Do you hear your own heart beat?
– Master Po
Ignorant armies clash by night
– Matthew Arnold
China was the first different culture which interested me. “Patience, Grasshopper” Master Po says to Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu. Then he snatches the pebble from Master Kan’s hand and his training is complete. Before leaving the Shaolin Temple he receives final advice: “remember always a wise man walks with his head bowed, humble like the dust.”
The I Ching is thousands of years old, used by Shang Dynasty kings and their diviners. I don’t believe one culture has a monopoly on wisdom, art, or books. I have no interest in affirming one politics or another. What interests me is how philosophy underlies society as a deeper layer of meaning.
I don’t really care who wins the US Presidential election, but it’s a significant event. I feel the same in the UK. I like knowing general debates as part of social awareness. Not fighting for this, or fighting for that, which reminds me of Thoreau. “Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine” when this means arguing politics. “I wish to speak a word for nature, for absolute freedom and wildness” because “there are enough champions of civilisation.”
The US election is surreally unpleasant so can’t all be taken seriously. I know about the accusations against Trump, some of them true, but have no faith in any of the system. According to Rory Sutherland (Alchemy: The Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense) governments are run by economists and lawyers. What we see is theatre, not operative reality, albeit shaped with left or right ideas. Some of the Trump accusations were a political attack while opposite complaints were dismissed, such as Hunter Biden’s laptop.
I dislike politicians, recognise Trump as particularly unpleasant, but what interests me is why he achieved power in a context of both left and right. It’s not a question for me of supporting one side or the other. Right support and left criticism are both questionable, from a philosophical in between.
I asked the question “How Can We Understand the US Presidential Election” which is not actually confined to the election. Before I present the answer, I will introduce wider I Ching ideas.
Hexagram 3 is called Difficulty at the Beginning which in this context means early stages and the arrival of a candidate. It’s the beginning of a campaign when they attract voters and establish a message. Hexagram 61 is called Inner Truth which concerns public perception. We want to see an alignment between internal belief and what they say; although elections are marketing not the product.
Hexagram 6 is Conflict which describes the friction of debate. Hexagram 49 is Revolution which corresponds to opinion changes based on the dynamics of 61, 6, and stories in the media. Hexagram 64 is Before Completion as final voting approaches, but this is a subtle I Ching idea with illusory finality.
Hexagram 23 is Splitting Apart. A new politician is elected who dismantles previous structures and implements new policies, although this also describes the tone of the election. Assassination attempts are rare but they were not unexpectedly shocking. If Trump is described as Hitler, in a country with guns, what happened wasn’t surprising.
Another I Ching factor is we receive individual advice not necessarily relevant for others. To some extent the answer I received was suitable for me. Hexagram 15, called Modesty. Thus I include what it means for me.
You construct an I Ching hexagram from the lowest line leading up. Line 1 is the beginning and line 6 the culmination. You can emphasise this to the extent that the central four lines are what matter, because lowest and upper are only opening then fading. The action is in the middle. But as always with the I Ching, it depends on the context and the person.
The idea of ascendancy and growth is what matters. Like a seed becoming a plant then a tree, everything starts, develops, matures, and then disappears. The I Ching starts with a hexagram of six dragon lines which manifest and arrive but also wait and hold back. Everything depends on the moment. The I Ching is a philosophical system, while focussing on real and immediate details.
We are told in the Ten Wings (I Ching commentary) Fu Hsi discovered the trigrams by observing Heaven and Earth: “Then came Fu Hsi and looked upward and contemplated the images in the heavens, and looked downward and contemplated the occurrences on earth.” Unlike King Wen, the Duke of Chou and Confucius (I Ching contributors) Fu Hsi was mythological not factual. It’s a story about philosophy and I Ching reading. Look up for wisdom, down at the details, and what patterns do you see.
The lower trigram of Mountain was relaxing and perfect. How can we understand was answered. We understand with a pause. Not continuing the ideas we have and beliefs we adhere to, but allowing a cessation so something new occurs. Caine says to Master Po “Master, I am puzzled” and his teacher replies “that is the beginning of wisdom.”
Hexagram 52 is double Mountain and describes meditation. In a Taoist text we are advised more specifically: “First, extend your vision; second, widen your information; third, stabilise your clarity of mind” (The Master of Demon Valley, Thomas Cleary translation).
Pause and contain habitual thoughts so you understand them better. People say the November election is the most important in US history. Perhaps it is, I don’t know; it does seem a significant clash. The advice as such is America needs to consider it carefully.
More interesting for me is what this means individually as one thinks about the subject. The two yin lines below are the endless noise of arguing, disagreeing, and your internal voice. We all do it – that process of half thinking, vague feelings, imaginings and barely conscious reaction, sometimes in conformity with others.
Amusingly, but also seriously, Nietzsche said this about the media: “Just see these superfluous ones! Sick are they always, they vomit their bile and call it a newspaper. They devour one another, and cannot even digest themselves.” Who needs X, when there are philosophical rants in Thus Spake Zarathustra.
