19. Lin / Approach

-- --
-- -- above K'UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH
-- --
-- --
------ below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE
------

The Chinese word LIN has a range of meanings that is not exhausted by any single word of another language. The ancient explanations in the Book of Changes gives as its first meaning, "becoming great." What becomes great are the two strong lines growing into the hexagram from below; the lightgiving power expands with them. The meaning is then further extended to include the concept of approach, especially the approach of what is strong and highly placed in relation to what is lower. Finally the meaning includes the attitude of condescension of a man in high position toward the people, and in general the setting to work on affairs. This hexagram is linked with the twelfth month (January - February). when, after the winter solstice, the light power begins to ascend again.
-Wilhelm

rosada said:

19. Lin / Approach
-- --
-- -- above K'UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH
-- --
-- --
------ below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE

Click to expand...

Hey, somebody stole one of the yang lines!
Nobody is allowed to leave the room, you are all suspect!

Sherlock

martin said:

Hey, somebody stole one of the yang lines!
Nobody is allowed to leave the room, you are all suspect!

Sherlock

Click to expand...

Chill A kindly person with some authority will soon restore the missing line. However after 8 months it may 'go missing' again.

Geez, alright aleady. What was that, 18.3?
Trojan obviously understands 18.2...

How about this idea for 19: contrasting it with the 'inactive' contemplation of 20, 19 is about undertaking something important, hence the 'strike while the iron is hot' implication in the last line.

IC+ 19

19 Approach
Defering, Approaching
In a context of self-reflection we utilise trust-in-others

"LIN : approach, behold with care, look down on sympathetically, condescend; bless or curse by coming nearer; a superior visiting an inferior."ERANOS p260

Trigrams : self-reflecting (bottom), dual-mindedness (top) : with/from self-reflection comes dual-mindedness. [earth over lake]

Some pairings:

In the binary sequence hexagram 19 pairs with hexagram 41.
This pair reflects an overall focus on concentration, expressed in 19 through a focus on integration (low approaches the high, high defers to the low) and expressed in 41 through a focus on differentiation, a focus on 'purity' through distillation, a concentrated form. Also note that in this pairing is reflected a general sense of concentration, distillation, and so of 'bringing together' to creat a 'pure form'. In 41 the focus is on the 'alchemical' perspective,a clear sense of differentiating, whereas in 19 the perspective is more integrating, as given in the analogy to approaching the high, and the high deferring to the low. Note that any form of alchemy will 'fail' if not done correctly and all that is left is 'worthless' and so the extention of the meanings of 41 into 'bad luck', 'spoil', etc etc. In 19 this 'failure' is reflected in the associated meanings of 'condescend' or 'curse' etc.

In the binary sequence hexagram 19 opposes hexagram 33.
This pairing reflects a basic difference in (a) approach (19) and (b) withdrawal (33). That said, both perspectives share a focus on there being something 'behind' these actions. Thus 33 reflects trickary, a focus on drawing in the enemy.

At the LOCAL level we are dealing with an octet of hexagrams with the LAKE trigram as base. In this sequence hexagram 19, the focus upon approaching the high/deferring to the low, opposes hexagram 10, a focus on maintaing rigid high/low distinctions (hierarchy). More so, the sharp focus on hierarchy and so the association of 'correct' conduct, of knowing one's place in the high/low relationships, reflected in 10 is reflected in a more balanced format by the focus on mixing high and low (low approaches the high, high defers to the low) in 19 - the distinctions as such are not so 'severe' as in 10.

In the traditional sequence hexagram 19 pairs with hexagram 20.
This pairing reflects a focus on low-to-high relationships, as (a) low approaches the 'high' (19) and (b) low admires, and so gets motivation from, the 'high' (20).
ADMIRATION:

19 : admiration (low-of-high) - through approach [defer]; 19 approaching/defer comes out of a context described by hexagram 04 - masking, socialising

20 : admiration (low-of-high) - through motivate (set an example); 20 admiration/encouragement comes out of a context described by hexagram 03 - sprouting, initial difficulties

In the traditional sequence hexagram 19 opposes hexagram 46.
This pair reflects differences in relationship of low to high, where in 46 the focus is on becoming one of the 'high', getting more 'entangled', something not considered in 19 where the distinctions of low and high remain regardless of how close the low gets to the high.

