Hexagram 22 is Beauty and Making Beautiful. We use it to make images of ourselves, so that we can form connections with other people. When the young man sets out to see his prospective bride (as he does in the line texts of 22), he makes himself a suitor for her. Later he might make himself a husband for her, a father for his children, a neighbour for their neighbours, a colleague, employee or employer for people in his working life. All of which is necessary, if he wants anyone to be able to form relationships with him, and if he wants to have an idea of who’s looking at him from the mirror in the morning.
But when you reach Hexagram 23, Stripping Away, the Sequence says that to be ‘caught up in brightening the appearance means that success is exhausted, and so Stripping Away follows.’ When does this happen – how can we tell that the image-making work has gone too far, and the layers need peeling away?
This tiny film by Nic Askew has something to say about the need for Stripping Away:
Profound film… 😀
L
Indeed. 🙂
All of his are good – see http://www.monday9am.tv .