The lower trigram of hexagram 15 – reflecting the Modesty idea – advises calm reflection as the basis for understanding. The upper trigram of Earth in this context refers to world society, obviously not one thing, but as a concept whereby US President is the most powerful of roles. The opposite Heaven trigram is sky based and free compared to materiality. The context here is earthly ruling, although we might question how this works.
Another reason I dislike politics is because I see ideologically driven thus unbalanced people. The idea of Modesty advises something different, with less arrogance and more humility. I’m not sure how this could occur. Perhaps connect government with good philosophers. Although I’m personally inclined towards Voltaire’s il faut cultiver notre jardin.
The philosophy component of Oxford University PPE is probably the first to intellectually fade. A large number of politicians complete the degree which has included Tony Benn, David Cameron, Ed Balls, William Hague, Anneliese Dodds, Matt Hancock, Peter Mandelson, and Rishi Sunak. Although the philosophy I suspect is sociology and power more than ethics and meaning, before cricket then the Balliol bar.
Trump built his previous campaign on the “make America great again” slogan. In Britain the last time this happened except for the recent vacuous “change” was with Corbyn’s “many not the few.” This is marketing. “Because you’re worth it” said l’Oreal which is yin and a left wing sentiment. “A different kind of strength” said Kronenbourg which is yang and more right wing.
Writer Salman Rushdie used to work in advertising and created “that’ll do nicely” for American Express. An exclusive club, with high status and unspoken understanding. “Naughty but nice” was for cream cakes. Both slogans use “nice” which is cleverly vague; insinuating not specific. Steady now with the cake pleasure you semi-detached Brits.
Appealing to grievance, while offering a solution, is a powerful rhetorical technique. It was how the most evil man of modern history gained political control. No one wants that again, which is why Trump makes people uneasy. More interestingly, his methods reflect the opposing side.
I don’t know if Trump copied the grievance tactics of his opponents. It is however the raison d’être of the left. He certainly copies them when they characterise the right as extreme. If you call me “fascist” I will call you “communist.” Whatever one thinks about the UK Conservative party, as another example, they are not Nazis. It is dangerously absurd talk when politicians in particular do it. If Trump wins we don’t know how he will view extremist rhetoric David Lammy, with possible UK consequences.
Every normal person condemns Hitler. Stalin is not used against the left as a rhetorical device but his atrocities exceeded those of the Third Reich. Ideally everyone would calm down and be Modest. But the opposite is happening. Then Trump steps into the ring, playing the game, with the posturing of Muhammad Ali: I am the greatest.
Harris could win partly because of appearance. She jokes and laughs as a relief from the angry older man. Let’s be nice, is the subliminal message, which is vacuously absurd but sold cakes and a credit card.
Image and presentation shouldn’t be ignored. The Vietnam napalm child and Abu Ghraib photographs influenced two wars. Mass mood is not sophisticated: see The Engineering of Consent by Edward Bernays, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, and The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt.
In the I Ching, subtle influence corresponds to the trigram Xun – Wind – which is strong but you don’t see it. What people say is important. “Fight fight fight” said Trump after he was shot. That might be a good thing with Putin, Iran, Xi, and in a war zone. Not amongst themselves in New York City.
Perhaps everyone is tired of the aggression. Harris arrived as a front for the Democrats while their power base is hidden. With Trump it’s the opposite. He took over the Republican Party as he simultaneously became the brand.
The theme of Modesty for hexagram 15 smoothes the situation, relevant for Trump, but not exclusively. There is no ideological solution for society and half the US population is not Hitler-lite. Both notions are absurd. Modesty also applies to populations when people have an extreme expectation of politicians. There’s a machine, as Thoreau describes it, which is then manipulated.
Hexagram 7 is called The Army where you incentivise one group against others with identity ideas. Every time this happens, left and right, the results are not good. Remember, il faut cultiver notre jardin for which the I Ching is a good resource.
Hexagrams have a structure as well as a theme. There are yang places best filled with yang lines, and yin with yin. Yin resonates with yang, and the reverse. When opposite lines are together they enable or inhibit, yin regarded as inferior in relation to yang, which means yin is usually best placed below yang.
The lines are favourable in Modesty despite not being in the ideal configuration. The 5th yin is the ruler, which should be yang. The 1st yin has no resonance with the 4th yin, or the 2nd yin with the 5th yin. The 4th yin sits incorrectly above the 3rd yang, which means negativity is enabled. It’s mostly a yin hexagram and the yin is uncomfortable.
The geographic reality is that mountains rise above the earth. In Modesty, Mountain is below, so despite the troubled structure the hexagram idea is positive. You mustn’t exaggerate your importance, but submit to Earth constraints. Modesty is something politics needs but which isn’t happening. The Trump and Harris clash is climactic, but this won’t last beyond five or ten years. It’s too extreme.
The single yang line of Modesty is critical. It means a moderated self in relation to other, which applies to both sides. Wilhelm advises “the superior man (person) reduces that which is too much and augments that which is too little. He weighs things and makes them equal.”
The greatest power is transcending not conquering. The entire universe, which is movement, submits to stillness: “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone” advises the Tao Te Ching. That’s not the world of politics. It is part of the I Ching, relevant for living in a greater context.
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.