The hexagram’s two trigrams show wood below and fire above. Wood fuels the fire so that it can cook food. It represents the willingness to sacrifice the highest worldly values. The fire burns this fuel and transforms it into light. The fire represents the spirit and clarity, that which burns away worldly concerns and selfishness.
Cooking changes things into something new. The Way of humanity fulfills its function by transforming worldly people into sages, who then live their lives in ways that manifest the spirit within the world.
The ting represents the holding environment of the Way of humanity in which the sacrifice of worldly values is transformed into a sacred offering. Through its interconnected practices, the Way of humanity cooks our lives, freeing us from our selfishness and attachment to worldly concerns. Through the practices of understanding and development of the virtues, we live in ways that benefit all
Like a sacred vessel, the Way of humanity holds us on the path. The sage uses obedience to the spirit and the clarity of awareness to transform its confusion into wisdom. Our devotion to the spirit serves to nourish the flame of the spirit. Combined, virtuous actions and devotion to the spirit mutually reinforce each other and connect the visible to the invisible. Our lives become spiritual nourishment for others and an offering to the sacred mystery.
When wood penetrates fire, people cook foods. Sages cooks their life within the fire of the spirit in order to offer their lives to the sacred and to make visible the sacred within the world. The sage obediently follows the spirit within and clearly manifests the spirit outwardly.
The fire above depends upon a constant supply of wood below. Likewise, our awareness of the spirit perpetually renews and illuminates our lives. Sages remain open to the constant spiritual influence, which pervades and nourishes all beings; thereby, they constantly renew themselves.
The Well (hexagram 48) nourishes all who come to it. The ting nourishes those seeking the spirit. Sages hold spiritual nourishment, which they offer to those open to spiritual wisdom. The sage nourishes the wise and virtuous with penetrating supportive understanding, developing others through example, teaching, and fostering radiant understanding.
By the Way of humanity, we can learn how to bear life. Sages stabilize their proper position between the spirit and the ten thousand things. From that place, the wise enter the Tao gradually and practice their understanding within the world.
The truly sacred does not manifest itself apart from life. Sages manifest the spirit through how they live. All that is visible must grow itself and extend into the realm of the invisible. Thereby, sages receive their true consecration and clarity and take firm root within the sacred interbeing.
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