Inner affinity

In hexagram sixty one there are three paragraphs in the commentary before the judgment is reached. From these paragraphs we can deduce at least three discussion points. They are as follows:

1. The hexagram counsels us to be “open to the truth.”
2. The hexagram concerns itself with establishing a mutual confidence.
3. The hexagram counsels that what is hidden within can be activated by that which is without, and vice versa.

In order to be open to the truth the heart must be free of prejudice. Our biases and our prejudices are often not consciously noticed by ourselves however. Often our thinking, our attitudes, and our belief systems are biased by the things we learned growing up. We learned something in school. Our parents, our teachers, our schools taught us something, and later in life, when things come along that question those beliefs, we discount it because we are supposedly educated beings, smarter than our more naturalistic ancient forebearers and smarter than those with less education in the world. It certainly behooves us to look more deeply into our belief system, and to eliminate prejudices that prevent us from opening up to a greater and deeper truth within ourselves.

In order to make perfect any undertaking, there has to be a mutual trust and confidence among members of the team. This mutual confidence grows out of a respect and an honoring of each member of the team, and through mutual effort one comes to trust more greatly. The upper trigram in hexagram sixty one is Sun which normally involves a mandate from a superior. It has to do with commands and orders. The upper trigram gives orders, and the lower trigram, tui, receives the orders in a spirit of joyousness. In the same way, in maintain, and accessing inner truth, we joyously receive the commands of the “higher self.” Commands here could be just as well equated with “inner truth”

The third point depicted in the commentary on this hexagram is that something within is “quickened” by something from without. In essence, yang is without, and yin is within. Here, the yin energy, is quickened, and made alive by the outer yang essence. But the key here is that this energy responds to its opposite form of energy only when there is an inner relationship. A better way of stating this can be found in hexagram forty five line two, where it is stated, “There are secret forces at work, leading together those who belong together. Line two of hexagram sixty one gives greater detail on this theme, and we will get into that later. Suffice it to say for now, that the old saying really is true, that “birds of a feather flock together.” For, as a mother crane calls in the shade, its young, and only its young, here her call, and respond to it.

There are inner forces at work, and we deny this reality only at our own greatest peril. To work with it is blessed, to scoff at such a concept is a form of arrogance that can bring us our downfall. Hexagram sixty one tells us that people and situations that belong together, will come together based on an inner, and a spiritual law of mutual attraction, and we will be getting into that in greater depth, later on.