Hexagram 38 - Bridging Opposition

Opposition

The small affairs significant.

 

 

Structure: 

·          Clarity above 7; joy within 8. Joy arises within, clarity on the outside.

·          Flame burns upward, the lake below seeps downward.  The two trigrams draw farther and farther apart, a natural movement.

·          Joy unites, clarity finds the right way for union.

We sense by perceiving contrast:  dark and light, hot and cold, calm and agitated. We need to perceive a difference between subject and other to be conscious of a subject and other.  Yet contrasts do not endure as change passes one opposite into the other.

When opposition represents polarity within a comprehensive whole, it has useful and important functions. When reconciled, the opposition of spirit and nature or man and woman bring about the creation and reproduction of life. All life arises from organizing differences.  Disintegration of the obsolete and differentiation of the new into various functions always takes place simultaneously with the development of life. Natural networks increasingly separate for the whole to become more comprehensive, which in turn organizes a new pattern, a process of evolution.

In accordance with the law of change, as soon as one defeats the opposite it renews and strengthens itself as does the sun at winter’s solstice. Natural opposition comes to a turning when it reaches an extreme. However, within the world of humans, when there is a lack of wholeness, differentiation increases. This phase of opposition in which differentiations proliferate must be transcended.

Opposites arise together out of a comprehensive whole, the unnamed mystery.   Within consciousness, once subject and object differentiate, we experience our separation from the spirit, from the whole. We inherently experience a sense of incompleteness, a dissatisfaction with our experience that we project into the world.[1] Awareness of our incompleteness runs to what dissatisfies us in the world, agitating our wanting and not wanting and deepening opposition; thus, we suffer.   

The experience of self and other dominates an oppositional, divisive relationship.  People naturally group things by their individual differences, clinging to one pole of opposition leads to projecting an opposite with a negative position.  Sorting people by their individual differences can turn into opposition, the phase of Us against Them.  Resisting the opposite strengthens opposition.

It becomes increasingly difficult for the two points of view to communicate when their commonality decreases.  When people live in opposition, their points of view diverge, and they cannot work together on a common effort.

If we reject the other, we will fill the world with enemies. If we reject the petty and those perceived as bad, we fail to live up to the duty of sameness and prevent opportunities to increase the influence of the loving spirit. To induce the selfish to harmonize, the wise must maintain communication with them, which is only possible if they interact.  The wise do not reject anyone.

The energies of opposition increase when in motion but settles when at rest.  Amid opposition, sages do not push others who hold opposing views to agree with them as that would only increase resistance and cause greater divisiveness.  In a lower energy state, what belong together will eventually rejoin.  If an opposition has not been poisoned by ill-will, it can be smoothed out.  The mistake is in letting it go too far. 

Neither pole of an opposition can defeat the other as they emerge out of a whole. Opposites are not absolute polar conditions but attributes of an ever changing experience.  Like self and other, opposites evoke the other, but they can also resolve and move beyond polarization toward what encompasses them both. The opposites of self and other arise when life energies that were once whole separate and repel each other in mutual opposition.  Self and other come back together when subsumed within a larger whole. The Book of Changes holds that true opposites are complementary. When united, the whole is greater than the parts as with the reunion of self and other within interbeing.

When there is opposition, the need arises for a bridge. We must find the way for the opposites to recognize a common larger purpose. Sages have learned to transcend the phase of opposition within themselves.  They creatively bring opposites together into a new, larger perspective and field of action so that people again can cooperate within a new era.  A new situation emerges from the opposition.  When opposition is transcended, the parts reconcile themselves to the whole.  Yet even when transcended, each pole retains its own nature.  

The more we see the world as interconnected, the closer we come to overcoming divisiveness. The wise smooth over the differences that divide and actively build interconnections. The sage always plays the position of weakness in this work. The new era of interbeing will grow out of the recognition of the infinite number of interconnections within creation beyond distinction. We bring forth the way by interconnecting everything around us.

The sage always plays the position of weakness in growing interconnections to overcome opposition. We must persist in this position regardless of the discomfort it may cause and not withdraw from it.  The wise do not succumb to the stressful tensions of opposition, which would entangle them in it and toss them to and fro by the mechanistic forces of cause and effect, merely an object among objects.  Those caught in the repulsive forces of opposition cannot transform opposition.

At every step internal and external obstructions arise.  Inner contradictions rage.  Often the burden feels too heavy a load, but those called accept their destiny and complete the task as restoring fellowship has the highest priority.  At critical moments everything may unfold in unwanted ways. For sages, this is precisely when they resist projecting their fears onto others and then blame them for the difficulties. Condemning others destroys unity. In such times, sages support each other with understanding and love.  

This work is difficult as we must take the central position between opposites to fully experience the energies of the opposition itself.  Thus, throughout this transformation of opposites, the sage keeps a calm and glad mind, finding ways to share its joy with the others.  This hexagram points to this path.  The upper trigram has the attribute of joyfulness, which brings others into fellowship. The lower trigram represent clarity, which discerns the path such union. Joy avoids the sharpening of opposition and overcomes differences.

The transformation of opposition requires the dying of the self to gain the strength to act as the necessary agent capable of overcoming opposition within the world.  The wise produce understanding where only misunderstanding exists.  By interconnecting with everything that surrounds us, we will move what has separated toward what subsumes both, the way of the spirit. The present situation will exist both in a preserved and transfigured state, just as opposition of self and other are preserved in interbeing, a whole that is greater than its parts.

Opposition must not end in the disintegration of the organism.  We must acknowledge differences but constantly subsume them within an ever larger, interconnected whole.  Within our time we must seek the ever larger whole which includes all in the opening of the new era of interbeing in which we live on Earth in ways that benefit all.  When the transformation is framed by love, everything will take a turn for the better, and we live in the world we want to see.

 

Line 1:  The firm line controls itself and does not run after those who have distanced themselves due to opposition.  When opposition arises, the wise do not bring about unity by force.  When disharmony decreases, those who belong together overcome what separates them.

Line 2:  Conditions keep apart those who belong together.  The line tries every way to gently connect with others but does not compromise its spiritual path to do so. Once together, the gathered will accomplish their mutual aim to benefit all.

Line 3:  The line feels everything conspires against it.  It sees other hindering its progress to achieve higher purposes, insulting and dishonoring it.  Yet the line does not let the situation mislead it; despite this struggle, it holds to the path of the spirit and finds willing partners to cooperate in moving toward interbeing.

Line 4:  Outer circumstances isolates the line from others even though it wants to join with those of similar spirit.  Within this situation, the line unexpectedly meets someone trustworthy and of similar nature.  They come together in the best ways.  Upon meeting, they communicate truthfully and with sincerity.  They struggle to overcome their differences and then move forward to transform the situation for the benefit of all.

Line 5:   The weak line has an honored position in the time of opposition.  The line comes upon a sage (2^nd line) who can help clear up opposition.  At first, the line does not recognize the sage because of the time’s divisiveness.  However, it bites through what causes its separation from the sage, and together they overcome the opposition for the benefit of all. 

Line 6:  At the extreme of disharmony, the line abandons the spiritual path, which isolates it from the spirit. The line accepts its harmful habits as normal, doubts and ruminations come forth by the hundreds, like pigs covered with mud or a wagon full of devils.  It sees friends as dangerous.  However, if it could internally overcome its selfishness and hostility for others and drop its defensive attitude, it would see that other approach with beneficial intentions. 

When opposition reaches its climax, the line changes and accords with the ways of the spirit, the sacred within the moment. Its harmony with all increases more and more.

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[1] 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.