No Purpose of its Own

In hexagram two also, we have portrayed for us the concept of "innocence" or that of acting without conscious motive. Hexagram two is called, "The Receptive." but what is it receptive to? It is receptive of the will of heaven. In other words, it is not acting on its own volition but simply carries out the will of heaven without conscious forethought. The commentary in book three on hexagram two says, "If the Receptive were to push ahead on its own initiative, it would deviate from its natural character and miss the way." The Receptive can only act in accordance with its Creative partner or there is no real accomplishment. Each depends on the other. The Creative cannot create if there is not a field in which to create. Each has to play its proper role, and the Receptive follows the Creative and does not take the initiative. In the Creative, the fifth line is ruler of the hexagram as the hexagram reflects evolution. In the Receptive the ruler of the hexagram is the six in the second place as the hexagram reflects involution. It also works this way because the second line is the proper correlate to the fifth, and is receptive to its commands. The second line further describes the role of the Receptive. The line says, "...Without purpose, Yet nothing remains unfurthered." Purpose is relegated to Yang, to the creative." It is relegated to heaven, it is not relegated to man. Man can only accomplish something that is lasting by following the will of heaven. The commentary goes on to say, "For this reason the earth has no need of a purpose. Everything becomes spontaneously what it should rightly be, for in the law of heaven life has an inner light that it must involuntarily obey."

It is only when we try to consciously assume control, and do it all ourselves that we get into trouble. For we are not following the will of heaven. Therefore it is said in the commentary, "if he tries to lead, he goes astray; but if he follows he finds guidance." In the same way, in hexagram four it is indicated that we should not put ourselves above our teacher, our guru, our Christ or Buddha. The structure of hexagram four is such that a younger more inexperienced man puts himself above (the K'en trigram) the teacher (the K'an trigram). As such he tries to lead when he should be following. He does not have the experience yet to control everything in his environment. When he does this he brings down disaster upon himself, and the commentary on the irst line of hexagram four says, "He must be shown the seriousness of life." When we try to lead, without the Receptivity to heaven, we are acting arrogantly, and do not have the proper receptivity to the will of heaven. Also it shows a disrespect not only for the teacher, but for life itself, as we are not able to control it, and life will almost certainly bring the "fetters which should be removed." We remove the fetters by being receptive to the teacher. It is most likely though that we will never do this until life has humiliated us enough to make us receptive.

When we become receptive, we find a different side of life. we can accomplish a lot by hard work and being responsible for ourselves, but when we give up, when we let go and let God... we find an amazing thing. We find that as in hexagram forty five line two, that "there are secret forces at work, bringing those together who belong together. We must yield to this attraction; then we make no mistake." By hard work we can accomplish much in life, but by yielding and being receptive, we forge a connection with heavenly forces, we forge a connection with the "forester who shows the way, (hexagram three line three) and we find that there are "secret forces at work" that bring us to the right place to attain a favorable destiny. Therefore, we can do our hard work and reap the rewards, but we do so without anxiety and without fear, knowing that in attaining that connection to the universe, that our path is guided through these secret forces. But we must forge that connection. For practical ways to make that connection, I recommend Wayne Dyer's book, "The Power of Intention." I also recommend books by Deepak Chopra that discuss this same thing. Also, a deep study of the Tao Teh Ching can describe this connective power. But we must be receptive. That is the key, we must be receptive.