The Return of the Good - Hexagram 24

Return.

Spiritual influence nourishing all.

The returned appears and grows without harm.

Partners come, without fault.

Turning away from what harm:  returning to the spiritual path.

After the cycle of changes comes the return.

       Benefit from moving in the direction of what benefits all.

Ideogram:  Step and retrace a path.

Structure: 

·          Lower trigram 2 represents movement and action. The upper trigram 5 has the attributes of receptivity, devotion, and obedience.  Devotion over movement.  Action move through devotion.

·          Strength moves upward while the receptive sinks downward.

Timing: The hexagram marks the 11^th month in the Chinese calendar (December – January) and the winter solstice. After a time of increasing darkness comes the turning point, the return of the light.  The light come forth again just when it seems the forces of darkness have completely vanquished them.

The hexagram reveals the movement of the creative principle of the what benefits all, an eternal cyclic course through which what benefits all comes forth again and again.  We observe this fundamental law of the Tao within nature’s course of repetitive waxing and waning, increase and decrease, emptying and filling, contraction and expansion. One extreme endlessly and naturally turns into its complement. 

In the previous hexagram (23), the dark forces overcome and destroy the forces of light. Yet, like a fruit falling to the earth, the principle of light reemerges at winter solstice from the seed left by the previous cycle.  The ways of the spirit do not disappear without a trace:  it leaves an effect behind that shows itself in the reappearance of a strong line at the bottom the hexagram. The light returns with the force of natural law, without the need for an external force or effort to hasten its return.  This eternal cyclic course of nature occurs on its own at the appointed time. 

In winter, the life energy, denoted by the bottom trigram Shake (the quickening of life) is still underground, depicted by the top trigram Receptive.  Solstice was traditionally celebrated in China at the resting time of year.  New growth strengthens with rest to avoid dissipating its energy prematurely. This principle of allowing energy to renew through rest applies to all similar situations, such as the return of health after illness, the return of understanding after estrangement, the care of a newborn, the reappearance of the ways of the spirit.  Everything must be cared for tenderly and with care at the beginning so that the return may lead to a flowering.

When the light principle returns, the wise turn away from the confusion of external things, turning back toward the spirit.  Within the depths of their being, they see the sacred, even if faintly at first.  To know the spirit means to know oneself in relation to its ascending force within all.

The natural cyclic movement of the returning arises spontaneously, without the need to intervene to make it happen. The transformation of the old becomes easy.  Discarding the old and introducing the new are in accord with the time; thus, no harm results. Everything comes of itself at the appointed time.

When the time comes, new growth emerges out of the ground. It may experience obstacles, but nothing can stop it. In early spring, frost kills the young seedlings that emerge too soon, but when the right time comes, new growth survives, and soon after more growth suddenly appears. 

Within our own practice, we may lack the capacity to stabilize presence and repeatedly get distracted.  Danger lies in continually deserting presence because of uncontrolled feelings and thoughts but then turning back because of a better resolve.  However, if we persist in our intent to remain present and not let our confusion and ignorance carry us away too far, we can return within ever shorter distances.   

We cannot avoid slight digressions from what benefits all, but we can recognize our faults and commit to not making the error again, a practice especially important in development of virtue.[1]  We benefit from putting aside every faintly harmful thought immediately before it goes too far and takes root in the mind.  Return always calls for a decision, an act of self-mastery. 

Return is the stem of virtue.  When the light of presence returns, the wise turn away from the confusion of worldly concerns and turn toward the spirit.  Return again and again, no matter how often we lose our presence, we can return.  We need not dwell on our despair, but simply return to the loving spirit. 

The World

The return of the light marks the time to undertake what benefits all.  However, the light at first reemerges weakly and cannot prevail over the forces of darkness, depicted by the group of weak lines.  Those who imagine they can act on their own to overcome the forces of decadence in the world[2] delude themselves.  The lone returning strong line renews itself through rest and waits for others to come to assist in overcoming the darkness.  The wise treat new growth tenderly and with care at the beginning so that it leads to a flowering. 

