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47 - Hexagram Forty-Seven: K'un Exhaustion

A Dead Sea, its Waters spent eons ago, more deadly than the desert surrounding it: The Superior Person will stake his life and fortune on what he deeply believes.

Triumph belongs to those who endure. Trial and tribulation can hone exceptional character to a razor edge that slices deftly through every challenge. Action prevails where words will fail.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is the realm of the Shaman. You have exhausted every alternative, spent yourself completely, taxed body and mind beyond your former limits. Survival and salvation lie beyond your reach now. Only transcendence to a new existence -- a higher plane of being -- will see you through. The Old You is just a dry husk. You can't return to it. Metamorphosis is the only grace offered. You can only return to your homeland as a New You.

The lake is above, water below; the lake is empty, dried up. Exhaustion is expressed in yet another way: at the top, a dark line is holding down two light line; below, a light line is hemmed in between two dark ones. The upper trigram belongs to the principle of darkness, the lower to the principle of light. Thus everywhere superior men are oppressed and held in restraint by inferior men.

THE JUDGEMENT

OPPRESSION. Success. Perseverance. The great man brings about good fortune. No blame. When one has something to say, It is not believed.

Times of adversity are the reverse of times of success, but they can lead to success if they befall the right man. When a strong man meets with adversity, he remains cheerful despite all danger, and this cheerfulness is the source of later successes; it is that stability which is stronger than fate. He who lets his spirit be broken by exhaustion certainly has no success. But if adversity only bends a man, it creates in him a power to react that is bound in time to manifest itself. No inferior man is capable of this. Only the great man brings about good fortune and remains blameless. It is true that for the time being outward influence is denied him, because his words have no effect. Therefore in times of adversity it is important to be strong within and sparing of words.

THE IMAGE

There is no water in the lake: The image of EXHAUSTION. Thus the superior man stakes his life On following his will.

When the water has flowed out below, the lake must dry up and become exhausted. That is fate. This symbolises an adverse fate in human life. In such times there is nothing a man can do but acquiesce in his fate and remain true to himself. This concerns the deepest stratum of his being, for this alone is superior to all external fate.

Transformation: Dissolution

Wind carries the Mists aloft: Sage rulers dedicated their lives to serving a Higher Power and built temples that still endure.

The King approaches his temple. Success if you stay on course. You may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Walls meant to protect have instead separated and isolated. Your defenses have kept you apart from those whom you most need to touch. Whatever the reason for discord between you, it is time to lay down your arms. Dispel the inflexible demands and fears of the Mind so that you may reunite in the Heart. If you have begrudged, forgive. If you have torn down, repair. If you have injured, heal. If you have judged, pardon. If you have grasped, let go.

nd blowing over water disperses it, dissolving it into foam and mist. This suggests that when a man's vital energy is dammed up within him (indicated as a danger by the attribute of the lower trigram), gentleness serves to break up and dissolve the blockage.

THE JUDGEMENT

DISPERSION. Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.

The text of this hexagram resembles that of Ts'ui, GATHERING TOGETHER (45). In the latter, the subject is the bringing together of elements that have been separated, as water collects in lakes upon the earth. Here the subject is the dispersing and dissolving of divisive egotism. DISPERSION shows the way, so to speak, that leads to gathering together. This explains the similarity of the two texts. Religious forces are needed to overcome the egotism that divides men. The common celebration of the great sacrificial feasts and sacred rites, which gave expression simultaneously to the interrelation and social articulation of the family and state, was the means employed by the great rulers to unite men. The sacred music and the splendor of the ceremonies aroused a strong tide of emotion that was shared by all hearts in unison, and that awakened a consciousness of the common origin of all creatures. In this way disunity was overcome and rigidity dissolved. A further means to the same end is co-operation in great general undertakings that set a high goal for the will of the people; in the common concentration on this goal, all barriers dissolve, just as, when a boat is crossing a great stream, all hands must unite in a joint task. But only a man who is himself free of all selfish ulterior considerations, and who perseveres in justice and steadfastness, is capable of so dissolving the hardness of egotism.

THE IMAGE

The wind drives over the water: The image of DISPERSION. Thus the kings of old sacrificed to the Lord And built temples.

In the autumn and winter, water begins to freeze into ice. When the warm breezes of spring come, the rigidity is dissolved, and the elements that have been dispersed in ice floes are reunited. It is the same with the minds of the people. Through hardness and selfishness the heart grows rigid, and this rigidity leads to separation from all others. Egotism and cupidity isolate men. Therefore the hearts of men must be seized by a devout emotion. They must be shaken by a religious awe in face of eternity - stirred with an intuition of the One Creator of all living beings, and united through the strong feeling of fellowship experienced in the ritual of divine worship.