Hexagram Fifty Part Three

To reiterate a little bit, the commentary on hexagram fifty says, "All that is visible must grow beyond itself, extend into the realm of the invisible." We must understand where our roots lie. Our subconscious extends into the invisible realm and is capable of receiving information from there. Therefore humans have intuition. Often we mistake our feelings for intuition. Sometimes they can be but often we feel things based on our limited view of the cosmos and based on our own limited understanding and emotional makeup. In such a case we become like line two of hexagram twenty which says, "Contemplation through the crack of a door." When we receive this line we are not seeing the overall perspective. We are caught up in our own drama and see things only from our own limited perspective. In relationships we are unaware of the larger perspective and do not see clearly. In our understanding of the spiritual realm we are limited by immature beliefs and by ill conceived opinions. We must have that balance between conscious and subconscious in order to receive true instruction from our Higher Self. The Higher Self is the part of us that reaches beyond the visible. When we see things as our Higher Self sees them, then as lines five and six of hexagram twenty says, "The superior man is without blame."

In order to have a higher understanding of life and the invisible realm it is sometimes necessary to "turn the ting upside down." We must remove the immature and ill conceived notions from our mind. There must be a clean sweep so to speak, and that requires the "removal of stagnating stuff." Hexagram eighteen deals with this in more depth. When we go through our daily life we lose sight of our spiritual origins because the "world is so much with us." We become "the garment spotted with the flesh." We are so busy making a living and doing all the things that comfort us that we forget our spiritual heritage. But we must "grow beyond the visible."

The commentary goes on to say, for hexagram fifty as a whole, "Thereby it receives its true consecration and clarity and takes firm root in the cosmic order." The profane is sacred as well, but we do not make it that way when we do not recognize its spiritual origins. It has been said to me, "If man and God are the same, isn't that the same lie that the Serpent told Eve in the Garden?" Yes, but with a difference. The Serpent was appealing to the ego, (on one level of the story, in some ways the Serpent was right, in some aspects of the allegory the Serpent is wrong) The ego wishes to be God. It wishes to control everything, and rule over not only the elements of the personality but all mankind as well. It always wants to be on top. But the truth of the matter is that all men and everything that exists is God, and to see God in your fellowman is a humbling experience, not an ego producing experience. Do I see God in myself alone? Or do I see God in all aspects of being? The first is ego enhancing, the latter is ego reducing. The ego cannot be a part of the cosmic order. It is in a state of disharmony with the cosmic order. Only humility, in other words love, rightly applied, (does not mean a poor self image) can be in harmony with the cosmic order. The nature of the universe is love, and love is "harmony, even in discord."

Finally, in the commentary on hexagram fifty line one, it is said, "No matter how lowly he may be, provided he is ready to purify himself, he is accepted." The key here is purification. Purification is a matter of reducing the ego, and humbling accepting our divine origins. When we turn the ting upside down, we purify ourselves. We purify ourselves by letting go of the stagnating stuff such as ego desire; desire to control, to manipulate, and come out on top. We remove stagnating stuff by searching out the "hidden demons," (hexagram fifty seven) and bringing them to the light. We search out and eliminate the subconscious complexes that create belief systems incompatible with who we really are, and that keep us from our highest good. This ultimately leads us to the "Supreme good fortune" alluded to in the judgment of hexagram fifty.