Some spectrum data:

infrastructure of 19 is described by analogy to generic characteristics of 04.

19 starts with, keeps returning to a state described by analogy to generic characteristics of 07.

All of spectrum summarised in line position section in:

http://members.iimetro.com.au/~lofting/myweb/lofting/x000011.html

Chris.

I once had 19 unchanging to indicate someone in a position of authority and power stepping up the plate and taking charge of something that had gone wrong and needed fixing...which seems to follow from 18, Work on what has been spoiled.

19 Lin, the name of my daughter, thats reason enough to like this hexagram very much.

The 63-XOR, Chris! You forgot that. I like the 63-XOR of of 19 (48)!

L

rosada said:

Geez, alright aleady. What was that, 18.3?
Trojan obviously understands 18.2...

Click to expand...

No, 19.

19. Neptune (Earth) on top of Venus (Lake)

Neptune is said to be a higher vibration of Venus. Love becomes mystical, the eyes see the inner light of things, the ears hear the music of the spheres ..
Or is that imagination?!
Hard to say, but does it matter? It does spirit!

Anyway, let's talk about Neptunian lovers - very romantic types, always in search of their dream love and dream mate? Probably.
Unless they give up the search and retreat in their phantasy world. Or project their dream love/mate on their current relationship and partner.
In which case they adore, worship, look up to her .. until she suddenly falls from her pedestal one day, bang!

But that day may never arrive, because Neptunian lovers excel in creating blind spots. The whole world knows that she is a .... but he doesn't see it!

What is real and what is imagined?
That question will haunt us till our moon falls on our earth.

Just saw that Venus and Neptune are approaching a conjunction now. Nice coincidence ..

sparhawk said:

The 63-XOR, Chris! You forgot that. I like the 63-XOR of of 19 (48)!

L

Click to expand...

if 19 is too exaggerated, too reflecting a 'far from equilibrium' state then to restore things requires the setting down of some foundations, ground rules, court etiquette perhaps? ;-) Thus the low can approach the high and the high defer to the low but only through lowering/rising - e.g. using the well analogy it is like the top send the bucket down to the bottom and draw things up. An exaggerated 19 would not have this 'order' and so allow for possible lose of 'decorum' for both sides. - thus the setting down of some foundations restores equilibrium BUT cannot precede such, this is a RESPONSE to a far from state. To try an pre-empt such states can block possible novelty.

Conversely the 48-ness of 19 will be 63 - in other words the source of nourishment for 19 is described by analogy to 63 - the focus on 'correct steps' feeds the approach. This then seeds the 04 nature of the infrastructure of 19 (where that gets into the generic aspects of the 'approaching the teacher' material covered in 04 texts)

Chris.

Jeez, Chris, I so wish you would follow up your explanations with a simple real life example.
"this is a RESPONCE to a far from state." Hunh? What's a "far from state"?
"To try to pre-empt such states can block possible novelty." Again, a real life example?

Now it SEEMS to me you are touching on how 19 requires an agreement to basic ground rules. Perhaps this also reflects on the previous hexagram 18, meaning the basic understanding has to be in place before we can move forward to more abstract complicated stuff. I think of how math is taught in the public schools where the pupils are forced to move ahead into subtraction even if they haven't mastered addition. With their basic foundation being weak there's bound to be "misfortune" by the end of the semester - 8th month. So ideally before one moves forward perhaps some remedial study is required - hex. 18? That completed, then hexagram 19 says okay now we can build on the solid foundation?
Also, certainly in a teaching, or following-the-leader situation there has got to be a basic understanding, a respect, between instructor and pupil. Like the Young Fool has got to seek the teacher. Perhaps that is the "court etiquette" you refer to?

