New article on Hexagram 18
I had a request to write about Hexagram 18, so I did. 
I’ve tried to make this a fairly complete article, discussing the relationship between Following and Corruption, the Image and Judgement, and also added a few words on each of the changing lines. I’d welcome your comments and suggestions – oh, and any particular requests for new articles. The Lower Canon is beginning to look neglected, don’t you think?
October 9th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Thanks Hilary, I love your explorations of the hexagrams — very helpful and insightful. Hex 18 is one that’s sent me on many bouts of examination regarding family dynamics and relationships, and how they inflect where I am now.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on 54 sometime…
October 11th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Hello everyone
From a Daoist perspective, this hexagram relates problems within both the body and/or the spiritual/emotional life, in the sense that yin and yang are not in balance. Spiritually, there is an imbalance in the flow of chi in either the yang or yin level, or perhaps kan versus li. This is important because an improper balance of chi can cause stagnation in flow of chi in the human body, and organs will not function to full capacity. Where it says “work on what has been spoiled by the father,” there is stagnation in a yang channel. Where it says “work on what has been spoiled by the mother,” there is stagnation in a yin channel.
In our day to day lives, it is most likely that as time goes by, we are going to forget important parts of our lives, that which we strive for, and are trying to attain. The world is “too much with us,” so that the cares of the world choke out the daily effort toward spiritual progress. The only solution is to remind ourselves of the need to “practice chariot driving daily,” and be consistent in our approach to our spiritual goals. Only when we are consistent can we truly gain progress in anything that we want to do. It is imperative to have a direction for which we strive, and not get sidetracked by daily chores.
Gene
October 11th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Thanks, Mercury! Hexagram 54 is one I’ve already written about, though
Gene, I can see how what you write connects with 18.6, and its ‘push upward’ beyond the inner or outer politics of mundane existence. But is ‘honouring what is highest’ always necessarily going to mean striving? Or taking our awareness away from daily chores?
Just wondering…
October 11th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Our daily chores are necessary and they should be undertaken first. That is step one in our spiritual as well as daily chores. Spiritual exercises do not work well in a messy home. But at the same time, those chores should not distract us from the need to work on our spiritual lives. We can get involved in too many things as lose track of our ultimate goal.
In our discussions here, there is a wonderful emphasis on the more daily concerns. We are concerned about our relationships, we are concerned about careers, etc. etc. etc. Those things are important, but in doing so we miss the more esoteric part of the I Ching. In fact, it is necessary to miss the more esoteric part until we get a grasp of how real spiritual realities are.
It is more natural for me personally to perceive the more esoteric meanings of the I Ching as I have had years of spiritual teaching. I am not really involved in relationships or careers, etc. I see things from a different persective than most. That does not make anyone else’s interpretation of the I Ching less valuable or less perfect, it is just different,and we need it all. Part of my spiritual practice though, even though I am not all that good at it, is keeping things tidy on the physical level.
Gene
October 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Dear Hilary
I think it was my request that you responded to with this article, and I cannot thank you enough. At the time, I was working through a whole lot of ‘stuff’ and hex 18 kept coming up. What really amazed me was that your article referred to all kinds of things I hadn’t thought of – but on the day that your article arrived in my email, I had been thinking about what kind of effect (if any) the lives of ancestors could have on present day situations. Your article made me realise what the Yi was saying to me, so thank you very much again.
Ann
October 15th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Hi Hilary,
thanks for the pointer to the article on 54; it reinforced what I already understood, and gave me a little lift — I got a cnaging fifth line. Gotta love that yi.
Thanks again.