continuing with reading

In hexagram thirty six we see this theme continued. Here, in a matter of speaking, the light is injured. In other words, we are hiding something of our darker nature from ourselves. Our “wise man,” The Sage within us, is kept under wraps, and the darkness clouds the issue. Our ego, our lower selves, has wrestled control, and our light is hidden within. As it says in the W/B commentary on hexagram thirty five, “The real nature of man is likewise originally good, but it becomes clouded by contact with earthly things and therefore needs purification before it can shine forth in its native clarity.: We have a nature that is essentially good. Often though, our good intentions are covered over by an attitude that “the end justifies the means.” Therefore we hurt others whom we think are causing us our pain, or we see in those we hurt the evil which we desire to hunt down and destroy. Yet the masters say, “Cast out the beam that is in thine own eye, then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the splinter that is in thy neighbor’s eye. As mentioned before, we need to observe ourselves to truly understand our motives, and realize that the highest good is doing right, and let the crumbs fall where they may. “What, shall we do evil that the good may prevail?” Asks one in the Old Testament scriptures.