Anyway, it seems fitting that Martin sees a Neptune/Venus parallel here. Neptune indicates a "no boundries" type situation (We never stop learning?), and the need to impose some perameters if one's learning is going to add up to anything more than Trivia Pursuit.

rosada said:

Jeez, Chris, I so wish you would follow up your explanations with a simple real life example.

Click to expand...

Well, mine was a half joke for Chris about mentioning yet another possible connection with the current hexagram. I said "half" because I think he is on to something with that XORing idea. Now, what he mentions about "killing novelty" by procuring balance too soon (did I understood that correctly, Chris?) also makes sense to me.

Granted, this perhaps is a very unorthodox way of analyzing hexagrams and may be brushed-off by most, but, I don't know...; something in the foggy background of my mind tells me this may be quite useful.

L

JUDGEMENT

APPROACH has supreme success.
Perseverance furthers.
When the eighth month comes,
There will be misfortune.

The hexagram as a whole points to a time of joyous, hopeful progress. Spring is approaching. Joy and forbearance bring high and low nearer together. Success is certain. But we must work with determination and perseverance to make full use of the propitiousness of the time. Ane one thing more: spring does not last forever. Tn the eighth month the aspects are reversed. Then only two strong light lines are left; these do not asdvance but are in retreat (see next hexagram). We must take heed of this change in good time. If we meet evil before it becomes reality - before it has even begun to stir - we can master it.
-Wilhelm.

rosada said:

Jeez, Chris, I so wish you would follow up your explanations with a simple real life example.
"this is a RESPONCE to a far from state." Hunh? What's a "far from state"?

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"Far from Equilibrium" and so exaggerated, unbalanced.

Each hexagram covers description of balanced to unbalanced states. When in an unbalanced state, to restore balance overall we use 63-ness. See link to XORing and re-establishing general equilibrium supplied above. (it includes your request for an example and my supplying of one ;-))

rosada said:

"To try to pre-empt such states can block possible novelty." Again, a real life example?

Click to expand...

if we try to impose a forced balance on an expression and so never let it get out of balance, we can block novelty and so innovative creativity in that it is from living on borders that novelty emerges since borders are the realm of complexity/chaos dynamics.

KNOWING what is needed to restore general balance (and so avoid win/lose dynamics) is all that is required such that we can allow for attempts at innovation but if it gets out of hand then general balance is restored quickly.

rosada said:

Now it SEEMS to me you are touching on how 19 requires an agreement to basic ground rules.

Click to expand...

...not to start with since that can block some innovative form of approach/deference for some unique context (or even universal for that matter). BUT if either or both get out of hand then balance needs to be restored without destroying the overall perspective; we dont want to smother and so block approach/deference just calm it down and we need to find the 'best fit' to do so.

The FORMAT of that balance is identified by using 63-ness where XORing 19 with 63 gives us the 'best fit' format for establishing general balance - neither the high nor the low 'win/lose' here; we just apply a general format that brings things back down to earth and we can work again from there - in this case 48 is the format and so we introduce some formal methods, set some ground rules, foundations, for the approach/defer dynamic. The 'well' analogy covers some formal way of getting the 'water' to the top and so establishing a connection for communcation of high/low etc.

rosada said:

Perhaps this also reflects on the previous hexagram 18, meaning the basic understanding has to be in place before we can move forward to more abstract complicated stuff.

Click to expand...

I dont commonly focus on the traditional sequence, it is derived and specialist. The binary order is the 'natural' order for hexagram formations etc (links to the Fu Hsi 'compass' patterns) and so for deriving information re hexagram structure/meaning that links directly with the way the brain operates in its 'natural', general, information processing. Out of THAT comes specialisations.

Thus in the binary orderings 19 pairs with 41 and both cover a sense of getting closer to the 'high' - but in 41 in the form of concentration, distillation, and so 'decrease' (an alchemical perspective that allows for failure of such and so decrease becomes literal, we get rubbish, we have lost)

In the traditional sequence the pairings are odd/even and so 19/20 not 18/19; there is a 'gap' between 18 and 19 due to the different pair memberships.

