The salient – Harmen’s Dagboek
More from Harmen! This time Hexagram 58 gets the treatment, line by line, and once again we’re invited to rethink what we thought we knew.
The salient – Harmen’s Dagboek
More from Harmen! This time Hexagram 58 gets the treatment, line by line, and once again we’re invited to rethink what we thought we knew.
Harmen’s excellent analysis of 2005 parallels Rudolf Ritsema’s 1995 translation of the I Ching, whose naming the character ‘opening’ represents the mature generalization of this character which indeed appears to fit in with the particulars of ancient warfare.
Getting to know the ancient etymologies is enriching, as long as one remembers these words were used metaphorically in their own day. An inquriy into a certain love interest, for example, and receiving hexagram 58, would lead to a disaster if applying Harmen’s findings literally; as sanctioning something more or less equivalent to rape! My appreciation for the late Ritsema’s work has grown lately. ‘Opening (up)’ (as in initiating a conversation) is really an ingenious choice of meaning, being applicable to every situation.
Yes – failing to understand that the oracle has always been metaphorical is bound to lead to absurdities. Why would anyone have bothered with a literal oracle that would surely have been useless and nonsensical about 95% of the time, talking about captives when asked about marriage and hamsters when asked about captives?
I like ‘opening’ for 58, too – and I particularly liked the name ‘Root’ for 57, used in the Ritsema/Sabbadini book from 2005.