Wondering about polarities...
Since I recently had my first-ever reading of a hexagram with all six lines changing, I've been wondering about how such a change presents both complements and contrasts. Example: Hexagram 49 (REVOLUTION; Lake/Fire), with all six lines changing, moves to Hex. 4 (INEXPERIENCE; Mountain/Water). [I've really been delving into 49 lately, since I had my 49th birthday this year.]
I got to wondering ... what does a hexagram with all lines changing turn into? Its opposite/polarity?
Yes ... and ...
I've been playing with some ideas, and here's what I've been intuiting:
49 (to continue with this example), elementally, is made up of Lake over Fire.
4, elementally, is made up of Mountain over Water.
Fire and Water are obvious opposites; Lake and Mountain less so. Lake could be seen as "great depth; small stillness," while Mountain could be seen as "great height; great stillness."
Even as opposites exist, they complement one another because they co-exist; they exist in relation. [I've come to realize that "contrast" doesn't have to mean "conflict."] Co-existence is a basic (if not the basic) attribute that all things/beings have in common.
If Hexagrams 49 and 4 both contrast and complement one another, what attributes stand out in their relation?
I turned to Jack Balkin's translation (his Laws of Change: I Ching and the Philosophy of Life has become my primary reference) and jotted, side-by-side, some of his keywords for each of the hexagrams:
49 -- REVOLUTION: Molting; Shedding Old Skin; Metamorphosis; Transformation; Out with the Old
4 -- INEXPERIENCE: Innocence; Ignorance; Immaturity; Youthful Folly; Wisdom not yet Revealed; The Young Shoot
Since one of the primary "lenses" through which I understand things is psychological (relating with both the mind and the soul), I added a few developmental attributes as well:
49 -- Midlife; Entering Elderhood; Raw Wisdom (?)
4 -- "Just-Made"; New Being; Child
[...and then I couldn't help but notice how much midlife and early childhood can have in common...like temper tantrums ;-D ... astonishment; lots of newness and strangeness in experience; growth spurts and setbacks; sudden urges for new toys and treats; testing and testing of limits and boundaries; radical and sudden shifts in perception, preferences, abilities, etc. ...]
Another thought: how might the nuclear hexagram in such a reading (in this case, 49's nuclear hexagram is 44, TEMPTATION) might be a moderating influence on the polarities ...
...That's as far as I've got with this line of thought ... Before I toddle off to bed, here are a few other examples ...
22, BEAUTY -- Mountain/Fire --> all lines changing --> 47, OPPRESSION -- Lake/Water
27, NOURISHMENT -- Mountain/Thunder --> all lines changing --> 28, CRISIS -- Lake/Wind
6, CONFLICT -- Heaven/Water --> all lines changing --> 36, DARKENING OF THE LIGHT -- Earth/Fire
Hmm ... Exploring the hexagrams this way is opening up a whole new way to see them ... Has anyone else looked into this?
I got to wondering ... what does a hexagram with all lines changing turn into? Its opposite/polarity?
Yes ... and ...
I've been playing with some ideas, and here's what I've been intuiting:
49 (to continue with this example), elementally, is made up of Lake over Fire.
4, elementally, is made up of Mountain over Water.
Fire and Water are obvious opposites; Lake and Mountain less so. Lake could be seen as "great depth; small stillness," while Mountain could be seen as "great height; great stillness."
Even as opposites exist, they complement one another because they co-exist; they exist in relation. [I've come to realize that "contrast" doesn't have to mean "conflict."] Co-existence is a basic (if not the basic) attribute that all things/beings have in common.
If Hexagrams 49 and 4 both contrast and complement one another, what attributes stand out in their relation?
I turned to Jack Balkin's translation (his Laws of Change: I Ching and the Philosophy of Life has become my primary reference) and jotted, side-by-side, some of his keywords for each of the hexagrams:
49 -- REVOLUTION: Molting; Shedding Old Skin; Metamorphosis; Transformation; Out with the Old
4 -- INEXPERIENCE: Innocence; Ignorance; Immaturity; Youthful Folly; Wisdom not yet Revealed; The Young Shoot
Since one of the primary "lenses" through which I understand things is psychological (relating with both the mind and the soul), I added a few developmental attributes as well:
49 -- Midlife; Entering Elderhood; Raw Wisdom (?)
4 -- "Just-Made"; New Being; Child
[...and then I couldn't help but notice how much midlife and early childhood can have in common...like temper tantrums ;-D ... astonishment; lots of newness and strangeness in experience; growth spurts and setbacks; sudden urges for new toys and treats; testing and testing of limits and boundaries; radical and sudden shifts in perception, preferences, abilities, etc. ...]
Another thought: how might the nuclear hexagram in such a reading (in this case, 49's nuclear hexagram is 44, TEMPTATION) might be a moderating influence on the polarities ...
...That's as far as I've got with this line of thought ... Before I toddle off to bed, here are a few other examples ...
22, BEAUTY -- Mountain/Fire --> all lines changing --> 47, OPPRESSION -- Lake/Water
27, NOURISHMENT -- Mountain/Thunder --> all lines changing --> 28, CRISIS -- Lake/Wind
6, CONFLICT -- Heaven/Water --> all lines changing --> 36, DARKENING OF THE LIGHT -- Earth/Fire
Hmm ... Exploring the hexagrams this way is opening up a whole new way to see them ... Has anyone else looked into this?
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