Radiance hidden.
Benefit from difficult yet virtuous effort.
Structure:
· Earth 5 above fire 7. Radiance hidden within the Earth.
· The top line darkens and damages the light of the other lines.
· Inner clarity and external yielding and devotion.
An ancient Chinese story tells about a three-legged
crow living on the sun. The sun darkens
as the crow eats it. Yi the Archer, a
heroic mythological figure, kills the crow and rescues the sun. When the crow dies, the eclipse ends.
When selfishness and ill-will eclipse the spirit, they
wound our capacities to bring forth what benefits all, and the willingness to
harm others take charge of affairs. Once selfishness and hostility gain control
of people, they oppress the world.[1] This separation of being from the spirit
disturbs our lives and causes suffering.
Our separation from the others and the spirit
causes our dissatisfaction with whatever arises in experience. We feel
incomplete and threatened. This harmful way of living takes root in the world whenever
the dominants within a culture become organized around the willingness to harm
others for self-benefit and then ignore the suffering they cause. The longer this
way of life persists, the more entrenched it becomes. Thus, we cannot imagine
that we can transform such an oppressive society easily.
When oppressed, sages lack the power to overcome the
oppressors. The wise hide their radiance
from those who would do them harm so that the spiritual path can prevail in
spite of the oppressive situation. When the wise cannot openly advance against
what harms, they retreat, firm in their principles and devotion to the
spirit. The wise turn away from the
confusion of external things and turn inward toward the spirit. To not withdraw from such harmful conditions would
create even greater difficulties as the harsh conditions would degrade our
resolve.
When destructive and selfish forces within the
world eclipse beneficial forces, the wise do not let themselves be swept along
by unfavorable circumstances nor let their resolve to waver. We can do this by turning away from worldly
concerns[2]
and maintaining our devotion to the spirit. The wise remain outwardly agreeable
and adaptable. With this attitude we can overcome even the greatest adversaries
by turning away from worldly concerns and finding the sacred within everyone
and each moment. Sages know the danger of the spirit’s eclipse and hold to what
benefits all in the time of darkness, remaining centered within the light.
Even if the powers of selfishness and hostility of
the time make it impossible to achieve the wanted outcome within our lifetime,
we should not count that as a failure.
The wise willingly prepare the conditions for the new era so that future
generations may benefit. In this adverse
time, shaping the conditions for the new era has greater benefit than the
satisfaction of victory over the oppressor.
When oppression tyrannizes the world, the wise
cannot openly contest it, but they must not abandon their principles. The human spirit rises above tragedy. We must not yield to those willing to destroy
the Earth and life for profit nor allow them to defeat us. The light, though
jeopardized cannot be extinguished.
Line 1: The eclipse of the spirit begins, making it
impossible for the wise to beneficially influence the world. The line tries in
difficult times to soar above all obstacles but encounters harm. It then retreats to evade danger. Because others do not understand the
situation and the coming dangers, they view the withdrawing sage with suspicion
and criticism, placing obstacles in its way.
Line 2: The eclipse of the spirt has deepened. The
wise line is hampered in its retreat to evade further harm from those willing
to harm others for self-benefit, but the wise know how to manage difficult
situations, which bodes well as the ways of the spiritual path does not suffer
damage.
Line 3: The line, the peak of clarity, confronts and
overcomes the peak of ignorance (top line), the oppressors. The line strives eagerly and in good faith to
vanquish its harm to the Earth and all life. However, in abolishing self-cherishing
and ill-will within oneself and oppression within the world, the wise know that
even if they pull out the roots of harm, the longstanding abuses have conditioned
daily life, and cultural conditioning cannot be changed immediately. The wise
know to recondition the ways of daily life gradually with what benefits all to
avoid alarm and unease.
Line 4: The line finds itself close to the those who
inflict oppression and so discovers their deep willingness to harm others for
self benefit and their deviousness in corrupting others to do the same. The
line ceases its pointless efforts to change such malevolent hearts and leaves
the abode of darkness. The line resists
the willingness to harm others for self benefit within the world by choosing to
move toward what benefits all.
Line 5: This line represents the sage who separates
the valuable from the worthless, the harmful from the beneficial. Because it is
near those most extreme in selfishness and ignorance, the sage hides its aim to
benefit all so to inwardly preserve the ways of the spirit.
When the wise cannot leave their duty in time of
darkness to escape danger, they need an invincible perseverance of spirit and a
redoubled caution in their dealings with the world.
Line 6: This line causes the eclipse of the
spirit. Here, the oppression climaxes, which
at first held so high a place and used force to wound the ways of the spirit. In
the end it perishes, as great wrong-doing must, at the very moment when it
wholly consumes the good, the energy to which it owed its duration.
The line transgresses the rule of duty of leaders to not harm those led. In this way, the line prepares its own downfall. Intelligence is supposed to see far, but when taken over by self-cherishing, it plunges into darkness.
[1] World does not refer to nature but to how people live within nature. The world – civilization, culture, history, society, science, economy, education, technology – is embedded as a subsystem within the natural system.
[2] Worldly concerns are the 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 believe themselves superior to others and express their self-cherishing through patriarchy, discrimination, and subjugation, willing to use violence to protect their rung within the hierarchy and support the powerful. The selfish consume as much as they can and seek constant distractions for the pleasures they derive from their addictions, enriching the exploiters.