Once the returning life can survive the harsh conditions of early spring and prove by its survival that spring has returned, others of like kind gain confidence that the times have changed enough for the good to survive.  Groups with the same views come together in harmony with the time.  All selfish separatist tendencies are excluded and no mistakes are made.

In such a time, the wise easily transform the obsolete and what has decayed, discarding the old and introducing the new.  The forces of the way of the spirit overcome the selfish by carrying out a reasonable course of action that benefits all.

As soon as worldly concerns[3] arise, the wise immediately return to presence serenely and easily.  This return to awareness, although small, differs from external things.  Repeatedly returning to presence and resting within the good leads to knowledge of being.  It is as easy as turning over the palm of the hand.

Life returns as an act of devotion.  

Turn away from the confusion of external things, turning back to one’s inner light.  There, in the depths of the soul, one sees the Divine, the One.  It is indeed only germinal, no more than a beginning, a potentiality, but as such it is clearly to be distinguished from all objects.  To know this One means to know oneself in relation to the cosmic forces.  For this One is the ascending force of life in nature and in (life.)

- Roger Wilhelm / Cary Baynes, The I Ching (1950.)

 

 

Line 1:  We cannot avoid slight digressions from the path, but we need to return to it in time before going too far in yielding to self-cherishing and ill-will.  Returning develops virtue.  As soon as harmful feelings and thoughts begin to move them, the wise immediately repel them, serenely and easily.  By returning quickly before a disturbance eclipses the spirit, we stay with the spirit and have no loss.

Line 2:  Returning to the spiritual path that benefits all depends upon a moral decision, an act of self-mastery.  We find it easier to do this when we regard others compassionately.

Line 3:  Some lack an inner instability and feel a constant urge to reverse themselves.  They place themselves in the danger of continually deserting what benefits all because of undisciplined self-cherishing. Yet, they turn back to the path because of a better resolution.  As this does not lead to a habituation to harm, such people still have the opportunity to overcome this defect.

This line warns to return to presence so that we do not lose the spiritual path again and again.  Repeated loss leads to danger, but here it does not cause blame as the line repeatedly returns.  The line, if intent and single-minded, can eventually gain stability by strengthening its will.

Line 4:  In the midst of weak lines, the yielding line returns by itself to what benefits all and adheres to the spiritual path. 

Line 5:  The line returns honorably to the spiritual path without regret. The wise line make a noble-hearted decision to turn inward and overcome what obstructs it from resting with the spirit and benefiting all.

Line 6: The deluded and ignorant contend for victory within the world and crave power.  Inwardly, they have cut themselves off from the spirit.  They never know there is a return from start to finish and cause only ruin.

This line, blinded by self-cherishing and hostility for others, struggles to hold on to its power and acts in ways that further undoes its oppressive control. Its use of force against those who oppose it harvests great destruction.  The line acts in ways that reverse the ways of the spirit and moves society toward a long period of instability. 

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[1] Virtues shape our behavior and align us with the spirit.  The Tao brings forth the good and great, which we experience as love. The Tao causes all life to develop and flow within natural limits, regulating and organizing love, which we call a moral discipline that benefits all.  The Tao transforms life so that each attains its true nature, a power that we call justice that ensures that all life has the means to achieve its potential according to its being.  The Tao harmonizes all life within interbeing, which we call wisdom, and separates what endures from what perishes.  The completed sage uses these virtues to shape the world.

[2] World does not refer to nature but to how people live within nature.  The world –  civilization, culture, history, society, beliefs, worldly influences – is embedded as a subsystem within the natural system.

[3] Worldly concerns are the amoral ways in which the selfish willingly harm others for self-benefit and then ignore the suffering they cause.  Selfish individuals seek power and domination over others and willingly use violence to do so.  The selfish accumulate wealth through the unlimited exploitation and ultimate destruction of people, other life forms, and the Earth.  The selfish seek the attention of others.  The selfish consume as much as they can and seek constant distractions from facing the harms they caused others, all life, and the Earth.