I Ching & C G Jung
Some essays are of such brilliance that they should be required reading for anyone presuming to take on the mantle of adulthood. The Bollingen edition of the I Ching (with that distinctive yellow cloth cover) has such an introduction, written by Carl Gustav Jung. On Synchronicity has a bookend, Marriage as a Psychological Relationship, another essay by Dr. Jung that appears in Collected Writings, both are prime candidates for the list.
Why should the randomness of three coins, dropped six times in a deceptively simple mnemonic of numbers and probability, have anything to do with order in the cosmos? Cosmic oracle…ancient wisdom? Impenetrable, inscrutabley image-laden commentary on life, from the mundane to the sublime… the human condition, writ eternal.
Peace: The task is to preserve the connection between God and man, and between the ancestors and their posterity.
Standstill: When (owing to the influence of inferior men) mutual mistrust prevails in public life, fruitful activity is rendered impossible; because the fundamentals are wrong. Although we are dealing with cosmic conditions, the cause is to be sought in the wrong course taken by man. The great man calmly bears the consequences of the standstill. he does not mingle with the crowd of the inferior; that is not his place. By his willingness to suffer personally he insures the success of his fundamental principles.
If it becomes impossible to make our influence count, it is only by retirement that we can spare ourselves humiliation. The way to overcome the difficulties of the time of Standstill is through frugality and retrenchment… rejection of material rewards.
“He who acts at the command of the highest remains without blame.”
What is willed is done.
Inferior people who have risen to power illegitimately do not feel equal to the responsibility they have taken upon themselves. In their hearts they begin to be ashamed, although at first they do not show it outwardly. This marks a turn for the better.
The time of standstill is nearing the point of change into it’s opposite (Peace). Whoever wishes to restore order must feel himself called to the task and have the necessary authority. A man who sets himself up as capable of creating order according to his own judgement could make mistakes and end in failure. but the man who is truly called to the task is favored by the conditions of the time, and all those of like mind will share in his blessing. The mid-point of the stagnation has been passed. Order is gradually being re-established.
The time undergoes a change. The right man, able to restore order, has arrived. Such periods of transition are the very times in which we must fear and tremble. Success is assured only through greatest caution.
Confucius says:
“Danger arises when a man feels secure in his position. Destruction threatens when a man seeks to preserve his worldly estate. Confusion develops when a man has put everything in order.
Therefore the superior man does not forget danger in his security, nor ruin when he is well established, nor confusion when his affairs are in order. In this way he gains personal safety and is able to protect the empire.”
The standstill does not last forever. However, it does not cease of its own accord; the right man is needed to end it. this is the difference between a state of peace and a state of stagnation. Continuous effort is necessary to maintain peace: left to itself it would change into stagnation and disintegration.
The time of disintegration does not change back automatically to a condition of peace and prosperity; effort must be put forth in order to end it. This shows the creative attitude that man must take if the world is to be put in order.
Dispersion: The image of wood over water gives rise to the idea of a boat.