The pairings reflect the use of recursion of a some dichotomy of meaning to elicit the 32 pairs in the sequence. Thus for the traditional sequence folded into an 8x8 matrix we have:

01,02 03,04 05,06 07,08
09,10 11,12 13,14 15,16
17,18 19,20 21,22 23,24
25,26 27,28 29,30 31,32
33,34 35,36 37,38 39,40
41,42 43,44 45,46 47,48
49,50 51,52 53,54 55,56
57,58 59,60 61,62 63,64

In row 3 we have the pairs of:

----
17 : belief - through establishing to follow
18 : belief - through re-establish through correcting errors
----
19 : admiration (low-of-high) - through approach [defer]
20 : admiration (low-of-high) - through motivate (set an example)
----
21 : problem solve - through chew over
22 : problem solve - through gloss over
----
23 : return to the faith - through refurbishing, pruning
24 : return to the faith - through come back to
----

Due to the method of self-referencing (manifest in the presence of pairs) so we can interpet each octet (set of 8 hexagrams and so each ROW in the above matrix) in the same way we do the binary sequence. Thus we can relate:

17 to 24
18 to 23
19 to 22
20 to 21

This is a REFLECTION mapping. We can also do a variations on a theme mapping (REPEATITION):

17 to 21
18 to 22
19 to 23
20 to 24

If move up a level in the self-referencing we can establish links of 17,18 as a pair to 19,20 as a pair and so link up a generic sense covering both belief and admiration.

Same goes for the pairs of 21,22 and 23,24 - and so a generic meaning covering both solution seeking (problem solving) and returning to a belief/faith (also an act of solving a problem - e.g. 23 covers pruning, getting back to fundamentals, as 24 covers returning to the 'true' faith after being distracted by others etc, or being 'born again' or beginning again/new start etc)

Have I fleshed things out a bit better? - there is a LOT of material not covered in the traditional sequences re interpretation methods of sequences etc (Chomsky grammars etc etc) that apply to the IC etc.

Chris.

sparhawk said:

Now, what he mentions about "killing novelty" by procuring balance too soon (did I understood that correctly, Chris?) ...

Click to expand...

yes

Thanks Chris,
I will have to study this, but I appreciate your getting back to me with the clarification.
R

THE IMAGE

The earth above the lake:
The image of APPROACH.
Thus the superior man is inexhaustible
In his will to teach,
And without limits
In his tolerance and protection of the people.

The earth borders upon the lake from above. This symbolizes the approach and condescension of the man of higher position to those beneath him. The two parts of the image indicate what his attitude toward these people will be. Just as the lake is inexhaustible in depth, so the sage is inexhaustible in his readiness to teach mankind, and just as the earth is boundlessly wide, sustaining and caring for all creatures on it, so the sage sustains and cares for all people and excludes no part of humanity.
-Wilhelm

IC+

19 Image

"[With self-reflection comes trust] : [Deference] Above a marsh there is earth : Approach. To reflect, one uses teaching exhaustively. To protect the common people, one uses unbounded tolerance."

rosada said:

it seems fitting that Martin sees a Neptune/Venus parallel here. Neptune indicates a "no boundries" type situation

Click to expand...

Yes, Richmond calls hexagram 19 'Overgrowth' and writes:
'Growth so rich it will not flower' and 'Without regulation form grows rampant'.

Apart from this the hexagram seems to be less Neptunian than a Venus-Neptune combination. It's more down to earth, less 'high' somehow.
Although the feeling is one of 'spring is in the air' and that's not 'low' either.


Talking about overgrowth, I will be rather busy in the near future so I will from now on limit myself to comments on the hexagrams as a whole and leave the lines for what they are.

same old same old
speculate
pecks and reams of text
same old same old
getalife
on the internet

Not sure what you're saying here, dobro, but will defend to the death your right to say it...

I hadn't recognized 19 as the need for pruning until we've been having this discussion. Very interesting approach to learning, I think. The idea that to learn we not so much need to gain MORE knowledge, but to cut back, simplify. organize what we already know and then the next insight becomes obvious.

