Hexagram 2 – I Ching online:
KEY WORDS Hexagram 2 Sensitivity, docility, compliance.
SHORT INTERPRETATION In sincere and constructive love, the same relationship as work as business and initiatives are favored. Well the health that is invigorating your body and your mind.
General description:The sign is composed of all broken lines. The broken line corresponds to the original shady, tender, receptive force of the yin. The quality of the sign is dedication, its image is the earth. It is the perfect opposite of the creative: the opposite, not the opposite; a complement, not a struggle. It is nature in front of the spirit, the earth in front of the sky, the spatial in front of the storm, the feminine-maternal in front of the masculine-paternal. The fundamental principle of this contrast is found, however, transported in human conditions, not only in relations between man and woman, but also in those between prince and minister, or father and son; indeed even in the individual man this quality exists in the coexistence of the spiritual and the sensual. Yet one cannot speak of a true dualism, since between the two signs there is a clear relationship of ordering by rank. In itself the receptive is naturally just as important as the creative. But his quality of dedication characterizes the position of this primary force in front of the creative. It must be under the guidance and stimulus of the creative person; then his work is healthy. He becomes evil only if she comes out of this position and wants to join him as an equal. This results in conflict and struggle against the creative, which are misfortune on both sides
Hexagram 2 – Comment on the sentence:
The receptive sublime work succeeded.
Auspicious for the perseverance of a mare.
If the nobleman has something to do and wants to go ahead he gets lost; but if he follows he finds guidance.
Propitious is to find friends in the west and south, to give up friends in the east and north.
Peaceful perseverance brings health!
The four fundamental directions of the creative: ″ sublime, successful, propitious for perseverance ″ are also found here, to designate the receptive. Except that perseverance is more exactly defined as the perseverance of a mare.
The receptive designates spatial reality in the face of the spiritual potential of the creative. When the potential becomes real, the spatial spiritual, this always happens by means of an individual, limiting determination. And it is indicated by the fact that here to the expression “perseverance” is added the proximate determination “of a mare”.
The horse belongs to the earth like the dragon to heaven; it symbolizes with its tireless motion in the plain the breadth of the earth. The expression “mare” is chosen, because the mare combines the strength and speed of the horse with the mildness and dedication of the cow.
Nature can develop the creative stimuli only because it is capable of being on par with the creative in its essence. Its richness consists in the fact that it nourishes all beings, and its greatness in the fact that everything beautifies and magnificent. Thus it creates prosperity for all that lives. While the creative generates things, they are born from the receptive. (We encounter here a conception similar to that expressed by Goethe in the verses: “Aim therefore with modest glances – The great masterpiece of the eternal weaver – As with a stroke of a foot she moves a thousand threads – And they sketch the shuttles to starboard and to the left.
The threads sway meeting – One shot tightens a thousand knots; -And all this has not picked up, – It has been ordered from eternity – Whereby the eternal male architect – Sure you insert its plot “”). Transported in human conditions it is a question of behaving in a manner corresponding to the situation.
You are not in an independent position, but as an assistant. And you have to produce. Not wanting to drive – so one would only get lost -; letting ourselves be guided is the task. If you know how to behave with dedication in the face of destiny, you will certainly find the right guide.
The nobleman lets himself be guided, he does not advance blindly, but extracts from the contingencies the notion of what is required of him, and follows the indication of fate. Since productive work must be done, when the ideas to follow are already fixed, at the time of work and effort, helpers and friends are needed.
The time of work and effort is expressed by the west and the south: as the south and the west are the symbolic places where the receptive works for the creative – like nature in summer and autumn; if then not all the forces are gathered, the work that has been undertaken cannot be finished.
So finding friends here means that there is a guide. But in addition to work and effort there is also the time for projects and regulations; then you need solitude. The east symbolizes the place where assignments are received from one’s lord, and the north symbolizes the place where it refers to what has been produced. In such a case, then, it is appropriate to be alone and objective. In this sacred hour we must do without companions so that purity is not clouded by hatred or party favor.
Hexagram 2 – Image:
The state of the earth is welcoming dedication.
Thus the nobleman carries the external world with the breadth of his nature. As there is only one sky there is also only one earth.
