is illumined below from the trigram above because of two changing lines occurring now.
Interpretation for me can’t be instantaneous, partly because of complexity. I write interpretations, because some ideas can’t easily be conveyed. Additionally, it’s very valuable having the information carefully composed and arranged. Conversations vanish but a written reading does not.
If I said for example the trigrams relate with a quality of Wind, it wouldn’t mean very much. The term for this is Resonance and needs explanation. In a hexagram these are corresponding lines:
- the first and the fourth
- the second and the fifth
- the third and the sixth
They might relate harmoniously or not, with another layer of meaning. The second changing line is important in this interpretation in relation to the fifth. Additionally, you can consider the Resonance trigram using all three connections with the following rules:
- both lines are different, the result is a yang line
- both lines are equal, the result is a yin line
A trigram then emerges which explains the relationship between the lower and upper in the hexagram. In this case it is Wind advising a gentle divinatory effect, not the yang of the hexagram which is the immediate impression. The advice is about the approach Steve should consider when using the I Ching. Gentle, flexible, and suggestive more than definitive.
This is particularly important if you read a book, Wilhelm’s or another, which are poetic more than mantic. “It is good to have somewhere to go” for example can suggest taking a holiday, daily work in the office, or walking in nature. It can also mean psychological readjustment and changing your mood from one trigram to another.
The I Ching is generous. It explains why this is happening for Steve, and describes the process as the basis for future reading. This occurs within the structure of yang like a battery, or electrical circuit, from which future energy derives.
There is, sometimes, a vague approach to the I Ching missing the essence of the system. It’s like 1960 hippies turning on, tuning in, and dropping out with Eastern philosophy which they didn’t actually understand. It was more a counter cultural fashion than the deep exploration of another. The I Ching expands understanding, as a deepening not an escapist process. The yang principle is a reminder that although yin is required – you must be receptive – that doesn’t mean abdication of responsibility and reason.
Reason is found in philosophy, although the Chinese context is different from Western cerebral practice. As for example with the five elements or phases, which can partly be summarised as a grounding in nature, and the changes of energy, like autumn becoming winter then spring.
Heaven 1 is the first hexagram, suggesting the beginning of Steve’s I Ching journey. Sixty three hexagrams remain, although as the years pass you experience the system not as a linear path but as unexpected unfolding discovery.
The reading is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qucqbZEx7gw
I write like this is a magazine column. With research, references, and a lot of time. If you like it, perhaps you would support me.