Anyway, I appreciate the clarification of the sequence emerging here. The disorder of 18, the organizing, pruning of 19 and then as dobro points out, the coming quiet contemplation of 20. And then perhaps one final tiny correction with 21 and, viola! the perfection of 22!

perfection of 22?????

Sorry if I'm rude, but I would quote Wang Bi (again):

jesed said:

If the rule proposes that one should act strongly, what need is of the horse?.
If the rule proposes that one should be obedient, what need is of the cow?.
If the individual lines correspond to the obedience, why is it necessary say that K'un is the cow?.
If the rule demands a strong action, what need is to say that Ch'ien is the horse?.
If due to the fact of which the horse is associated by Ch'ien, one follows only the text of the words when study the hexagrams, what one had is a horse, but not Ch'ien.
Hereby an infinity of artificial doctrines have spread, and it is difficult to include them with the look.
Because of it, if the reciprocal incarnation (of the sense and of the image) turns out to be inadequate and one applies it to the changes in the hexagrams, these become furthermore inadequate.
And if besides five states of mutation are bare in mind, the base of sustentation gets lost immediately.
Even if one has sufficient skill to predict all kinds of things by means of such subtleties, one doesn't has anything of which be able to deduce the rules.
This is the consequence of retaining the images while they emerge the rules

Click to expand...

Yeah, okay, 22 is NOT "Perfection", but doesn't it appear to be for one brief shinning moment? Well, no need to get into this debate here at 19.

esolo said:

I once had 19 unchanging to indicate someone in a position of authority and power stepping up the plate and taking charge of something that had gone wrong and needed fixing.

Click to expand...

What he said.

Also, a point in the cycle when you find yourself in a higher state. Should you use the time to dally in your high-mindedness, you lose furthering potential; the time slips unproductively by.

rosada said:

Yeah, okay, 22 is NOT "Perfection", but doesn't it appear to be for one brief shinning moment?

Click to expand...

no. 22 is about facading, covering up. gloss over and as such INCLUDES beautification. IT shares space with 36 where 22 is more particular and focused on the outside being used to draw attention away from the inside - where as 36 is more overall smothering ;-) (and so its relation to being uncomprosing as compared to iits opposite focus on compromising (06).

The opposite of 22 is 47 where ITS focus is on the inside - and so in XOR the pair covers the 'look' of hexagrams, XOR with 22 to see the outside, XOR with 47 to see the inside.

morw when ww get to 22 ;-)

THE LINES
o Nine at the beginning means:
Joint approach.
Perseverance brings good fortune.

The good begins to prevail and to find responce in influential circles. This in turn is an incentive to men of ability. It is well to join this upward trend, but we must not let ourselves be carried away by the current of the times, we must adhere perseveringly to what is reight. This brings good fortune.

This line advances jointly with the second, hence, "joint approach." the word joint also contains the idea of stimulus, influencee. Having been called in, the present line seeks to influence the weak line in the second place. But its will is to act correctly, since it is strong in a strong place.

IC+ 19.1

Line 1
"At the beginning protection in numbers. Join with others."

WIth/from approaching comes uniformity(uniforming, army etc). Thus an approach is done as a group rather than as one (and so the protection of that group). Implicit in this is that with more experience one can develop one's own form of approach but this is a beginning position (line position ruled by hexagram 24)

Note that the focus on uniformity means no one individual in the group is necessarily noticable, stands out. A bit like a labour union committee approaching management!

From XOR we have here the 24-ness of 19 - how 19 expresses beginnings or what it keeps coming back to - a 'uniform', group, approach.

19 = with self-reflection comes trust in another/others.
07 = with containment comes trust in another/others.

Trigrams:
Lake, self-reflection (lower), doubled (and so in upper) is intensity in expression
Water, containment(lower), doubled (and so in upper) is control
Earth, total devotion (lower), doubled (and so in upper) is total trust in another/others (aka dualmindedness as compared to heaven in upper as singlemindedness)