While, however, in the case of the sky the doubling of the sign means temporal duration, in that of the earth it means spatial extension and that firmness with which it holds and maintains all that lives and agitates.
The earth, in its dedication, brings good and evil without exception. Thus the nobleman makes his character broad, genuine and supportive in order to be able to support and endure men and things.
Hexagram Series:After Heaven and Earth came into existence, myriads of beings were produced. The Creative and the Receptive are the origin, the source of creation.
Hexagram 2 SINGLE LINES
First line:Are you at the beginning means:
When you step on frost the hard ice is close.
As the clear force represents life, so the shadowy force represents death. In the autumn, when the first frost falls, the forces of darkness and cold are germinating. After the appearance of the first clues, the manifestations of death will gradually become more numerous, according to fixed laws; then, in the end, there will be the cold winter with its frost. Exactly so it also happens in life. When certain barely noticeable signs of decay show themselves, things continue like this until, then, ruin occurs. But in life this can be prevented by looking after the symptoms of decadence and addressing them in time.
Second line:You are in second place means: Straight, rectangular, large. Without intention, however, nothing remains not favored. The sky has the circle as a symbol, the earth the square with right angles. So therefore the rectangular is an original quality of the earth. Instead the straight motion is originally a quality of the creative, as well as greatness. But every rectangular thing has its root in the straight line and in turn again forms body quantities. Distinguishing in mathematics, straight lines, planes and solids result from the straight lines of the rectangular planes, and from the rectangular planes of the cubic quantities. The receptive adjusts to the creative qualities and makes them his own. Thus from a straight line a square is born and from a square a cube. This is the simple dedication to the laws of the creative, without adding or removing anything. Therefore the receptive does not need any particular intention or effort, and everything succeeds exactly. Nature generates beings without having ulterior motives, this is its straightness; it is quiet and silent, this is its rectangularity; it does not refuse to tolerate any being, this is its greatness. Therefore it captures, without external gestures and without particular intentions, what is right for everyone. Becoming as spontaneous in one’s work as nature, means for man supreme wisdom.
Third line: You are in third place means: Concealed lines; you are able to remain persevering. If you follow the service of a king, perhaps Do not seek works, but do! If you are free from vanity, you can also hide your strengths so that they do not attract public attention in time. Thus one can mature in silence. When conditions require, it is also lawful to publicly manifest. but even then confidentially. The wise will gladly leave glory to others. He does not search for accomplished facts that are ascribed to him as merits, but he hopes to produce effective causes, that is to say that he does his works so that they are fruitful for the future.
Fourth line:You are in fourth place means: Sack closed and tied. No stain; no praise. The shady opens when it moves and closes when it rests. Here the most severe closure is indicated. It is a time of danger: each appearance leads either to the enmity of overpowering opponents in case you want to fight, or to recognition based on misunderstandings if you let yourself go. It is therefore necessary to isolate oneself both in solitude and in the midst of world affairs: since even there one can hide so well that nobody knows us.
Fifth line:You are in fifth place means: Yellow petticoat brings sublime health! Yellow is the color of the earth and the medium, the symbol of trust and authenticity. The petticoat is modestly adorned, a symbol of noble thought. If someone is called to operate in an elevated but not independent position, true success is based on the utmost discretion. Authenticity and trustworthiness must not be manifested directly, but manifested only as an effect coming indirectly from within.
Sixth line:Six above means: Dragons fight outside walls. Their blood is black and yellow. In the supreme place the shady should yield to the bright. If it wants to remain in the place that does not belong to it, and instead of serving to dominate, the wrath of the fort is drawn. A combat takes place in which it is thrown and in which, however, both sides are damaged. The dragon, the symbol of heaven intervenes and fights the false dragon. up to whose figure the ground here is exalted. Gloomy blue is the color of the sky, yellow is the color of the earth. So when black and yellow blood flows, it is a sign that in this struggle against nature both fundamental forces are damaged. (While the upper line of the creative reveals titanic pride, forming an analogy with the Greek myth of Icarus, in the upper line of the receptive there is an analogy with the myth of Lucifer, who rebels against the Supreme Divinity, or an analogy with the struggle of the dark powers against the Gods of Walhalla which ends with the Twilight of the Gods).